Duncan Jones began the recording of the Warcraft Film on January 13th, and barely 24 hours later the teasing has begun: “Love big film sets! Always have. Just had a lovely wander through Durotan’s hood. Off to another set next!”– said Duncan.
This might only mean one out of two possible locations. The first thought to cross a lore fan when he/she reads “Durotan’s hood” is: Frostfire Ridge in Draenor.
Some of the Frostfire Ridge screenshots given to us at BlizzCon 2013 can be found here. So the Durotan’s hood (stands for: neighborhood) should look similar to the BlizzCon screenshots. The RedShirtGuy wrote a Blizzplanet article about his hands-on gameplay experience at BlizzCon 2013.
If the film story is set to start with images of both planets, and Durotan is in Frostfire Ridge at the beginning of this story — what we will likely experience in the film’s initial 30-minutes is the opening of the Dark Portal. Of course, these scenes could be flashbacks too.
The second Durotan’s hood was in Azeroth … that was the Alterac Valley (known by PvP players as one of the Battlegrounds). The problem with this is that we already saw a concept art showing Draenor. Thus, the first option sounds more likely to be the script’s aim, and what Duncan meant.
Would you want more teasers from Duncan? If so, join the discussion on twitter.
Note: If you missed it, read our full transcript of the BlizzCon 2013: Warcraft Movie Presentation Panel.
The Warcraft film is less than a month away from starting to roll cameras to record scenes on January 13, 2014. The release date was moved to March 11, 2016.
So far Legendary Entertainment officially announced a few actors to star in the Warcraft film — with the latest two actors announced yesterday to join the cast:
Legendary Entertainment announced today new casting details for the Warcraft Film which starts recording on January 12, 2014. Daniel Wu and Clancy Brown join the casting along with those recently announced.
Clancy Brown has been most recently in Cowboys & Aliens (2011), and he has a long acting history with Starship Troopers (1997), The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
What catches my eye is that throughout 2000-2013 Clancy Brown has mostly been a voice actor for video games and TV Series/animations such as G.I. Joe: Renegades, The Penguins of Madagascar, Thundercats, Green Lantern (The Animated Series), The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Wolverine and the X-Men — just to name a few.
This is interesting. Clancy might be playing as a real actor, or as a voice actor for a CGI character in the Warcraft film. Want to know something few may know? Clancy Jones voiced Thrall in the cancelled video game: Warcraft Adventures. He also voiced Scourgelord Tyrannus (Wrath of the Lich King’s Icecrown Citadel: Pit of Saron).
WARCRAFT fans, we have an exciting casting update…
Daniel Wu and Clancy Brown are joining the cast of WARCRAFT, based on Blizzard Entertainment’s award-winning Warcraft universe. They join previously announced cast members including Ben Foster, Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Toby Kebbell, and Rob Kazinsky.
Production is set to begin this January in Vancouver. – source: Legendary
The Wrap reports Dominic Cooper is joining the Warcraft Film cast. Yesterday, Legendary Pictures announced the cast of actors to bring to life the main characters of the Warcraft film which is focused on the clash between Sir Anduin Lothar and Durotan of the Frostwolf clan during the First War.
Legendary Pictures announced via Twitter the following actors are part of the of Warcraft film casting crew: Ben Foster, Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Toby Kebbell and Rob Kazinsky.
Ben Foster is known as Angel/Warren Worthington III in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Recently, Universal Pictures announced the Warcraft Film by director Duncan Jones would be released on December 16, 2015. Today, Legendary Picture announced three movies have a new release date.
Fan 16: I’m sure a few people in the audience has some opinions on this, but: Stereo conversion versus Native. What’s your opinion?
Duncan: I have one eye much better than the other. So 3D films are not something that immediately works right for me. I actually prefer to watch the 2D experience; but 3D is obviously a massively important draw for some people who really get a lot out of it. I don’t know if you have seen GRAVITY yet? Or if you actually saw that in 3D? but the response to that has been that 3D can work. So we will look into it. I think 3D is something that I would hope we would release in both so that people can choose which one they want. I am a 2D fan, but I know there are people out there who really do love 3D as well.
From the Legendary Pictures update, the new release date seems to be influenced by the Warcraft Film getting converted to 3D. Many films have had this treatment in recent years with success, and considering all the complex visual effects of Warcraft, it makes sense to literally jaw-drop the audience in blazing spectacular 3-D.
The Warcraft Film was among them:
Legendary Pictures’ WARCRAFT, released in 3D by Universal Pictures, will move from December 18, 2015 to March 11, 2016.
Legendary Pictures’ UNTITLED MICHAEL MANN PROJECT will be released by Universal Pictures on Friday, January 16, 2015.
Legendary Pictures’ SEVENTH SON will be released in 3D by Universal Pictures on Friday February 6, 2015.
About WARCRAFT
Legendary Pictures’WARCRAFT, a 3D epic adventure of world-colliding conflict based upon Blizzard Entertainment’s globally-renowned universe, will be directed by Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) and is written by Charles Leavitt and rewritten by Duncan Jones. The producers are Charles Roven, Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni and Alex Gartner. Stuart Fenegan, Jillian Share and Brent O’Connor will serve as executive producers. Blizzard’s Chris Metzen will co-produce. — source: Legendary, Nick Carpenter Twitter
Nick Carpenter shared on twitter just a glimpse into the type of work that Visual Effects can do for any film. The video below shows a “Before and After” breakdown from the film The Great Gatsby. While Westenhofer wasn’t involved in that film, this video shows heavy use of visual effects work. By the way, Simon Dugan (“The Great Gatsby” cinematographer) in on the Warcraft film. So this video below shows his work too.
Having watched that, below is a “Before and After” of the movie titled “The Life of Pi” for which Bill Westenhofer won an Oscar. Bill Westenhofer is the VFX supervisor for the upcoming Warcraft film.
Read the BlizzCon 2013: The Presentation of the Warcraft Movie Panel to find out what Bill Westenhofer along with director Duncan Jones, Rob Pardo, Chris Metzen and Blizzard’s Senior VP of Cinematics Nick Carpenter shared about the development of the film.
Here are some breakdowns on the visual effects of the film The Golden Compass for which he also won a BAFTA and an Academy Award.
The Production Weekly Magazine issue #873 has listed new auditions for the Warcraft movie. The listing still mentions the codename “Conflagration”, but it added a new one along with that which says: “Lost in Gastown”.
Gastown is a small town with a train station terminal located in Vancouver. “Lost in Gastown” is sort of a joke because it will get flooded pretty soon with actors from other states coming to the audition.
I had the opportunity to take a look at the Production Weekly issue #583. I am not able to post an image because of copyright/trademark matters. It is a paid subscription magazine.
What I can confirm is that the audition listing mentions January 13 as the date to begin recording scenes. It is to be filmed at Vancouver.
The credits section mentions:
Producers: Charles Roven, Alex Gartner, Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Stuart Fenegan, Chris Metzen and Jillian Share.
Writer: Charles Leavitt
Director: Duncan Jones
Executive Producer: Brent O’Connor
PM: Cecil O’Connor
The interesting part is that at the end of all those credits is CAST: Travis Fimmel. That pretty much sounds like the rumor is no longer a rumor. Travis Fimmel is part of the cast now.
What I find strange is that the film description continues to mention Arthas Menethil before he became the Lich King.
At the end of the audition listing it says: Paula Patton is in advanced negotiations and Colin Farrell has been offered one of the leads.
Next to that it says these dates: January 13 – May 21.
Release Date: December 18, 2015.
So there you go. The filming will be ongoing for five months, and Travis Fimmel (Vikings TV Series, 2013) is listed in the credits as a Cast Member.
After transcribing the full BlizzCon 2013 Warcraft Movie Presentation Panel, I decided to summarize and gather the soul of the panel in a nutshell for you guys to learn everything that needs to be learned about the Warcraft movie.
Duncan wishes to develop a Warcraft movie based on his view as a player of the game. He wants to go to the roots of what the original Warcraft was, which is you can be a hero no matter what side you are on; and it is about both sides. It’s gotta be red and blue. Horde and Alliance. Not just from the point of view of the Alliance as the original movie script was.
Another interesting thing that spun out of this panel is that Duncan Jones is hoping to have a preview of the Warcraft film by BlizzCon 2014. If that is not awesome news, then how about the fact Rob Pardo and Duncan Jones mentioned “Next Year’s BlizzCon”? After reading the details in a nutshell below, you may read our entire panel transcript here.
Film Details
Orcs will be real actors, emotive as much as any human character.
There is a scene in the Lion’s Pride Inn (Goldshire)
Concept Art shows: Dalaran, Draenor, Iron Forge, Stormwind.
Many Blizzard Artists, including Wei Wang, contributed an estimated 4,000 pieces of concept art for the film.
The past six months (June-Nov 2013) has been focused on pre-production design.
Half the cast is live-action actors and the other half are motion-capture technology based actors.
Real costumes will be crafted for the actors performing with motion-capture technology to have photographic references for the animations.
Nick Carpenter and Blizzard Cinematics team are working with Duncan Jones (Film Director) and Bill Westenhoffer (VFX Supervisor).
The orcs will really act and have personalities.
The Costume designers will create full-size casts to build the real Blizzard-style costumes.
Motion-Capture technology has been used in Planet of the Apes, Avatar, and The Avengers.
The team working on the Warcraft film was the same who worked on the film THE HULK.
The team is creating a duplicate of Elwynn Forest. The trees will be created as physical props capturing their size and distribution across the landscape too.
Bill Westenhofer and Nick Carpenter plan to add easter eggs found in-game into the Warcraft film.
Legendary and Blizzard have worked in collaboration to make this film.
The film will be set during the First War, during Warcraft I: Orcs and Humans (1994).
The lead characters are Sir Anduin Lothar and Durotan of the Frostwolf clan.
Duncan hasn’t been able to find an actor to play as Durotan.
Lothar and Durotan represent the highest ideals for each of both races.
The film will be done from the point of view of the humans and the orcs. Equally. Both races are heroes.
Durotan did never show up in the first Warcraft game. Was added to the lore later. The film will be like the Ultimate Spider-Man line reintroducing the Ultimate Warcraft classic story.
Duncan Jones hopes to break barriers introducing a War movie told from the point of view of both sides. A unusual structure for a movie.
Duncan teased whether the film and Warlords of Draenor tie-in somehow or not.
Bill Westenhoffer compares the Warcraft movie with Gladiator (2000). Actors will get dirty, covered in grime.
The music of the film has to be true to the music of the game and the environment soundtracks.
The swords that are being built are the biggest swords that a human can wield.
The production of the film is being documented as it progresses. Photos and video taken. Duncan would love to see a “The Making of” Art Book or Behind-the-Scenes DVD. No plans yet.
If the film works out they would be excited to continue the story. Trilogy isn’t ruled out. Metzen teases many trilogies if they put their mind to it.
The Production Team is pushing to include strong female lead roles.
If the Warcraft movie succeeds Blizzard hopes to have TV studios knocking their door to launch a Warcraft TV series like Game of Thrones.
Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackson inspired Duncan Jones to wish to direct a fantasy movie.
Duncan thinks Peter Jackson has really set the bar as to what fantasy needs to be and anything the Warcraft movie team does has to match or beat that.
Duncan would like to have the Warcraft movie available in 2D and 3D so that fans choose which version to watch.
The Warcraft movie will be PG-13, but explains they can get their way with strong content with that rating, citing the Joker’s pencil scene in The Dark Knight was … PG-13.
During the Q&A a fan cited Avatar, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones had in common the development of linguistics for some races. Duncan Jones confirmed they have a linguistics team member who worked on some of those movies developing orcish language for the Warcraft movie.
Production Team Revealed
During the BlizzCon 2013 Warcraft Movie panel, Duncan Jones and Bill Westenhoffer revealed some of the team members in the Warcraft film production.
Gavin Bocquet: Production Designer for Star Wars: Episode I, II, III
Mayes C. Rubeo: Costume Designer for Avatar, World War Z, John Carter, Apocalypto, Dragonball: Evolution.
Paul Hirsh: Filming Editor for Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol (2011), Source Code (2011), Won an Oscar for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Footloose (1984), Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Carrie (1976), Phantom of the Paradise (1974).
Alex Gartner: Producer of Season of the Witch (2011), DC Comics The Flash (2016). Get Smart (2008)
Simon Duggan: Cinematographer for 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), The Great Gatsby (2013), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), I, Robot (2004)
This is a transcript of the entire one-hour Warcraft Movie Presentation Panel held at BlizzCon 2013. Feel free to share with friends. — Medievaldragon
Introduction: Welcome to the Warcraft Movie Presentation Panel. Your panelists are Duncan Jones, Rob Pardo, Chris Metzen, Bill Westenhofer, and Nick Carpenter.
Metzen: Wuzzup, BlizzCon?
Pardo: Alright, everyone. Welcome to the Warcraft Movie Panel. We did this I think three years ago or something like this? But this time, I think it’s going to be 10 times the excitement as we actually have a release date for the movie.
I want to introduce everyone to the panel. To my right is Duncan Jones. He is the director for the Warcraft movie. He’s director of a couple of really awesome films you guys have seen: MOON and SOURCE CODE. And more importantly to you guys, Duncan has been playing Warcraft games since Warcraft One (aka Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, RTS), played Warcraft II, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft — even played Lost Vikings.
I think you guys all know the gentleman to my left, which is Chris Metzen. The guy in charge of all lore, story and franchise direction at Blizzard and pretty much all the soul at Blizzard. So we are going to talk a lot more about the movie and all what we are trying to do with it. And then to his left is Bill Westenhofer. Bill is the special effects supervisor for the film. He actually won the Oscar twice for Life of Pi and The Golden Compass.
. While Westenhofer wasn’t involved in that film, this video shows heavy use of visual effects work. By the way, Simon Dugan (“The Great Gatsby” cinematographer) in on the Warcraft film. So this video below shows his work too.
and 
.