Jack Black Says the Path to His First Oscar Runs Through His Next Video Game Movie Adaptation

Despite his massive movie success, Jack Black has never even been nominated for an Academy Award — so he’s decided to craft one.

When The Super Mario Bros. Movie premiered last year, the critical community was divided on the artistic merits of a video game adaptation that prioritized product worship and fan-service over insignificant things like plot and characters. However, absolutely no one was able to find anything to complain about in Black’s performance as the iconic villain Bowser, or in his unexpectedly powerful piano ballad — except for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which left Black and “Peaches” off of the list of nominees for Best Original Song for this month’s Oscars ceremony to the ire of Mario and Black stans everywhere.

Well, Black is ready to take another crack at Oscar gold. In a recent conversation with GamesRadar, the Tenacious D and School of Rock star stated that his next movie adaptation of a video game could be the one that finally puts his name on the Oscar nomination list after decades of cinematic excellence — the upcoming Minecraft movie may finally add an Academy Award to the list of Black’s accolades. However, the real ones know that he deserved it for Bernie.

“You know I’m playing Minecraft all the time. Whenever I’m not filming, I’m playing Minecraft because an actor prepares,” Black said of the groundwork he’s been putting in to play the silent protagonist Steve from the sandbox/survival game in the animated feature that’s slated to premiere next year. 

“I like to be in that Minecraft headspace. I like to know the rules, and I like to get little, like, things like, ‘Oh, in the game you pickaxe like this. You hit stuff like that,’ then I do that in the movie,” Black explained, “I think the members of the Academy will appreciate my research later. I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m pretty sure I’m getting an Oscar for this one.”

Obviously, Black’s plan for breaking into the esteemed company of Oscar-winning actors is unorthodox considering the fact that, historically, no feature film adaptation of a video game franchise has earned even a single Oscar nomination. Then again, neither has Black, and there’s a first time for everything, so who’s to say that next year’s Oscar voters won’t pick along the same lines as your ADHD nephews?