Doom

Genre: Action/Horror/Video Game.

Studio: TriStar Pictures.
Production Company: Zeus Productions/Ethos Films.

Project Phase: Development Hell.

Who's In It: Unknown. See Rumors.
Who's Making It: Ron Mita, Jim McClain (Screenwriters); Dino Conte, Moe Lospinoso (Producers); Walter Hamada (Executive Producer).

Premise: A tough space marine (and his arsenal of weapons) is all that stands in the way of undead hordes from reaching Earth.

Release Date: Unknown.

Comments: You lost sleep playing the game, and so it follows that there are literally millions of Doomheads out there who'd pay for a movie ticket to see this ultra-gore fest on the big screen. Doom has a lot of winning elements that could translate to a peppy, kinetic screenplay depending upon who the producers hire to work on the first screenplay draft. One absolutely necessary ingredient is the dark humor tossed at the player throughout the game. The hapless Marine's facial expressions as he makes his way along the deserted corridors, the almost-comedic sight of former Marines shambling towards you, complete with disturbing sounds and so on. As well, part of Doom's appeal was the horror element - the shadows, the nightmarish grunts eminating from down that darkened corridor that are coming closer; sprinting away from a losing battle, turning a corner and finding yourself face-to-face with a 10-foot demon. We haven't seen that at the picture show in a while.

Rumors: 1st Quarter, 1996... As Doom II was released to instant success in the computer games world, a interesting rumor filtered its way down to various computer gaming magazines - apparently actor Tom Berenger is a hard-core Doomer himself, and wanted to play the part of the Space Marine in the film version. Nothing has appeared to confirm Bergener's alleged statement.

Scoop Feedback:

April 18, 1996... Film rights for Doom were aquired by Universal Pictures last year. [Scoop info generously provided by Brent Lynch, our man in the know.]

May 5, 1996... Someone out there's heard that the first draft of the Doom screenplay may have been written in three days. This person also expresses doubt that the film will ever get produced, as it will require a lot of gory scenes to faithfully adapt the game to the screen. [Scoop info submitted by 'wdowler'.]

May 21, 1996... Rumors from various Internet forums suggest that James Cameron may be thinking of giving Doom the Lightstorm treatment. These same rumors place two vetrans from Cameron's previous films, Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton, teaming up with cult fan-fav Bruce Campbell. Although this sounds like a science fiction shoot-em-up fan's dream project, keep in mind that it's a rumor - and nothing new on the official press release scene warrants any validity to this concept. But hey, we can still daydream, eh? [Scoop submitted anonymously.]

May 23, 1996... The screenplay for the Doom movie may be adapted from the Doom novels by Dafydd ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver. Also, rumor has it that the part of Space Marine Flynn "Fly" Tagart may be played by Howie Long. [Scoop info sent in by 'JP'.]

June 25, 1996... This scoop informant tells us that according to the id homepage, talks are currently underway with Ivan Reitman to develop the flic. [Scoop provided anonymously.]

July 3, 1996... This scoop informant tell us that his friend "on the inside" told him there was not going to be only one space marine, but a team of four principal characters. [Scoop sent in anonymously.]

August 4, 1996... According to the official book put out on Doom II, in the section with the interview with John Romero (one of the principle developers of Doom and Doom II) it is possible Arnold Schwarzenegger may play the principle part in the film. Of course, a lot of important things have to happen before that becomes a reality - like scheduling conflicts, who the director will be, budgets, the star's salary and a working screenplay. [Scoop submitted anonymously.]

December 1, 1996... This fellow reports that Universal tried to get Stallone to play the main "green" player, but failed. The storyline will allegedly have four main players in it. [Scoop furnished by 'Paranoyd'.]

January 12, 1997... The title may be changed to 'Doom: Knee Deep in the Dead' to keep in flavor with the novel series. Graeme Revell has been aproached to score the film. [Scoops supplied by 'JP'.]

April 12, 1997... 'JP' has heard some of the casting rumors being circulated around Universal Pictures regarding the feature film. Keep in mind that these are just actors being considered for roles in the picture and not actually confirmed:

Flynn "Fly" Taggart - Howie Long (Firestorm, Broken Arrow)

Arlene Sanders - Lori Petty (Tank Girl) / Diane Lane (Judge Dredd)

Lieutenant Weems - Jason Alexander (Seinfeld)

Gunnery Sergeant Goforth - Fred Ward (Tremors, Remo Williams)

Albert Gallatin - Bill Paxton (Twister)

Jill Lovelace - Natalie Portman (The Professional) / Christina Ricci (Casper)

President of the Four - Tommy Lee Jones (Men in Black)

Ken - Forest Whitaker (Species)

Esteban Hidalgo - Edward James Olmos (American Me)

Dr. Ackerman - Jack Lemmon (Grumpy Old Men)

A screenplay is being worked on by Daffyd ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver. Stan Winston may provide the creature effects, and the musical score may be provided by James Newton Howard.

[A wealth of information and rumors from 'JP', our own space marine.]

August 19, 1997... "In regard to 'JP's casting notes, I have received accurate information that Howie Long, Jason Alexander, and Forest Whitaker have definetly been signed into those roles. Another possible castmember may be George C. Scott as a retired Space Marine coming back to work as the team's outside advisor on the 'alien raid.'" This scooper tells us the Doom picture project has progressed to the point actors have committed to the project...but all we've heard from official channels is that the project is in 'turnaround'...meaning there's been no development on it for a long time. We hope we're wrong! [Scoop sent in anonymously.]

September 2, 1997... We're contacted by a gentleman by the name of Moe Lospinoso, the CEO/President of Ethos Films, and who claims to be the producer of the Doom movie. Mr. Lospinoso vehemently denies any and all of the rumors existing on this page regarding the property. "First off, Universal does not hold the rights, Ivan Reitman is no longer involved, and as for casting, we are still waiting for a screenplay, and not from the bad writers of the pocket book series," Lospinoso writes. " I understand you felt this inside guy (and other 'anonymous' inside bullshitters) were telling you the truth. This guy ('JP') would not know where Hollywood was, even if he were to stand in the middle of Hollywood Blvd."

Strong stuff to say, so does he have the means to back it up? He did leave us means to contact him and we have done so, hoping to prove that he is the man in the know. As he said at the conclusion of his letter, "I rather the fans be in the know than steered in the wrong direction." [Emailed by Moe Lospinoso.]

September 9, 1997... Feedback from two individuals about the email received from the alleged producer of Doom:

On the 'pro' side:

"CORONA SAID 'Strong stuff to say, so does he have the means to back it up?'

"Moe is the Producer and owner of Doom and I know that even when the project was at UNIVERSAL. I am a close friend of Mr Lospinoso and there should be no need to question him, as to who he is, it is common knowlege as to who owns the movie rights and it is Moe Lospinoso who will also produce the project. And I now hope the fans will know the real scoop.

"Signed Vincent J. Guastini, Creature Designer. "

Well, we do have the need to question him Vincent; not to accuse him of lying or misleading our readers but to ascertain that he's the genuine article. From the thousands of scoops we receive each month you wouldn't believe the amount that are sent from people who own the rights to The Rock, Serpico or any other film/franchise/book/ television series. [Sent in by Vincent J. Guastini, Creature Designer.]

On the 'con side:

"May i say that i am VERY insulted by the ranting and raving lunatic who attacked me verbaly regarding the info I have provided for the Doom movie. Please post this as a reply under the last entry by him. Or, if i may, give me his e-mail address. First of all, Mr. Lospinoso, if you were a 'professional', in any line of work, you would never have taken a RUMOR section so personaly (what are you trying to prove/hide). And second, if you're going to provide information, please do so, but don't transform everyone else into an idiot just because you have inside information and they don't. I simply refer what I have heard (need I take the time to define the word 'rumor' for you?) As for the location of Hollywood, apparently you don't know me very well, Mr. Lospinoso, you don't know me at all. In the future, act like an adult. You approached this rumor department thing the same way a 4-year-old would.

"Sincerely - 'JP' -- HOLLYWOOD (weren't expecting that were you), California."

'JP' is well known to us, having specialized in sending us the latest info in regards to which composers just signed to do what film's musical score.

We can't forward Mr. Lospinoso's email address, as it was sent in confidence. We did call the number he gave to us and will try to confirm with him ASAP his claims. Basically, we're acting like the referee in this matter; now that everyone's said their piece, let's get back to the task at hand and get the latest news about the project up. [Thanks to 'JP' for the rebuttal.]

September 14, 1997... Vincent Guastini replies back to the latest round in the debate over the Doom movie scoop accuracy. "Moe is just trying to get the info correct, because the info 'JP' was not even close to being true and it has now leaked over into the DARK HORIZON Movie Rumour site, and the info is just an outline lie! Where did 'JP' get his info? And why would you question the producer of the film? Its all kinda silly but hey this stuff may put a mistic to the film before its release."

Vincent, this is why we call into question information sent to us unless it can be confirmed: anyone can send bogus information, as you'll plainly see if you read CA's Star Wars, Episode One or Tomorrow Never Dies pages. Mr. Lospinoso gave us a contact name and we'll try to confirm his involvement with the Doom franchise this week.

As for the rumors circulating around other web sites, perhaps one will wind up on the east coast radio station news network, as others have done in the past. We try our very best to post and then confirm/deny said rumors for all shows listed on our site, but we cannot be held responsible if others want to take information posted as rumors as God's honest truth. Let them wind up with egg on their faces, we say. I don't think anyone wants to damage the reputation of a person or property listed on CA, and I don't believe that was the intention of 'JP' when he emailed his information to CA. Thanks to Lospinoso's follow-up email, the grey clouds surrounding the Doom picture may have cleared up a bit. [Rebuttal sent in by Vincent Guastini.]

September 17, 1997... John Carmack, lead programmer/co-founder of id Software was quoted in the August 27, 1997 edition of Blue News webpage "The movie option lapsed, so it will probably never happen." Blue's News is a Quake-news web site (bluenews.com) [Reported by 'lom'; originally appeared on Blue's News.]

December 17, 1997... According to video game magazine Next Generation, it looks like the rights have been picked up by TriStar. Maybe they'll have better luck bringing them darn mutants to the big screen than the last guys. The writing team of Ron Mita and Jim McClain have the task of doing just that. [Reported by Alex Doak, 'Smeghed', Justin, '//fIREZTAR', 'Nords', 'awojciec', 'jvasvary', 'Fisko', 'aeisinger', 'jAMMEjAM'.]

February 10, 1998... Thanks to an anonymous Sony/TriStar scooper, we've learned a lot more about the Doom picture. The latest is this: no casting calls have been held. No director is on-board. The budget is estimated at a whopping $120 mil -- whoa. The producers are Dino Conte, Moe Lospinoso and Kristian Forland, with Walter Hamada serving as the exec producer (we've been told Hamada is a huge fan of the original game, and brought the current writing team on-board.) The scooper drops a cool piece of trivia off by telling us Sam Raimi was supposed to direct the picture but couldn't work out a start date with him (leaving us in tears...) The gang at TriStar are anticipating a July 2, 1999 release -- which would place it opposite Fox's X-Men picture.

Everything sounds fantastic so far. Let's cross our fingers and hope things proceed quickly. [Mucho gracias to 'Rumor Control' for the assist. Glad we could provide you with some yuks.]

June 23, 1998... One of the film's producers, Moe Lospinoso, comments that our listing of Kristian Forland as another of the film's producers is in error. Our attempts to contact Mr. Forland were unsuccessful and so we've made the appropriate change in the film's listings. [Our thanks to Moe Lospinoso.]

January 3, 1999... Various organizations have reported that Terry Fitzgerald of Todd McFarlane Productions has reported that they're "very close" to signing a deal to work on the proposed Doom movie. ['Inquisitor' knows, and is worried about it.]

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