Summary
A Minecraft Movie is only two weeks away from hitting theaters, a film in which go-to video game movie guy Jack Black will play Steve, an iconic but mute character in the game on which the movie is based. Black will naturally provide an entirely new take onMinecraft’s leading man, but that wasn’t the plan until very late on in the movie’s development.
Torfi Frans Ólafsson, Mojang’s senior director,spoke with Varietyabout how A Minecraft Movie came to be ahead of its imminent release, revealing Black was originally cast in a very different, far less prominent role. “His character was originally a talking pig, and it was very, very, very late in the development where we had the idea to switch it to become Steve,” Ólafsson revealed.
“We needed an expert and host,” they added, and whether you like Black or not, he fits both of those descriptions. Steve will be the third adapted video game character Black has played in two years after Bowser inThe Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Claptrap inBorderlands. Yeah, bet you had already forgotten about that second one. I haven’t.
Jack Black Was Originally Going To Play A Talking Pig In The Minecraft Movie
Original Plans For Steve Have Not Been Revealed
Ólafsson stopped short of what the plan was for Steve had they not decided to switch Black to the character from his original talking pig role. The host comment makes me think the OG idea for Steve might have been to have him look like the other residents of the Minecraft movie’s world and, as is the case in the game, he wouldn’t have talked.
As for the complaints about Black being unlike the Steve Minecraft fans are familiar with, Ólafsson explains that’s kind of the point. “This is not my Steve or your Steve - this is Jack Black’s Steve… this is literally him interpreting this character and what it means to him.”
The character really does mean something to him too. The cast of the movie had Xboxes in their trailers and played on private servers during their downtime. Black was apparently the “most passionate” about the game, clocking up more than 100 in-game hours during filming and developing a penchant for lapis lazuli. So much so that he specifically asked to talk about it in the movie, so listen out for that.
Concept art for a canceled version of the Minecraft moviewas shared earlier this week and may be a sneak peek into what its creators had planned for Steve before stumbling upon Black. The art appears to show a girl finding herself in the Minecraft universe being led by an animated Steve that looks more like the in-game version and less like the lead character in School of Rock.
