It appears as though spearheading both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises just might not be enough for J.J. Abrams. Though it’s been clear that Abrams is keen on juggling multiple producorial projects at once by way of his Bad Robot banner, he might eventually have his hands on yet another couple of geek-friendly properties: Portal and Half-Life. Speaking during a keynote conversation for DICE earlier today with Valve co-founder Gabe Newell, the prospect of feature film adaptations of the wildly popular video games Portal and Half-Life came up, and Newell expressed his desire to have Abrams involved with the films. Hit the jump for more.
Here’s how the conversation went down at the 2013 DICE Summit (via Polygon):
“There’s an idea we have for a game that we’d like to work with Valve on,” said Abrams. Newell added, “We’re super excited about that and we also want to talk about making movies, either a Portal movie or a Half-Life movie.”
Obviously this is in the incredibly early stages of development and it sounds like Abrams isn’t even officially attached to anything yet, but it’s clear that Newell would be more than happy to have the filmmaker involved with either of these two franchises. For those unaware, Portal is an excellent puzzle game in which the player is forced to use a portal gun in order to escape from a series of rooms within a complex. There’s a larger story arc involved that keeps a sense of mystery going, and the game and its sequel are notable for their wicked sense of humor. Half-Life is a first-person shooter, and Portal is actually a spinoff of the Half-Life series that takes place in the same fictional universe. The protagonist of Half-Life is a theoretical physicist.
Again, this is early days so there’s no reason to jump the gun on enthusiasm/backlash, but don’t be shocked if Bad Robot is announced as a producer on a Portal or Half-Life feature film adaptation sometime in the future. It’s unlikely that Abrams would direct, as he’ll understandably be busy with Star Wars for the foreseeable future.
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Not now, Gordon. I’ve got a headache.
“Freeman! Freeman, you’re not doing anything”
The Cake is a Lie. Someone had to say it
I love Abrams’ work, but he’s stretching himself too thin. He’s now in charge of Star Wars, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible, plus however many smaller movies he’s producing (Lance Armstrong movie, God Particle, Wunderkind, etc.). Also, there’s Person of Interest, Revolution, and however many pilots he’s working on this season. He’s also working on a novel!
I definitely wouldn’t want him working on any other big budget movies in any capacity, let alone a sci-fi film. The makers of Portal and Half-Life shouldn’t get him involved unless they plan to work on the movies several years down the line.
Either JJ does it or it will be shelved indefinitely. Valve has already been screwed over once by a studio back in 03 with Half Life, another bad taste of hollywood and they are likely to run for the hills.
I would rather Valve concentrate on releasing Half Life 3 than worrying about a big screen adaptation.
Gordon Freeman: Ben Affleck? RDJ? Heck, Nicolas Cage. Somebody who can rock the 90′s goatee, play a convincing scientist, and hold his own in alien shootouts.
The G-Man: Daniel Day-Lewis!!
Alyx Vance: Natalie Portman? Maybe?
Barney: Kyle Chandler
Eli Vance: Of course, Morgan Freeman! haha kidding. Maybe Forest Whitaker? I know the resemblance is not there but it might work.
For some reason I can see Daniel Craig in the role of GF.
Gordon Freeman = J.J Abrams. ( he is his look-alike)
He might be a little old but i would see Bryan Cranston a GF
I’m all for a Half-Life and Portal movie.
Portal presents a lot of opportunities for Lens Flares
Half-Life on the other hand, They would have to make two Half-Life films, The first one about the Black Mesa incident from the 1st game, And then the 2nd one based on the 2nd Game that takes place after an invasion of Earth by Inter Dimensional Aliens.
Since when does Abrams need opportunities for lens flares? He just hits a big red button and BAM! Indoor shot BAM! Character closeup BAM! That’s right bitches.
I’m not for a Half Life movie. It doesn’t fit. I’m not seeing it.
But since we’re on it:
https://images.nonexiste.net/popular/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Bryan-Cranston-as-Gordon-Freeman-I-d-watch-that-movie.jpeg
Brian Cranston as Gordon Freeman
Morgan Freeman as Eli Vance
Zoe Zaldana as Alyx Vance
Guy Pearce as the Gman
Lohan as all the aliens