Jack Black apparently got very into his role as Steve while shooting the upcoming Minecraft movie, spending his filming breaks playing the game. The movie’s director Jared Hess even went as far as joking that Black went “as method as it gets” to play the role.
“I mean, he was in his trailer anytime he had a break, he was just slaying it in the Overworld,” Hess told IGN. “Torfi [Frans Olafsson, producer and Minecraft’s Sr. Creative Director of Entertainment] put together a special server just for the crew. Jack got obsessed with searching for lapis lazuli, as he calls it. I mean, every day, it was like, I’d pop in there to go over the scene in the morning and he would be dressed as Steve playing the game. It was kind of a surreal thing to behold.”
We’ve had a few glimpses of Black as Steve in the trailers so far, and we’ve got to admit, he looks the best part of the movie. Based loosely on beloved games, the film follows four misfits (played by Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, and Sebastian Eugene Hansen) who are pulled into the Overworld, a cubic land that thrives on imagination. In order to return home, they’ll have to complete a magical quest with a crafter called Steve.
Black previously joked to GamesRadar+ that he thinks he’ll get an Oscar for his work on A Minecraft Movie. “Oh, you know I’m playing Minecraft all the time. Whenever I’m not filming I’m playing Minecraft because an actor prepares,” he told us.
“I like to be in that Minecraft headspace. I like to know the rules, and I like to get little, like, things like, ‘Oh, in the game you pickaxe like this. You hit stuff like that,’ then I do that in the movie. I think the members of the Academy will appreciate my research later. I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m pretty sure I’m getting an Oscar for this one…”
A Minecraft Movie will be released on April 4, 2025. For more upcoming movies, here’s our guide to upcoming video game movies on the way.