The Five Nights at Freddy’s movie based on the series of scary video games is moving forward with some positive news. Series creator Scott Cawthon has selected a script for the film and filming will begin in Spring 2021 at Get Out studio Blumhouse.
Writing on Reddit, Cawthon elaborated on a number of different scripts that he considered for the movie, but ultimately backed away from due to their problems. Some of these scripts were written by Cawthon himself, while other, unnamed writers submitted scripts, too. Additionally “big studios” and “big directors” were involved in some of the pitches, but Cawthon shared no names.
He did, however, provide a brief overview of each of the rejected scripts that he considered before settling on the one that will enter production in Spring 2021.
One of these, the “F” screenplay, involved a group of teenage troublemakers who break into the setting of the game, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and then all hell breaks loose. In the video game series, the animatronic toys inside the pizzeria come to life and become murderous. Cawthon said he rejected this script because it had a lot of “odd choices” that “only got weirder” throughout the narrative.
“The story ended with our protagonists in a secret underground animatronic factory that was designing robots for the government. -___-” Cawthon said.
Another script involved the toys from the pizzeria leaving the restaurant and heading to Manhattan to do damage there. Cawthon seems to have not liked this script at all, as he had nothing positive to say about it whatsoever, and the final action he took with the script was for it to be “burned with fire.”
Another script, “Silver Eyes,” was written by Cawthon and Kira Breed-Wrisley, with whom he wrote the novelization of the FNAF series. Together they worked on three versions of this story in one year, adapting it from the Five Nights at Freddy’s book.
Cawthon said he experienced a number of challenges on this script. “These were the first attempts I made myself to write a screenplay after realizing it was going to be difficult to find someone else who understood the lore well enough to do it,” he said. “Unfortunately, it also meant these screenplays suffered greatly from my inexperience at writing. Even Kira, with her writing expertise, couldn’t save them.”
These scripts had “some good elements,” Cawthon said, but he said he became more interested in adapting the games and not the books for the screen.
One screenplay that got close to being greenlit was called “Misfit Kid.” In this story, a single mom brings her kid to the town with the Freddy’s pizzeria, and then “hilarity ensues.” Cawthon said the movie had a decent enough setup, but “it just didn’t work.” He said he struggled to connect with the characters in the script.
“One of the problems in creating a modern day story with an old Freddy’s setting is finding a way to connect the protagonists to the restaurant, finding a reason for them to be there, and finding a reason for them to stay,” Cawthon said. “The problem here was that the reason for this kid to go to Freddy’s and have misadventures was too contrived and too forced. This was going to be THE screenplay for a while because it didn’t have any serious flaws. I ultimately just decided it wasn’t good enough though.”
These are just a few examples of the rejected scripts–go to Reddit to learn more about all of them. As for the script that Cawthon ultimately said yes to, he is understandably keeping quiet about the specifics of the screenplay, which is called “Mike.”
“This makes sense. Why didn’t I think of this before? It has the best pieces from all the previous screenplays… Not really any problems here. All the right characters, all the right motivations, all the right stakes… Yeah, we’re going with this one. It’s fun, it’s scary, and it has a great central story!”
There is no word yet on who will star in the FNAF movie or who may direct it. At one point in time, Harry Potter and Home Alone director Chris Columbus was attached to direct. However, Cawthon vetoed the script for this version, and the movie was delayed. Presumably Columbus exited the project at this time, too.
Cawthon has been very protective of the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie and is taking time to make sure the film is done correctly. It has been a lengthy and challenging process to find the right script, but Cawthon said he won’t compromise on the story.
“I’m determined to find the right story,” he said in 2018. “I’m sticking to what I’ve always said: either the right movie gets made or no movie gets made. If that means that I have to start over ten more times, then that’s what I’m going to do. The good thing is that each attempt gets better and better, in my opinion. So, despite the delays, it’s going in the right direction.”
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