Mojang Studios first released Minecraft in 2011, at the cusp of Generations Z and Alpha. By the Spring of 2012, over four million Minecraft videos had been uploaded to YouTube, sparking Minecraft Mania.

It was hard to avoid the internet without seeing Minecraft content, memes, or merchandise at local shops. It became (and still is) the best-selling video game of all time, selling over 300 million copies across multiple platforms.

The rights to the movie were first announced in 2014, during the height of the craze, between Mojang Studios and Warner Bros. However, after several discussions and pushback, production finally began in 2022 after Legendary Entertainment became involved. Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess signed on as director and cast Jason Momoa and Jack Black to star in the film. Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, and Sebastian Eugene Hansen were later added to the project. 

While there were a few script changes when production began, Hess wanted to retain the humor of his popular films Napoleon Dynamite (2004) and Nacho Libre (2006), which also starred Black, while making it fit the current generation of Minecraft fans. 

“It’s such a different way that I think that younger generations are consuming content and media, so you’re always conscious of it,” Hess tells The Nerds of Color. “But you just want to tell the story that engages people. To do a movie like Minecraft, an already beloved game, and translating that into a heightened cinematic experience [by] sending a group of unlikely heroes on this epic adventure, and having it be ridiculous like the game was a challenge but also fun.”

In the film, several characters feel very similar to Hess’s past characters, like Garrett (Jason Momoa), a former ‘80s teen video game champion who is stuck in the past (Think Napoleon Dynamite’s Uncle Rico). Hess reveals, “When we put the movie together, I think so much of the comedy is character-based – and that’s true with all of my films. We just wanted to stay true to that.”

There were also newer modern characters like social media expert Natalie (Myers) and her little brother, Henry (Hansen). Both Myers and Hansen are Gen Z (“Please don’t call me Gen A,” says Hansen) and notice the differences in the humor and references made in the film by the other actors. 

“I was just used to it all, so it didn’t feel that stark,” says Myers. 

 Hansen says he was the kid who grew up with more friends who were adults, so when working with Black, Brooks, and Momoa, it made it easy for him to understand the jokes and references. He jokes, “It wasn’t like ‘Oh my God, these old people’ or anything like that! It was easy to work with.”

Myers added that Hess was receptive to their perspectives, allowing them to improvise things that were relevant to today’s humor. 

“I definitely got to improv a lot and add things in,” says Myers. “Jared is so good at collaborating. He lets us have free reign over whatever we want.”

Hess wanted all fans of the game — young and old — as well as regular moviegoers who just wanted to immerse themselves in the Minecraft world. He worked closely with the game’s creators to ensure it had all the Easter eggs from the game while also remaining “a hilarious, epic adventure film.” 

While the film does cater to Minecraft fans, Hess did leave a few Easter eggs for fans of his past work on Napoleon Dynamite, including tater tots. 

“I’m from Idaho,” says Hess. “That’s my hometown. That’s where I filmed Napoleon Dynamite and our characters come into Idaho and from Idaho into the Overworld. That’s fun to bring your life experience to things.”

Check out the full interview below:

A Minecraft Movie releases in theaters everywhere on April 4.