Bloodshot is a surprisingly capable action flick, starring Vin Diesel as the Valiant hero with director Dave Wilson at the helm. Wilson, who counts Bloodshot as his first full-length directorial debut. But it’s no surprise that Wilson is so good at making compelling action, considering his pedigree: before directing he had a major gig at Blur Studios.
Blur Studios has produced some of the coolest cinematic trailers, particularly for video games, that just about anyone has ever seen. During Wilson’s tenure, they produced a series of cinematics for Star Wars: The Old Republic, the Bioware-led MMORPG set in the same timeline as Knights of the Old Republic. And, by the Force, those trailers were cool. Even with the advent of a bunch of amazing stuff in the new canon, those trailers remain some of the best Star Wars action anyone has ever put to screen.
So, naturally, in a recent interview on Collider, Wilson was asked to talk about his Blur experience, how it impacted Bloodshot, and how he’d adapt The Old Republic if ever given the chance. And, naturally, I was extremely interested.
“Most of them are sort of focused around a big set piece or a battle or something like that,” Wilson said, explaining the work Blur’s trailers did. “I did a lot of them for Star Wars, The Old Republic. I love that franchise. I wish they would make a whole series or features with it in that world. But interesting thing about that is a lot of story compacted into a very little amount of time and I would usually try and do it sort of as visually as I could. If I can tell a story without people saying things and it’s sort of universal in its appeal. This visual filmmaking style was something that was I think thrust on you.”
That highly visual, setpiece oriented storytelling is naturally a great skill to have while working on a superhero action movie. Although he was surprised to find how freeing a full feature was. “I felt that when I came over and I had 90 minutes to tell a story I was like, ‘Oh, I can slow down and take some time,’” he said.
As for adapting The Old Republic, as the director behind those trailers he definitely has some thoughts.
“I would do a series. I love what they did with Mandalorian. I think there’s just too many characters and too much ground to cover. And I feel, inevitably, you do someone an injustice by not covering a character well enough,” he said.
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Elaborating on his own passion for the material, he explained, “My most rewarding experience from The Old Republic was Malgus, who is the Sith that sort of sacks the Jedi temple. He didn’t exist until that short and they just knew they wanted this event where the Sith come back. And I wrote that story, that event for them and that character. And now that statue sits on – I’m a giant nerd – this statue sits in my office at home and there’s books that they’ve written about him and I’m like, ‘This is awesome.’ Just to have contributed anything to that franchise is a pretty remarkable thing.”
Wilson is right: Malgus, although a bit generic so far as Sith go, is a cool baddie, and it would be a lot of fun to see someone like him return. And, honestly, Wilson of all people seems like a great choice to bring the High Republic era, whatever it ends up looking like in the new canon, to life. We deserve big, high-concept battles between the Jedi and the Sith. Disney, I hope you’re reading.