Robert Baird said that he’s aware that part of the game’s popularity is the ability to see the world through the eyes of a cat, which was definitely a huge selling point for me and many others who played the game. Shifting perspective is one of the fastest ways to add a new level of intrigue to any story. I may not be a cop in Detroit a la “RoboCop,” but I can relate to the perspective of being a Midwestern adult in a police state. I cannot, however, relate to being a cat. I’ve never navigated the world being that small or nimble, and certainly never that cute.
“How did they pull that off, and how are we going to pull that off in the movie?” pondered Baird. “We will, even though sometimes it feels impossible, but we know that’s the essence of the game and the key to telling the story.” What has me most interested, however, is Baird’s explanation that BlueTwelve considers the game to be “hopepunk,” or the idea that optimism can be its own from of resistance. “I love that term, hopepunk,” he told EW. “I think, if we are going to do this adaptation justice, this is going to be the first and greatest hopepunk movie that’s ever been made.”
“Stray” is the first of hopefully many Annapurna Interactive adaptations, and the performance of the film will likely dictate whether or not we see film adaptations of their other games like “Twelve Minutes,” “Florence, If Found…,” “Journey,” or upcoming games like “Cocoon,” “Thirsty Suitors,” or “Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth.”