Miyamoto didn’t want anyone, not even Steven Spielberg, to make a Zelda movie. There’s now a movie in the works with director Wes Ball, but the father of Super Mario used to reject all proposals about bringing Zelda to the big screen.

Nintendo has finally given the go-ahead for a live-action The Legend of Zelda movie, a project being developed in collaboration with Sony. However, Shigeru Miyamoto was notoriously opposed to the idea of adapting Link’s adventures for the big screen. For years, he shut down every proposal from Hollywood, no matter how prestigious the filmmaker behind it. Even if someone like Steven Spielberg had pitched a Zelda film, Miyamoto wouldn’t have budged.

Miyamoto Refused Every Zelda Movie Pitch for Years

Gail Tilden, who served as Nintendo of America’s marketing lead from 1983 to 2007, recalled this during an interview on the Video Game History Foundation podcast (via GamesRadar+). Tilden, who played a key role in the NES’s U.S. launch and Pokémon’s meteoric rise in the West, explained that Nintendo was constantly bombarded with film adaptation requests.

“People were always calling to make a movie,” Tilden said. “The most common question was, ‘We want to make a Zelda movie.’ And the answer was always ‘no.’ One day, I even asked Mr. Miyamoto directly, ‘What if Steven Spielberg himself wanted to make a Zelda movie?’ He just said, ‘No.’ And that was it. The answer never changed.” However, after the massive success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Miyamoto finally warmed up to the idea, much to the excitement of fans.

Nintendo Once Considered a Metroid Movie, But It Never Came to Life

During the interview, Tilden also revealed that The Legend of Zelda wasn’t the only Nintendo franchise that nearly made the leap to Hollywood. In the 2000s, a Metroid film was seriously discussed, and rumors swirled about it for years. “We had multiple meetings,” she recalled. “It was a long process. We even debated who should play Samus.” While no definitive casting choices were made, Charlize Theron’s name was among those brought up.

However, a Metroid film would have required an enormous budget. “At the time, the only major action movie featuring a female lead was Halle Berry’s Catwoman, and it completely flopped. John Woo’s production company [responsible for Mission: Impossible 2 and Silent Night] pitched a Metroid movie, but we never struck a deal. That’s the real reason why the project didn’t happen.”

Source: 3djuegos