The script for a film adaptation was written by Alex Garland in 2005, which D.B. Weiss and Josh Olson rewrote during 2006, for a 2008 release. The movie was to be developed and released by Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox, under the creative oversight of Microsoft, but there have been complications with the distributors, and it is subject to change. Peter Jackson was the executive producer, while Neill Blomkamp was the director. The film has continually resumed and stopped preproduction; while Blomkamp has declared the project "dead", Jackson says the film will still be made. Blomkamp acknowledged the Master Chief worked from a video gamer's perspective, but dramatically does not hold much weight because of his faceless nature. The character as depicted in the film would have been "the most important supporting cast member". Instead, "other characters around him [...] did most of the emotional heavy lifting", with their story exploring their perception of the Master Chief.
