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The Call of Duty movie in development at Paramount will be directed by Peter Berg, one of the guys that studios call when it's time to portray the US military as big screen heroes.
Adapting the most popular military shooter in the world to film is seemingly the perfect gig for Berg, whose past work includes Lone Survivor, Patriots Day, and the adaptation of grandpa-approved board game Battleship. But the last time Call of Duty came up in his presence, before he'd been cut a significant check, he made it clear that videogames are a waste of time, and that those who play them often are "pathetic" and "weak."
In the Q&A-style interview, Esquire's Julian Sancton picked Berg's brain about masculinity, sports, and videogames (at the time, Berg was promoting his Navy SEALs movie Lone Survivor and had just released Battleship the previous year). When military games and Call of Duty came up, Berg didn't hold back:
ESQ: As a guy who's become a public advocate of American manhood, what's your take on war video games?
PB: Pathetic. Pathetic. Keyboard courage. Can't stand it. The only people that I give a Call of Duty get-out-of-jail-free card to is the military. They're out there serving and they're bored and they want to entertain themselves? Okay, maybe. Kids? Uh-uh.
ESQ: Navy SEALs have a standing invitation to your house in Montana, and you've spent a lot of time with them. Do they play those games?
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PB: Some of them do. But I tell them I think it's pathetic. I think anyone that sits around playing video games for four hours... It's weak. Get out, do something.
Tell us how you really feel, Pete!
As Call of Duty isn't Berg's first adaptation, surely he knows how to set aside his feelings about the hobby to make a good movie, but it does suggest the co-writer and director probably isn't approaching the project with Call of Duty affection.
But hey, 13 years was a long time ago. Maybe he's eased up on games since, or even played a round of Warzone in the 2020 lockdown. If so, we could bury this beef once and for all with a 1v1 on Rust. Intervention snipers. Quick-scopes only.
Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.
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