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J.J. Abrams and Gabe Newell in talks, tease Bad Robot game and 'Half-Life' or 'Portal' movie

J.J. Abrams and Gabe Newell in talks, tease Bad Robot game and 'Half-Life' or 'Portal' movie

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J.J. Abrams and Gabe Newell have just revealed on stage at the DICE 2013 Summit that the two are discussing plans to collaborate on film and game in the future. Newell said that the two have been having conversations, and now "we reached the point that we decided to do more than talk." J.J. Abrams then gave us a taste of what the two have been thinking about. Presumably speaking for his production company, Bad Robot, Abrams said on stage that "there's an idea for a game that we'd really like to work with Valve on," and Newell replied, "we're super excited about that and we also want to talk about making movies, either a Portal movie or a Half-Life movie."

"[This] is as real as anything in Hollywood ever gets."

Neither of the two men elaborated any further, but Newell did reveal that the on-stage discussion was a recapitulation of "a series of conversations" that the two men have already had with the intention of a collaborative project. Beyond the big tease, it is clear from the conversation on stage that the two are very appreciative of each other's work. At one point, Newell specifically called out one of his favorite scenes from Cloverfield, while Abrams said "I love the experience of playing your games" while complimenting that in Portal "there's this incredible mystery pulling you forward." If J.J. Abrams gets involved in a Valve movie, it'd only be the latest legendary franchise for the producer-director — he's directing the both upcoming Star Wars and Star Trek films.

Update: Polygon has heard back from J.J. Abrams, and it has sparingly few new details on the collaborations that were teased today. The filmmaker says that plans for a Portal or Half-Life movie are "as real as anything in Hollywood ever gets... which is that we are really talking to Valve, we are going to be bringing on a writer, we have a lot of very interesting ideas."

He also expressed the possibility of doing films in both universes, and he tried to allay the typical fears when gamers hear that work is underway on a film adaptation of a video game. Abrams told Polygon that "our goal here to is to treat the world Valve has created in both these properties like anyone would a book or some great story that comes from a pitch or original script — just to treat it with the respect they treat their games and their players with." Lastly, with regards to the Bad Robot-produced game that Abrams teased, the filmmaker said "we're not looking to make a movie in the gaming world, we're not looking to impose what we do on that, we're looking forward to taking some of our strengths and collaborating with some of these incredible minds that make some of my favorite games."