Chronicling Mutants
Today, likely as you read this, I’m heading to LA for the US premiere of the Mutant Chronicles film, of which I wrote the novelization. I’ve been involved with the world of the Mutant Chronicles since the early ’90s, during which period I wrote or edited nearly every RPG, CCG, or miniatures game book associated with it.
Even back then, the people who owned the games—Target Games in Sweden—were planning on a film. I helped polish the original treatment for the film and even supplied a second treatment of my own for the pitch package that eventually brought Ed Pressman on board as the film’s producer. Before that, Ed’s family at Pressman Toys also produced the original Mutant Chronicles game: Siege of the Citadel. Small world.
Now, about a decade and a half later, the film is finally going to have its theatrical release in the US this week.
With most novelizations, as a writer, you’re pretty much stuck with whatever you can find in the script. The studio executives want to make sure you’re giving the readers the story they’ve developed—no more and no less.
If you look at a novel made into a film, though, you can see how much has to be taken out of the novel to cram it into the standard two hours or less that most Hollywood films run. It stands to reason that transforming the film into a novel would require creating a lot of extra material that just wouldn’t go into a film, but that’s a rare thing to see happen.
Fortunately, given my long history with the world, the people at Paradox Entertainment who hired me asked me to do just that. With their encouragement, I wrote a double-deluxe writer’s cut of the novel that the film could have been adapted from. It features many chapters of all-new backstory, character development, treachery, and big explosions that the novel demanded over and above what the film could provide. And I had a blast doing it.
To make sure that the novelization and the film synced up tightly, the people at Paradox flew me out to LA last year to watch a nearly final cut of the film in a private screening room in West Hollywood. While potential distributors took in the film, I devoured it twice, furiously typing notes on my laptop, hoping to be able to capture everything I could to make the book as faithful to the film as I could.
Now, with the book out since last fall, and the film finally in theaters, I can’t wait to see it on the big screen—again.
