Warcraft movie to focus on first Human and Orc contact

The Warcraft movie has been in development for some time. Sam Raimi (Spider-Man Trilogy) was originally attached to direct, but Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) has stepped up to bat. With the movie coming out next year, we get some more info on the story.

In an interview with Mtime, a Chinese movie news site, Jones reveals that we’ll be getting a story about the first contact between the Orcs and Humans.

“From the moment I first talked to Blizzard, the plan was to start our film with the first time Orcs met Humans. First contact! I think that for a world with so much newness to explain, this was a wise choice, especially when so many people in our audience may not know anything about Warcraft… it was important that some of our characters would be seeing the world fresh as well, and that the audience could see the situation through their eyes.”

Popular culture has conditioned us to believe that Orcs are evil creatures. Well, Jones wants to show that both the Humans and Orcs are trying to prevent war, and both races will be pivotal to the story.

“A Warcraft film should not be about a good race of humans battling an evil race of orcs! Warcraft should be about heroes on both sides trying to avoid a conflict, when villains leave them no choice.”

The director was inspired by how Peter Jackson introduced movie audiences to the world of Middle-earth. Jones wishes to do the same with Azeroth.

“Peter Jackson did a magnificent job of ‘setting the table’ for Tolkein’s universe with his first Lord of the Rings film. I know that my job in this first film is to establish certain characters, places and culture while telling a story that a broad audience can be excited by! Hopefully, if I have done my job right, people will want to know and see more! There is certainly plenty more to tell! …I would love to be part of that process of expanding on the lore that makes up Warcraft, but it will all depend on what you, the audience, think of our first film!”

So far the film has a great list of actors with Travis Fimmel (Vikings), Dominic Cooper (Captain America: The First Avenger), and Ben Foster (The Punisher) belonging to the Alliance, and Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Rob Kazinsky (Pacific Rim), and Clancy Brown (Starship Troopers) belonging to the Horde.

Warcraft hits theaters on March 11, 2016.

Via Fraking Films