WARCRAFT and The Quest for Cinematic Glory

After so many disappointing attempts to adapt successful video games into live-action films, Hollywood’s goal should be just to make a good movie. But the amazingly talented -and young- director Duncan Jones was way more ambitious than that when he took the reins of WARCRAFT.

We were present at a recent press conference inside Universal Studios Holywood, where the British filmmaker explained what his goal was from the beginning:

“It feels that the spectrum of fantasy is smaller than science fiction. In fantasy, the big gorilla in the room is ‘The Lord of The Rings’ trilogy by Peter Jackson. I love the opportunity to work on a film that hopefully it will rise to the same bar as “Lord of the Rings” and give fantasy a little bit of a new voice, and a new feel. That’s what we tried to do with Warcraft.”

As in most fantasy stories, Jones had to assemble a team of talented individuals to help him achieve greatness. After his tremendous work bringing Koba in ‘Rise of the Planet of The Apes’ Toby Kebbell was perfect to interpret the compelling, imposing, and completely CGI Orc named Durotan.

“It was all motion-capture for me. I just came out of ‘Planet of The Apes’ desperate to keep up with that craft. […] I wanted Durotan to be like a true power, a force of nature. He is presented like a hero. It was psychologically and emotionally nice to play a nice character.”

Among the fighting Orcs and humans there are some that are “mixed-race,” like Garona, played by Paula Patton.

“I have known about Duncan’s work, ‘Moon’, ‘Source Code’. I thought he was an incredible director. The way he explained this world and Garona to me, the passion he had, made me want to do this. […] I have seen the movie twice now. I sat down in the theater and went ‘Oh, my god. It’s remarkable!’ There are so many decisions that a director has to make and he created this incredible world.”

If enough people agree with the actress and WARCRAFT becomes a global hit, then more chapters will arrive to theaters in the future.

“You don’t make films this big, without the hope of making more” said the director. “What we setup in this film is that the Orcs had a home, they lost their home, and Durotan has tried to give them a new home. I hope that by the end of the trilogy we know where the Orcs are going to live.”

That wouldn’t be just good for the future of video game movies, it would be precious.

WARCRAFT opens in theaters nationwide on June 10.

Looking to escape from his dying world, the orc shaman Gul’dan utilizes dark magic to open a portal to the human realm of Azeroth. Supported by the fierce fighter Blackhand, Gul’dan organizes the orc clans into a conquering army called the Horde. Uniting to protect Azeroth from these hulking invaders are King Llane, the mighty warrior Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and the powerful wizard Medivh. As the two races collide, leaders from each side start to question if war is the only answer.