Moon and Source Code director Duncan Jones came back to San Diego Comic-Con for the third time in three years to show off some more of his cinematic take on the beloved **Warcraft **gaming franchise. Joining him were Ben Foster, Paula Patton, Dominic Cooper, Travis Fimmel, Daniel Wu, Clancy Brown, Ben Schnetzer and Toby Kebbell.
There have been some sneak peeks at the likes of Orc leader Orgrim Doomhammer (played by Robert Kazinsky) and a few intriguing words from sorceror Medivh himself (Ben Foster) in the recent past, but the Hall H crowd were treated to something bigger and better than anything else that’s come before: a proper, serious, actual trailer (with Dominic Cooper in a silver and gold suit of armour and everything).
It was the clearest hint of what the plot of Warcraft actually is. It is, of course, based on the lore of World Of Warcraft, but as Jones has said before, it was always about the orcs’ arrival in the world of Azeroth – a place of humans, elves, taurens and much, much, more… but no orcs. In the trailer, we see the orcs – thanks to the death magic of warlock Gul'dan – make their way through the dark portal, and into a number of brutal but beautiful-in-their-Weta-digital-way battles with The Alliance. The word “epic” feels right for everything seen: from the armour and weaponry (very much of that joyfully oversized Warcraft variety) to the lightning bolt-filled magic seen from human mage Medivh (played by Ben Foster).
“From the moment I first talked to Blizzard, the plan was to start our film with the first time orcs met humans,” Jones has said. “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. 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.”
Adding to that in Comic-Con’s Hall H, Jones said: “We wanted to make a film that everyone would be interested in, not just Warcraft fans.”
Paula Patton talked a little about working on her role in the film: “Probably the greatest challenge I have had as an actress [was playing Garona], a half-human and half-orc, a slave of Gul'dan. She finds herself in Azeroth amongst the humans, her life has changed and she never fits in in either world…. It’s hard to do research when you’re playing an orc!”
“Who doesn’t want to be a wizard?” says Foster. “My experience was a thrill. Getting an opportunity to play with this cast and crew was a once in a lifetime [experience]”
“We had to wear those incredibly heavy outfits every day,” said Dominic Cooper, who plays the human leader King Llane. “[The actors using performance capture to play orcs] were wearing nice comfortable pajamas every day. We wore sweaty wigs and heavy armour. I couldn't lift up my sword… it was pathetic!”
Rob Kazinsky, who plays one of the lead orcs, Orgrim Doomhammer, confessed to the crowd how he himself is a massive World Of Warcaft fan, having played the game a lot. A lot, a lot. “I’m up to 600 days played now [on World Of Warcraft],” said Kazinsky. “I was unemployed for a long time. I lost a relationship, a really good one too, but it would have been really, really sad if I weren’t doing this movie, which has totally made it okay. She left me because of Warcraft, and now I’m like, ‘Who won this round?’”
Daniel Wu, who plays Gul’dan, had this to say about how he got the role: “Gul’dan is an iconic character of the game and it's a daunting task [to play him]. I have to thank my wife, because she plays the game. She is not the only reason why I made the film, but really it was to get into my wife’s good graces. ‘You have to fucking do it!’ she said. I’ve been her hero ever since.”
**Warcraft **invades cinemas on both sides of the pond on June 10, 2016.