Hello, Hollywood: Markiplier to direct, star in feature-length video game adaptation

Markiplier is ready for his close-up. The gamer (real name Mark Fischbach) is set to direct and star in a Hollywood adaptation of the horror video game Iron Lung.

To get Iron Lung onto the big screen, Fischbach will wear many hats. According to Deadline, the Ohio native — who reaches more than 34 million subscribers on his namesake YouTube channel — will finance the feature out of his own pocket. He will adapt a script he wrote himself and will serve as one of the film’s three producers, alongside Will Hyde and Jeff Guerrero. As if that wasn’t enough work already, Fischbach will direct the Iron Lung project and star in it alongside Caroline Rose Kaplan.

Iron Lung is a scare-filled game developed by David Syzmanski, who was also behind the 2018 title Dusk. Fischbach played Iron Lung on his channel a year ago, and he is now working alongside Szymanski to bring the game’s sub-nautical sense of terror to theaters. A teaser shared on the Markiplier YouTube channel provides a first look at the planned adaptation.

After rising to prominence as one of the biggest names within YouTube’s “Let’s Play” community, Fischbach has expanded his presence across multiple media. His podcasts, including Distractible and Go! My Favorite Sports Team, have achieved chart-topping success. The video versions of both shows were recently announced as Spotify exclusives.

In the film world, Fischbach made some noise when he distributed a documentary called Markiplier from North Korea, which explored his ancestry on his mother’s side. The project premiered last year through the events service Moment. Fischbach also received an Emmy nomination after bringing an interactive series called In Space with Markiplier to YouTube.

As he prepares his next big project, Fischbach is taking advantage of the growing appetite for horror video game adaptations. (He can thank HBO’s The Last of Us for that trend.) By making a bold move into Hollywood, the man known as Markiplier is establishing himself as one of the most versatile multi-hyphenates in the world. Is he the first writer/producer/actor/director/gamer/creator/nude model we’ve ever seen? If another one exists, I’ve yet to meet them.