The Legend Of Zelda Movie Director: “It’s Got To Feel Like Something Real”

For Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball, The Legend of Zelda movie is a literal dream project. The filmmaker has been ruminating on bringing Link and Hyrule to the silver screen for years, and he knows “it’s got to feel like something real.”

Speaking with Total Film (via GamesRadar), Ball teased what he has in mind for the Zelda movie. “I have this awesome idea,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long freakin’ time, of how cool a Zelda movie would be… I want to fulfill people’s greatest desires. I know it’s important, this [Zelda] franchise, to people and I want it to be a serious movie. A real movie that can give people an escape.”

This isn’t the first time the Maze Runner trilogy director has discussed his thoughts on the project. In December, he mentioned swinging for live-action Hayao Miyazaki aesthetics with the Zelda movie. The legendary animation director is the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, and the last two mainline Legend of Zelda games–Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom–have seemingly drawn inspiration from that company’s films, specifically Princess Mononoke.

The live-action Zelda movie was announced in November. Nintendo is actually teaming up with Sony Pictures for the film, with Uncharted and Morbius producer Avi Arad also working on the project. Sony was even hyping up the Zelda movie at CES earlier this year.

As for Ball, his next movie could offer glimpses of what to expect with Zelda. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will premiere May 10 in theaters, moving up earlier in the year to avoid going head-to-head with Furiosa.