{"id":78005,"date":"2015-07-23T14:44:04","date_gmt":"2015-07-23T13:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=78005"},"modified":"2015-07-23T14:44:54","modified_gmt":"2015-07-23T13:44:54","slug":"black-angel-director-on-turning-star-wars-short-into-a-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/news\/black-angel-director-on-turning-star-wars-short-into-a-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Angel director on making Star Wars short into a film"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Black<\/a>
It looks like the prospect of a Black Angel film will finally become a reality<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A\u00a0<\/span>long time ago<\/span> in a galaxy far far away, George Lucas commissioned his Star Wars<\/strong><\/em> set decorator Roger Christian to make a short film to accompany the 1980 release of The Empire Strikes Back<\/strong><\/em>. Now, with its Indiegogo crowd-funding target having been met, it looks like it could finally become a full-length feature.<\/span><\/p>\n

That film, Black Angel<\/strong><\/em>, proved an apt companion piece \u2013 a dark, beautifully shot medieval myth concerning a vengeful knight taking on the enigmatic antagonist who brought destruction to his village. <\/span><\/p>\n

Black Angel<\/strong><\/em> became a legend itself \u2013 being a major visual influence on John Boorman\u2019s Excalibur,\u00a0while its slowed down \u2018step-printed\u2019 technique used for its climatic fight was adopted for Luke\u2019s nightmarish Dagobah duel in Empire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The film then seeped into obscurity and was considered a lost piece of Star Wars<\/strong><\/em>\u2019 legacy \u2013 until it was recently retrieved from Universal\u2019s archives. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, 35 years since its conception, Christian, who was the art director for Alien<\/strong><\/em> and directed Nostradamus<\/strong><\/em>, is turning Black Angel<\/strong><\/em> into a realistic $15 million feature thanks to renewed interest in epic fantasy adventures like The Lord Of The Rings<\/strong><\/em> and Game Of Thrones<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Roger
Roger Christian made the original short while working on The Empire Strikes Back<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis has been a life\u2019s work, because it was the first film I wanted to do \u2013 a real passion project,\u201d reveals Christian. \u201cI\u2019ve tried to do Merlin and King Arthur, and I just couldn\u2019t get interest\u2026 so finally the world has caught up with my passion!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

While lead character Sir Maddox has yet to be cast, French newcomer Laura Weissbecker will play renegade Princess Kyna, Blade Runner<\/strong><\/em>\u2019s\u00a0Rutger Hauer will be a High Priest, while Lord OfThe Rings<\/strong><\/em>\u2019 John Rhys Davies will embody King Atholas \u2013 a bitter rival of the knight. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI needed those ancient kind of faces that fit \u2013 that kind of casting is essential to making these kind of films work.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Crucially, there\u2019ll be a sorcerer called Myrddin too. \u201cI always wanted a Yoda or Merlin type, because every hero has a mentor. I found this ancient character from Scottish history \u2013 he was like a wise man living in the woods probably where Merlin came from a few hundred years later, but they took his story and reignited it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A release date for Black Angel<\/em> is yet to be announced. For more on the biggest movies, pick up the latest issue of SciFiNow.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roger Christian talks to us about turning short film Dark Angel into a feature<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":78007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[2615,1718,7,3],"tags":[4610],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Black-Angel.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}