The upcoming Call of Duty movie aims to show the “cost of war,” according to director Peter Berg. He told ComicBook that the film, set in the Modern Warfare universe, will strive to capture the spirit of those games, which means lots of guns and violence, but also heart and soul.
“So Modern Warfare, if you really look at the missions, and the storylines, and the characters–like Captain Price, and Soap, and Ghost, and Alex–these are complicated humans,” Berg said. “These are not–and no disrespect–cartoon characters or comic books. These are very nuanced storylines; like, there’s a real soul to the Modern Warfare universe,” he said.
“And, yes, there’s violence, and there’s hardware, and equipment, and there’s killing–but underneath it I think the game, and the craters of the game, are really looking at the cost of war, the cost of having to be a warrior who’s, for whatever reason, chosen to put himself between real danger and the rest of us, and the burden that these guys carry.”
Berg said this is “real stuff,” and it demands a movie that respects that. “This is not just ‘Hey, let’s shoot them all up and shoot popcorn!’ Like, there’s a soul underneath it,” he said.
Berg went on to say that the Call of Duty movie’s writer, Taylor Sheridan, understands this as well. “There will be a very strong soul, and consequence of war within the film, called ‘duty,'” he said.
Sheridan is also known for his work in the military/war space. One of his most highly acclaimed works is 2015’s Sicario, a film that leaves the viewer thinking about moral grey areas, which sounds like what Berg is going for. Sheridan wrote that film, along with other acclaimed movies like Hell or High Water and Wind River. He also created the very Call of Duty-like TV show Lioness.
One of Berg’s best-known and most highly acclaimed movies was 2013’s Lone Survivor. This film told the story of real-life Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, who was the lone survivor of an ambush in Afghanistan. Berg also directed movies based on other real-world tragedies, including Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day.
The Call of Duty movie is set for release in June 2028. It’s in the works at David Ellison’s Skydance, which just acquired Warner Bros. Discovery, and it will be released theatrically. The newest Call of Duty game, meanwhile, was Modern Warfare 4, which just launched on October 23.
In addition to a Call of Duty movie, a Battlefield movie is in the works as well, with major talent attached.
