Why Berserk Needs a Big Screen Adaptation!
-For the Uncensored!
Berserk, in all of its name, presents the very nature of Kentaro Miura’s long lasting manga to over forty years, with his untimely death. What does piss off every Berserk fan is that it has never seen a faithful adaptation since the 1997 anime version. In recent memory, the Golden Age Arc was remade, and while the first two films do not represent the pinnacle of storytelling, the third and final Golden Age Arc filmed achieved the aesthetic that most of the Studio 4C staff were aiming to achieve, and did it perfectly. It was a shame that most of the time, we have never gotten a live action Berserk that could speak to the 30 million plus readers out there in the world. It would be hard to cast such an epic, because it’s hard to find such actors in there youth who would have to be the face of Guts, Casca, and Griffith. They would need to be so stellar that they would be unforgettable, and it’s hard to find actors who are going to put themselves in the minds of Kentaro Miura’s bloody saga of betrayal, love, divine providence, and sheer horror.
If you had to give it the elevator pitch, Berserk is, “Lord of the Rings meets Clive Barker and Kingdom of Heaven/Gladiator” because for much of the first Golden Age Arc, there’s a weird tense aura, as much of the story is developed as the audience follows it. What the series does offer is that sense of scale, majesty, and a love that connects the series from Chapter 1 to 364, spanning over three decades, and 41 volumes of beautifully drawn written manga.
What should always take place within a Berserk adaptation is quite a few things.
1. A Serious Director. What a serious director will bring to a film will always help conceive a film into something outstanding that will breathe through the ages, always providing a pinnacle of success and a bar to reach for. A few directors who would bring that viciousness to Berserk are a few people. The first example is: Ridley Scott. While you may think that Ridley has done so much in his lifetime, Berserk requires an uncompromising eye and the ability to look at dark material and mold it into being. If you had to choose a director that would best know how to put violence and substance together, it would be Ridley Scott. Another honorable mention would be Mel Gibson. As he would understand action scenes, like Braveheart, but also bring that brutality and emotional depth that Passion of the Christ offered. But what Mel Gibson serves is an uncompromising artist in the face of studio pressure. No matter what you may think about him personally, he still knows how to tell a story. Maybe Denis Villeneuve, who managed to give his treatment of Dune (2021) a serious treatment, without the use of humor to kill the mood. Marvel Films knew how to kill the mood and never take the moment seriously. And Berserk has a lot of serious moments. Marvel film comedy cannot be applied to every film. But sometimes a newer director could be better, because they are more emotionally invested in a project. The only person I see is Robert Eggers, who by the Norsemen (2022) trailer, seems to be a strong candidate, too. Or Terrence Malick, if he decides to actually make a film that people like to watch. Darren Arronofsky, too, is a fine director who could muster the challenge an audience and make it disturbing but also visionary. If we’re going to throw around dead names, Stanley Kubrick, too.
2. A Serious Writer-I really can’t provide a modern writer who would be able to do Berserk justice. Even when I tried to write a treatment of it, I tried to add some context that only I saw, but giving context to something that doesn’t need it, or would be erroneous would not help Berserk. It takes someone like Peter Jackson in order to see the beauty and majesty the scenes would provide, and take the scenes and give them more emotional depth. Is Peter Jackson the man to write the treatment, no, but there’s much to consider when adapting Berserk. It takes a sheer willingness to adapt scenes you don’t personally think are nice, either. The only person who to me could do it is Guillermo Del Toro. But that’s even a stretch, too.
3. Strong Producers-In 2022, it might seem impossible to produce. Producers don’t want to lose money on something violent, extreme, or even too risky for a mainstream audience. What helped Lord of the Rings is that it didn’t have coarse language. With Berserk, the violence, and the themes must be preserved for audiences to understand. And to do something different with it that doesn’t align with the manga and the fans of the animes, it would be a dick move. Historically, you would need someone like Arnon Milchan (Brazil, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Gone Girl, the Revenant, The Fountain, Man on Fire, Legend), who takes risks in films, and allows the creator to make the film that needs to be seen. Or Avi Arad (Ghost in the Shell, X-men, and the Blade film series).
who has always been at the forefront of taking on material no other producer would.
4. Actors- For Actors, this must be said that all the actors must be new. The characters of Guts, Casca, and Griffith are all children at the beginning of the Golden Age Arc. So an 18 year old who still looks like a child would help them all. Established actors would play the older characters. That would almost be walk on roles for them.
5. Medium-Films would be too long for the series itself, as it should be a series. To allow some moments from the series to breathe and be adapted to life. Roger Deakins would be amazing to have film the scenes. He would know how to set and light the scenes.
6. Music-What? Are you kidding me? Susumu Hirawasawa is the only person who should have the chance to make the soundtrack, at all. No discussion. But if he isn’t chosen, there are only a few that come to mind. Clint Mansell, Ennio Morricone (if he was alive), and Hanz Zimmer.
7. Rating- If you think Berserk should have a PG-13 rating, you’re definitely reading the wrong manga. The violence and sexual scenes should be presented in all their uncomfortable detail. Go read Mars if you want something fruity (and this is coming from a fan of Mars).
A Fan- A fan, like Peter Jackson, would be able to appreciate the world Kentaro Miura created. But Peter Jackson would want to make it family friendly. But someone like myself would pour every detail into the treatment. And realizing that making a film that Miura would be proud to watch. I don’t mind the later series of Berserk, but I only admire it for pushing the story forward, not exactly the execution of 3D meshed into the series. But I don’t hate it either.
-Louis Bruno is the author of more than 19 books, including, The Michael Project, The Michael Project: Book 2: The Lost Children of Eve, Thy Kingdom Come, The Disintegrating Bloodline (and the original text re-released in 2019), Apocalypse Soldier, The Data Chase, Selection: The First Book of the Life and Death Saga, and Blinking Eyes: The Second Book of the Life and Death Saga, Hierarchy of Dwindling Sheep, The City of Sand, To the Moon and Back, The Villain Lives and The Villain Lives: The Divided Pinpoint, Come Home, Young One. He has a Bachelor of Arts in English from University of Phoenix. His books can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Lulu. He can be found on Gab, https://gab.com/thereallouistbruno, Minds https://www.minds.com/lbruno8063/. Instagram @lbrruno8063 and @louisbrunoofficialbook. Our Freedom Book https://www.ourfreedombook.com/thereallouistbruno17. He has written for the Intellectual Conservative and Ephemere. His next series, City of Sand is out now:https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/louis-bruno/city-of-sand/hardcover/product-rke9jz.html?page=1&pageSize=4. Also, if you can’t subscribe so that you can get members only content, please be sure to share the articles, as well. If you do Subscribe and pay, as well so you can get my articles in your inbox every time, and access to the paid articles that some readers won’t get to see. Every little bit helps in the war against Big Tech. Thanks for reading.
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