Earlier this year came the news that Amazon Studios, Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions, Hazelight Studios and dj2 Entertainment were teaming up on a film adaptation of the video game “It Takes Two”.
The story revolves around Cody and May, a couple on the verge of divorce who are transformed into living dolls by a wish from their emotionally spiralling young daughter, who blames herself for their relationship woes.
Trapped in a fantastical world, they must overcome their fractured relationship and a variety of challenges in order to return to normal and repair their broken family before it’s too late.
Recently the film’s writers Josh Miller and Pat Casey, who also penned the “Sonic the Hedgehog” films and the recent action-comedy “Violent Night,” spoke with Coming Soon about adapting the property and say it should prove a far easier translation than some other titles. Miller says:
“It’s basically a movie premise about two parents who are bickering, and their kid, ‘Liar Liar’-style, makes a wish and sends them on this big ‘Toy Story meets Alice in Wonderland meets Wizard of Oz’ kind of adventure.
Not to imply there aren’t hurdles since it is a video game that’s sixteen hours of gameplay, and you have to figure out how to turn that into a 100-minute movie. That was what first drew us to it.
It is kind of like there’s a bit of triage of ‘oh no, well, we can’t fit all this in. What’s the best stuff to keep?’ You try to think of if there are ways that you can meld one level with another level so that fans of the game will get it.”
Casey meanwhile confirms that the game’s director is also involved in the writing process and helping out where he can:
“We’ve spent a lot of time playing the game together and replaying various parts. It’s a blast every time. It’s an incredible game. Josef’s so cool. I mean, he’s a video game genius, so we’re trying to do it justice.”
The original title won the Game Awards’ top prize of ‘Game of the Year’ in 2021 and received stellar critical reviews. The title is interesting in that it must be played as a co-op game with a friend, either in person or online and is not designed to work any other way.
