Independent Movie

Worldwide, online release on December 14, 2009!

Official Website - About the movie - Trailer - Frequently Asked Questions - Interviews - Discussion Forum

[ Interviews ]

Director Joel Musch, along with a couple of other people involved with the movie, answer questions about the film. Interview conducted in 2006, so please note that some answers (especially related to release) are now out-of-date.

It's been a few months since we've seen the trailer now. How's the progress on the movie going?

Joel Musch (director): The progress has been great! The animation is of course the hardest part. Render time is a real problem. Our computers are a bunch of dinosaurs.
 

Do you have any further news on a release date?

JM: Let me start by saying that everyone working on the film is trying their hardest to complete their tasks. Music, animation, ADR, and sound mixing are all big parts of post production and cause most of the time consuming process. I'll admit that fall of ’06 was a premature assumption for the film's completion. We are still months away and are wary about releasing another date just yet for the film's release.
 

Any further news on how this film will be distributed?

JM: Distribution is something very important to us, but right now, getting a product to distribute is our number one priority. We have definitely been discussing safe ways for now to let everyone see the film.
 

What made you decide to turn Zelda into a film?

JM: If you can do a fantasy epic, you can do anything. It was a quite a feat for us. Also our passion for the story inspired us to make it into a film.
 

Exactly how close to the Ocarina of Time game is the film?

JM: Not close enough to name the movie after it. We felt that the “OoT” was the most promising and interesting game to make a film after. Not to mention my personal favorite. The story was easy to follow, and full of exiting plot twists. We gave the writer plenty of elbowroom to change and manipulate the story to fit the tone we were trying to set.

David Blane (producer/Link actor): Its not really just like the game at all. Not many people want to see Link spend an hour on a puzzle… The story is almost the same and pretty much identical in outline form. The only difference was dialogue, which brought on new explanations for all the fantastical Zelda world that we needed to explain to noobs within 2 hours.
 

You're making this movie independently. Have you considered possible legal issues with Nintendo?

Yes of course. Until we are finished with the film and have appropriately sorted through the legal matter we wont be addressing how the film will be viewed by others.
 

How long is the movie?

JM: Can’t say for sure, but we are guesstimating around 2 hours.
 

Will there be any temples or dungeons in the movie? Are any of them from the Ocarina of Time game?

JM: Dungeons? Eh… Ish. Link travels to the corners of the kingdom to free the sages from demons that Ganon unleased upon them. Link defeats several bad ass monsters and dragons in a few temple-like environments. There are a few creatures that are not foe that will make appearances as well. Most of the creatures do not have identical characteristics to the monsters and creatures in the game, but will most definitely have similarities.
 

Will Link speak in the movie?

JM: Well, its not a silent film, and this is 21 century film making, I think he may have a couple of things to say.
 

In the trailer, I only saw Link fighting humans. Will there be any monsters in the film?

JM: Link is fighting humans (Lots of them…Ganon's warriors to be exact). But not to worry, Link fights plenty of monsters and demons 20x his size. I know, how great would it have been to have spiders around ever corner that Link had to boomerang and pots in every set that he could bust open with a kick ass roll and find some rupees! I mean, I guess we could have done that. But after I purposed that Link had to find 60 heart pieces and at least 120 skulltulas, I got kicked off of the writing team.
 

I've had so many questions about characters and items, to the point where I've been asked about practically every Ocarina of Time character and item will be in the movie. What do you say to those who want to know if a certain character or item will be in the movie?

JM: You'll have to wait and see!
 

One of the biggest complaints from fans is that some things they've seen in the trailer and screenshots don't match the game. For example in the game, Zelda has blonde hair, and in your movie she is brunette. Can you address these concerns?

JM: During pre-production, we wanted to bring the script we wrote to life in a very un-videogamey way. We didn’t want people to see Saria with green hair and expect the visual attributes in the game to be in the film. We actually considered vast changes to characters so people wouldn’t presume the characters to look too much like the game. For us it would have been impossible to create the exact or even similar world and costumes the video game world demands in a live action film. We took a very organic approach. We felt it made the characters more tangible. It made it easier for us to focus on the more important aspects of the film such as the acting, pacing, and story.

I'll be honest, some of the attributes from the game were left out of the film because they were just too difficult. i.e. Hylian ears.

Things like Zelda's hair color being brown was simply to add contrast to Links hair being awesome and blonde =)

David Blane: We understand the concern with consistancy with the game, in fact we are happy people care. We are, however, sure that nothing in this movie was done on "accident". Things put in or taken out were for the purpose of making the actaul fantastical journey of Link not to be confined to the video game, but to give leeway to the creative minds helping produce the film.
 

What will the music be like? Is it original, does it come from the Zelda games, or somewhere else?

JM: Unlike the trailer, the film will actually have all original music, and contain plenty of Zelda melodies! Two of the songs from the trailer were created by our composer and will be in the film. We are very excited about the music.
 

Will there be a sequel to 'The Hero of Time' or will you be turning any other Zelda games (i.e. Majora's Mask) into films?

JM: There will most likely not be a sequel created by BMB Finishes. Quite frankly we probably couldn’t afford another non-profit film.
 

How much planning and what strategy was put into this film?

JM: We put about 6 months of pre-production into the film. That included brainstorming, location scouting, writing, casting, and set/costume designing. We were very particular about the locations. We didn’t want any of the film to look like it was shot in or anywhere around Atlanta; which it was. We had all sorts of shooting preferences before we started. Such as, no broad daylight, no pine trees, no power lines, cars and airplanes etc.
 

How difficult has it been to make the movie?

JM: Extremely. But amidst the hardships we do our best not to compromise the quality of the film and integrity of the Legend.
 

What were the crew and actors like on set?

JM: What crew? Oh, you mean the guy holding the boom mic or the guy delegated to fix Link’s hair every 5 seconds?

Over the course of the shoot, we had several dozen crew members help out on set. They were helpful and needed! Everyone from the guy getting lunch, to the girl doing makeup, really helped out and made the work load that much less burdensome for the handful of us producing the film.

The tone on set was always pretty laid back, under time crunches, but we tried to keep our cools and improvise during crisis moments; like Link sleeping in during our sunrise shoot and him being deathly allergic to horses. No one ever got paid, and they all offered their time generously. Its hard to walk around barking orders with that kind of perspective.

Daniel Bass (producer): You know, the crew on set is actually a wonderful combination of professionalism and the comraderie and brutal honesty that can only be engendered by friendships. As we all worked together, we had to grow and adjust to working with people who may have different styles of communication or working than we do and that can be a real challenge. I can remember days where I wanted nothing more than to throw a child actor into a nearby lake or to cuss a certain unnamed producer out because I was covered in mud and scratches and bugs. But the truth is, we expect the best out of each other and in turn expect the most out of the work we were producing and because we have those expectations, there is a definite sense that we all have to support each other and really produce something we can be proud of for a long time.

David Blane: The crew was... funny (haha). There was Joel, mister “professional”. More like blame everything on everybody!! Ha…sending out lines the night before as a nasty prank on all the cast!! Then there was baby Daniel, couldn’t work more than an hour at a time with out needing to spoil our wonderfully professional atmosphere with a brake or some type of reference to our amateurism!

Hannah Fierman (Princess Zelda): "Honestly" Everyone was great. I didn't know that to think about Joel at first because he is go quiet and always looks serious. He is continuously deep in thought, so he is hard to read. I thought he didn't like me in the beginning. David's lovely....always happy, chillin guy, precosious. As for the rest they were all fine. I didn't meet many other people more than once. The stunt team was very hardworking. They made me quit smoking and worked with me for a month. The montage day was the best. The indoor castle shoot was the worst but nothing was bad or uncomfortable.
 

Finally, is there anything else you’d like to say about the movie?

JM: Of course!
First of all I would like to thank everyone that is pulling for the team out here. The people involved in this production number over a hundred and I’m sure they appreciate your support and encouragement for all their hard work. It's been a dream of so many people for so many years, and I guess it took a couple of us with a little free time on our hands to really sit down with the most creative minds we could round up to see what was reasonable with a budget lower than most school plays. We've had quite a rough couple years putting this together, and more excited than anyone to see the finished product.

As Im sure some of you know, the animation is far from complete. That is probably going to be the hardest and largest undertaking for us as a production. We sat down with the writers and producers during our pre-productions stages and decided that we DID want to have plenty of demons, fairies and monsters, but not so much video game guzzle that it would take away from the tone we tried to set for the direction we thought would be best for this Zelda film. We apologize to all of you who feel like what we are doing is blasphemy. We simply wanted to produce something we felt passionate about and could enjoy.

I’m excited about what we are doing, and hope to be an example to all aspiring filmmakers. I’ve heard so many people talk about making a film, and watch as they never take the second step because they didn’t have the resources. You don’t need 100 million dollars, and a plethora of crewmembers to make a film. Schedule a little free time during your week, write your screenplay, borrow a camera and start shooting!

Hope you all enjoyed the trailer!

Daniel Bass: Initially I totally thought, "Oh God, a movie about a video game... Don't list me in the credits! Say my name is Tom Thumb or something and don't let anybody know that I am involved!" I had a lot of trepidation about working on a project of such a grand scale and I think even after I'd signed on I had no clue what I was getting myself into. Tons of hours in front of computers with my eyeballs and brain frying, days spent on sets in not the most pleasant weather conditions (a la getting rained on in the dark... fun times), arguments over what direction to take a scene in, and just plain headbutting between extremely stubborn people... wait a sec, why did I do this?! No, the truth is, despite all of that I wouldn't erase my participation for anything. As I watched 3 people's visions coalesce and I saw the quality of the film being produced, I began to completely change my views on it. As a novice producer, the fact that I was even included is an honor. Now I want my name plastered all over the credits! It was definitely a labor of love but it's one that I am glad to have my name attached to and I'd do it all over again. I know folks are going to enjoy it and even if they never know the blood, sweat, and tears (and money!) that were involved in producing it. I would appreciate this film even if I had no participation in it but the fact that I did makes me love it that much more.

HF: I understand that this game is beloved by many of you (hence the film being made at all) and we all have our opinions about how we imagined the world of Zelda to be. This is just one artists interpretation. Its just for fun, to make Zelda fans smile nothing more.
 

A big thank you to Joel, David, Daniel and Hannah for taking the time to answer these questions.

Finally, I would just like to add something else. Several people have asked me, Lysia, if I will be in the film or have been involved with its production. I am not in the movie, and am not involved with its production apart from setting up this website.