I'm sure the idea of a feature length movie has been fantasized since Shadowrun came out. Whether it is ever likely to happen is up for discussion.

What I would like to see is people's opinions about who would be a good director for such a movie. Actors add charisma and other factors, but the feel of a movie often comes from the director's vision. Toss in your pick and say why. I'll start.

My pick would be Kathryn Bigelow. Her whole body of work is steeped in darkness, otherness and violence, but three movies stand out for me. "Strange Days" gives us an early vision of simsense. "Hurt Locker" gives us a grand sweep of forces beyond characters' control and the surrender to the 'life'. "Zero Dark Thirty" gives us the 'dark sunglasses', surveillance state and a hell of a run.

Your turn.

It depends, but if you're going for the gritty, hard-boiled, hightech lowlife thing, I'd see if Clint Eastwood felt that he had another movie in him. He could certainly capture that.

If you want the weird, psychedelic, reality-isn't-quite-real thing, I'd consider David Lynch.

If you want the hyper-intense, scenery-chewing madness, I'd consider Werner Herzog.

If you want a splatterfest of dubious coherence (arguably the most true to the game) how about Tarantino?

But honestly, I'd look for a smart indie director with a genius for capturing alienation, and tell them that the actors are paid for, the CGI budget is modest, and there's a legion of fans out there that will crucify them if they fuck up the setting.

I mean, given unlimited budget I'd splash for Guillermo Del Toro and specify that to the extent possible he use practical effects.

You know, all this is beside the point.

When you come right down to it, there's only one answer. Only one possible answer.

It's staring us all right in the face.

Michael Bay.

I say either Taika Waititi, or Neill Blomkamp. The latter already did a good job depicting a crapsack world in Elysium, and has a weird sense of humour in most of his movies, while Waititi is just plain pink mohawk.

Christopher Nolan, obviously.

Bye
Thanee

Uwe Boll. Him and CGL would get along perfectly

I'm going to throw in a vote for Pete Travis, who directed Dredd (2012). In my opinion, that movie captured the dystopian future and the tone that I would want from a Shadowrun movie. (I personally want black trenchcoat, not pink mohawk.)

If we're going for a historical wishlist, I might nominate Paul Verhoeven, who did Robocop (1987) and Total Recall (1990) among others. He's not really doing that type of work anymore but he could capture the Grimdark 80s Future that fed into Shadowrun's early edition sensibilities.

I came here to post Uwe Bowl. Looks like Sengir beat me, and you got my second choice.

Mamoru Oshii
Reasons?
GitS
Patlabor.

Honestly, if somehow Oshii could be prevailed upon to do the shadowrun movie, it would probably bring a lot of people into Shadowrun as a game.

Of course, it would probably entail a lot of arguments about cityspeke and japanese honorifics and whether or not korean gangsters are all that tough and .... but that's the price we pay.

Only recently changed - but now, James Cameron. Mostly because I felt after watching Alita: Battle Angel, that the way cyber was depicted in the film matched close enough to Shadowrun that it now "worked" for me in terms of believability on screen.

Before that, Hironobu Sakaguchi would have been my choice I think. I've often felt that doing a setting with so much "fantasy" elements, that going full CG would be an idea. At least then your orks, elves, trolls, dragons and spirits all have the same feel, the proportions are right, and you're not relying on "fx" shots to sell them or integrate them into the main actors.

After the release of Bright, and more recently Alita - I don't think the audience would be unready for Shadowrun. Whether the rights would be made available, and relying on the studio to not frag things up is a different matter. But with the success of the MCU and others, I think the studios have realised just how much room there is in the market for this kind of product.

Go Old School - Sir Ridley Scott...