Amazon MGM Studios and Sony Pictures Television are so confident in their upcoming “God of War” adaptation that they’ve already ordered two seasons.
But their initial marketing push has drawn sharp criticism from the man who created the video game franchise.
‘It’s just a dumb f**king image.’
Bathroom break
Last week, Amazon unveiled the first image of Kratos — the Spartan warrior at the center of the massively popular games. In it, Kratos crouches in the woods, leaning on his haunches as he watches his son Atreus draw an arrow.
The photo was meant to stoke excitement for the live-action take on one of gaming’s most iconic characters.
For God of War creator David Jaffe, however, it caused an entirely different reaction.
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“Could you find a picture that doesn’t look like he’s s***ting in the woods?” asked Jaffe. “Because that’s what the picture looks like.”
Potty mouth
Jaffe made the comments in a video posted to his YouTube channel. In the clip, he says he’s “a little worried” about the first impression the show was making. “What the f**k is this?” he said. “It’s just a dumb f**king image.”
While Jaffe stressed that he was still confident in the show’s creative team — saying he had “absolutely no doubt it is going to be a good show” — he refused to soften his stance on the squatting Spartan.
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“Two things can be true [at once],” he said. “This can be a terrible image — and it is. It’s so bad in so many ways.”
Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival
Flush with success
God of War is not the first of Jaffe’s properties to make the jump to television. Paramount+ recently renewed its “Twisted Metal” adaptation for a third season. As co-creator of the game (with Scott Campbell), Jaffe directed four Twisted Metal games between 1995 and 2012.
Amazon has increasingly bet on video game adaptations in the streaming arms race. That strategy has delivered at least one breakout hit — “Fallout” — while several other high-profile projects remain in development.
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