David Jaffe is a video-game designer responsible for some of the most controversial titles not named Grand Theft Auto. In the '90s he unleashed Twisted Metal, the first vehicular combat game that let you play as a killer clown. More recently, he created the God Of War series and introduced the world to the bloodthirsty Kratos, whose anger makes him kinda like the raging Christian Bale of ancient Greece. Nowadays, Jaffe's co-directing and co-lead designing the new Twisted Metal, due out on PS3 sometime next year. He also has a blog.

No. 1: A Perfect Candidate

It's about Oliver North running for the Senate. I will probably never watch that. I'm a total political junkie. I love politics, and probably I was searching at the time for something political to watch and then as the election season geared up, the current news has satiated my political junkie-ness. In fact, I'll delete that right now as we're talking.

No. 31: Food, Inc.

I went through this phase where I was really into documentaries, especially liberal-leaning documentaries. I'm an extremely liberal person, but I'm so tired of liberal documentaries right now. They all have to have this really cutesy, stupid animation to explain these complicated concepts. It's supposed to send you out of the theater to go sign some f***ing petition down by the Ralphs Grocery Store. It just feels very formulaic at this point. [Laughs.] So I'll probably never watch this one, either. When you're older you're like, "Those are really good views, but it doesn't take the whole story into account." Yeah, I'm gonna delete that one.

“I'm an extremely liberal person, but I'm so tired of liberal documentaries right now.”

Do these documentaries ever really change anyone's minds you think, or do they just reinforce what they already believe? Were you hoping to have your eyes opened to something with Food, Inc.?

I think so. The one that got to me that didn't make me change anything was Fahrenheit 9/11—there's this scene with this woman who lost her son, and she's in front of the White House. I believe we just had our first or second kid, and I was bawling. That's when it hit me, "Okay, this movie can tug at my heart strings and affect me, but what the f*** am I gonna do? What can I do?" All it's done is sow the seeds of apathy in me. There's nothing you can do, except sit back, watch TV and shut up.

That's what being an American's all about.

[Laughs.] Unfortunately, that is true.

No. 65: Eureka: Season 1

I've never watched this, but I read Wil Wheaton's blog a lot. He's on it and he talks about it. A lot of fellow sci-fi and fantasy geeks are telling me it's a really cool show. I have fallen behind in my TV watching, and so long as I have Weeds and I have Dexter and I have Sons Of Anarchy to get around to—there's just so much crap to watch. In a good way. I don't think I'll cut off cable, but yeah, man.

The best TV series I ever saw was Six Feet Under. After I saw that, I was like, "I don't need any more TV series." I'm not that stupid; of course I need more TV series. But it's been hard for me to find something since then that's really grabbed me. I watched the first episode of [Alan Ball's] True Blood and I got bored and turned it off. You know, TV is a lot like video games in a lot of ways, especially these big games like Red Dead Redemption: You've got to commit. I don't want to f***ing commit. People are always like, "No, no, no, no. It's really good, you just got to give it three or four hours for it to get good." I just don't f***ing have time. Are you kidding me? I know I'll miss out on great things that way, and that's really my loss. But what're you gonna do?

“You know, TV is a lot like video games in a lot of ways, especially these big games like Red Dead Redemption: You've got to commit.”

No. 12: Annie: Special Anniversary Edition

I have two daughters and I want them to see Annie. I'm not ashamed to admit it, but I like a good musical as much as the next straight guy. I watched Nine the other night. But Annie is something my parents took me and my brother to see when we were little kids and I thought my kids would like it. If I keep eating the way I do, they'll be orphans themselves, so I want them to know what to be prepared for.

No. 22: Hook

Ah, man. I snuck onto the set of Hook when I was in college. I was and remain a f***ing mega-fan of [Steven] Spielberg. I look at Hook, and it's incredibly flawed, but it has spirit. I don't pretend to even share the same air as Steven Spielberg or his level of success, but in terms of someone who does creative work, I recognize things in Hook that I recognize in my own work. It's clearly a guy in transition moving from one kind of product or one kind of work to a new kind. You've got this very mushy, flawed experience, but underneath it all is just its great heart. And underneath that is the story of a guy in his thirties or early forties who's a workaholic, and I've always been drawn to those kind of stories because it's a danger for me. I put my work ahead of everything else. It's just such a great story about reconnecting with that kid in you. Even though in some ways it's really boring in some parts, I want to watch it for myself and will show it my kids. I think it'll be cool to show them this alternate version of the story.

You snuck onto the set?

I went over to the Sony lot where they were shooting. I snuck on a couple of days and it was f***ing amazing. This really was the end of an era because this was right before everything became CG. They built every motherf***ing everything. There was this massive Captain Hook pirate ship. In this scene, it pulled into some port, and you could walk on the planks and walk on the ship. There were animals running around everywhere. It was the real old-school Hollywood deal. I'm grateful got to see that. Until I got to talk to you, I didn't realize that this was one of the last movies that really did it real on that scope and scale. Now you go onto the set of Avatar and you see a big blue screen and the real-life prop of a rock, and that's your set.

No. 58: Wyatt Earp

I've never seen it, but it's directed by Larry Kasdan and he wrote two of my favorite movies of all-time: Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back. I had seen Open Range recently with Kevin Costner and as I move into the second chapter of my career as a game designer, I'm starting to get my head around what I want to do next in terms of the kinds of games I want to make. I'm being drawn more and more into really good storytelling and characters and really trying to figure out in my remaining years on earth whether I'm going to be able to do this. Really do my part to expand the medium, if possible. I've been drawn to not just classic movies from the '30s and '40s up through the '70s and '80s but also just moviemakers who clearly, every time they step up to the plate they do something interesting. They may not be successful, and people may not like it, but there's a clear love of telling a story and crafting characters. A lot of what's on my queue from Wyatt Earp all the way through It Happened One Night and The Shop Around The Corner, is really just my brain reaching out to these artists who really seemed to be putting that love above all else. I went on a bender two or three weeks ago, sitting with my notebook, writing out what I really want my next game to be about. As I did that, all of these kinds of movies started coming up.

“I went on a bender two or three weeks ago, sitting with my notebook, writing out what I really want my next game to be about.”

No. 45: Tales From The Script

It's a documentary with interviews from screenwriters ranging from top-of-the-line guys like Frank Darabont and Shane Black down to people who had just gotten their first movie made or straight-to-video schlock stuff. It really goes through things like being rejected, getting your movie made.

What I really loved about the movie, aside from the pure information, is I have a tendency to buy into the bulls*** hype of Hollywood. I love the idea of what it was like making movies, even though I don't make movies. Maybe there's a connection, though, because our industry in games is so young, and it's just beginning, that there is sort of a similar feeling. Everything from the kind of games that we're making to the business model in place, to what Hollywood seems to have been like when it was beginning. But I have a tendency to get caught up in thinking it was so exciting, glamorous, and having so energy to make movies. But this really does put that bulls*** hype machine to bed. These are just guys struggling and working. They're not glamorous. This is sort of the opposite of sneaking onto the Hook set. My brother works in the movies and it still surprises me that this is just normal people doing a job.

You mentioned movies and old-school Hollywood influencing what you want to do with your next games. Have you thought at all about an actor or someone like that you might want to collaborate with in the future?

There are actors I think might have a really good place as voices for sure. We were trying to figure out who to get as Sweet Tooth [in Twisted Metal]. Laurence Fishburne would be cool, or Kevin Spacey. But I talk to people about collaborating with other creators. There's an ego side of that, like a fanboy side to it. It'd be so cool to do a game with Kevin Smith or Steven Spielberg, but the reality of it is I'm so grateful when somebody will pony up some money so we can express our own vision that you're very protective, no matter who they are, of the creative freedom you've been given. So the idea of collaborating means there's less room in the kitchen for you. I have enough of my own stuff that I'm not really interested in collaborating, even with someone as godlike as Steven Spielberg.

“I have enough of my own stuff that I'm not really interested in collaborating, even with someone as godlike as Steven Spielberg.”

No. 17: Killer At Large: Why Obesity Is America's Greatest Threat

The reason I picked this, aside from being about 25 pounds overweight, is the box cover is so evocative. It's a cigarette carton but there's French fries coming out of it instead of cigarettes. French fries are my kryptonite. Obviously it's a real issue, I'm an overweight guy, it's an issue for me. I struggle with it. I'm a stress eater and I have a lot of stress in my life. It's cool to see a documentary that deals with the fact that there's a lot of people that struggle with it for various reasons. The documentary kinda covers just a change in the way we eat in terms of portion size and ingredients that get put in food in order to make them more addictive or have a longer shelf life. At the same time, I agree with Ricky Gervais. He says, "What epidemic? If you eat this stuff, you have no discipline." He's right to an extent. There are chemical reasons—people treat [fast food] like a drug. But at the same time, with stuff like Super Size Me, it's like, "Really? McDonald's is bad for you? I didn't know that, thanks Morgan." Of course it's bad for you.

No. 50: The Mission

I've never seen it, but everyone says it's just such an amazing movie. When I'm home sick some day or after Twisted Metal ships I think I'll finally watch it. It reminds me of being in high school, and me and my buddy Jay Stern were like, "We're the guys from Alabama who are going to go off and make movies." Every time Premiere magazine hit the mailbox it was a cause for celebration. So all these movies were hitting around that time, like The Mission, right before Goodfellas and things like that. So even though I haven't seen this, it brings me back to that nostalgic time where I was a breath away from becoming the next Spielberg and going off to Hollywood to make my fame and fortune.

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