Director Sam Raimi has hired Robert Rodat to pen his live-action feature film Warcraft, based on the World of Warcraft game.

Rodat, known for Saving Private Ryan, will write an original story for the film that is based upon the various assets of the game.

Raimi promises fans that whilst the story will be original, the film will remain authentic to the elements that make the game so popular.  I'm assuming that includes half naked men and women (like the image above) running around all over the landscape.  Raimi is also a producer of Legend of the Seeker so I'm guessing the answer is "yes" to that.

“We want to be really faithful to the game,” Raimi told MTV. “We would have our writer, Robert Rodat, really craft an original story within that world that feels like a World of WarCraft adventure. Only obviously it’s very different ’cause it’s expanded and translated into the world of a motion picture.”

“I think we would try and find touchstones within the game to make it accurate and true and choose one or some of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible.”

Raimi will start on Warcraft once he's wrapped up Spider-Man 4.

Warcraft is expected to be released sometime in 2011.

Tags: Warcraft, World of Warcraft