Sam Raimi Talks World of Warcraft Movie
Good news: the movie won't be about real-world players getting sucked into Blizzard's virtual realm.
Thursday night at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles, Collider.com got a chance to chat with Sam Raimi as he strolled the red carpet. The short interview featured a small range of topics that spanned rumors of him working on The Hobbit, talk of Oz as his next project, and of course the movie based on our beloved MMORPG, World of Warcraft.
Raimi first said that he's currently working with Robert Rodat on a treatment for the WoW-based movie, adding that it's "coming along very well." Then after answering a few questions in regards to The Hobbit and Oz, he was asked about what excited him most about WoW in regards to being a filmmaker.
"I love the visual world the guys over at Blizzard have created," he said. "It's incredibly, engrossingly terrifying and exciting. I like the use of scale--the giant monsters they have. I love the different landscapes that your character can move through. I like the first-person interaction you have with other players online. There are so many aspects about the game that I really enjoy."
He was then asked about the angle of the story. "We're still working on the story right now, and we've got a 40-page document that needs a lot more work, but every draft that we do with Robert Rodat gets better and better. We're finding the characters due to the characters finding the story. There's no real angle on it. We're just trying to create realistic characters that can live in the world of Warcraft like as though you were in the game itself in one or two or three of those environments, and see the interaction with those great, mythical, iconic characters."
The interview goes on to ask how Raimi and the team will overcome the process of translating games to film that have tragically nuked other failed projects. He also clarified that the movie isn't based on real-world players entering the virtual fantasy realm--this will be a 100-percent epic fantasy movie like Lord of the Rings and other popular flicks in the genre.
To see the full video interview, head here.
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jellico On the one hand, this sounds really cool. On they other hand, Hollywood doesn't exactly have a spectacular track record where it comes to realizing video games as subject matter for feature-length films. But, yeah, I'd probably drop $10 to see (provided it wasn't made by Uwe Boll).Reply -
hellwig ct1615the love interest is a female Night Elf named "diamondlilly", shes played by Robert DeNero in dragLoL, yep, just like every other night-elf character on WoW.Reply
I'd rather see a Diablo-based movie, weren't they supposed to make one years ago? And please, PLEASE, do not tell me Uwe Bol bought those rights and made it 5 years ago starring Dolph Lundgren.
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RipperjackAU ct1615the antagonist is an undead warlock named "gnomepwnr" played by the geeky kid from wonder yearsReply
What? Don't you mean this guy...
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carlhenry ok this is great news just don't put health and mana bars on the actor just as the dead or alive movie did. seriously. i love fantasy movies just don't put the game's environment in it. i don't want to see any mouse pointers at the movie.Reply -
johnnyupgrade jellico...(provided it wasn't made by Uwe Boll).Reply
They better not let that guy any where near this movie.
It doesn't sound like they're sticking to the original plot of Warcraft, which sucks. I really don't care much for the fantasy genre, but I found the storyline in Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne (and carried over to Wow) really interesting. Almost felt like Greek mythology. -
Kelavarus johnnyupgradeThey better not let that guy any where near this movie.It doesn't sound like they're sticking to the original plot of Warcraft, which sucks. I really don't care much for the fantasy genre, but I found the storyline in Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne (and carried over to Wow) really interesting. Almost felt like Greek mythology.Reply
That's Warcraft 3. Personally, I much prefer the ACTUAL storyline of the original Warcraft, yes, Warcraft 1.
Also, is this live action? I really can't see this being very good at all as a live action movie, regardless of Sam Raimi. Warcraft has a very distinct art that I don't think would carry over very well.