Because it's a video game adaptation, we expect that "Warcraft" would be a CGI spectacle and in the film's trailer released recently, we certainly saw a lot of CGI but in a recent interview with film's actors, they revealed that many of the effects were only practical sets and effects.
Actress Paula Patton who plays the half-human, half-orc Garona Halforcen revealed that some of the effects used for the film, like the forest, were real. She said (via Cinema Blend), "They closed that soundstage door, and it was a real forest."
"It [forest] was true to scale and we had our horses in there and we were jumping out of trees and such. And then you're going up mountains that have been built by these set designers. So you really enter the universe and that kind of gives you a sort of faith and excitement," Patton added.
Dominic Cooper who plays ruler of the human kingdom of Stormwind, King Llane Wrynn, also told io9 during the Blizzcon that to give the world of Azeroth "a sense of place," real sets and effects were used in "Warcraft."
"Warcraft" director Duncan Jones, according to Cooper, put more emphasis on the character and the story, compared to effects. CGI is just a tool for Jones, Cooper said. That's why actors had to do more and with real sets and effects, it helped them feel that they were really there, which leads to better performances from actors.
"The director [Jones] certainly has so much focus on that, they can often get distracted or not necessarily have the characters and the acting as the main focus. But that always seemed to be his priority. No matter how large the scale of the piece was, he wanted to make sure that that story that he was trying to tell was being told," Cooper told io9.
"A lot of actors are fearful of doing motion capture of any kind of virtual stuff because you have to imagine all that stuff," said actor Daniel Wu who plays evil orc warlock Gul'dan. "But, [in Warcraft], it was there. There's a bit where I summon the Fel energy, to get Blackhand to take the Fel into his body. And that was done with a practical set. We had this big urn in Gul'dan's tent that had green f-king fire coming out. It was awesome. It went up like eight feet high."
"We had to fight, we had to ride horses, we had to march. And that was incredible about it. It gives you the physicality," Cooper added.
"Warcraft" will be released June 10 next year.
