TheCollider had the opportunity to talk with film director Sam Raimi at the red carpet of The 35th Saturn Awards, where mostly he just talked about World of Warcraft. Pretty much the first time since he signed up as the Warcraft movie director (7.21.2009) that he talks this much on this topic.
Among the random topics he talked about we have answers to the recent rumors about The Hobbit and Oz.
- He loves the script of Oz, the Great and Powerful, but he’s not really committed to it yet.
- The rumors about The Hobbit are just that: rumors.
- Raimi loves working creatively with Thomas Tull, a WoW player himself, and Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros.
Sam Raimi: “I’ve been reading scripts, been reading books. I’ve been doing work with Robert Rodat on the treatment for the movie of WORLD OF WARCRAFT, and that’s coming along very well.
The rumors I don’t follow that much, but the reviews, good or bad, I live and die for. I really want people to like the movies, and if they don’t, it’s a real bummer. I’m thrilled when they like them. I don’t follow the rumors too much.
Right now, I’m not really committed to OZ. We’ll have to wait to see how that all goes. I did read it and I love the script and think it’s a great project. It’s something I would like to become involved with.
I love the visual world that the guys over at Blizzard have created. It’s incredibly, engrossingly terrifying and exciting. I like their use of scale and the giant monsters that they have. I love the different landscapes that your character can move through.
I like the personal interactions that you have with other players online. There are so many aspects about the game that I really enjoy. Like the sword battles, the performing spells. Learning new spells, getting to the next level.
We’re still working on the story right now. We have a 40-page document that needs more work. But every draft gets better and better. We’re finding the characters, and through the characters we’re finding the story. And the angle, there is no real angle on it. We’re trying to create realistic characters that can live in the world of WARCRAFT, as though you were in the game itself, in one of its environments, and have that interaction with those great mythical, iconic characters.
There are so many characters in the game that we’re really trying to pull out the most exciting and different characters of the game. It’s so overwhelming. It’s a real big universe. There are so many worlds, in fact, and characters, I don’t think we could touch on them all satisfactorily.
So we are trying to choose the characters that are interesting, and play a part in our drama that we’re developing.
I had a level 29 shaman that somebody deleted by accident. Now I’ve worked a new character all the way up to level 72. That’s how big of a fan I am. I’ve spent that many days in the world of Warcraft.
The studio is very enthusiastic. It’s Legendary Pictures. Tomas Tull is running Legendary. He’s a great fan of the game itself. He really produces good-quality pictures, and he wants to make a top-quality movie. That’s his only concern. So he’s very excited about the process. I love working with him.
I really love working with World of Warcraft. It’s still a long ways away. It’s only a 40-pages story. I really want to direct the picture, but it’s possible that a film that is ready to make could come in. I mean, I haven’t seen it yet. I love making movies. The development process is a little less interesting to me, but it’s something you have to do if you want to start something from scratch. That’s what we did with World of Warcraft.”
