{"id":78817,"date":"2015-08-21T11:53:40","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T10:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=78817"},"modified":"2015-08-30T18:06:25","modified_gmt":"2015-08-30T17:06:25","slug":"hawk-the-slayer-2-the-latest-on-the-kickstarter-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/news\/hawk-the-slayer-2-the-latest-on-the-kickstarter-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawk The Slayer 2: back the Kickstarter campaign now!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hawk-the-hunter\"<\/a>Released in 1980, Hawk The Slayer<\/strong><\/em> is a sword-and-sorcery, Dungeons & Dragons<\/strong><\/em>-infused tale of good and evil, seeing the titular Hawk (John Terry) facing off against his evil brother Voltan (Jack Palance). Now, 35 years on, it looks like Hawk’s story might finally continue.<\/p>\n

On 30 August at FrightFest, a Kickstarter campaign was\u00a0launched<\/a> with the aim of raising funds for sequel Hawk The Hunter<\/strong><\/em>, which in turn will hopefully lead to a TV series, Hawk The Destroyer<\/strong><\/em>. We spoke to original director Terry Marcel and producer Andrew Grocock about what to expect…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why is now the right time for a Hawk The Slayer<\/em> sequel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong>: Andrew\u2019s been working with me for a long time, and one day he said, \u201cI\u2019ve had a request for you to do this interview.\u201d He said, \u201cYou ought to write a sequel to Hawk\u201d, and I said \u201cI\u2019ve written a sequel to Hawk!\u201d He said \u201cWe ought to go out and try and put this together.\u201d So I got hold of the old script that Harry and I had written, and it needed a bit of work on it, so I did that.<\/p>\n

And then we had some intro press from a company about a television series. Having done a television series (Dark Knight<\/strong><\/em>), I know what you\u2019ve got to do. It took me about six months to create a whole new world, a new arc and new storylines, and then I went back to the original sequel, called Hawk The Hunter<\/strong><\/em>, and thought that could be a very good intro to a television series.<\/p>\n

The sequel ends perfectly with the beginning of the TV series. And the moment we started to talk about doing it, the amount of interest from Facebook, Twitter, fans and people we never even knew\/believed were fans were coming out of the woodwork. We thought, \u2018How can we finance this?\u2019 We were contacted by Jason [Kingsley] at Rebellion \u2013 a great fan, very interested in the story.<\/p>\n

When I first went down to meet him, I took the original sword with me \u2013 I\u2019ve still got it \u2013 and he was like, \u2018Oh my god, is this the original sword?\u2019 Jason was an integral part of this package. Once we had him in place, we said \u2018We\u2019re going to attempt a Kickstarter campaign, and try to raise this money through Kickstarter.\u2019 That\u2019s one of the reasons we\u2019re doing this: there\u2019s a fanbase out there, there\u2019s people out there who want to know what happens. What happened when they went south? Well they didn\u2019t actually go south; that\u2019s another story!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What kind of demographic is Hawk The Hunter<\/em> aimed at?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong>: I totally believe that this is an 8pm slot, as per Hawk The Slayer<\/strong><\/em>. The fans will kill me if I don\u2019t keep all the elements of Hawk<\/strong><\/em> in: we\u2019ve got the giant, we will introduce a new dwarf called Hanfer; there\u2019s a female in the new one; Crow, the new crow is still in it, but the old one\u2019s in it as well, because in the sequel, the new character who plays Crow comes across an old elf dying.<\/p>\n

This elf is called Bowman. Bowman is a very special kind of elf. He can\u2019t save him; and that old elf is going to be Ray Charleson [who played Crow in the original]. But he comes again, because the elves always have a bowman, he makes their bows and arrows, and introduces the magic into them. And when a bowman dies, another one takes his place, but it\u2019s always the same bowman. And Ray Charleson will be Bowman in that series.<\/p>\n

\"Crows\"
There will be a new elf to succeed Ray Charleson’s Crow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you have any actors in mind?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong>: Like we did in Hawk The Slayer<\/strong><\/em>, we will go for some very well-known English actors to play all those minor parts that they were so fantastic in the other script. People like Roy Kinnear, Annette Crosbie and Warren Clarke, I hope I can get one those named actors to come across and do this.<\/p>\n

One of the new characters is called Panjem, and he\u2019s a madman; he\u2019s Caligula. When we originally wrote it, we were always going to offer it to [Carry On<\/strong><\/em> star] Kenneth Williams. He\u2019s that type of character; he\u2019s always talking to a homunculi, a little doll.<\/p>\n

People say to me, \u201cYou\u2019re not going to be able to compete,\u201d and of course we\u2019re not going to be able to compete. I\u2019m fortunate enough to have Rebellion doing my CGI, which will give me a certain about of look, but the key is the story. Is it a good story? If it\u2019s a good story, people will watch it. I\u2019ve removed myself from it, and let other people read it. It\u2019s got a good story, it\u2019s got a great beginning, middle and end. It builds upwards all the way, and it\u2019s got a lot of comedy in it.<\/p>\n

One of the things people liked about Hawk<\/strong><\/em> was the giant and the dwarf. We have a bit more of that, and we have a couple more people. We have a changeling in it who\u2019s called Grey Rook, and is actually a dwarf \u2013 but a real dwarf \u2013 and he changes into a rook. There\u2019s a sequence where he gets drunk and doesn\u2019t know whether he\u2019s a bird or human. It\u2019s almost like Jack Palance\u2019s peformance [as Voltan], which is way up there \u2013 this has got to be way up there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hawk The Slayer<\/em> seemed like a much bigger world than what you actually saw in the film. Was it always the intention to open it up?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong>: Not really, no. The sequel in its original form was just another adventure with Hawk and his team. But I opened up the world because of the TV show. With TV, you have to know where you\u2019re going. With Dark Knight<\/strong><\/em>, I only ended up doing the two series, but I knew where it was going, where it would end and what my arc was.<\/p>\n

In this, you have to have a bigger view of the world, and so it was fairly obvious to me to start from, what was going to be the key to the series: magic. And where did the magic come from? Magic came from the stones. Where did the stones come from? And then bit by bit I rebuilt the whole thing and created a massive world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What made you decide to use Kickstarter, and how much do you hope to raise?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew<\/strong>: We\u2019re trying to raise a million dollars. The thing is, we\u2019ve been here before where financers have come in and offered the money to make the sequel. I\u2019ve been sat with Terry, and then all of a sudden, right at the death they come out and they want to change things, and Terry\u2019s very loyal to the sword-and-scorcery genre. Some of the stuff they come out with, you\u2019re sat there thinking to yourself, \u201cThey\u2019re not interested in the sequel; they just want to make something to make money, but it\u2019s going to collapse.\u201d Terry is so loyal to the fanbase; he\u2019s not going to dilute or mess about with sword and sorcery.<\/p>\n

Crowd-funding has become a reality for a lot of people in situations like ours, where we just need to close the gap. Terry has done a studio deal, he\u2019s done a post-production deal, he\u2019s got Rebellion aboard, and you end up with this gap that you\u2019re trying to fill. You\u2019re trying not to give away the essence of this project, and it\u2019s a perfect scenario to go to the fans and say, \u2018We can get this made, come on board, we will give you part of the show\u2019, so they have rewards that they come in and take an interest in.<\/p>\n

For us, it\u2019s outside of the usual stuff: we\u2019ve got a fantastic T-shirt. To get them involved, there\u2019s a fan day. Terry\u2019s got this fantastic scene that he\u2019s going to direct with Gort and Hanfer, and there\u2019s a big fight scene in a tavern. We\u2019re asking fans to pay the money, come on the day and be in the movie. We\u2019ve commissioned a coin. Hawk is a lord, so he\u2019s got a currency. When people are gambling in the movie they use these silver coins. Those coins as a prop will be available as a reward. We\u2019ve had RiffTrax, they\u2019re huge Hawk fans. As a reward, they will riff Hawk. They\u2019re going to do it anyway as a digital download, they will provide it for the film and take the mickey out of it. We\u2019ve done loads of stuff.<\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong>: And Rick Wakeman\u2019s doing the music. When you look at what we\u2019ve got: we have Rebellion behind us, we\u2019ve got a fantastic deal in Lithuania, where I\u2019m going to shoot it, because I worked there, shot there for two years; great post-production deal, and I think we\u2019re going to attract some fantastic actors to it.<\/p>\n

The important thing about this production is that we\u2019re going to have an open-door policy. Rebellion are going to do a rolling daily filming, we\u2019re going to do the opposite of everyone else: we\u2019re going to smash it out, give people everything we can, without actually giving the ending away.<\/p>\n

\"Rick
Marcel with Rick Wakeman, who’ll be doing the soundtrack for Hawk The Hunter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Can you tell us a bit more about Rebellion\u2019s role?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew<\/strong>: It\u2019s the licensing, the games. They\u2019re a genre publishing company. Jason\u2019s a huge fan, and wants to expand the world of Hawk: all the characters that Terry\u2019s created, he wants to branch off. Only Terry can do this: where did Crow come from? Where did Hawk come from? What were Hawk and Voltan like when they were younger?<\/p>\n

Apart from the fact that Terry\u2019s got all of this for the TV series, they want to do that, and integrally, the game \u2013 they did Sniper<\/strong><\/em>, these games. You know when you see an advertisement for a game on TV and it says \u2018Not actual game footage\u2019? This is game footage we\u2019re going to shoot, so it\u2019ll be exciting from that perspective. It expands that into different territory of fandom.<\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong>: We\u2019re constantly getting requests for merchandise, like, can we buy a sword? So apart from what Jason\u2019s doing, there\u2019s a whole other area that we never got into on Hawk The Slayer<\/strong><\/em> that we\u2019ll get into on this. The offers for the sword itself don\u2019t stop. They pester me like mad.<\/p>\n

Andrew<\/strong>: It\u2019s all down to the Kickstarter. It\u2019s going to be interesting, Terry\u2019s done so much work on not just the script, but the background he\u2019s built into the world for the TV series. The sequel really is a cinematic pilot, basically. And we\u2019ve got interest from actors that are aware of the situation. It\u2019s quite an exciting time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When does the Kickstarter campaign start?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It starts on August 30th\u00a0at FrightFest, and runs from there until the last day of September. It\u2019s about 31 days. You can run for 60 days, but doing research, the optimum is 30 days, then people know this is the window. One month is enough for us to know or not. It\u2019s a case of trying to get as much as possible done up front to let people know what\u2019s happening, and then just keep churning it out to try and drive traffic to the site and come abroad. We\u2019ve got some good rewards, and we\u2019re hopeful. Rebellion have been tremendous with helping put the site together, shot videos there. Ray Charleson has come up to shoot the video with Terry \u2013 there\u2019s not much more we can do, to be honest.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Will any of the original cast return?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong><\/em>: Anyone who is alive, we\u2019re going to try and get back in different roles. Patricia Quinn \u2013 she doesn\u2019t know it yet, but there\u2019s a new character called Fod. She\u2019s in the television series. A lot of the strategy for the new series is based around the kitchen. She sort of runs the household for Hawk and the others, and of course, although she\u2019s a rough, fairy-type creature, she loves Hawk; she calls him the Master, and she\u2019d do anything for him. And so, all the planning, plotting \u2013 it\u2019s all done in the kitchen, and Fod oversees it.<\/p>\n

She has a little bit of magic, which I won\u2019t reveal now. I\u2019d love to give that to Patricia Quinn. Likewise, Christopher Benjamin, I\u2019d love to have him back. If we can cast the Panjem with a really good name \u2013 there\u2019s another character called the Antiquarium, we were always going to offer him to Roy Kinnear. There are lots of them that I wish we could get. There\u2019s a troll in it, I\u2019d love Brian Blessed to play him. I\u2019ve worked with Brian before on\u00a0The Castle Of Adventure<\/strong><\/em>, he\u2019d be fantastic.<\/p>\n

\"hawk1\"
Much like the original had, Terry is on the lookout for strong character actors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After all these years, how does it feel to have a cult hit on your hands?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong>: Listen, you guys made me into a cult. You bowl along for 35 years, do other things, and Hawk<\/strong><\/em> goes along, sometimes it gets a 2-star rating, sometimes it gets a 1, and suddenly, it says \u2018cult classic\u2019. When did I become a cult classic? Is it just a build up? It\u2019s like when Rick Wakeman said, \u2018Did they call me a cult, or something else?\u2019<\/p>\n

Andrew<\/strong>: You make it, and the generation in which it was made watch it and go away, and then their kids discover it, and they start to like it. Because it\u2019s got two generations of fandom, it becomes a cult, you\u2019ve got an older and a younger generation, it becomes a cult, because the younger generation discover it, and the older generation say, \u2018That was ours\u2019, and that\u2019s what happened to Hawk.<\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong>: People we\u2019ve talked to say, \u2018You\u2019ve got to realise, when you did this movie, you were the first one to go from green tights into the costumes that everybody uses now.\u2019 And I think, \u2018Did I? Okay, maybe I did.\u2019 When we discussed the look of it, we weren\u2019t going to be Robin of Sherwood with green tights; that was out. We always knew that we wanted these costumes to feel like they were\u2026 I always knew the fights could only be quick and fast, because I didn\u2019t have the time to do them. It\u2019s interesting how these things develop. I\u2019m delighted in my twilight years to be a cult classic.<\/p>\n

When we wrote that sequel, we were writing things in it that couldn\u2019t be done. I don\u2019t know what the hell we thought we were going to do, but it\u2019s only now that we can do what we were going to do. Now, because of the abilities to use the CGI, we can now do the things we wrote, whereas I don\u2019t know how we were going to do it then! A lot of it was \u2018We\u2019ll worry about it when we\u2019re there!\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I read somewhere that Tom Hardy was attached to a sequel at one point. What happened there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terry: I had him. I went to a fairly well-known distributor, and they said, \u2018Tom Hardy\u2019s never going to make it.\u2019 Lost him. That\u2019s the trouble with working with a studio. This isn\u2019t going to have a huge budget. Hawk The Slayer<\/strong><\/em> was \u00a361,000. You need to be in a sensible budget area. You need to be able to say, \u2018Those people are investing in this, I believe I\u2019ve got a good chance of getting their money back,\u2019 and I believe that if the audience is there, we can get a TV series, which is the ultimate aim.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Terry
On the set of Hawk The Slayer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Is there any competition that you’re weary of?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong>: Shannara<\/strong><\/em> was the series that worried me more than anything, and lo and behold [The Shannara Chronicles<\/strong> <\/em>will air on MTV early next year] ! But then again, they\u2019re going to make a massive show \u2013 very Lord Of The Rings<\/strong><\/em>, but I\u2019m not worried, because mine isn\u2019t attempting to be anything like that. And Shannara<\/strong><\/em> is fairly serious stuff. Mine\u2019s got something that the kids can have a laugh with and enjoy. Particularly the new dwarf: I\u2019ve got characters like Grey Rook, a changeling, which they don\u2019t have. I can\u2019t compete \u2013 they\u2019re probably spending on their tea what I\u2019m going to be spending on the movie.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big cast, I saw the trailer, all I kept thinking was Lord Of The Rings<\/strong><\/em>. I hope it works, because I want people to be aware of sword and sorcery. I hope it\u2019s a big success, but I don\u2019t think competition-wise I\u2019ve got much to worry about. There\u2019s a sword and sorcery space, and they\u2019re going to eat up part of that space, but there\u2019ll be plenty left for little old Hawk The Slayer<\/strong><\/em>. It\u2019s six episodes of advertising to us, and it\u2019s a great story; Terry Brooks is a hell of a writer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, for those who are new to Hawk<\/em>, why should they get behind this Kickstarter campaign?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terry<\/strong>: If you\u2019re a sword and sorcery fan, come take a look, because I think this\u2019ll be worth watching. It\u2019s going to be a good script, and if people enjoy a good story, and you haven\u2019t seen Hawk The Slayer<\/strong><\/em>, there\u2019s a reprise at the beginning that tells you why the brothers fought and what happened. So at least you can come into this without having watched the original and still enjoy it. It\u2019s for anybody, but if you\u2019re a sword and sorcery you\u2019ve got to come and see this.<\/p>\n

The Kickstarter campaign for Hawk The Hunter<\/em>\u00a0is ongoing now – click here to back it<\/a>.\u00a0Visit\u00a0the official website<\/a>\u00a0for more details, or follow them on Twitter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director Terry Marcel talks to us about the Kickstarter campaign for Hawk The Hunter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":78871,"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":[4568],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/hawk-the-hunter.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78817"}],"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=78817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}