The first in depth details have been revealed about the upcoming movie adaptation of the popular Warcraft video game franchise. Director Duncan Jones spoke at Blizzcon and described the movie's plot and characters to fans for the first time.
According to IGN, the movie will focus on the first encounters between the humans and orcs, and will have Warcraft 2 characters Lothar and Durotan in the movie. Jones explained that originally the movie was to focus on the human and Alliance faction, but then the movie's producers decided to focus more on "being a hero no matter what side you're on." The movie will focus on the orcs to help make them act more like human characters, and more relatable, Jones said.
"You have to be as empathetic for Orc heroes and their situation and why they're doing what they're doing as you are about anyone," Jones added.
Jones said that telling a story of violence and warfare from both sides is rare, and could set Warcraft apart from other fantasy movies.
"To tell a story where you're really, honestly telling it from both sides -- especially a war film -- is unusual...The fact that we're able to get an opportunity to do that is, on a story level, breaking a few barriers. I don't think you're going to see a lot of films with this structure."
The film's producer also emphasized that the movie will attempt to use cutting edge CGI to recreate the world of Warcraft, and that human actors will be cast for the orcs. Jones stated that he had some actors cast in the movie, but did not give specific names of actors committed to the project. Blizzard's Chris Metzen explained that the hardest part of planning the movie was trying to pinpoint which part of the franchises' lore to focus on in the movie:
"We had been working on multiple iterations of the story in the years before we met [with Jones]...it was a process of honing in on what are the themes that are universal, constructing a story that sings to everyone's faction and race and finding the touch points that are the broadest themes so everybody wins."
Jones also discussed the possibility that strong female roles will be included in the movie, and stated that the movie will most likely be PG-13.