It was inevitable, we’re entering the stage where studios are making movies about eSports. “Fanboys” director Kyle Newman is now working on a comedy about eSports titled “1Up,” which just got a late-stage shake-up in its cast.
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The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on the casting change in “1Up,” saying that Ruby Rose (“Batwoman,” “The Meg“) is joining the cast of “1Up,” replacing Elliot Page, who was previously tapped to star in the film but is stepping away from the production — which is now underway in Toronto. No reason is provided for Page’s departure, but Rose will be joining Paris Berelc, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Hari Nef, and Nicholas Coombe. Julia Yorks wrote the script for the film.
The film follows a young woman named Valerie Lee, who “quits her college esports team, fed up with gaslighting from her male counterparts, and quickly realizes that her decision comes at the cost of her scholarship. But, she discovers a loophole to save her collegiate future: if she can find a coach and assemble a whole new varsity-caliber team capable of reaching the State Finals. Valerie turns to her professor, Parker Nesby, and together with Valerie’s best friend and fellow gamer Sloane, they form and train a rag-tag women’s team committed to taking down the boys that tried to shut them out of gaming in the first place.” Rose will be playing the professor, while Berelc is set to play Lee.
According to THR, the film is the first production to come out of a new partnership between Lionsgate and BuzzFeed to “develop, produce and distribute socially relevant feature films with the aim of targeting millennial and Gen Z audiences.”
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At first glance, it feels like the film is a response to the exponential growth of eSports leagues in the last decade, combining it with your typical sports movie about a ragtag group of kids forming a team. The fact that this will be a comedy, and directed by the guy behind “Fanboys,” gives little confidence that this will be more than a movie about how weird and funny it is that teens are so involved in playing sports on their computer, rather than out on the film. We really hope we’re wrong, but this announcement doesn’t inspire much confidence.