GameSpy: You've just made the big announcement that Sam Raimi will be directing the Warcraft movie. You're co-producing, so what are your thoughts on the announcement?
Chris Metzen, Vice President of Creative Development, Blizzard Entertainment: We're all very, very excited about the announcement. We waited a long time to announce a director. We've been with Legendary for a number of years and we've jammed a lot of ideas, and we've waited for the right personalities, the right chemistry to come together. We're really, really stoked that it finally has. It's pretty surreal that we've finally made the announcement. It's finally like, "It's on, it's official, here we go." We're just stoked to get it going and see this thing starting to take shape.
GameSpy: Was Sam Raimi one of the originally targeted directors?
Chris Metzen: We talked about a lot of different people, and certainly his name was one of the first we had talked about. We're all huge "Spider-Man" fans, and all of his horror content, like "Army of Darkness" is one of my personal favorites. Sam's one of those guys who came out swinging with "Spider-Man," in terms of handling the licensed product and all the geeky fanfare. The passion of fandom, he really translated that into something that everyone could love, and had a lot of heart. And those were really important components for us, in terms of translating a license, in building a cinematic experience that speaks to the license, but really sings to everybody. That was really, really important to us, so he was the perfect partner.
GameSpy: Warcraft will be a live-action film. Don't you feel like your in-house cinematic team could have made a great movie?
Chris Metzen: What I'd say is I'm one of the biggest fans of our cinematic department, and I love what they do and I love getting to work on that stuff too. But at the end of the day, for a movie, we really want something that's going to capture the imagination of the world, and I think you need living, breathing actors, to some degree, to really bring out that accessibility and that emotion. So I'm really excited to see the live-action take shape. But I'm a huge fan of our animation, and who knows what we'll do with that down the line.
GameSpy: The fan base is relying on you to ensure that the movie stays true to Warcraft. Are you prepared to say that it will be?
Chris Metzen: Absolutely! Absolutely.
GameSpy: What most excites you about co-producing the movie?
Chris Metzen: The thing that would excite me most is just that it translates boldly. That it feels like a fan experience, and that a couple years from now, you sit down in a theater and you're like, "They did it. They got it. That feels genuine." It may not be about your Level 12 Night Elf Hunter, specifically, but all the familiarity -- the locales, the places, the characters, the storylines -- it all feels contiguous and one-to-one with your expectations. That's my great hope.
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.