“The Legend of Zelda” director is aiming for a 'live-action Miyazaki'

"Maze Runner" filmmaker Wes Ball addresses his adaptation of the beloved video game.

Maze Runner franchise director Wes Ball is a huge fan of The Legend of Zelda and a major admirer of the animated movies by legendary Spirited Away filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. Ball tells EW that he hopes both these passions will be evident in his planned adaptation of the beloved Nintendo video game series.

Ball describes his vision as "this awesome fantasy-adventure movie that isn’t like Lord of the Rings, it’s its own thing. I've always said, I would love to see a live-action Miyazaki. That wonder and whimsy that he brings to things, I would love to see something like that."

Nintendo announced in November that the company is developing a live-action Legend of Zelda film, centered on the sword-wielding character Link. Nintendo and Sony are co-producing the movie, with Derek Connolly (Jurassic World) writing the screenplay and Ball both directing and producing, the latter with Joe Hartwick Jr. Since 1986, there have been more than 25 different games in the series, usually centering on the hero Link, who wields the famed Master Sword and fights alongside the Hylian princess Zelda to protect their land from dark forces.

"It’s going to be awesome," Ball promises. "My whole life has led up to this moment. I grew up on Zelda and it is the most important property, I think, that’s untapped IP, if you will. So we very much are working hard to do something. We’re not just trying to do it because we can. We want to make something really special."

Ball is speaking to EW from New Zealand where he is currently overseeing postproduction on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, (out May 24, 2024), the first entry in the science-fiction franchise since 2017's Matt Reeves-directed War for the Planet of the Apes. The director hopes to shoot the video game adaptation after he is finished with his current monkey business.

"We’re working on the script, and whether it’s the next one or not, it’s hard to say exactly," he explains. "But certainly the plan is, after Apes is done, to have a little bit of a rest for a moment, and then dive into [Zelda] and hopefully give fans what they’re hoping for, and also invite new people in. I think Nintendo's desire is to introduce people to this world that’s been around for 40 years now."

Ball himself has long dreamed of bringing The Legend of Zelda to movie screens and even tweeted about his desire to do so way back in 2010 after seeing James Cameron's Avatar. "Since I could never even hope to have the chance to direct it... the next big mo-cap Avatar-like movie should be... THE LEGEND OF ZELDA," he wrote.

"You saw that tweet?" Ball asks, when EW raises the subject. "I had forgotten I’d even done it. Someone dug it up [after Ball was announced as the Zelda director] and they put it out there. I was like, oh yeah, cool, that makes sense. James Cameron’s one of the guys I look up to in terms of movies. He’s able to do big, giant spectacle, but he's still able to ground his stories in a way that is very relatable to broad audiences. Avatar inspired me to ultimately make my little short 'Ruin' that got me on to the Fox people, and they gave me the Maze Runner movies. From there it went to Planet of the Apes and ultimately to Zelda."

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