Recently, Scott Cawthon (the auteur behind Five Nights at Freddy’s) shared a post on the game’s subreddit, entitled ‘Bad news about the FNAF movie’. In the post, Cawthon reflects on the “long road” that’s been Blumhouse’s movie adaptation of the indie horror: he outlines the various script ideas that have been put forward, and why all them have failed. From the ‘Ghost Trackers Screenplay’ which saw a group of amateur ghost hunters attempt to uncover the truth about Freddy’s, which felt too much like its own idea, to the ‘Plushies Take Manhattan Screenplay’, which Cawthon simply wanted to “burn with fire”.
But, when Cawthon gets to the final idea, entitled “The Mike Screenplay”, he reflected that it was perfect, saying “it’s fun, it’s scary, and it a great central story!”. Yes, in an ironic twist, Cawthon announced that the Blumhouse project was finally going ahead and that filming was officially starting in Spring for the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie.
Since then, fans have been going crazy, theorising how the screenplay could work and who could be cast as the game’s pivotal characters. Here’s a run-down of their best ideas.
The main character of the original game, Mike Schmidt is an inherently difficult role to cast. Not only must he have an ‘everyman’-like quality (like game protagonists), but since he’s a POV character, the player never actually sees what he looks like. In fact, the only discerning features known are his blue eyes, which can be seen when he’s stuffed into the Freddy suit during a game over. Additionally, ‘Mike’ has a darker past that’s slowly revealed as part of the game’s lore, so his actor needs to have some dramatic chops.
So, here’s a strong contender: Martin Freeman. The English actor has a prodigious history as an ‘everyman’ (from The Office to Sherlock), serious acting credentials, and even the requisite blue eyes. He’s played a small-town American convincingly in the past (see Fargo Season One), so he could be great as the central ‘Mike’.
The main antagonist of the Five Nights series (and Mike’s father!), William Afton is a supremely dark individual. The co-founder and owner of Fazbear Entertainment, Afton owns Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and uses the location to murder over 13 children. Eventually becoming ‘The Purple Guy’ and Springtrap, Afton is a dark figure that needs to be both welcoming and murderous, as well as old enough to be Mike’s father.
A nice idea for the part is Willem Dafoe. If Sam Raimi’s Spiderman proved anything, Dafoe can expertly toe the line between surrogate father-figure and murderous villain with ease, deftly equipping him to play Afton. Not only that, but he has the thin, sinewy look that defines ‘The Purple Guy’, so is a good bet.
Also known as The Caller or The Boss, Phone Guy is arguably the real start of the series, serving as the player’s introduction into the Five Nights world. Through issuing instructions and alluding to secretive lore, Phone Guy is responsible for 90% of the game’s action, creating the tense environment in which the animatronics can run wild – in fact, he’s originally voiced by Cawthon himself!
Therefore, the eventual director of the Five Nights film has a difficult decision to make: do they keep the game’s creator in this pivotal role as a nice easter egg, or do they bring in a more polished actor for the role? If not Cawthon, then any actor with a memorable voice will do – maybe Patrick Warburton? Maybe William H. Macy? Maybe even James Wood?
Much like Phone Guy, Henry Emily only really appears in the game vocally, through leaving cassette recordings for the player to find. However, unlike The Caller, Emily has a much more central position in the game’s lore: he is the old partner of William Afton, and helped create the monstrous animatronics. Indeed, he doesn’t play a massive role in the games themselves, but seeing how Jason Blum (the film’s producer) has said the movie will be partly focused on the games’ rich lore, it’s safe to assume he’ll appear in some capacity.
So, whoever’s cast to play Emily will have to be a force for good, playing off against Afton’s malicious presence, and will need to believably invent the animatronics. Here’s a strong contender: Jeffrey Wright. Really, he ticks all the boxes – he’s older, he’s got a paternal sense to him, and he looks like he would be an engineering wiz (just watch him as Beetee in the Hunger Games series). With Wright as Emily, the role would definitely be one to watch.
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