Return to Castle Wolfenstein Director Charged with Manslaughter

Roger Avary, the writer and director of the work-in-progress Return to Castle Wolfenstein movie, has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and DUI.

Avary was involved in a single-car collision that killed Andreas Zini, an Italian citizen who was visiting Avary and his wife, Gretchen. Zini was cut from the car by firefighters but died several hours later at Ventura County Medical Center.

The ongoing Writers' Guild strike has halted the production process of the movie, although Avary told the Sci-Fi Wire in a November interview that he "is almost done with the script." He further described it as "a World War II old movie of guys who are out on a mission, but this one will have the addition of monsters and horror and a lot of craziness all mixed together. We will start it when it is the right time."

"I've been playing the character of B.J. Blazkowicz since the epic Wolfenstein 3D first bruised my brain and have ever since wanted to bring his adventures to life on the big screen," Avary said when he announced his participation in the project. "It's time to bust some dams, storm some bunkers and blow up some bridges."

Avary, who along with Quentin Tarantino won an Academy Award for writing Pulp Fiction, has been released on $50,000 bail. Return to Castle Wolfenstein is tentatively slated for a 2010 release.

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Avary also previously shared writing credits with Neil Gaiman on Beowulf. He's been around the block a few times, sober.

Damn! Avary was our only shot at having a decent talent making/writing video game movies, what with Wolfenstein and Driver on the way.
Guess he'd been playing too much Grand Theft Auto.
... (too soon?)

Poor italian bloke.
I suppose this is where we prove that video games makes people irresponsible, drive like they're in a video game and have violent behaviours.

Ouch, it's a shame how one accident is all it takes to completly wreck your life(and that of others).

This isn't going to help our "videogames are not the devil" debate.

Oh, come on. The guy's in the movie business. Probation, counseling, maybe a little community service, and he'll be back to snorting blow off hooker's tits in no time.

The sad thing is, people are gonna sympathize with the director. Oh, boo hoo. He lost his chance to direct, his reputation, and his freedom. Guess what? Another guy lost his life. I know I hold no sympathy.

Forums - providing your daily dose of under-informed, self-righteous indignation.

Go go teh internets!

I think the guy should get his day in court before the vilification gets too far out of hand, but killing someone by driving drunk (or otherwise "impaired") in this day and age is pretty high up on the List of Contemptibly Stupid Things To Do. I think Mr. Avary can expect a pretty rough ride from some quarters over this.