Wolfenstein movie director arrested following fatal crash

The Return to Castle Wolfenstein film's road to release took a tragic turn over the weekend, when its writer and director was involved in a fatal auto accident. The Los Angeles Times reports that Roger Avary, 42, was arrested following a crash early Sunday morning outside a lumberyard. As a result of the accident, Avary's passenger, 34-year-old Andreas Zedini, was killed instantly while Avary's 40-year-old wife, Gretchen, was hurled from the back seat. She remains hospitalized with "serious" injuries.

According to a spokesperson for the Ventura County Sheriff's Department, Avary was booked at the Ventura County Jail before he was released on $50,000 bail. According to the Associated Press, he faces felony drunk driving and possibly manslaughter charges.

Sunday's crash marked dark chapter in Avary's bright career. He won an Academy Award in 1995 for cowriting the screenplay for Pulp Fiction, and most recently executive-produced and cowrote the script for Robert Zemeckis' computer-animated fantasy Beowulf. Games-wise, Avary also wrote the fairly well-received adaptation of Konami's Silent Hill series, directed by Christopher Gans. Return to Castle Wolfenstein had been set for a 2010 release following a delay stemming from the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike.