The release of A Minecraft Movie, the first adaptation of the iconic video game, is just around the corner. Amidst the buildup to the film, many have criticized the casting choices of the film, but one executive behind the game itself has spoken up to defend it. 

Jack Black leads A Minecraft Movie as Steve, a man who’s lived in the overworld for a long time, and is the one who shows around a whole new batch of newcomers when they unknowingly stumble into the world. 

Within the game itself, which was produced by Mojang over ten years ago, Steve was the moniker given to the default skin that all players start out as. Jack Black is already shown in the trailer donning the light blue shirt, dark jeans, and the same tools that one familiar with the game would associate Steve with. 

While talking to Torfi Frans Ólafsson, a content director at Mojang, Variety found out that Jack Black wasn’t originally meant to play Steve, rather he would play a talking pig. He would say that “it was very, very, very late in the development where we had the idea to switch it to become Steve, because we needed an expert and host. This is not my Steve or your Steve — this is Jack Black’s Steve.”

ScreenRant notes, as well, he would add that Black went even further to make the character his own, infusing him with what Minecraft meant personally to Black. 

A Minecraft Movie hits theaters on April 4th.