Wes Ball, the director of the Legend of Zelda live-action film, wants the project to be a “live-action Miyazaki” inspired film. Read on to learn more.
The Legend of Zelda Envisions "Live-Action Miyazaki"
Inspired By Miyazaki’s Works
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Wes Ball, the director of the would-be live-action film adaptation of The Legend of Zelda, talked about his thoughts and vision for the adaptation. Ball is well-known as the franchise director of the "Maze Runner" trilogy and is a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s films. He described the vision for the film to be "its own thing" and wants to be able to channel the Miyazaki effect to the audience saying:
"This awesome fantasy-adventure movie that isn’t like Lord of the Rings, it’s its own thing. I've always said, I would love to see a live-action Miyazaki. That wonder and whimsy that he brings to things, I would love to see something like that."
The Legend of Zelda Live-Action Adaptation Announced
Nintendo announced the Legend of Zelda live-action film back in November with Shigeru Miyamoto also announcing that former Marvel CEO, Avi Arad, will be co-producing the project. Along with this, Nintendo announced that Ball will be the director of the film with Derek Connolly (Jurassic World) writing the screenplay. Ball stated that "it’s going to be awesome" and that he wants live-action adaptation to become really special as he grew up on Zelda and described it as "untapped IP" saying:
"My whole life has led up to this moment. I grew up on Zelda and it is the most important property, I think, that’s untapped IP, if you will. So we very much are working hard to do something. We’re not just trying to do it because we can. We want to make something really special."
The Legend of Zelda Film Still In Pre-Production
Currently, Ball is working on the post-production on "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" and has not exactly confirmed if the Zelda film will be next saying:
"We’re working on the script, and whether it’s the next one or not, it’s hard to say exactly, But certainly the plan is, after Apes is done, to have a little bit of a rest for a moment, "
He adds that he hopes to give fans what they’re hoping for as well as to be able to invite new people into the world of Zelda, as Nintendo has been wanting to introduce this world to the mainstream for over 40 years.
Manifesting It To Reality
Back in 2010, Ball actually tweeted wanting the Zelda franchise to be adapted to a film during the hype of the critically acclaimed Avatar directed by James Cameron. He expressed that he actually forgot about that tweet until someone brought it up after he was announced the director for the film. Additionally, he also credited Cameron as one of his inspirations saying:
"James Cameron’s one of the guys I look up to in terms of movies. He’s able to do big, giant spectacle, but he's still able to ground his stories in a way that is very relatable to broad audiences. Avatar inspired me to ultimately make my little short 'Ruin' that got me onto the Fox people, and they gave me the Maze Runner movies. From there it went to Planet of the Apes and ultimately to Zelda."
Source:
Entertainment Weekly - Interview with Wes Ball
