Don’t look, but expectations for the Warcraft movie are on the slide. Any films based on video games generally aren’t high to begin with, but the more footage of Warcraft we see, the cheesier it looks.
If you were equally concerned about how the movie was tracking, then I’ve got bad news: Travis Fimmel, one of the main stars, isn’t helping.
The Australian, a former underwear model turned Stormwind heir, was profiled by The Red Bulletin ahead of Warcraft’s worldwide release in early June.
As you’d expect, the profile covered some of his past, such as growing up on a farm and starring as King Ragnar in Vikings. And then it turned to the Warcraft film — where Fimmel didn’t exactly cover himself in glory.
“To be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” Fimmel said when asked about acting for such a CGI-heavy film. “It is such a different way of acting, not talking to someone sometimes. You’re actually talking to air. It’s hard. I bloody suck at it.”
According to the profile, he hadn’t heard of Warcraft prior to signing on, and he isn’t much of a gamer at all — but he “needed a job”, so naturally he accepted.
You can’t really blame someone for taking work if they need it. And Fimmel comes across as a laid-back, self deprecating kind of fellow in the piece.
But while it might be nice to give a pass to another Aussie, we’ve all seen enough movies where actors couldn’t quite get the hang of talking to a green screen. It looks wooden and dull. And hearing one of the main stars freely admit that it’s not really his forte doesn’t exactly inspire a great deal of confidence.
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13 responses to “Warcraft Actor Promotes Film By Saying He Sucks At Acting”
Most movies based on games are bad anyway. It’s more just fan service than anything else…if it actually turns out decent that’s a bonus.
We used to say similar things about comic book movies. Warcraft might not have the most potential but there are plenty of games that could make great movies if given the chance.
I’m not saying that they can’t make a good movie based on a game…just that most turn out to be bad.
Give it the same budget as an Avengers movie and it’d likely be decent.
Should’ve just let Uwe Boll direct it so we could enjoy it for being utterly dreadful
In the context of the sentence, what he said is totally fine and not negative at all.
The tone and clickbait headline of this article is trying to change the angle of what he’s said, not cool.
Yeah. Even the ‘I needed the work’ line isn’t negative. Professional writers, actors and directors can do their job without being fans. It’s not a bad thing. There are many methods behind this stuff and they don’t all revolve around a childhood love of the subject.
I watched an interview with Teddy Sears who does a brilliant job of playing Jay Garrick on The Flash, and he openly admits he’s never seen the first season of the show and doesn’t know much about the comics. He’s just an actor who trusts the writers and can do what is asked of him.
I’ve worked with a lot of great actors who get very self conscious and doubt their performances, especially if they’re doing something difficult.
I find it tends to be part of a drive for self improvement and frankly based on what I’ve seen of Fimmels work it doesn’t surprise me and I’m still excited to see what he brings to the table.
Similarly needing a job, I’ve heard actors say that when they take on unpaid roles. They just feel a need to keep working on their craft.
Plus food on their table.
So he doesn’t actually say he sucks at acting: he says he is inexperienced at acting in CGI heavy films where other characters are not present on set. Other famous actors have said the same thing about their first experiences in such films, although perhaps not quite in the same self-deprecating fashion.
He seems to do a pretty good job on Vikings where all the other cast members are there.
I really like Travis’ work as Ragnar. I’m definitely looking forward to Warcraft.
Clickbait article is clickbait.. bastard -.-
I think he’s doing us a favour by trying to put the brakes on the hype train a bit. A lot of people are banking on this being the first not-crap game-film adaptation – that’s a lot of pressure!
Travis Fimmel is funny. He pretty much openly says he just acts because it pays the bills and he’s not always that excited about the source material of what he’s acting in. Doesn’t come across pompous or wanky either. Dude still lives in Australia on a farm, iirc. Sounds like just a really grounded dude that’s paying his bills and facilitating the lifestyle he wants for him and his family.
“Warcraft Actor Promotes Film By Saying He Sucks At Acting”
Is actually just interviewed and admits to being bad at green screen.
Do you guys actually come up with these article titles or are you forced to use one made for you?
Article would be a lot less click-baity if it just said “An Australian was self-deprecating and didn’t take something seriously”. No surprises here.
It really is a shame that Duncan Jones is making this movie, as otherwise I’d be able to openly enjoy the distinct possibility this’ll be a gigantic bomb. Now I kind of hope it does succeed (even though it looks and sounds horrific) purely just because I don’t want the potentially promising career of Jones to go down the crapper.
Totally agree.