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'Interplanetary' is new B-movie fun
from director Chance Shirley
"Interplanetary", the new feature from Birmingham filmmaker Chance Shirley, is a wholly entertaining B-movie romp across Mars. The film has plenty of the ubiquitous gore and sex which is part of the genre, but stands out because of its wit -- and its willingness to poke fun at itself and the genre.
"Interplanetary" is the 38-year-old Shirley's second feature (the zombie flick "Hide and Creep" was the first), and the new movie has a definite retro look and feel. The film could have come from any of a number of space-themed television shows or late night double features from the Sixties or Seventies. It's done purposefully, Chance explained.
"Technology, camera equipment and computers have made it possible for pretty much anybody to make a movie and put their vision on the screen," he said. "I thought, 'why not throw all that out the window and make a movie like it was still 1983?'"
He did just that. The movie wasn't shot digitally, but on old-school 16 millimeter film. There's no blue screen footage, the guns are shooting blanks, and you won't find Jar Jar Binks anywhere around. In many ways, the film is an homage to the classic science fiction Shirley watched from his childhood.
"I've always loved 'Star Trek', especially the old TV show," he said. "My dad and I used to watch it all the time. And 'Star Wars'... I can still remember the first time Darth Vader came on the screen; I lost it in the theater. I started screaming. I've always been a bit of a nerd for that kind of stuff."
Such "stuff" eventually led to a writing project which was the genesis for "Interplanetary".
"About 10 years ago, I started writing a story -- I didn't know if it was going to be a screenplay or a book or what -- called 'Rocket Science'," Shirley said. "It was about this Microsoft-ish software company that was going to commission a flight to Mars as a publicity stunt. It ended up being a screenplay, and I got through about half of it, and for whatever reason, I had some ideas that got really weird. So I set it aside and forgot about it."
He let the project sit idle for several years, but then resumed working on it after he completed his first feature.
"When I got through with 'Hide and Creep', I started thinking about ideas for a story. That old story was in the back of my mind, the idea of corporate greed and space travel. I thought if I took that and put some monsters in there, then that might be something."
Once he got the ball rolling with a screenplay, he started assembling his cast (many of whom appeared in "Hide and Creep"). It didn't take Chance long to win over his team once he began talking about the movie.
"The pitch I was giving to the cast and crew I was trying to round up was 'Alien' meets 'Office Space'," he said. "It's epic science fiction on a credit card budget. We were really trying our damnedest to make something as cool and weird and epic as '2001'. Obviously, you look at Kubrick and his resources, and his experience... you're not going to get that, but you might as well aim high," he laughed.
Having made one feature film, Chance was confident about what he was doing on "Interplanetary", but he admits there were some growing pains moving from one film to the next.
"After we made our first movie, I thought, 'I know how to make a movie now'," he said. "What I realized later was I knew how to make that movie. Now, I could totally make 'Hide and Creep' again, twice as good for half the money. 'Interplanetary' was a completely different ballgame. Now (that I'm finished with it) I could go back and make 'Interplanetary' again, twice as good for half the money. But that wouldn't be any fun."
Shirely was also eager to build on the knowledge he gained from "Hide and Creep" to try to attract a larger audience for the new movie.
Making another genre film fit the bill.
"It's really hard to make an art film or a straight up drama or comedy and get anybody to watch it, unless you've got some stars or a known producer or a known director, no matter how good the movie is," he said. "At the same time, people have made really, really terrible movies that have some cute girls and some really bloody shootouts or whatever and are able to pass them off as a genre film, because there are people that are interested in the watching the genre. I'm the same way; I love turning on the sci-fi channel and watching whatever low-budget thing they're showing that week.
"My approach to it is to use the genre as a delivery system, for lack of a better term," he went on. "Knowing that if we're going to spend all this money on a movie, at least if we make it a sci-fi movie or a horror movie, there might be a possibility somebody will see it."
While he would love to reach a broader audience with his films, he's definitely not doing it for the money.
"Anytime somebody goes out to make a movie, or any artistic project for that matter, and says 'I'm going to do this because I think it will make a lot of money,' it tends to be stale," he said. "Look at a lot of movies that play during the summer. It's pretty obvious somebody went in after a focus group and said, 'you've got to change this, because these four people didn't like it'. When you try to start making everybody happy, you're really not going to make anybody happy.
"I think when you come up with an idea that you want to make because you're entertained by it and you like it, then you start to think, 'you know, there might be other people who like this, too, so I'm going to give it a shot.' Obviously, there are plenty of times that I come up with ideas and I think, 'Oh, that's great,' but nobody in the world is going to care about it but me. I don't think that means it's a bad idea, and there are plenty of artists who do really out-there stuff, and that's great, but to me, if you're going to spend two to three years and thousands of dollars making a movie, I think you might as well pick one of your ideas you think other people will enjoy as well."
Sometimes, those ideas don't work.
"I've seen art films, especially at festivals, where I say, 'yeah, I can kinda see what the guy's point is, and I can see why he's totally into that,' but why did he think anybody else would care?" he asked. "Not to be some kind of anti-elitist snob -- because I can be pretty snobby myself and I love reading well-written criticisms that totally eviscerate really bad pop culture garbage, and I've had some of my pop culture garbage eviscerated as well -- but personally I think I'm more interested in showing somebody a good time rather than creating some lasting impression."
With "Interplanetary", Chance Shirley does his best to make sure a good time is had by all.
"Interplanetary" will have its Birmingham premiere Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009, as part of the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. The film will be shown at 4:15 PM at the Carver Theater.
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