The Zelda Project ~ FAQ

Q: Will you be using cosplayers as the actors in the film trailer or the feature film if it is made? I am only asking this because I am concerned with the quality of acting that a cosplayer will portray. I am a cosplayer also, but I am not an actor. I love the Legend of Zelda series and think that the costumes you are doing are really awesome, but I would be really sad if it was represented with poor acting.

I feel that this email was necessary to share because of the validity in the concern of the sender. We will not be using cosplayers as the actors for the film. That being said, no, I will not be in this film. There are two parts to the project in fact! The first part is the cosplay portion, where the costumes will be created to follow the designs of the characters in the video game as accurate and exact as our abilities allow us. The models used are cosplayers, including myself who will be portraying Malon. However, this is only for still photography, so acting is not necessary for still photography. The photos will also have certain special effects added into them by a very talented artist who is currently working on the Lost Woods photos as I type this !!

For the AoD film trailer, we will be using actual actors. Myself, Joellen, and other cosplayers who are involved in the still photography portion of the project will not be cast in the film trailer. I am not an actress, and neither is Joellen (There Will Be Brawl excluded! HAHA!) or any of the other cosplayers involved in the still photography process. We are currently working on the still photography segment at the moment, so it will be a while before we go to push forward with the film trailer. There is a lot of preparation to be done with something so large, and the budget for it is huge, so right now as a self funded project, we are doing the best we can to make the highest quality we can, with the means that we have. Hopefully everyone will enjoy the still photos that we are producing and will produce in the future. We will definitely be updating everyone on the casting progress as soon as we begin work on the film trailer.

Q: Are the costumes gonna be straight OoT rips for the film trailer? Or are they gonna be original?

The costumes for the film trailer will be completely original designs. We’ve started the brain storming process for how we want to present the world, but we are still in the beginning stages. We love any and all ideas and critique, so if you are a visionary or have any ideas you’d like us to hear, feel free to send them via the contact form and we’ll get back to you. This whole project is still in the very early baby stages, so we aren’t married to anything yet. The costumes for the ‘cosplay’ still photography segment however, will be as true to the OoT designs as we can get them. Not everyone will be pleased or satisfied with what we do, because everyone has a different idea in their head about how Zelda should be represented, but we are doing the best job that we can.

Q: Are you keeping the heights of the characters relative to their game counterparts?

Unfortunately, the way Ocarina of Time’s 64bit models appear, Link looks like he’s 4′11 and the rest of the characters are even shorter. As much as it would be funny to have a “munchkin land” Hyrule cast, we are using real people. The models for the cosplay segment, myself included, are all relatively average in height for caucasians. We are all in proportion to each other though, so fear not!

Q: is Sheik gonna be a guy or girl?

Isn’t this the question of the century?!!! That’s a surprise

Q: For the story of Advent of Darkness, it said in the article and on your site that it is bridging the gap between TP and OoT. How is this going to be accomplished?

The story for the trailer may not necessarily be what we use in the final feature length film. If by some wild chance, Nintendo actually likes what we have done and they do want to go forward with it, the story will likely be changed. It is very important for the success of a film that all audiences can understand it. This is what differentiates really good fan fic from movie script. What I mean is, when writing a script for a film, the writer must take into account that not all of the viewers of the film will be fans, so it is a delicate process. The viewers who are not Zelda fans must be able to go into the film and be presented with a story that they can understand and follow, and the fans must also be pleased by this story. We cannot write a film story where only fans understand what is going on, because we will alienate over half of our audience, but we also cannot write a story that is so diluded and vague that it no longer deserves to be called Zelda. Therefore, writing for a feature length film will be a lot harder than writing for a film trailer. If anything, the trailer is a 2-3 minute presentation of our vision for what we could do if it were a feature. Basically: “here are our colors, our designs, how we want to present the world of Zelda, A glimpse of the ’style’ of story we’d like to go with, our ideas for cast, and our special FX, etc”.

Q: Is Link going to talk?

I personally am very picky about the whole ‘Link talking’ issue. In the trailer he will not speak, but there is no need for it anyway. If this were to be a feature length film though, he would obviously have to speak. However, I feel that certain elements of his story can be used to explain away his lack of desire to talk. I would go further into detail about my personal interpretation of Link if need be, but I don’t think that’s really anything anyone cares about at the moment.

That being said, if you take a look at the Ocarina of Time official artwork, he is glaring and “badass” looking in every picture except the one with Epona, and the one where he is sitting with Zelda. That being said, in the game he rarely changes his expression away from the “steel” gaze that he wears. I realize that it is only a 64bit game, and Nintendo did not have the capability of giving him much expression back then, but it still is what it is. My interpretation of his permanent glare, is that he is someone who is more of a quiet, reticent personality. He speaks, but he is calm and quiet and very to the point. Each Link, I feel, has a different intended personality, and OoT Link we have interpreted as being this way. I hope this doesn’t offend anyone, because his personality will be portrayed very differently than it was in the Akira Himekawa manga. i.e. He will not be a clumsy loud mouthed spaz.

Q: I read the rumor that there’d be hinted “MaLink” romance involved, and like some fans reactions that I’ve seen to this, I was wondering if you were really going to do that or just keep it as character interactions as in the game.

The story is loosely based on a fan fiction I’m writing (which is on hiatus because I can only focus on one thing at a time). The FAN FIC is a MaLink fic, but that is because it is a fan fiction. I just wanted to stress the difference between my writing for a fan fic, which is something that personally satisfies me and perhaps might satisfy others, and my writing for an actual film script.

The film itself will not really be focused on pairings. There is love, but it won’t necessarily be the romantic love that everyone might be thinking of. There is already so much that needs to be explained in the Zelda film, that fitting in heavy romance and developing it between characters might prove to be challenging. Now, I am not against a challenge, since obviously this entire project is one heck of a challenge, but I feel that there are more important aspects of the story to be focused on than who gets with who. Certainly there will be tension between characters, but it will be subtle and not distracting from the main story. I also feel that “romance” is of minimal importance in the Zelda games themselves, and that the majority of “shipping” is all fan created. I will admit that shipping pairings is a blast, but for something like this I will not be mixing business with pleasure.

Writing for a Zelda story is difficult in a sense that it must be able to both please fans, and satisfy new audiences that go to see it with no clue what Zelda is about. Those audiences must be able to watch the movie, and understand what is going on. The movie cannot be too long, and the events in the movie cannot be rushed. It is easy to incorporate pairings and love triangles in a video game because there is endless play time, but for a standard live-action movie meant to be on the mainstream big screen, the story has to be succinct, yet enjoyable.

So in short, no this will not be a MaLink film! I hope this doesn’t upset anyone!

If there are any more questions, please feel free to continue sending emails or utilize the formspring.me account for the Zelda Project! We’d love to answer any other concerns you may have, so that we may either explain our reasoning behind certain decisions, or to put your worries at ease!