During an interview with ComingSoon, writers Josh Miller and Pat Casey spoke about their role in the upcoming film adaptation of Hazelight Studios’ It Takes Two. The duo found the video game was begging to become a movie.
“I mean, in some ways, it’s the fact that it’s so obvious — at least to us and all the people involved in making it — what the premise is,” Miller said. “You don’t need your hot take on ‘how do you adapt It Takes Two?’ It’s basically a movie premise about two parents who are bickering, and their kid, Liar Liar-style, makes a wish and sends them on this big Toy Story meets Alice in Wonderland meets Wizard of Oz kind of adventure. Not to imply there aren’t hurdles since it is a video game that’s 16 hours of gameplay and you have to figure out how to turn that into a 100-minute movie. That was what first drew us to it.”
It Takes Two game director Josef Fares is also involved in the process.
“We’ve spent a lot of time playing the game together and replaying various parts,” Casey explained. “It’s a blast every time. It’s an incredible game. Josef’s so cool. I mean he’s a video game genius, so we’re trying to do it justice.”
When asked about the difficulties that come with adapting the various different types of gameplay in It Takes Two into a film, the duo elaborated.
“That’s the challenge with any sort of action-heavy movie, including It Takes Two and Violent Night, is to think of ways to vary up all the sequences and with It Takes Two, how to incorporate some of those special gameplay elements in a way that feels movie-like instead,” Casey stated.
“If anything, Hazelight made it hard on us because there’s too much good stuff from the game,” Miller emphasized. “So it is kind of like there’s a bit of triage of ‘oh no, well we can’t fit all this in. What’s the best stuff to keep?’ You try to think of if there are ways that you can meld one level with another level so that fans of the game will get it, they’re like, ‘oh, I see, they combined these two things.’”
Similar to the title it’s based on, It Takes Two tells the story of May and Cody, a couple going through a divorce that has their minds teleported into two dolls that their daughter made. Once inside the dolls, the couple must go on an adventure to find their way back into their bodies, while also learning more about themselves and their relationship along the way. Originally released in 2021, It Takes Two launched to extremely positive reviews and went on to win a variety of awards, including Game of the Year at the 2021 Game Awards.
