Duncan Jones Made Warcraft For Both Gamers and Movie Buffs

(orchestral music)

[Durotan] It has begun.

War is coming.

So why are you here?

To save our people.

What we found,

when we were describing what the film should be,

is that the most sensible thing is to

go back to the very beginning.

The first real-time strategy game,

which was called Orcs and Humans,

and it's about that initial, first contact moment,

not knowing about each other at all to begin with,

and then meeting for the first time.

And that really gives us the opportunity to

explain who they are from each other's perspectives.

Peter Jackson and The Lord of the Rings first trilogy

really set the bar, and the expectations of

what a fantasy film should be and how it should look.

And we needed to match that level but in some way,

give it its own identity and its own look.

Fortunately, Warcraft, by its very nature,

the artwork of Blizzard, it has a very signature style,

so the challenge, really, was to take that signature style

and find a way to make it work in a live-action environment.

We knew that we wanted to try and have a basis in reality,

as much as possible,

even though it was a fantastical environment

and fantastical characters.

We would have photographic references for everything,

and I think the teams at ILM really appreciated that,

and it benefited them, as far as

being able to see what, as much as possible,

actually looked like, within the lighting conditions,

and within the environments that they were being shot in.

I think what we wanted to do is,

as a fan of the game myself and as a player,

is can we make a film which will communicate to

an audience, that doesn't know anything about this world,

why people felt so passionate about it?

And then obviously, for the fans of the game,

can we make a film where they feel like they've gone home?

Do they recognize it?

That was really the approach.

For Azeroth. I'll give you that.

(orchestral music)