SFX-Aug99-Game Boys
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SFX - WING COMMANDER
Game Boys
Wing Commander is the latest computer game to be made into a big budget feature. Jim Swallow talks to director Chris Roberts and the cast about war movies, hair bleach and Star Wars
THE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAME conversions into big screen features has been a pretty rocky one; for every Mortal Kombat there's a Street Fighter and a Super Mario Brothers just waiting in the wings, and yet Hollywood still plunders the world of pixels to find new source material. Currently, game-inspired scripts for movies based on Doom, Duke Nukem, Tomb Raider and a handful of others languish in various states of production hell, but for what might be the first time, a movie of-the-game has hit the scene that actually grows beyond its digital roots.
Directed by Chris Roberts, the original creator
of the million-selling combat simulator game
franchise, Wing Commander is a space war action
adventure evoking memories of classic World War
II flicks like The Battle of Midway, Tora! Tora!
Tora! and Run Silent, Run Deep alongside
comparisons to Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica
and Starship Troopers. Based on a series of games
that first hit the PC market in 1990, Roberts
guided the franchise through five incarnations,
taking the games towards feature film quality with
their development from space battle simulators
into interactive movies.
The director is quick to admit his love for Star
Wars, et al, and that he always tried to imbue the
games with the same sense of adventure. "I think
the Wing Commander games were so successful
because they became increasingly cinematic - we
shot on film and had motion picture production
values. Each time it was like making a film, so
going to the big screen felt like the next step. After
I did (the game) Wing Commander III: Heart of
the Tiger, I was pretty much set in my mind that I
wanted to do a feature film version. The fourth
game in the series, The Price of Freedom, was the
first to shoot on 35mm film, and with the skills
learnt in the digital arena, I realised I was ready
for the real thing."
Roberts' movie takes the hero of his game
saga, Christopher Blair, and sets the clock back to
his early years as a newly- minted fighter pilot in
the war with the deadly cat -like alien Kilrathi. A
young lad with a confused parentage - his mother
was an übermensch Pilgrim space explorer - Blair
is dropped in at the deep end when he and his
crew mates aboard the lone carrier Tiger Claw
must waylay a Kilrathi invasion force in order to
buy time for the Earth's defenders.
Perhaps fittingly, Blair is played by a young
star with a self-confessed love of video games,
Freddie Prinze Jr. "The cool thing about Wing
Commander (the game) is that Chris Roberts did
something nobody else did," says the actor;
hammering away at his PlayStation between takes.
"Most games were about beating your friends and
high scores, but his had a story. He revolutionised
the way cool video games are made."
Fast becoming a heart-throb thanks to the
success of his recent romantic comedy She's All
That, Wing Commander is Prinze's first foray into
science fiction, having made a name for himself in
the teen slasher flick I Know What You Did Last
Summer and its sequel; "I've just been
immortalised," he smiles. "Now I'm a video
game, action figure type of character, so I'll be
around forever!
"I've always loved SF movies, war movies,
flying movies and this had all of those elements in
one script. I was so jazzed by it, I told (producer)
Todd Moyer, `Let's do it - I want to fly a
spaceship tomorrow!' Chris Blair has a chip on
his shoulder and he's half- Pilgrim, which means
he's not a regular human being. He's got different
issues from the other characters because of that
and it becomes a racial thing. Because of the
discrimination forced upon him, Blair has to
work twice as hard to make the grade aboard the
Tiger Claw," Prinze says. "It's very much a
character driven piece, which is the trick to the
script. That's what makes it stand apart from the
rest of the space movies I read that I didn't want
to do."
With the heavy effects content of Wing
Commander, Prinze has found himself faced with
new challenges. "You don't have to act when
you're in the gimbal," he notes, referring to the
hydraulic mechanism used for the in-cockpit
green-screen scenes. "That's been my favourite
part of the filming so far, because it was like an
instant time-warp back to my childhood!"
The actor feels, like many of his fellows, that
the biggest challenge of the shoot has been to be
sequestered out at the Luxembourg soundstage
for months, away from family and friends. This
was hard, both physically and mentally. "I did my
own stunts, being dragged around and sucked out
of airlocks five hundred times in one day... it gets
a little painful." But that said, the actor is ready
to come back, should a Wing Commander II be
the order of the day. "I'm already signed on to do
it, that's how much faith I had in the project.
There are certain movies that you want to see
another one of, and this is one of them." Prinze is
definite about what Wing Commander's appeal
stems from. "This is a war movie, and those are
coming back in a big way. These are stories about
regular people in unreal circumstances."
Blair's adrenaline-junkie wingman and
confidante is the suitably-named Todd Maniac
Marshall, played with fierce energy by Hackers
and Scream star Matthew Lillard. Like Prinze,
Lillard is another child of the Star Wars
generation and he embraces the opportunity Wing
Commander gives him to play at being a sci-fi
hero. "I told Chris Roberts I was ready to make
extreme choices for this role," he begins, "and
they made me bleach my hair blonde! It sucks!"
Hair colour aside, the actor's enthusiasm for
Wing Commander is infectious, and, like Prinze,
he clearly sees parallels with the current trend for
war movies. "I think this is a really interesting
take (on SF), a Second World War movie in space -
its like the classic war movies of the 'S0s and
'60s, based on relationships during wartime. With
a film like this, an actor is supported by the
special effects without having to depend on them,
which seemed to happen with Starship Troopers.
We've a lot smaller budget, and we're hopefully a
lot more personally driven."
Lillard admits that working in conjunction
with complex effects doesn't faze him. "It hasn't
really been that difficult, because when you sit in
these fighter cockpits, how hard is it to pretend
you're flying ?" He mentions the effort put into
the lengthy shoot. "A movie like this has a lot to
do with endurance; you do fourteen takes from
one angle, then you go to another angle. On a
smaller budget movie like Scream or Dead Man's
Curve, you just don't have access to that kind of
film, time, money and manpower."
The actor jokes that the multilingual cast and
crew has made the Wing Commander set like the
Tower of Babel. "Nobody can understand what
anybody is saying, especially if they're pissed off!
But I think we've collected some of the best talent
from around the world... we're taking the best of
the best, a real international force to be reckoned
with and hopefully that will play out."
Lillard is clear that he wanted his take on
Maniac's character not to clash with that of Back
to the Future trilogy star Tom Wilson, who
played the role in the video games. "I played the
games, but when this project was coming down
the pipe, I stayed away from it, because I didn't
want to live in Tom's shoes. He was great as
Maniac, but you still want to make it your own. I
wanted to be true to the role, but not mimic it."
The actor hopes that the crowd pleaser elements
of the movie will not just be the cutting -edge
effects. "We're the first movie to have all digital
effects like this the next one will be The
Phantom Menace but I hope that the audience
will tune in to the humanity behind the movie."
Of course, the war zones of the Wing
Commander future are equal- opportunities
battlefields, and fighting alongside the male
heroes are the equally capable heroines Angel
Deveraux and Rosie Forbes, played by British
actresses Saffron Burrows and Ginny Holder
respectively. "I wasn't familiar with the games, so
I came to it with a completely fresh take," notes
Burrows. "(The role) is a real challenge, not so
much the technical side of it as the character
herself is unlike people that I've played before.
She's the Wing Commander of the squadron, an
authoritarian who is very confident she knows
her thing, in charge of this whole fleet of fighter
pilots. Also, there's a romance there with a
younger man, and that's quite fun. I've had to
work a bit at it." For Burrows, Wing Commander
is not her first approach to genre roles, having
also appeared in Dennis Potter's Cold Lazarus
and the low- budget horror flick Welcome II the
Terradome. Better known for appearances in
mainstream movies like Circle of Friends and
Celebrity, the actress has returned to genre action
in the forthcoming thriller Deep Blue Sea.
Burrows smiles when Angel is compared to other
female SF leads like Ripley and Captain Janeway.
"I'm terribly flattered! What's refreshing is that
she doesn't use her sexuality in what she does in
fact she probably suppresses it, and I like that,
getting away from the cliché of using femininity.
Angel is someone who doesn't have a lot of
qualities that are familiar to me she doesn't let
her emotions out very much, while I tend to be
quite open."
The actress says that the toughest part of
becoming Deveraux was cultivating an air of
relaxed command. "I think this movie is a lot
more stylish, a lot classier than many movies in
this genre. I love the fact that the movie is
inspired by war films and that era I'm very
fond of 1940s films and I think there's something
very moving about the idea of going to war
together." She jokes that many of the cast
brought their love of classic British war flicks
into Wing Commander. "David Suchet is playing
our captain and he's doing an ode to Jack
Hawkins! I was happy to play Angel as an
American, but Chris wanted her British, so we all
bring our sense of British history to the film."
Ginny Holder freely admits that she is not a
computer games person and unfamiliar with the
Wing Commander games, but at the same time
she embraces the role of fighter ace Rosie Forbes
with gusto. An experienced theatre actress,
having previously appeared in Crocodile Shoes
and a blink - and you'll- miss -it part in The Saint,
Holder's more meaty role here will hopefully help
her break further into feature films. "I love things
like Star Trek, but this is new to me in the sense
of working on the huge sets, flying these Rapier
fighters and being at war in space."
Alongside the young bucks who fight and die
in the war with the Kilrathi are the older cadré of
seasoned warriors; beside actors like David
Suchet (Executive Decision, Poirot) as the Tiger
Claws commander Captain Sansky and genre
veteran David Warner, who takes on Malcolm
McDowell's role of Admiral Tolwyn from the
games, are two of Europe's hardest - working film
stars, Tcheky Karyo and Jürgen Prochnow. "I
think that in a story like this, there is more at
stake for the imagination," says Karyo. "We
have to deal with the unknown, navigate quasars
and singularities, jump black holes... we have to
discover realms beyond what we know." The
actor plays Paladin, a character originally
envisaged as a Sean Connery -type, later played
by Sliders' John Rhys Davis in the games, the
hardened loner and mentor figure to the troubled
young Blair. Having previously played out action
roles in contemporary movies like La Femme
Nikita, GoldenEye and Bad Boys, the unreal
world of Wing Commander is something of a
new frontier for him. "The difference (comes
from) the designers who merge these very
futuristic costumes and sets with the looks of the
ships. But there's also this human side, a desire to
bring humanity to the stars because this is not
just an action movie, not just a sci -fi movie it's
both, but it has a human implication and a
connection between its characters."
While at first Paladin appears to be an
outsider, the veteran pilot soon reveals a hidden
side to his personality as the action unfolds.
"That (duality) is basically his essence. He's like
Captain Nemo, like Admiral Nelson who was
always sent on the very shady, difficult missions.
People don't like him, and he's bold but also very
alone. It's nice to be a little schizophrenic at
times, to play a character on two levels." Karyo
mentions the relationship between his character
and that of Freddie Prince. "He's important in
teaching Blair about his heritage as a half
Pilgrim. Through Paladin, the young pilot
discovers his innate Pilgrim gift, an instinctive
ability to navigate the dangerous gravity wells of
a black hole jump- point." The actor adds a little
of his own take on the human condition to his
portrayal of the tough space warrior. "It's
becoming more real every day to think of us
flying up there in space; without wanting to
sound mystical, if we are here now, we could be
there in the future." Karyo, a man with a lineage
that encompasses Turkish, Greek and Spanish
goes on to describe the Wing Commander shoot
as a melting pot of international talent. "For me,
this is like being at home!"
Director Chris Roberts stated desire to make
Wing Commander a World War II film in space
also influenced his casting choices, leading him to
bring in German star Jürgen Prochnow to play
the same kind of tough commander he did in
The Boat. With SF credits like Dune and Judge
Dredd, as well as appearing in the Wing
Commander spin -off game Privateer II: The
Darkening, Prochnow has the pulse of his role as
First Officer Commander Gerald. "There are a
couple of similarities between this film and The
Boat. This is a special effects movie and we have
a lot of green- screen work in it, and that is
something that's not so easy to achieve until you
get accustomed to it. The technique of making
this kind of film is strange when you do it the
first time, it's difficult to imagine it as the director
says, `now react to the sandworms coming out of
the ground, it's three hundred yards long...' In
comparison, if you work with other actors, it's
easier to build something. They're very different
techniques." At first, Prochnow's character
resents the young Blair for his Pilgrim roots, but
as the movie progresses, a grudging respect
develops between them. "The way (Gerald) is
written, the audience is misled to begin with, into
thinking that he is a traitor, but as an actor it's a
problem to create this new character, to find a
way that you want to do him going through the
stages of the story. Every character has his own
life and connection to the other characters and
you have to find that. With Commander Gerald,
he's not very trusting because of things that have
happened in the past with the Pilgrims.
"We're a story about the adventure of young
people, and we're going to appeal to a young
audience," he adds. "What is exciting about
being here are the sets, which are fantastic," says
the actor, praising the work of Oscar winning
production designer Peter Lamont. "The
construction is very clever. W'e're in a hangar
that has been made up as a studio to look like a
spaceship and the look of it is spectacular."
Prochnow sees the appeal of SF adventures in
straightforward terms. "It's fantasy. People are
thinking about their lives and where their future
is, and this is something that interests them it is
speculation, but it is also adventure." SFX
PICTURE CAPTIONS
Though this delightful
chapeau does not show it,
WC costume design is tops.
(Top row)
The production designers managed to
cobble together a realisticagy grungy
military environment out of all sorts
of odds and ends, including real
fighter cockpits.
(Middle)
The crew of the Tiger Claw perfect
their Hokey-Cokey dance routine in
between harrowing combat missions.
(Bottom)
Gor blimey! It's David Suchet. No
doubt investigating the demise of the
local vicar.
(Bottom right)
A clear view of the
army surplus props.
(Top Row)
Behind-the-scenes of
Wing Commander.
(Middle)
Atmospheric lighting plays a crucial
part in jacking up the tension aboard
the Tiger Claw.
(Bottom Row)
"My God! Look at the size of that
special effect!" The cast goggle
in awe.
More girders than you can shake a stick
at. Aren't they lovely?
Post production digital effects were seamlessly
blended in later to create WC.
They say that working on film sets is intensely
boring. Looks like it too.
A huge disused factory in Luxembourg doubled
as the tiger Claw during shooting.
The film eschews the hi-tech for a deliberate
World War II feel.
Two of the girls get ready for some hot dogfight
action. Go for It, dolls!
Red jumpsuits. A military necessity turned
fashion disaster.
Creator\director Chris Roberts on the set of the
film version of Wing Commander.
