Moon director Duncan Jones is set to start shooting Warcraft in January 2014, and the names of a number of potential cast members is now out in the wild, via Deadline. Colin Farrell (Total Recall remake) and Paula Patton (2 Guns) are reportedly both up for lead roles, with an offer out to the former and negotiations currently underway for the latter. There’s also a short list of actors for a number of other lead roles, including Paul Dano (Prisoners), Anton Yelchin (Star Trek Into Darkness), Travis Fimmel (History Channel’s Vikings), and Anson Mount (AMC’s Hell on Wheels).
There’s no indication of which role each actor is potentially slated for, nor has there been any hint thus far as to the focus of the story in Charles Leavitt’s (Blood Diamond) script. Unconfirmed reports have claimed that the plot will be based on the novel Warcraft: The Last Guardian, but all we really know is that Jones’ take on Activision Blizzard’s World of Warcraft MMO is due for release in 2015.
Evil Dead and Spider-Man director Sam Raimi was originally on board to helm Warcraft, with a script from Saving Private Ryan screenwriter Robert Rodat. Raimi eventually left due to creative differences – Blizzard reportedly wasn’t fond of the story treatment he and Rodat put together – and Jones was brought in to replace him. Jones has seen a decent amount of success from his work on Moon and Source Code, but a successful Warcraft could launch him in among Hollywood’s elite blockbuster-smiths.
Video games have a somewhat crummy history when it comes to big screen adaptations, but Jones continues to be an ideal choice to helm one of the upcoming films based on games that shows real promise. A self-professed gamer geek, he can frequently be found on Twitter talking up the latest release or chiming in with his own thoughts on industry-wide conversations. He’s the rare mix of filmmaker who also “gets” video games, one of a younger breed that we’ll be seeing more and more from in Hollywood in the coming years.
What do you think of these casting choices, WoW fans? Which characters in the series canon do you think each actor might fit best for?
