Live Action The Legend of Zelda movie in development

I'd point to Mad Max: Fury Road as a good example of "blank slate-ish action male protagonist who is mostly silent while shit happens around him" — in that case, the second lead is really well-written and memorable.

Edited by Synchronicity on Nov 8th 2023 at 7:50:39 AM

Would that be a good thing for this movie or a bad thing?

Because I see a silent Link working with a talented and expressive actor. But would it be a good thing to have him overshadowed?

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Nov 8th 2023 at 8:21:27 AM

I really doubt Link will be a silent protagonist or anything.

That's not actually canoicalu. And he does speak in the various Manga adaptations.

I think for movie!Link to fully work he can't be completely silent,he sort of has to have dialogue,that is due to medium change,but he does'nt need to be a massive talker constantly dropping one liners like "well exuuuse me princess!" but he should be able to express himself

I would rather they don’t adapt a specific game and instead write their own story of a movie length.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Nov 8th 2023 at 8:37:23 AM

That's probably exactly what will happen anyway, but I expect they pick one to work off as a "base" of sorts.

Probably Ocarina of Time.

I think it still could work with a mute Link. The Planet of the Apes movies proved that.

Bit Link isn't actually mute. NPC react like Link is talking to them.

After some discussion elsewhere, I think I actually kind of like the idea of cross-casting for Link. That is, using a female actor to portray a male character.

It'll never happen of course, because that's not how Hollywood rolls.

Isn't that a musical thing?

It's a thing all over theatre.

British pantomime for example, traditionally has the male lead played by a woman.

Yeah, theatre was the more appropriate term.

Probably safe to assume Link does talk in the games, we just don't hear it. After all, total strangers entrust him with weapons and rare gadgets, so even if he's not chatty he's at least got charisma.

Yeah he also talks fine in the Manga adaptation. And heck his twilight princess incarnation was pretty cool with his relationship with Midna.

I feel like the interpretation that Link can talk but we just don't hear it is very likely, I'd almost say it's practically canon.

In particular, some Zelda games actually do have dialogue options. Sure he doesn't have voiced dialogue, but:

• Until recently, nobody else did in these games either.

• The same thing is true of characters like The Courier from Fallout: New Vegas, and we'd still assume they can talk.

Also Link isn't stoic. A lot of the dialog he has have that youthful prep in them.

The way he screams in a fight also says a lot. Breath Of The Wild Link used to play up the stoic image pre-Calamity, but the man we play as can get pretty goofy, just for an example.

I've said it before, but a lack of dialogue does not mean a lack of characterisation.

It's entirely possible to have a character never say a word, but for them to still express themselves clearly through things like facial expressions and body language. Not to mention that the things characters actually do say a lot about them too, actions speak louder than words and all that.

Link being silent is only an issue when he's the only person not talking but everyone else is. In Skyward Sword, Link not talking didn't bothered me because we have text boxes and everyone was simply chatting in text boxes with no actual audio beyond grunting. Same thing with The Wind Waker or Ocarina of Time. It only became an issue in the Breath of the Wild games because he ends fading into the background everyone else is talking but him. It only worked in Breath of the Wild since he was recovering his memories from his perspective. Age of Calamity is where the problem starts showing, but it was mitigated by the fact it's Princess Zelda's story and we're focused on her. Tears of the Kingdom, however, really makes Link feel like an afterthought because the memories he's collecting are not his, but Zelda's. His silence ends up becoming really awkward in certain cutscenes, particular the final one.

But Link talks in BOTW. I think the problem is that voice acting kinda made it apparent.

Okay, forget casting Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf for a moment. Who would you cast as Beedle?

Eric Idle

He might be too old. Maybe Taika Waititi, if he still has a career after Next Goal Wins?

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Nov 9th 2023 at 7:33:41 AM

Danny DeVito as Tingle.

Summer Glau as Midna