"There was always going to be live action" - As the Minecraft movie gets a new trailer, its director and producer try to defend its controversial look
"A lot of the people who will see it were not born when the first contracts and the first discussions were had."
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As A Minecraft Movie gets a new uncanny valley as heck trailer, its director and producer attempt to defend how it looks.
Warner Bros. released a new Minecraft Movie trailer yesterday, giving a much more comprehensive look at the upcoming video game adaptation, complete with a duck roasted by lava, that classic chill music, and skeletons trying to kill you with bows and arrows. It's certainly a better trailer than the first one, but obviously it can't change that slightly terrifying and controversial look that mixes live action and CGI. The first trailer quickly proved divisive amongst fans, and alongside the release of this latest trailer for Warner Bros., IGN put out a new interview with director Jared Hess and producer/ Minecraft senior director of original content Torfi Frans Olafsson where they attempted to defend the decision to use live action.
"I mean, look, we knew this game represents so many different things to so many different people," Hess said, talking of that partial negative reaction to the first trailer (which wasn't as passionate as that first trailer for the original Sonic movie, a situation Hess wanted to avoid at all costs). "We knew that whatever we led out with, there was going to be strong opinions across the spectrum of what people were expecting, what they wanted it to be. Everybody brings their own special personal connection to the game. So we were ready for everything."
Olafsson took the time to specifically respond to the live action criticism, saying, "I mean, that was one of the things [fans were saying in response to the trailer]: ‘Why is it live action? Why isn't it animated?’ I think a lot of people were expecting that, and just the fact that there was live action and directly real-life characters and physical sets, didn't feel right with them, because in their imagination, they've been playing it for a very long time.
"And they've kind of projected and seen a bunch of content obviously that's been made both by us, the community, we've made a story mode. We made animated content before, and there's a lot of it out there. But that was also one of the reasons why the filmmakers wanted to go with live action rather than animate it, rather than do something that's been done before."
The producer goes on to note that the movie has been in development for a "very, very long time", and by that he means at least 10 years. "A lot of the people who will see it were not born when the first contracts and the first discussions were had, and there was always going to be live action."
I'm not sure how strong a defence that actually is, just because there was always going to be live action doesn't mean there should have been. Olafsson and Hess do also talk about how strong the team is that has worked on the film, and at the very least the effects themselves don't look bad. They just look strange with the human cast being green screened amongst them. Either way, we'll find out how it actually is when it finally releases April 4, next year.