“A Minecraft Movie” has taken the internet and cinemas by storm. The homage to the 2011 video game features a star-studded cast of Jack Black (Steve), Jason Momoa (Garett Garrison), Emma Meyers (Natalie), Sebastian Eugene Hansen (Henry), Danielle Brooks (Dawn), and Jennifer Coolidge (Vice Principal Marlene).
Not only has this film been a huge success, but it’s also sparked nostalgia among the younger generations who grew up playing the game. Its lighthearted, silly nature is the exact feeling needed to be brought back into people’s lives. From taking over social media with videos of “Chicken Jockey!” to the outside of your McDonald’s Happy Meal, “Minecraft” is here to stay.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with one of the film’s writers, Chris Galletta, to chat about his career, the creation of the film, and the reception the movie has received.
Galletta always knew he wanted to be in film since he was a little boy after seeing “Masters of the Universe” (1987) and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989). He discovered his love of writing, and went to film school in New York at St. John’s and then Columbia, to major in screenwriting. For Galletta, writing has become second nature, fueling him to keep creating.
“A Minecraft Movie” came into the picture as a writing assignment from Warner Bros. Studios, supplied by his agent. He wrote several drafts and a final draft in late 2023, but the “Minecraft” movie has been in development since 2014. Other writers had written drafts of the movie as well, and the ultimate goal was a finished product that clicked with the cast, producers, and director.
“This one [this film] seemed to fit. So I kept writing on it, and I got really close with the director, and we kind of rewrote the film together,” He said. Galletta specifically wrote the “shooting script” of the film, which was used throughout filming on set in New Zealand in early 2024.
The director, Jared Hess, who you might know from creating the 2004 film “Napoleon Dynamite,” and Galletta worked closely on set, including rewriting dialogue to fit certain actors after casting, adding funny bits, and staying true to the world of “Minecraft.”
Safe to say, Galletta remained heavily involved after the script had been written. “I talked with the producers a lot about changes that I kind of had nothing to do with in terms of visual effects, but we would talk creatively about what it would all mean to the story. I tried to stay as involved as I could because I really cared. I love the movie. You’re on set with these people, you feel a sense of—It gets into your blood a little bit,” Galletta said.
As I mentioned after casting, some characters were tweaked to fit that actor’s personality. Black’s character Steve originally had a British accent and was definitely not the outlandish, wildly hilarious Steve we got on the big screen. One distinct characteristic of Steve that was added because of Black was those hilarious, spontaneous songs like “Steve’s Lava Chicken,” “I Feel Alive,” and “Ode to Dennis,” all of which have become viral videos and memes.
“Ode to Dennis” is a special one to Galletta since he was there during its creation and even plays guitar on the track. The fans in theatres simply could not contain themselves after hearing this song and seeing a villager get emotional with a single tear as Black serenaded his beloved pal.
“The audience does like that song. It makes me happy because it’s extremely silly. We’re so happy because fans are deciding what they love, and it’s never the thing you expect,” He said.
Another aspect added because of the actor was Momoa butchering the Spanish language as his character, Garett Garrison. Those moments had me rolling over in laughter at the sheer stupidity and good fun of it all. Everything wasn’t imagined on the fly (pun intended), though. Many moments were depicted through stunts and CGI technical aspects, such as the village fight scene or the elytra wingsuit flying scene. The block tree scapes, the villages, and parts of the caves were all scenic designs physically built to create that immersive experience.
“We have a really smart fanbase of basically computer programmers. So you kind of have to wink at them and try to bring them in, in a smart way.” He continued, “We were really happy with the techno-blade stuff and the ‘Boots of Swiftness”…And people are pumped that that’s in there.” Along with some help from the creative team over at Microsoft, Galletta and the rest of the team are endlessly proud of the design elements they created for the film.
Galletta, along with the rest of the cast and production crew, dove into the creative process by playing the game a lot, and I mean a lot. “We played. We all played. Jack Black played the most. He played every day, literally every day,” Galletta mentioned. Their dedication to the game paid off as they produced an extremely accurate depiction of what it would be like to walk inside the “Minecraft” universe.
The success of “A Minecraft Movie” has exceeded everyone’s expectations. The nostalgic moments of the Overworld and Nether come to life on the big screen, have the fans going wild in the theatre.
While Galletta does not specifically condone the behavior of bringing live chickens indoors for the iconic “Chicken Jockey!” scene, he’s thrilled to see the fans take this film to a new level. He said, “You just want people to see the movie. The idea that it’s like a hit is crazy. ‘Cause I’ve worked on stuff that no one sees, so this way is better.” This film has truly made everyone “yearn for the mines.”
