Donald Mustard, previously the Chief Creative Officer at Epic Games and a co-creator of Fortnite, has talked about the important role played by well-known filmmakers JJ Abrams and the Russo Brothers in shaping major events within the popular battle royale game. In a recent interview, Mustard explained how these collaborations happened and how they impacted Fortnite’s unique identity.
The initial vision for Fortnite began with a desire to create a world where characters from different universes could interact (thanks, GR). Mustard sought advice from JJ Abrams, known for his Star Wars and Star Trek work, on developing a narrative framework for this concept. Abrams’ influence led to the idea of the “zero point,” a nexus connecting different realities that allows characters to coexist authentically within Fortnite’s world.
“So, I was laying that idea and that narrative down slowly. I’m very influenced by J.J. Abrams and kind of his approach to storytelling – and I was actually talking with him a lot about it at the time, we’re pretty good friends. I was saying to him ‘I kinda want to try this thing, how would you pace it and structure it’ – he was giving me a lot of good advice on how to kind of string that stuff out.”
Donald Mustard
The narrative framework set the stage for Fortnite’s famous crossover events. Following significant success, Mustard started looking at new possibilities for the game. A key partnership with the Russo Brothers, known for directing Marvel films like Avengers: Endgame, resulted in Fortnite’s initial major crossover event. This event allowed players to play as the supervillain Thanos, a significant collaboration that paved the way for future partnerships.
Mustard stressed that these partnerships were founded on trust and a common creative outlook. Through discussions with the owners of popular characters, Mustard established unique collaborations that are now closely associated with the game. The popularity of the Thanos event highlighted the possibilities of these team-ups, resulting in numerous partnerships that are molding Fortnite’s constantly changing universe.
“… it really started with how I met Joe and Anthony Russo. The very first collaboration we ever did in Fortnite was with Thanos for Infinity War and that began with Joe and I meeting each other, talking to each other for many, many hours, and and as artists coming to a ‘wouldn’t it be so cool if’. From there we built the Thanos integration which was amazing – and once people experienced that, that really opened the doors to all these possibilities.”
Donald Mustard
The recent interview tells us a lot about how the movie industry has actually been pivotal to one of the most recognizable video games. It’s pretty amazing to know how much these directors helped.
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