Yesterday I received an email from Atom.com informing me that “Star Wars: Hunter” -my first entry into the official “Star Wars Movie Challenge” – has been accepted as a potential finalist.  As I ready the necessary paperwork to send back and allow them the right to distribute the film on US TV or Comicon (if they think it worthy enough) my mind switches to another Star Wars concept.

After having made such amazing contacts on Hunter, with talented artists, musicians, digital fx people, actors and other local talent here in Hamilton NZ, I find myself inspired to write and make one more Star Wars film.  THE Star Wars film.  Something a litlte bigger and grander, more complex, more action-packed but most importantly, with more intensity and drama.  Hunter was a deliberate Western-style approach to Star Wars, a tribute to the 80s action films I grew up with like Predator and the first two Indiana Jones films.

This new film will explore the Eastern side of Star Wars. The samurai film. The martial arts/kung fu film. And this time, the lightsaber will not be reduced to a wink wink cameo.  The lightsaber itself will become an imporant feature of the action and even the plot of the film….

In the next 4 months I will be researching, studying and working towards turning myself into a charater who wields a lightsaber as if it is a part of him.  It will be a long and intense physcial journey, but one I hope will pay off onscreen.  To be continued!