Nintendo announced last month that it was working with Sony Pictures to develop a live-action film based on its Legend of Zelda franchise, with Wes Bell – director of the Maze Runner films and the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – set to direct the film. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bell has now offered some tidbits on what vision he has in mind for the movie.
Zelda fans have long been hoping for an animated movie in the style of Studio Ghibli and legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s masterworks (if not a movie by Studio Ghibli itself), and though that’s not what the live-action movie is going to be, its director wants it to be a close enough approximation of that.
Bell says he wants the Zelda movie to be “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.”
And how does he plan to do that? Through eye-catching use of motion capture similar to the Avatar films, it seems. When asked about a tweet he published in 2010 where he opined that an Avatar-esque Zelda movie should be made, Bell said, “I had forgotten I’d even done it. Someone dug it up [after Ball was announced as the Zelda director] and they put it out there. I was like, oh yeah, cool, that makes sense. 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 on to the Fox people, and they gave me the Maze Runner movies. From there it went to Planet of the Apes and ultimately to Zelda.”
Bell went on to talk about the Zelda IP’s untapped potential in films, saying that it’s now being made not just because it can be, but because the people behind it want to make “something special”.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “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.”
When asked about the production schedule of the movie, Bell said, “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, and then dive into [Zelda] and hopefully give fans what they’re hoping for, and also invite new people in. I think Nintendo’s desire is to introduce people to this world that’s been around for 40 years now.”
Shortly after the announcement of the Zelda movie, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto said that the project had been in discussion for about a decade, and that Nintendo and Sony Pictures will be “taking plenty of time to prepare” for the project to ensure it can “meet everyone’s expectations”. Read more on that through here.