The Division movie director gives promising update on video game adaptation

The Division movie, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain, has gone radio silent in recent months – but director Rawson Marshall Thurber has provided a promising update for fans.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Thurber (who also helms Red Notice, out now on Netflix) reveals that the upcoming adaptation of the Ubisoft shooter is coming along nicely.

"I’m so thrilled about it," he says. "We’re in the middle of the latest rewrite and I think we’re going to start shooting [next year]. It’s my next movie, Jake and Jessica are fired up and ready to go. With any luck, we’ll film in 2022 and I’m incredibly excited."

For the uninitiated, The Division is a series that revolves around the most unfortunately prescient of scenarios: what if a viral epidemic decimated America?

Even with that mirroring of real-world events, Thurber is keen to strike a balance for gamers and non-gamers alike.

"Of course it’s going to be based on the video game and honor that game. As a gamer myself, I couldn’t make it without that," Thurber tells us. "But I wanted to make sure that people who have never even heard of the game, let alone picked up a controller, can enjoy it."

Thurber, who is a self-confessed fan of The Division, continues: "So, I think that’s my job as the director: you want to make sure the fans are satisfied and feel like they’ve been honored by what you do, but also you have to include people who just don’t game and want a good story."

But that’s a story for another day. Thurber’s current actioner Red Notice, starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot, is now streaming on Netflix.

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