Momoa and Black create comedy in game adaptation ‘A Minecraft Movie’

LONDON — Hollywood stars Jason Momoa and Jack Black used humor and big performances to bring to life a corner of Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time, in “A Minecraft Movie.”

Known for its blocky imagery, the 2011 Swedish video game is about creating almost anything imaginable using farmed resources.

In “A Minecraft Movie,” directed by “Napoleon Dynamite” filmmaker Jared Hess, Black plays Steve, who has spent most of his life trapped in the alternate dimension Overworld.

In the real world, Garett (Momoa), Dawn (Danielle Brooks) and siblings Natalie (Emma Myers) and Henry (Sebastian Hansen) stumble across Steve’s belongings, and a portal transfers them to Overworld, where they must learn its secrets to survive.

Serving the game’s huge fan base and creating an entertaining experience for audiences came with pressure, said Momoa, who also produced the fantasy adventure film.

“It’s a lot of responsibility,” he said at the movie’s world premiere in London on Sunday. “This film was brought to me by the producer I did ‘Dune’ with. He’s like, ‘you have to do a comedy.‘”

“It’s always been a dream to do one. So, this is my first comedy,” the “Aquaman” actor said.

Steve provided “a blank canvas” for “School of Rock” and “Kung Fu Panda” actor Black.

“He doesn’t have a voice or any kind of personality to speak of; it’s all what you put your imagination into it. I had fun putting myself into it and going crazy and going all the way to 11 and letting Jared tone it down as he saw fit in the edit,” he said.

The movie was over a decade in the making. Centering it on a singular scenario helped get it over the finishing line, said Jens Bergensten, the chief creative officer of the game’s developer, Mojang Studios.

“I think a part of the explanation is in the title - it’s a Minecraft movie. In the Minecraft community, thousands of players have created their own stories. So, when we realized we wanted to tell a story in Minecraft, it made it much easier,” he said.

“A Minecraft Movie,” which also stars Jennifer Coolidge, begins its global cinematic rollout on Wednesday.

Reporting by Hanna Rantala; Editing by Rod Nickel.