Interview: Billy Cruder

In this edition of Interview, Last Resort Films president Phil Dolan sits down for an interview with Billy Cruder (Bad Dreams Come True, He Kills) to discuss his latest video game film, Tekken: Blood Feud, and other video game adaptations....

PD: There's been a lot of build up to your first theatrical Tekken film. What are your expectations for the film?

BC: It was an intense and quite fun job to create a world based on the Tekken universe. I know that the films written so far have been received by critics in a fluctuating way due to too many characters and with unnecessarily complicated plots but I did try to do my best. I also tried to make different films so as to have different targets. As for Tekken: Blood Feud when I wrote it I was quite satisfied with my work and I was optimistic but in recent weeks there is growing fear that the film will go badly at the box office and that critics consider it a mediocre film, perhaps because the films in streaming didn't go very well. Still, I hope I'm wrong and taken for what it is, a fun fighting movie that doesn't get boring. Obviously, even here, inevitably, the characters are many and therefore probably for some it will be a defect ... I expect that the film will end for some reason in Top Three and for others in Bottom Three.

PD: Did the shutdown of LRF NOW change your plans for the potential future of the Tekken franchise at all?

BC: Yes, the closure of LRF Now created some problems because I had other characters in mind to develop and I had to cut and combine events as I did for example in Tekken: Mishima Origins. In the films for LRF Now I tried to give a background to the various characters and I had to invent many of the events because to tell the truth in the video game Tekken they are so-so from that point of view. For example in Tekken: Ninja Clan it is a practically all fictional story of me (the character of Toramitsu as well as that of Cherry do not exist in the video game) as well as part of the relationship of the Williams sisters. I tried to do the best and all in all I am quite satisfied but I am convinced that in the hands of a good writer the universe of Tekken would have proved to be really interesting and compelling.

PD: Having written the Dino Crisis films, Lost Planet, Adr1ft, and now the Tekken films, you're certainly no stranger to video game films. Do you have some favorite video game film adaptations in or outside LRF?

BC: Unfortunately so far most of the movies based on video games are mediocre and I didn't like them very much. Outside of LRF the Resident Evil saga has chapters that I am very fond of, especially the first and second. Silent Hill is a good movie with some interesting insights and then I found Rampage or Detective Pikachu cute. Here on LRF, however, I liked the movie about Grand Theft Auto, Heavy Rain and the sagas of Halo and Splinter Cell. The thing that bothers me most is that it was a shame that Dino Crisis came out in the first seasons of LRF because if I wrote it now it would surely be a better movie.

PD: You've had two actresses nominated for Best Actress between your eight films: Margot Robbie for Adr1ft and Elisabeth Moss for Bad Dreams Come True. Are there any other actresses you would like to work with?

BC: Especially Elisabeth Moss was very good in that film, which was also the best I've released so far. Of course ... there are actresses that I love, one of them is Rebecca Ferguson but first of all I will have to find a suitable role for her, I have heard that in the next few seasons she will be very busy for some films written by my colleagues but I don't know exactly in what roles. Another one that I love is Emma Stone but also for her I am waiting for a suitable role to make her look good because it would be a real shame if she ends up in an unsatisfactory project. Among the emerging actresses I really like Madison Iseman, Anya Taylor Joy, Kaitlyn Dever and Kathryn Newton.

PD: What's next for you?

BC: In Season 23 another film of mine will be released, a mixture of adventure and horror that will have as leader Tom Hiddleston which I hope will be appreciated. For the rest in the following seasons I have practically only some horror, some in my opinion can also be interesting.