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Redstone and piglins and creepers, oh my!
Fans of Minecraft will recognize a few of the game’s elements in this scene from “A Minecraft Movie.” But the sequence is also a good comic excuse to stuff Jack Black and Jason Momoa into a mine cart together.
The scene takes place in the redstone mines, where Steve (Black) has brought Garrett (Jason Momoa) and Henry (Sebastian Hansen) to access his diamond stash. But trouble is afoot in the form of a piglin biological superweapon, who has an arm cannon ready to blast the protagonists. They plan an escape via mine cart, using redstone to power their way out.
The film’s director, Jared Hess, said that he worked with his production designer Grant Major (the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy) to build many of the sets practically, including this mine set, and then extended those sets with visual effects.
“We had a ton of fun coming up with the size of the mine cart design,” Hess said, “because we wanted to fit Jack and Jason in the same cart. And they are two of some of the juiciest hunks in motion pictures.”
He said the actors felt the circulation in their thighs was being cut off, so they had to take a lot of breaks, but they ultimately made it through.
“This was such a fun sequence to shoot,” Hess told me. “Lots of laughs on set, it was great.”
