Bringing a video game to the big screen is a tough effort. Director Duncan Jones knows all too well what a challenge it was, but his cast has a unique take on it as well. We caught up with stars Paula Patton, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky and Toby Kebbell at a recent press day for Warcraft to get their take.
For Patton, she agreed to tackle the role of Garona, and then quickly wondered, “What have I done?!”
“I got in my car and I went (Expletive)! I was like so scared. I wanted to do it justice and (thought), ‘How I will I become a half-orc/half-human? Then I realized that the thing that you are most scared of doing, you should do,” Patton said. “It is remarkable and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”
She found inner strength in tackling the role, something she clearly not only found a mirror in the film itself, but a lesson in life as a whole. “I truly believe it is mind over matter, just like in the fantasy film, imagination. You can will it to yourself,” Patton said. “You have to have faith and believe and not let any bit of negativity or doubt or what came before you or what people say is impossible.”
Kazinsky, as a fan of the game World of Warcraft for the last 12 years, any mention of the movie had him lining up ready to go. “I would have killed many puppies to be a part of this film, and I would have done any part in it. I think I offered to pay Legendary, literally pay them, to have a role in it,” Kazinsky said and laughed, although he is definitely serious.
When they told him what role he would have, the longtime game fan was beyond ecstatic. “I was more than happy when I was asked to be Orgrim Doomhammer. There’s nothing, not rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor armored ogre that could stand in my way to be in this.”
Toby Kebbell is a veteran of motion capture work. He was Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. He could not have been a better choice to jump into the world of Warcraft and tackle the role of Durotan. Between his adoration of the art form of motion capture and the director, there could not have been a more perfect project for Kebbell.
“I am a fan of motion capture. I was a fan of Duncan’s. Of course, the script was so well done and actually a testament of Duncan’s that you kept that script and it just all the way through, because that’s how the downfall of many a great story,” Kebbell said.
“I had just come off Planet of the Apes. I was so desperate to keep up with that craft and learn as much as I could. I was lucky enough to get to read it number one. To get to audition with Duncan, which I did over Skype while he was already up there prepping.”
Like we saw from Kebbell in the Planet of the Apes sequel, his role of Koba is emotionally layered, and so too is his turn as Durotan in Warcraft. “It was psychologically and emotionally nice to play a nice character with a wife. It was a beautiful experience,” he added.
For Ben Schnetzer who portrays Khadgar, his first awareness of the Warcraft world was the script. “The story and the narrative that Duncan and Charles (Schnetzer) set forth was crafted with a very human narrative, a real character driven story,” he said.
“About ten pages into the script, I forgot I was reading an adaptation of a game. Whether your source material is a game or a novel, whatever it is — a good story is a good story, and Duncan was very diligent about giving equal weight to both sides of the story. I was captivated and compelled by it, and the opportunity to do something iconic was extraordinarily exciting.”
Patton overcame her fear as soon as she got to the set, largely due to the stewardship and brilliance of Jones. “I loved it. It became a collaborative effort. Costumes and makeup and hair — all with Duncan’s vision — and then you put on the finishing touches, you put the tests in, and the contact lenses which really obscured my vision and then that was that last bit, I didn’t feel human,” Patton added. “I came to embrace it. I don’t know any other way, so I loved it in the end.”