Amy Pascal and her shingle Pascal Pictures won over competitive field to produce a film centered around the GamerGate controversy. The film will be based on game designer Zoe Quinn’s upcoming memoir Crash Override: How to Save the Internet From Itself with Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum adapted it for the big screen. Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Age of Ultron) appears to be one of several actresses with an eye for the leading role. The memoir itself will be released- courtesy of Touchstone/Simon & Schuster- in September 2016.
Quinn’s memoirs revolves around how her life was upended shortly after the release of her critically admired interactive game Depression Quest. An online mob- dubbed GamerGate- was put spearheaded after a lengthy blog post written by an ex-beau of Quinn’s went viral. The post attacked Quinn on a number of matters, namely that Quinn had a relationship with a video game journalist in order to seek favorable reviews. The controversy sparked grave questions concerning sexism and harassment in the gaming community and Quinn, rather than running from her critics, decided to fight back. A film concerning this subject could run deeper on multiple fronts, especially since matters of sexism in the film industry continue to be a touchy subject.
The project may also be viewed as especially personal for Pascal herself. The former co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment stepped down from her post shortly after the Sony hack last winter. In the midst, Pascal was no stranger to online controversy as sensitive private e-mails were a source of continual controversy. While no longer officially a head at Sony, her Pascal Pictures is set at Sony, so the studio will get first dibs on the GamerGate film (which could incidentally mark a comparable title in Sony’s 2010 Oscar winning The Social Network). There’s no word yet on whether Sony will tackle the film and as of right now, this project is being funded internally by Pascal. The next step in the process will likely include cemented a director and confirming a leading lady.
We will stay tuned to latest developments on this project.
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