Glendale-born writer and director Jared Hess came out swinging with his first feature film, 2004’s “Napoleon Dynamite,” which became a cult classic. Over the years, Hess has gone on to write and direct a variety of other films, including “Nacho Libre” starring Jack Black and “Masterminds” with a stacked cast of comedy actors, including Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones.
In 2022, Hess signed on as the fourth and final director to take on the live-action adaptation of the popular video game Minecraft.
For over a decade, gamers of all ages have stretched the limits of their creativity through the blocky world of Minecraft, creating buildings, crafting weapons and surviving hostile mobs of unique creatures. Minecraft is a game with no storyline and characters with no backgrounds to pull from.
Hess had his work cut out for him.
Hess spoke to The Arizona Republic about what drew him to the script, what it was like working with Jack Black again and if there could be a sequel on the way.
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
Question: I know you write and direct, so I’m curious what it was about the script for this film that drew you in.
Answer: The cool thing when I came on board is we started to develop the script, so I was able to work closely with the writers from the get-go and knew right away that we wanted to make this an epic, hilarious adventure film.
And one of the unique things about the game is there’s no story to it, and everybody that plays it brings their own imagination to it, their own narrative, and we knew that we just had to have that same approach. I mean, for years, ever since the game came out, Minecraft content creators have made their own stories, and we just had to bring what we all loved about the game and wanted to see on the big screen and bring it to life and incorporate it into the script. So, it starts with characters and biomes and just really unique and hilarious things that you can only experience in the game and then finding a fun way to incorporate that into the story.
Q: This is a very interesting game to choose to adapt, because, like you said, it doesn’t have a storyline. Do you feel it was really difficult to rein in all of the ideas you had, or did you come in with a clear vision of what you wanted?
A: You just start going with what you love and what you respond to in the game. And for me, because it’s so expansive, you’re totally right. It’s super expansive. There are so many different mobs and creatures and characters, and you’ll never be able to fit all of that into one film. So, you have to start making decisions about what you really love about it. And for me, I really, really love the piglin characters. I mean, they’re so unique to Minecraft. It’s like these disgusting pig barbarian dudes that live in this hellscape called the Nether, they dabble in cannibalism and love gold. It’s like, man, these guys would make perfect bad guys. And then there’s the creepers and the villagers. I mean, what’s not to love about a villager that falls in love with Jennifer Coolidge or vice versa?
Q: Jennifer Coolidge is always a good time to see on screen. On the topic of the cast, what was it like working with Jack Black again?
A: It was a dream come true. We’re such good friends and have wanted to work together on something for years. And Jack was such a fan of Minecraft, plays it with his kids. And, you know, there was nobody better to play Steve than him. He is a big child at heart, and so it was so fun to be able to have him, you know, again, battle zombies and piglins and the chicken jockey in the film. It was just such a fun time.
Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess
Q: Were there any ideas that you had, that you really loved that didn’t make it into the final cut?
A: Oh yeah. I mean, we could have made a whole other movie with the outtakes of Jennifer Coolidge. She is so funny and such a brilliant comedian, and she can improvise. I mean, till the cows come home. She’s just so good, and we were constantly in stitches every time she was on set. And there’s so many jokes in the film that just ultimately hit the cutting room floor, for reasons of pacing. There were so many really funny musical moments with Jack as well as Danielle Brooks that we’ve got that were so funny, but we just couldn’t find a home for, ultimately, in the in the final cut. But yeah, it’s moments like that, just jokes that you fall in love with as a director, and you know, sometimes you have to kill your babies as they say. And it is what it is. But yeah, there were so many moments like that.
Q: This film obviously focuses a lot on the game, but really, there’s a nice story at the heart of it. Can you tell me about how you navigated that? There are a lot of different characters sharing the spotlight.
A: It was just fun taking all these different characters in the real world that are kind of down on their luck and sending them on this adventure where they had to use creativity to survive and come into their own. And that’s a big part of the game, where you have to be creative in order to navigate the world. And using that as a theme in the film was really important. And it’s so tough to be a creative person and put your work out into the world, and it takes a lot of courage, because, like Jack’s (Black) character says in the film, ‘that’s why cowards tend to choose the deuce.’ And that’s one of my favorite scenes, and that kind of sums up the spirit of the film. The world is such a better place when people are creative and put their art out there, and we all benefit from it.
Q: Do you feel like it was important to have all of these adult characters in the film versus more kid characters?
A: Yeah, the great thing about the game is that there’s no one demographic for it. Kids and adults totally love it. Jack’s character, he’s just a big kid at heart, even though he’s an adult. It was fun to have an ensemble that are different ages that go into this world together and it was a lot of fun to see how creative the Henry character gets as the film progresses.
Q: I want to ask about the visuals of this film, because it’s also a hard game to adapt visually, because Minecraft has a very distinct style. How did you go about creating the sets and the visual effects?
A: Yeah, absolutely, the game is very 16-bit. The graphics are very simple, but super charming and fun. And so, when we developed the film, we really wanted to preserve that blocky vibe but bring it to the big screen in a way that felt organic and life-like. And so we spent a ton of time with our production designer Grant Major, who did the Lord of the Rings films and then also the team at Wētā Digital and their concept artists to come up with a look that felt lived in and real, that our characters could interact with, but that had that blockified, iconic Minecraft look to it. And so, we built all of the sets for this film, and we had these massive stages in Auckland. And it was really surreal walking on the set every day and being like, ‘Oh man, I’m in the middle of a life size Minecraft forest,’ or ‘I’m in this amazing Minecraft village,’ or ‘I’m in the woodland mansion,’ or ‘I’m in a mine.’ I mean, all of that stuff was just really spectacular. And the amount of detail, again, everybody on the crew had such a unique special relationship to the game, and they all brought what they loved about it to everything that they built, from the props to the set decorations. I mean, there are paintings in the woodland mansion that are just amazing. So, yeah, somuch love went into everything.
Q: As far as the game elements go, what were the most important aspects to include?
A: We worked in lockstep with Mojang, and they were the ones who designed the game, created the game, and so they were partners from the get-go. We wanted to make sure that the physics, the rules of the game totally applied to the film, but we also wanted to not be limited by that but be able to come up with new experiences for fans of the game that they’ve never seen. Bringing the piglins into the Overworld is not something that happens. The piglins zombify pretty quickly, but we’re like, you know, what? If they drink a lot of Nether wart, man, they’re going to be able to come and wreak some havoc in the overworld for a bit, that’ll buy them some time till it wears off. But it was details like that that we spent so much time with Mojang coming up with to really create a fun, crazy adventure.
Q: Are you hoping that older gamers are going to feel connected to this film along with younger players?
A: Absolutely. I mean, I think the thing that’s great about the movie is the characters in the film experience the Minecraft world for the first time, and so you’re able to go along with them and experience the world through their eyes. And even if you don’t know anything about the game, you can jump right into this movie and have a total blast.
Q: As far as what’s coming next, there was a nice little bonus scene at the end. Do you think that there could be a sequel?
A: We had so much fun making this film, and it would be amazing to go back into this world and go on another crazy adventure. So, yeah, it remains to be seen. But gosh, it would be amazing to go on the next Minecraft adventure. The options are limitless.
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Meredith G. White covers entertainment, art and culture for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She writes the latest news about video games, television and best things to do in metro Phoenix.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Minecraft movie director Jared Hess on making boxy new world
