PlayStation’s hit demolition derby video game gets a banner television adaptation that’s proving to be just as successful. Twisted Metal, from its initial July 27th premiere, has been Peacock’s most binge-watched comedy series and lands in the streaming service’s top five original series. Anthony Mackie stars as John Doe, a wise-cracking “milkman” who delivers goods between scattered settlements in a post-apocalypse America. He shreds fascist “lawmen” and dodges Sweet Tooth (voiced by Will Arnett), a murderous clown in an armored ice truck, while trying to deliver a secret package from Chicago to San Francisco in his orange Subaru WRX, lovingly nicknamed Evelyn.
The series co-stars Stephanie Beatriz, Thomas Haden Church, and professional wrestler Samoa Joe, who physically plays the hulking Sweet Tooth.
Twisted Metal‘s executive producers, Asad Qizilbash, Head of PlayStation Productions and Product for PlayStation Studios, along with Carter Swan, Head Producer, PlayStation Productions, joined MovieWeb for an in-depth discussion on the show’s creation. They spoke at length about finding the right comedic tone, embracing practical visual effects over CGI, and casting superb actors.
They were mindful to not simply recreate the video game but deliver a “fun, unique, and different kind of story.” Qizilbash and Swan laud the versatile Mackie but also extol the “brilliant” performance of Samoa Joe as Sweet Tooth. Swan was a huge “pro wrestling fan” who needed someone capable of “stunts” and “fighting” but also “charismatic.” Samoa Joe received “raves” on set because he could “do a lot more things with the character visually.”
Twisted Metal follows in the footsteps of the massively successful The Last of Us and current box office champion Gran Turismo. PlayStation Productions has “10 projects in various stages of development” with Amazon’s God of War and Netflix’s Horizon series at the forefront. Twisted Metal has not been renewed for a second season as yet, but the producers have hilariously set up the premise. The revelation of John Doe’s secret package leads to “the kind of Twisted Metal car combat tournament that you know so well from the games.” Please see below our full interview with Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan.
A Different Kind of Show
MW: I absolutely loved the series. I played the game as a kid. Let’s start with an introduction, as our audience may not be aware of the behind-the-scenes talent. Please describe who you are and what you do for PlayStation Productions?
Asad Qizilbash: Hi, I’m Asad Qizilbash. I’m the head of PlayStation Productions. I’ve been at Sony almost 19 years, working with a lot of our franchises for many years now. But yeah, I started this up about five years ago.
Carter Swan: Yeah, [I’m] Carter Swan. So I come from Hollywood. I’ve had every job there is, from background in PA [production assistant] to Vice President of like major production companies for about the last 20 years. Started with Asad five years ago. We created this whole thing to get our movies made, and our shows made, and take our IP and share it with the people who don’t necessarily like to pick up the controller.
MW: What was the reasoning behind the decision to make Twisted Metal into a show, and make it funny? I expected violence, expected action, but the humor I think caught everyone completely by surprise. Talk about how you guys decided the tone for the series.
Carter Swan: I think the game, I played it as well, and I was a religious player of it back in the day. It had a certain attitude that we really wanted to bring across early on when we were putting it together with Electric Avenue Entertainment. We went to Sony Television, our partners over there who are great, and they sent us a list of possible creatives to collaborate on the show with.
Carter Swan: The first name we looked at on that list that they sent to us — and these are people that they had under overall deals, or that they had done shows with recently — was Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who we’re huge fans of, I’ve loved their work. So they were our first choice. So going to them, you sort of already know it’s going to be based on their work. Probably something that skews more towards that Deadpool, Zombieland side of things.
Carter Swan: Rhett, it turned out, was like you and I, it was his favorite game of all time. Rhett was super excited and enthused about it. They just set the tone early on. They wrote the first treatments and documents creating the world and what it could be. We all thought it was so much fun, and just a different kind of show. I think one thing we concentrate on around here is, we always try to make things really different from each other. Whether it’s The Last of Us, Twisted Metal, or Gran Turismo, they all really have their own lane. An idea of making this as funny as possible and having fun in the post-apocalypse, we thought it was just a really fun, unique, and different kind of story.
Asad Qizilbash: I’ll make one other quick point. One thing is that we are always looking for a creative approach to any adaptations. It’s important we try and capture the tone of the original game. Twistet Metal has always been very sort of irreverent, and playfully irreverent. Tone was so important. We had that. But what’s equally important to us is that, when we bring on great creators, we also want a little bit of themselves to rub off on the show or the film.
Asad Qizilbash: And so yeah, as he talks about Wernick and Reese, even Michael Jonathan Smith, they have a great comedic side to them as well. That blended into it. It’s a little bit of that, and I’d also say Peacock were fantastic partners. They really gave us the creative freedom to do something special, different, and almost risky. It really did pay off.
MW: You guys knock it out of the park. I was honestly expecting to see a lot of CGI and more cartoonish elements. Then you see the ass-kicking racing, the convoy, and the shooting of the missiles. It’s a lot of practical effects which cost more money, stunt drivers, etc. Talk about not having a ridiculous, CGI Fast X kind of series.
Carter Swan: We, Rhett, myself, we’re all big car fans. We like car movies, car shows, and things to do with cars. We wanted to be a little different in the car things that you’ve seen recently, and kind of go back to trying to have that sort of realistic approach. Make it really analog, in a sense. I think for us, big influences were like the Hoonigans work, and Red Bull kind of stunt videos that they do. How can we capture that stunt stuff, and appeal to people who had those same sensibilities as us? Make it its own thing, I think when you throw a ton of CGI, then you’re kind of comparing yourself and boxing yourself into the video game.
Carter Swan: We always try to make this experience a lot different from what happens in the video game. I think all of us, pretty early on, were like, “Let’s try to do as many practical stunts as we can.” It also really puts you and grounds you into the world, and makes it feel real, and visceral. That was a decision we made pretty early on, that we didn’t want to just throw a bunch of CGI at it. We really wanted it to feel like you were there in this funny hilarious place.
Asad Qizilbash: Two other quick points with the location. Shooting it in New Orleans also will allow a fantastic palette and backdrop, but we didn’t have to do too much because there’s a lot of great terrain to work with. Secondly, and Carter touched on this a little bit, our role at PlayStation Productions is to get the fans and throw them into this world that they loved playing the game. We’re always very cognizant if you go too heavy in CGI, then it sort of feels like the game.
Asad Qizilbash: We want to say, “Well, what would this world look like if it wasn’t in the CGI world of video games? What if it was an actual place?” All credit to our VFX and CGI team. They’re fantastic. They do a lot of work, but they make it very subtle and almost transparent. We tried to ground it as much as possible. We want people to feel what it would be like to be in this video game world.
Carter Swan: When you take the time to build all those cool cars, you want to use them. You want to see them in action.
Samoa Joe as Sweet Tooth
MW: The action is superb and to see it done realistically is just spectacular. Let’s get to the casting. Anthony Mackie is so funny here. He’s a dynamic leading man. You have all these edgy characters like Sweet Tooth, Stu, Mike, and Quiet, but he’s the glue that binds everyone together. You really believe he’s a milkman. I think he deserves an Emmy nomination for this to be honest with you. Talk about getting him and putting everything together around him.
Asad Qizilbash: Can I start with Samoa Joe actually? Because he’s so brilliant…
Carter Swan: We will. I’ll dovetail into that. But to your point on Anthony. We made a list of dream ideas. Again, we tried to just do cool different things you haven’t seen. His name was on the list. We look at this character very much like the Ryan Reynolds character in Deadpool, that Wernick and Reese have done such a great job with. Somebody who could be in dire scenarios but be able to smile, laugh, and be charming about it the whole time. So it wouldn’t feel so heavy, because post-apocalyptic stuff, it could just feel naturally heavy. We just wanted this to be different.
Carter Swan: Anthony is such an amazing actor. I think he’s had at least two actors he’s supported get Oscar nominations, if not three, over the past. He jumped out at us because he hadn’t gotten the chance to do something like this, a leading, charming, funny guy. It was just a really exciting idea for us. When we got him, we were just over the moon. He helps elevate others around him so much all the time. For me, I can’t imagine anybody else.
Asad Qizilbash: A couple points about Anthony. First of all, he’s a massive star, but he’s so relatable. That’s important about this character. You really root for him. He’s incredibly charismatic as well. What’s great about him is that I didn’t realize how funny he was. He’s so good at action. He can do drama. He’s got the trifecta. His comedy timing was so brilliant. The big thing for us is that he was also a fan of the game. He was so invested in the show, and such a great leader on the set. We were just thrilled to have such a star but again, he’s so relatable in the show. I was so happy with him. And Carter, please talk about Samoa Joe, he was brilliant.
Carter Swan: It was just fun. We got to really play with these characters. Will Arnett had expressed interest early on in playing the voice of Sweet Tooth right? Will’s one of the greatest voice actors of all time. That was amazing. But then in thinking about Sweet Tooth, who’s actually physically going to play him? Are we just going to get a big stuntman or something like that? Reading the scripts, Sweet Tooth is so charismatic and displays such a wide variety of emotions. We really need somebody who can do a great job acting here. Someone who can really emote.
Carter Swan: I’m a huge pro wrestling fan. When I heard the word ’emote,’ I was like, “Pro wrestlers.” They tell stories with their bodies in the ring for 20,000 people every night. I knew Samoa Joe from years ago. I gave him a call. Would you be interested maybe in playing this part? He’s like, “Are you kidding me? I love the game. That’s one of my favorite games of all time.”
Carter Swan: Joe’s a huge gamer. He came in and did an audition tape that just blew us away. I can’t tell you how many times over the process, other producers or creatives on the show would call me and be like, he is incredible. He is amazing. He also allowed us, in an action show, to let Sweet Tooth do more. Because he could do more than your average actor. He could do action, fighting, and tossing people around as a stuntman could. It allowed us to do a lot more things with that character visually, where you didn’t have to just cut away and have somebody do all the action for him. He was just incredible. I’ve got so many raves about him. I’m so happy that the characters are so well received out there.
Playstation Productions and the Battle of the Cars
MW: Twisted Metal was a big hit for Peacock. One of their top five shows. Gran Turismo, Last of Us, these are amazing adaptations. Where do you see PlayStation Productions going next? The revelation of the package was so funny. Where are you taking Twisted Metal in season two?
Asad Qizilbash: So we’ve got a couple of things already in development. We’re partnering with Amazon to do a God of War TV show, which I think is going to be nice. And then we’re partnering with Netflix to take Horizon as a TV show. And we’re going to take the same approach as The Last of Us, where it’s going to be mirroring the storylines, but we’re going to go deep into characters and bring something new that you didn’t experience in the game. So those two are going to be absolutely fantastic. We’ve got we’ve got over 10 projects in various stages of development, so this is only just the beginning. There’s so much more for PlayStation Productions and our partnership with Sony Pictures.
Carter Swan: To your point about the show, I think you saw the setup for season two. Everybody wants to see the Battle of the Cars tournament, which is what the game really was. I think the fun thing was setting it up. It’s a TV show; if we threw people right into the tournament of cars, you wouldn’t be as invested in the characters. That’s kind of the idea behind all of it, to set this tournament up. Let’s show you where it came from. Let’s give you some background, depth, and investment in these characters. So when these battles happen, you have some stakes, and you have some feelings about them, and you’re really invested in these people.
I think, as we teased at the end of the show, we’re going to be getting into that battle of the cars, the kind of Twisted Metal car combat tournament that you know so well from the games.
Twisted Metal is available to stream exclusively on Peacock.
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