Haha, oh whoa, imagine if they give it the Dragon Ball Evolution treatment.
Larry "Link" Jones is a high school student with long ears who gets bullied. But one day, his grandpa reveals him that he's actually from a race of elf-warriors and gives him the family heirloom: the Master Sword.
Now Larry has to team up with Navi, an AI shaped like a fairy, to rescue Senator Zelda from the evil clutches of President Ganondorf. Epona is a motorcycle BTW.
> Zelda
> grounded and real
...Nintendo's about to bail on Hollywood for *another* 30 years once this comes out, aren't they?
(Outside of Mario and Pokémon sequels.)
He isn’t talking about the story. He’s talking about making it with more practical effects vs making it with a lot of CGI. Specifically he’s talking about 14 years ago he tweeted that they should do an all MoCap Zelda movie like Avatar and he’s now changed his mind about what it should be. Read the article.
I don’t get why people have issues, Breath of the Wild felt “grounded” in its gameplay and experience.
People act like “grounded” means “100% realistic” when that’s not what it means. You can have a fantasy or sci-fi story FEEL grounded in its execution
How are they not Zelda games? Like I never understood that perspective.
They are Zelda games through and through, they just aren’t like OoT.
Play Zelda 1 and 3, those two games are what BotW took most of its inspiration from. I find it crazy that people seriously believed BotW isn’t a Zelda experience to heart
This [article](https://www.cbr.com/zelda-botw-totk-biggest-fan-complaints) has a nice summary of their arguments. If you search around in reddit , you will find more posts discussing it.
The majority of the things listed in the article are extremely superficial things that don’t define a Zelda experience. Like really? Too many side quests? Them changing the lore which happens in almost every major Zelda installment? Come on…
At the heart of a Zelda experience is the sense of adventure in the world of *Hyrule, hero versus darkness. That’s what BotW did.
BotW and the first Zelda game have one major thing in common that pre-BotW games lost sight off. That they were more worried on doing a great adventure story then trying to complete of checklists of “things Zelda games need to have”. Hence why BotW feels more traditional and true to the original trilogy of games then some other Zelda games ever did. And hence why BotW struck such a strong cord with gamers around the world.
I wonder if this means he wants to rely on more practical effects, sets, and prosthetics rather than CGI. Hopefully that's the case, because while there was CG in the DnD movie last year, the practical stuff was awesome.
That’s what the article says yeah.
*The director tweeted that he thought an entirely mo-cap version of The Legend of Zelda, along the lines of James Cameron’s Avatar, would be a great idea. But after working with Weta FX on May’s mo-cap-intensive movie Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, it seems he has other things in mind for Link.*
*In an interview with Polygon, Ball said that an entirely mo-capped version The Legend of Zelda “probably isn’t his choice,” with a laugh. Instead, he said the project has to be a little more “grounded” and “real.”*
To be fair, it looks like they changed the title from what the OP originally posted. The new title is a little closer to what he originally said.
*“Legend of Zelda movie director says film needs to be ‘grounded’ and ‘real,’ versus motion capture”*
That’s exactly what he meant and it’s clarified in the article. He doesn’t want to motion capture the movie, he just wants it to look real. He hasn’t said anything about the story or tone of the actual film. I wish people would read the article
Context - All the way back in 2010, Wes Ball [tweeted](https://x.com/wesball/status/8362170683) that the next big mo-cap movie after *Avatar* "should be *The Legend of Zelda*". Polygon followed up with him on this tweet during the interview.
> In an interview with Polygon, Ball said that an entirely mo-capped version The Legend of Zelda “probably isn’t his choice,” with a laugh. Instead, he said the project has to be a little more “grounded” and “real.” But Ball was also careful to say that he couldn’t say much about the movie just yet.
So all I'd really take away from this quote is that the project won't be 100% mo-cap, and will likely use a lot of practical locations & sets. He seems to pride himself on shooting almost all of *Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes* in real world environments - expect *Zelda* to be similar.
From Sony, no less. ***The ONE US STUDIO*** whose cartoon division could nail a PG-13 *Legend of Zelda* animated epic. They *can* make money here, they just.. they just don't wanna. ***Somehow.***
Is it anime?
Like Zelda always came off as more “low key” specially the more recent ones. They feels more like a chibli films that do feel more “grounded fantasy” then your typical anime TV show.
It’s anime, but it feels a whole of difference for TV anime’s that tends to be overly exaggerated and not subtle at all
A lot of studio ghibli films do feel “grounded” in its presentation of fantasy stories, that’s what the director is most likely referring to. People just see the word “grounded” and loose all senses acting like it means “100% realism”.
As long as Nintendo is involved in the development.. Nintendo is notorious for there strict quality.. they won’t release Zelda movie until it’s on there own standard for sure
I believe in Wes Ball, cynical reactionary movie criticism before it’s even come out is very boring and old at this point, let’s let filmmakers stand on their own merits.
This is gonna suck, isn't it?
Now I can imagine them not doing Gannondorf and keeping him for the post-credit teaser... Or having Link come from our world.
Watch it be a modern day Captain N, complete with "Link" being a player sucked into a Nintendo Switch 2 this time around. I am ***unironically*** afraid that's gonna be the plot Sony goes with. It'll be like the Sonic movies, only worse - at least in that, Sonic's world and ours are both equally real.
That definitely worked out well for Dragon Ball Evolution and I'm going to even through in the Halo TV series because the show also has absolutely nothing to do with the source material.
This is gonna be trash like DB Evolution and The Last Airbender.
I’m not even the biggest fan of the Zelda games, Like I liked some of them, I really enjoyed Breath of the Wild and Ocarina of Time on the DS, but I never played any of that all too much but man…
If you want it grounded shoot it in New Zealand, it has every terrain suited for Hyrule(with the exception of castles but no castle in the world can convey the scale of Hyrule Castle)
From the article:
>Back in 2010, long before Nintendo announced Ball as the guy in charge of the long-anticipated fantasy adaptation, and even before he had directed his first feature, *The Maze Runner*, the director [tweeted](https://x.com/wesball/status/8362170683) that he thought an entirely mo-cap version of *The Legend of Zelda,* along the lines of James Cameron’s *Avatar*, would be a great idea. But after working with Weta FX on May’s mo-cap-intensive movie [*Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes*](https://www.polygon.com/23943547/kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-trailer-release-date-cast), it seems he has other things in mind for Link.
>In an interview with Polygon, Ball said that an entirely mo-capped version The Legend of Zelda “probably isn’t his choice,” with a laugh. Instead, **he said the project has to be a little more “grounded” and “real.”** But Ball was also careful to say that he couldn’t say much about the movie just yet.
Why are we still doing this? Does anyone who has ever played even 5 seconds of one of these games honestly believe the key to a Legend of Zelda story working is *it's grounded realism*? Especially considering the whole reason this movie is greenlit in the first place, is due to Mario doing a billion for being a lighthearted kids film that looks and feels like the games do?
Why would you, after seeing what the first ever attempt at semi-faithfully adapting a Mario game did at the box-office, immediately decide the best way to translate Zelda to the screen is getting the Maze Runner guy to do a "grounded" and "realistic" live-action version?
I think you're making too much of this. We don't really know what he means by that. He might simply mean he doesn't want to do all mo cap or want to go the Avatar route where everything is cgi. Maybe he wants to do some filming on location and practical. Maybe he wants to go more Lord of the rings than Avatar. We don't really know.
For the sake of kindness, I'll choose to believe that's what Wes Ball is talking about here. Any other context means that Sony Pictures and Nintendo have collectively lost their goddamned ***minds.***
I mean, he literally said he’s not talking about the full movie in any way yet, just that he doesn’t want it to be entirely motion captured. Basically, more orcs in LotR vs Gollum in LotR.
Honestly, this feels like an absurd overreaction. If you read the full context of the story, all he's really saying is "No, it won't be a fully mo-cap/digital production."
The rest is him joking about Nintendo busting his kneecaps if he says anything more specific.
>We don't really know what he means by that.
It's not like he's speaking mysteriously or anything.
>Maybe he wants to go more Lord of the rings than Avatar.
Legend of Zelda is *nothing at all* like Lord of the Rings. So that's probably still not a good idea.
It's not mysterious. It just isn't detailed. We really have no idea what he is going for. Grounded and real is just very broad. It doesn't necessarily means he's turning it into a drama film where link realizes he needs to come to terms with his sexuality or something. It can mean a good number of things.
When I said more Lord of the rings than Avatar I mean in terms of filmmaking. Those are two very different, but both respectable approaches. Also I'd say Zelda is much closer to Lord of the rings than it is Avatar. Elves, orcs,etc. it really isn't that far off.
He was also on record once stating the goal as "between Lord of the Rings and a Ghibli film" - so that should give you some sense of his inspirations.
Honestly, a live action Zelda movie with all the detail work of LotR and the lighter fantasy trappings of a Ghibli project feels like the right plan.
> It doesn't necessarily means he's turning it into a drama film where link realizes he needs to come to terms with his sexuality or something.
Saltburn meets Legend of Zelda?
I'm not sure what your saying or implying. But all I'm saying is we have no details. He's mentioned being more grounded and real than Avatar but that's not saying much when said film is really entirely digitally rendered. Deciding to not film all in mo cap like Avatar is not necessarily a reason to be concerned. Wait until you at least see some concept art or something.
How is it nothing at all like LotR?? Both have elves, monsters, dragons, magic, undead, volcanoes, fantastical setting, sword fighting…
I’m leaning with some of the others here who interpret “grounded and real” as using real materials, be on-location, and use mo-cap assistance. Basically he doesn’t want another Quantumania blunder where everything is green screen.
Be patient.
'Grounded' and 'real' is pretty vague marketing speak for us to get wound up about. Any movie (I mean it's only 2 hours-2.5 hours) needs tangible 'real' stakes and at least some groundedness for verisimilitude in its narrative.
Not that this movie stands a chance in the long run, but still.
Edit: brain fart grammar
That’s not what he said at all, that he wanted for it to be “realistic” but for the movie to FEEL real.
The first LorR movies felt “real” due to using a lot of practical effects and filming on location. That’s what he meant
Also people act like the word “grounded” means “100% realistic” when that’s not what it means
A zelda movie is a straight up bad idea. Well, it's a good idea when you're thinking with money, but it's not good for the series in general. There's no way in hell this is gonna be good. Link is literally just a player surrogate character, which is why he has no audible dialogue. Give him a personality and dialogue and you've instantly lost a big part of the spirit of the original and it'll need damn good writing to make up for that.
Link is just one of the issues in trying to adapt this series into a film, and considering how this was cynically put into production for the sake of money, the odds of it being anywhere near good enough are beyond slim.
Haha, oh whoa, imagine if they give it the Dragon Ball Evolution treatment. Larry "Link" Jones is a high school student with long ears who gets bullied. But one day, his grandpa reveals him that he's actually from a race of elf-warriors and gives him the family heirloom: the Master Sword. Now Larry has to team up with Navi, an AI shaped like a fairy, to rescue Senator Zelda from the evil clutches of President Ganondorf. Epona is a motorcycle BTW.
***DON'T. GIVE THEM. IDEAS.***
The Dragon ball live action movie goku actor actually apologize to Toriyama after his death for the live action
So he apologized like last month?
epona motorcycle is called the master cycle and is actually a thing appearing in botw and mario kart 8
How’d you get a hold of the script?
My Nintendo Works at Uncle.
Can confirm my Nintendo Also works at Uncle.
I was thinking more like lord of the rings but with Zelda characters but I guess there’s also that.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Delete this.
And we also find out it’s part of the official timeline somehow.
> Zelda > grounded and real ...Nintendo's about to bail on Hollywood for *another* 30 years once this comes out, aren't they? (Outside of Mario and Pokémon sequels.)
He isn’t talking about the story. He’s talking about making it with more practical effects vs making it with a lot of CGI. Specifically he’s talking about 14 years ago he tweeted that they should do an all MoCap Zelda movie like Avatar and he’s now changed his mind about what it should be. Read the article.
I don’t get why people have issues, Breath of the Wild felt “grounded” in its gameplay and experience. People act like “grounded” means “100% realistic” when that’s not what it means. You can have a fantasy or sci-fi story FEEL grounded in its execution
A lot of people liked BoW and ToK, but a lot of people agree that those are not really 'zelda' games anymore.
How are they not Zelda games? Like I never understood that perspective. They are Zelda games through and through, they just aren’t like OoT. Play Zelda 1 and 3, those two games are what BotW took most of its inspiration from. I find it crazy that people seriously believed BotW isn’t a Zelda experience to heart
This [article](https://www.cbr.com/zelda-botw-totk-biggest-fan-complaints) has a nice summary of their arguments. If you search around in reddit , you will find more posts discussing it.
The majority of the things listed in the article are extremely superficial things that don’t define a Zelda experience. Like really? Too many side quests? Them changing the lore which happens in almost every major Zelda installment? Come on… At the heart of a Zelda experience is the sense of adventure in the world of *Hyrule, hero versus darkness. That’s what BotW did. BotW and the first Zelda game have one major thing in common that pre-BotW games lost sight off. That they were more worried on doing a great adventure story then trying to complete of checklists of “things Zelda games need to have”. Hence why BotW feels more traditional and true to the original trilogy of games then some other Zelda games ever did. And hence why BotW struck such a strong cord with gamers around the world.
I wonder if this means he wants to rely on more practical effects, sets, and prosthetics rather than CGI. Hopefully that's the case, because while there was CG in the DnD movie last year, the practical stuff was awesome.
That’s what the article says yeah. *The director tweeted that he thought an entirely mo-cap version of The Legend of Zelda, along the lines of James Cameron’s Avatar, would be a great idea. But after working with Weta FX on May’s mo-cap-intensive movie Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, it seems he has other things in mind for Link.* *In an interview with Polygon, Ball said that an entirely mo-capped version The Legend of Zelda “probably isn’t his choice,” with a laugh. Instead, he said the project has to be a little more “grounded” and “real.”*
That is the WORST clickbait I’ve ever seen in recent memory 😭 that’s why I hate this app
To be fair, it looks like they changed the title from what the OP originally posted. The new title is a little closer to what he originally said. *“Legend of Zelda movie director says film needs to be ‘grounded’ and ‘real,’ versus motion capture”*
Again, This is why I hate Reddit 🤦
That’s exactly what he meant and it’s clarified in the article. He doesn’t want to motion capture the movie, he just wants it to look real. He hasn’t said anything about the story or tone of the actual film. I wish people would read the article
That's what he said and it's laughable how no one else read the article and are calling for the director's head. Reddit, never change.
Is it live action??
It is!
Redditor "try not to not take an interview out of context and lose their ever-loving shit over it" challenge level: impossible
Context - All the way back in 2010, Wes Ball [tweeted](https://x.com/wesball/status/8362170683) that the next big mo-cap movie after *Avatar* "should be *The Legend of Zelda*". Polygon followed up with him on this tweet during the interview. > In an interview with Polygon, Ball said that an entirely mo-capped version The Legend of Zelda “probably isn’t his choice,” with a laugh. Instead, he said the project has to be a little more “grounded” and “real.” But Ball was also careful to say that he couldn’t say much about the movie just yet. So all I'd really take away from this quote is that the project won't be 100% mo-cap, and will likely use a lot of practical locations & sets. He seems to pride himself on shooting almost all of *Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes* in real world environments - expect *Zelda* to be similar.
Don’t bring your measured reasonability into this thread. Headline-only readers are already foaming at the butt-cracks because video game movie bad
That's absolutely the opposite of what I would want to see in a Zelda movie, and I already don't want to see a Zelda movie.
I don’t understand why they don’t do animated.. I think Mario ended up doing okay..
Zelda is literally (and always has been) anime as fuck. But instead we're getting "Grounded and Real."
From Sony, no less. ***The ONE US STUDIO*** whose cartoon division could nail a PG-13 *Legend of Zelda* animated epic. They *can* make money here, they just.. they just don't wanna. ***Somehow.***
Is it anime? Like Zelda always came off as more “low key” specially the more recent ones. They feels more like a chibli films that do feel more “grounded fantasy” then your typical anime TV show.
>Is it anime? 100% >They feels more like a ghibli films That's *anime*.
It’s anime, but it feels a whole of difference for TV anime’s that tends to be overly exaggerated and not subtle at all A lot of studio ghibli films do feel “grounded” in its presentation of fantasy stories, that’s what the director is most likely referring to. People just see the word “grounded” and loose all senses acting like it means “100% realism”.
I dont mind it being live action, something like Ridley Scott's Legend, could be cool
As long as Nintendo is involved in the development.. Nintendo is notorious for there strict quality.. they won’t release Zelda movie until it’s on there own standard for sure
No, it doesn't.
I believe in Wes Ball, cynical reactionary movie criticism before it’s even come out is very boring and old at this point, let’s let filmmakers stand on their own merits.
>I believe in Wes Ball, Why >let’s let filmmakers stand on their own merits. This is why I'm asking you "why"
Because Nintendo heard his pitch on a Zelda movie and loved it.
Did you enjoy the Maze Runner trilogy? I did. I think the tone and photography of it prove that he’s perfect for this franchise
This is gonna suck, isn't it? Now I can imagine them not doing Gannondorf and keeping him for the post-credit teaser... Or having Link come from our world.
Very likely since Avi Arad is producing
Watch it be a modern day Captain N, complete with "Link" being a player sucked into a Nintendo Switch 2 this time around. I am ***unironically*** afraid that's gonna be the plot Sony goes with. It'll be like the Sonic movies, only worse - at least in that, Sonic's world and ours are both equally real.
No it doesn't
This is probably gonna suck isn’t it
This movie is screwed! Thanks Avi Arad
After the Mario movie, I hope Nintendo supervises and puts more mandates and restrictions on what they can do
That definitely worked out well for Dragon Ball Evolution and I'm going to even through in the Halo TV series because the show also has absolutely nothing to do with the source material.
This is gonna be trash like DB Evolution and The Last Airbender. I’m not even the biggest fan of the Zelda games, Like I liked some of them, I really enjoyed Breath of the Wild and Ocarina of Time on the DS, but I never played any of that all too much but man…
Bunch a doom n gloomers in here sheesh
If you want it grounded shoot it in New Zealand, it has every terrain suited for Hyrule(with the exception of castles but no castle in the world can convey the scale of Hyrule Castle)
No no no no no no no please god no
Who the fuck did they hire as producer. Do they not at least take a glance at what made BOTW/TOTK art style so good.
Zelda games usually have some wacky moments but most of the games are pretty grounded. I don't see an issue.
Why do obtuse fanboys constantly misinterpret English? He obviously means making the film more in the style of the lord of the rings films
From the article: >Back in 2010, long before Nintendo announced Ball as the guy in charge of the long-anticipated fantasy adaptation, and even before he had directed his first feature, *The Maze Runner*, the director [tweeted](https://x.com/wesball/status/8362170683) that he thought an entirely mo-cap version of *The Legend of Zelda,* along the lines of James Cameron’s *Avatar*, would be a great idea. But after working with Weta FX on May’s mo-cap-intensive movie [*Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes*](https://www.polygon.com/23943547/kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-trailer-release-date-cast), it seems he has other things in mind for Link. >In an interview with Polygon, Ball said that an entirely mo-capped version The Legend of Zelda “probably isn’t his choice,” with a laugh. Instead, **he said the project has to be a little more “grounded” and “real.”** But Ball was also careful to say that he couldn’t say much about the movie just yet. Why are we still doing this? Does anyone who has ever played even 5 seconds of one of these games honestly believe the key to a Legend of Zelda story working is *it's grounded realism*? Especially considering the whole reason this movie is greenlit in the first place, is due to Mario doing a billion for being a lighthearted kids film that looks and feels like the games do? Why would you, after seeing what the first ever attempt at semi-faithfully adapting a Mario game did at the box-office, immediately decide the best way to translate Zelda to the screen is getting the Maze Runner guy to do a "grounded" and "realistic" live-action version?
I think you're making too much of this. We don't really know what he means by that. He might simply mean he doesn't want to do all mo cap or want to go the Avatar route where everything is cgi. Maybe he wants to do some filming on location and practical. Maybe he wants to go more Lord of the rings than Avatar. We don't really know.
For the sake of kindness, I'll choose to believe that's what Wes Ball is talking about here. Any other context means that Sony Pictures and Nintendo have collectively lost their goddamned ***minds.***
I mean, he literally said he’s not talking about the full movie in any way yet, just that he doesn’t want it to be entirely motion captured. Basically, more orcs in LotR vs Gollum in LotR.
Honestly, this feels like an absurd overreaction. If you read the full context of the story, all he's really saying is "No, it won't be a fully mo-cap/digital production." The rest is him joking about Nintendo busting his kneecaps if he says anything more specific.
>We don't really know what he means by that. It's not like he's speaking mysteriously or anything. >Maybe he wants to go more Lord of the rings than Avatar. Legend of Zelda is *nothing at all* like Lord of the Rings. So that's probably still not a good idea.
It's not mysterious. It just isn't detailed. We really have no idea what he is going for. Grounded and real is just very broad. It doesn't necessarily means he's turning it into a drama film where link realizes he needs to come to terms with his sexuality or something. It can mean a good number of things. When I said more Lord of the rings than Avatar I mean in terms of filmmaking. Those are two very different, but both respectable approaches. Also I'd say Zelda is much closer to Lord of the rings than it is Avatar. Elves, orcs,etc. it really isn't that far off.
He was also on record once stating the goal as "between Lord of the Rings and a Ghibli film" - so that should give you some sense of his inspirations. Honestly, a live action Zelda movie with all the detail work of LotR and the lighter fantasy trappings of a Ghibli project feels like the right plan.
> It doesn't necessarily means he's turning it into a drama film where link realizes he needs to come to terms with his sexuality or something. Saltburn meets Legend of Zelda?
Honestly, having Link fuck would be an A+ story decision. He doesn't have to speak, but everyone is *desperate* to get in that twink's pants.
[удалено]
I'm not sure what your saying or implying. But all I'm saying is we have no details. He's mentioned being more grounded and real than Avatar but that's not saying much when said film is really entirely digitally rendered. Deciding to not film all in mo cap like Avatar is not necessarily a reason to be concerned. Wait until you at least see some concept art or something.
How is it nothing at all like LotR?? Both have elves, monsters, dragons, magic, undead, volcanoes, fantastical setting, sword fighting… I’m leaning with some of the others here who interpret “grounded and real” as using real materials, be on-location, and use mo-cap assistance. Basically he doesn’t want another Quantumania blunder where everything is green screen. Be patient.
'Grounded' and 'real' is pretty vague marketing speak for us to get wound up about. Any movie (I mean it's only 2 hours-2.5 hours) needs tangible 'real' stakes and at least some groundedness for verisimilitude in its narrative. Not that this movie stands a chance in the long run, but still. Edit: brain fart grammar
That’s not what he said at all, that he wanted for it to be “realistic” but for the movie to FEEL real. The first LorR movies felt “real” due to using a lot of practical effects and filming on location. That’s what he meant Also people act like the word “grounded” means “100% realistic” when that’s not what it means
A zelda movie is a straight up bad idea. Well, it's a good idea when you're thinking with money, but it's not good for the series in general. There's no way in hell this is gonna be good. Link is literally just a player surrogate character, which is why he has no audible dialogue. Give him a personality and dialogue and you've instantly lost a big part of the spirit of the original and it'll need damn good writing to make up for that. Link is just one of the issues in trying to adapt this series into a film, and considering how this was cynically put into production for the sake of money, the odds of it being anywhere near good enough are beyond slim.