El Paso, Elsewhere Set to Receive Film Adaptation Starring LaKeith Stanfield

In an exciting turn, it appears that El Paso, Elsewhere, a beloved neo-noir videogame about vampires, breakups, and the end of the world, is headed for the big screen with LaKeith Stanfield set to star. Xalavier Nelson Jr., the head of the studio who created the game (Strange Scaffold), confirmed the news on X:

LAKEITH STANFIELD
DI BONAVENTURA
STRANGE SCAFFOLD

EL PASO ELSEWHERE MOVIE

EL PASO, ELSEWHERE MOVIE IS HAPPENING
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH https://t.co/rnRxldMR5y

— Xalavier Nelson Jr. 🔜 Reboot Develop (@WritNelson) April 22, 2024

In addition to LaKeith Stanfield starring and producing, Lorenzo di Bonaventura’s Di Bonaventura Pictures (Transformers, G.I. Joe) will be handling production. Di Bonaventura Pictures has been involved in other videogame adaptations, such as Doom and Dead Rising: Endgame.

The videogame follows James Savage (who will be played by Stanfield in the film and was originally voiced by Xalavier), a vampire hunter attempting to stop his ex-girlfriend, Draculae, from ending the world. Inspired by Remedy’s Max Payne, among other things, it features slow-motion gun duels and tortured monologues as Savage battles his past (and also supernatural creatures that are trying to murder him). When it was released last September, the game was critically well-received, received a nomination for best Independent Game at the D.I.C.E. Awards, and at Paste, we ranked it as one of our favorite games of 2023.

Considering that most videogame adaptations are hitched to multi-game mega-franchises, the news that this smaller, newer work is getting an adaptation is a very pleasant surprise. However, in some ways, perhaps it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock. Much of El Paso, Elsewhere’s success hinges on its writing and striking aesthetics, making it a more natural fit to make the leap to film than most games that get this treatment.