Last November, fans were treated to the first footage of the upcoming Warcraft movie adaptation by Duncan Jones. The film is scheduled for release in March of 2016 and with it, comes the hope of a million nerds out there: might we finally have that unicorn, the fabled 'good video game movie?'
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Jones spoke with Chinese site MMT (translated via ManMadeMovies) about the film, the process and working within the established Warcraft lore. Even though the film is still 14 months away from completion, the question remains: will this be a part of a larger story?
"Peter Jackson did a magnificent job of "setting the table" for Tolkein's universe with his first Lord of the Rings film. I know that my job in this first film is to establish certain characters, places and culture while telling a story that a broad audience can be excited by." While the history of the Warcraft universe is very, very deep, the idea of creating a self-contained story is probably the right way to go, what with the lack of success video game films have found in history. Blizzard is the king of making one-shot narratives that fit into a larger narrative and if this is successful, a second and third film should not be out of the question."
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But it's best to get one right before trying out three. Lord of the Rings is the exception, not the rule.
As an entry point into the massive world of Azeroth, the film will focus on the lore from the earlier titles, though it may not necessarily follow the canon established by any of the games. "From the moment I first talked to Blizzard, the plan was to start our film with the first time Orcs met Humans. First contact! I think that for a world with so much newness to explain, this was a wise choice, especially when so many people in our audience may not know anything about Warcraft... it was important that some of our characters would be seeing the world fresh as well, and that the audience could see the situation through their eyes."
Jones was cagey on the details, deflecting questions about new characters "wait and see" and the confrontation between Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and Orgrim Doomhammer (Robert Kazinsky), which is the climax of the game.
The most interesting tidbit that Jones delivered was that this would not be a classic high-fantasy good vs evil story. Neither side is wholly right, nor wholly wrong (save for Sargeras, that bastard) and Jones hopes to strike a balance of each by showing each side's strengths and weaknesses. "A Warcraft film should not be about a good race of humans battling an evil race of orcs. Warcraft should be about heroes on both sides trying to avoid a conflict, when villains leave them no choice."
I have never felt like a goody-two-shoes when playing Alliance, nor a monster when playing the Horde. I'm glad Jones and company are going that particular route.
Read the whole translated interview over at the MMM site.
