Director Peter Berg Says Call of Duty Movie Won’t Be a Mindless Action Film

The Hollywood adaptation of Call of Duty will be based on the Modern Warfare setting.

Peter Berg, director of the Call of Duty film, has described how he sees the upcoming movie set in the Modern Warfare universe. While promoting his new war drama The Mosquito Bowl, Berg told ComicBook that he wants to show not only combat operations but also the price paid by the people who take part in them:

“If you look closely at the missions, storylines, and characters of Modern Warfare — Captain Price, Soap, Ghost, Alex — these are complex people. With all due respect, they are not cartoon heroes or comic book characters. There is a great deal of nuance here, and the Modern Warfare universe has a real soul. Yes, there is violence, weaponry, vehicles, killing. But behind all of that, in my view, the game’s creators are exploring the cost of war. The cost paid by a person who became a warrior and, for one reason or another, decided to stand between real danger and the rest of us. They show the burden these people carry.”

Peter Berg

Berg is writing the script with Taylor Sheridan, creator of Yellowstone. According to the director, the two share the same view of what the adaptation should be:

“This is serious stuff. We are not going to just say, ‘Hey, let’s shoot everybody and entertain the audience!’ There is a soul behind it, which both I and Taylor Sheridan understand. I think the film will not be as naturalistically violent as The Mosquito Bowl, but it will have a strong emotional foundation, and the consequences of war will definitely make themselves felt.”

Peter Berg

The Call of Duty movie won't be a mindless action film: director Peter Berg explained his approach — Image source: Activision Blizzard

Paramount, its parent company Skydance, and Activision Blizzard Studios are producing the film. Although Modern Warfare was chosen as the basis for the adaptation, the filmmakers have not yet said which characters will appear on screen or whether the story will follow the events of one of the games.

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