Wcmovie.com website text
When the Wing Commander feature film was approching it's theatrical release Digital Anvil and 20th Century Fox set up the now defunct promotional website at www.wcmovie.com. This is some of the text that appeard on the site.
Personal Log, Commander James "Paladin" Taggart
Commander, Merchant Ship Diligent
March 15th, 2654 - Strange things have been happening lately. Just today, I was requisitioned to transport two recent Naval Academy graduates to their first flight assignments aboard the Confed carrier Tiger Claw. En route, however, these two rookies, pilots Christopher Blair and Todd Marshall, received a Code One secure communication from Geoffrey Tolwyn, Admiral of the whole damn Navy! Turns out that Tolwyn wants these two kids to personally deliver an encrypted comm chip directly to the Tiger Claw's commanding officer. Now, I've seen a lot of things during my time in space, but sending such a critical communication with two rookies...???
This milk run just got a little more interesting.
ABOUT THE FILM
Earth year 2654. The Confederation is engaged in a brutal war with the vicious, bloodthirsty alien race, the Kilrathi.
The Kilrathi have captured a computer navigation device, which they plan on using to jump behind enemy lines and attack Earth. Only three brazen young space pilots and their elite fighter squadron stand in the way of their planet's destruction.
Christopher Blair is fresh from the Academy, but his inexperience belies his incredible navigational skills. He has a genetically driven gift -an inate feel for the stars and for space-time itself. Blair's buddy, Todd 'Maniac' Marshall, is a brash, irresponsible fighter jock with a slightly crazed gleam in his eye. He likes to do things his way, and if he breaks a few rules, so much the better.
Their wing commander is the strong-willed and beautiful Jeanette 'Angel' Deveraux, the leader of the fighter squadron. Deveraux's laser-like focus and leadership skills mask her growing attraction for Chris.
With nothing but their own rebellious ways in common, Deveraux, Blair and Maniac will come together to face a seemingly invincible enemy -- with the future of mankind at stake.
WING COMMANDER springs from the fertile imagination of Chris Roberts, who created the five computer games and characters upon which the motion picture is based. Following the overwhelming success of the games and their growing legion of eager fans, the creation of a motion picture seemed only natural.
"I've always loved movies", says Roberts. "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."
While keeping in mind WING COMMANDER's origins, and being careful not to ignore the demanding and loyal gamers, Roberts, with the motion picture, hopes to expand the phenomenon's universe of excitement, effects and adventure. "We want the film to deliver all the action, visual impact and provocative characters that the millions of Wing Commander fans worldwide have come to expect", Roberts says. "Yet we insisted that it also have mass appeal. We worked with a brand-new story line, so moviegoers don't need to be familiar with the game to understand or enjoy the film."
"WING COMMANDER is a hard-core war movie set in space. In some ways, it has more in common with Midway and The Battle of Britain than with a science fiction film," he adds. "It has lots of effects and combat scenes, all of which serve the characters and story. I wanted to make a film about people under the incredible tension of battle."
VISUAL EFFECTS
...Joining Lamont in working with director Chris Roberts in designing the film's overall look was director of photography Thierry Arbogast. Arbogast's work on the sci-fi thriller The Fifth Element demonstrated his abilities in that genre and made him an ideal choice to work on WING COMMANDER. While Arbogast and Lamont created a look that captures Roberts' retro-future world, the visual effects team, headed by Chris Brown, designed the intricate and vast worlds outside the ships. Brown, whose credits include Starship Troopers and Air Force One, oversaw the 250 visual effects shots, all of which were computer generated.
Moyer originally approached Brown when the latter was at effects house Boss Film. When that entity disbanded, Digital Anvil hired Brown to manage the visual effects and set up shop in Austin, TX, forming a "virtual studio" that handled all the movie's effects. A particularly impressive effects sequence involved what the WING COMMANDER story calls "time-slicing." In this, a series of 60 cameras were arrayed along a 120-degree arc around the subject. This rig enabled the crew to film two seconds of footage (at 30 frames per second) moving around action that is essentially frozen in space.
ANIMATRONICS
Also creating some considerable science fiction magic of their own were the physical effects wizards at England's Animated Extras, who created the giant alien race, the Kilrathi. With full body armor, prosthetics and resin and latex heads, the Kilrathi tower well over eight feet. The operators of each creature peered out from mesh cutouts in the breastplates.
Each animatronic Kilrathi head was capable of eight or more fluid motions; the head cocks and swivels, the lips curl back in a snarl, and the forehead creases. The creature's most alarming feature is its eyes - sickly yellow, vertical pupils that look wet as they blink and turn in their sockets.
CAST
Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Christopher "Maverick" Blair
Freddie Prinze, Jr., 22, is making his ninth big screen appearance in WING COMMANDER. In the film, Prinze's character, Christopher Blair, struggles with his heritage -- he is half "Pilgrim," a dying race who were the first space explorers and settlers, blessed with an innate ability to navigate without maps or computers. Throughout the story, Blair learns more about his past, and why many people hold Pilgrims in contempt. Freddie Prinze Jr. most recently starred opposite Rachael Leigh Cook and Matthew Lillard in the box-office hit She's All That. He also starred in I Know What You Did Last Summer, and its sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Prinze's other big screen credits include House of Yes with Parker Posey and To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday with Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Peter Gallagher and Kathy Baker.
The Albuquerque native began his acting career after finishing high school and moving to Los Angeles. He landed roles on the network television shows Family Matters, The Watcher and the ABC after school special Too Soon for Jeff. His most recent television appearance was in Detention, which starred Rick Schroeder and Henry Winkler.
You can visit Freddie Prinze's Official Website at http://www.freddieprinzejr.com/.
Matthew Lillard
Todd "Maniac" Marshall
Playing the role of Todd "Maniac" Marshall, the cocky fighter pilot fresh from the Confederation Naval Academy, is Matthew Lillard. Maniac is a brash, irresponsible fighter jock with a slightly crazed gleam in his eye, who's lack of responsibility gets him into trouble more than once. Lillard first captured audiences' attention with his portrayal as the hyper-kinetic Stuart in the thriller Scream. He was most recently seen in She's All That with Freddie Prinze Jr.
Lillard's other features include Senseless, Serial Mom, Mad Love, Hackers and the HBO special If These Walls Could Talk. He also starred opposite Emmy Award winner Kim Delaney in ABC's critically acclaimed movie The Devil's Child.
Vist Matthew Lillard's Official Website at http://www.matthewlillard.com/.
Saffron Burrows
Jeannette "Angel" Deveraux
Saffron Burrows appears in WING COMMANDER as Jeannette "Angel" Deveraux, the strong, confident leader of one of the Tiger Claw's fighter squadrons.
Burrows successfully made the transition from modeling to acting, and is probably best known for her role as "Nan" in the 1995 romance/drama, Circle of Friends.
Burrows was most recently seen in Woody Allen's Celebrity and will star later this year in Renny Harlin's Deep Blue Sea.
Her previous film credits include Mike Figgis' One Night Stand, the Australian romantic comedy Hotel de Love, Circle of Friends with Chris O'Donnell and Minnie Driver, In the Name of the Father with Daniel Day-Lewis, and Loss of Sexual Innocence.
Burrows has also made numerous television appearances in her native Great Britain.
Tchéky Karyo
Commander James "Paladin" Taggart
James "Paladin" Taggart, the grim, rugged, wise, and mysterious commander of the merchant ship Diligent, is played by the veteran French actor Tchéky Karyo.
Karyo is most often remembered for his roles in the feature films Addicted To Love and La Femme Nikita, and is an accomplished screen actor with a long list of films to his credit. Karyo's English-language-film credits include GoldenEye, Operation Dumbo Drop, 1492: Conquest of Paradise and The Bear.
He performed in Dobermann, La Villa del Venerdi, Isabelle Eberhardt, Le Moine et la Sorcière, Bleu Comme l'Enfer and Les Nuits de la Pleine Lune. Karyo has also appeared on such cable specials as HBO's From the Earth to the Moon and And the Band Played On.
He'll star in the French film Comme un poisson dans l'eau ("Like a Fish in Water") in 1999.
Ginny Holder
Rosie Forbes
Ginny Holder plays the role of Rosie Forbes in WING COMMANDER, a Tiger Claw fighter pilot with "brains, beauty, and a warrior's soul".
Born in England, Rosie Forbes started her acting career in 1994 with the TV mini-series Crocodile Shoes. She later appeared in the 1997 action movie, The Saint.
David Suchet
Captain Jason Sansky
Veteran actor David Suchet plays the Tiger Claw's aging yet wise commanding officer, Captain Jason Sansky. A kind yet battle-weary man, Sansky shows great concern for the well-being of his fighter pilots.
Suchet's film credits include Sunday, which won the Jury Prize at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, Executive Decision, Iron Eagle, The Life of Freud, The Muse, The Falcon and the Snowman and Once in a Lifetime, to name a few.
Suchet's television credits include Moses, and Hercule Poirot on Poirot, a role for which he received a Best Actor nomination from BAFTA three years in a row.
On stage, Suchet has appeared in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and numerous Shakespeare roductions such as Othello, Richard II, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear. Suchet received a Best Actor Award from the Variety Club in 1984 for his starring performance in Oleanna, for which he was also recognized with an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor.
David Warner
Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn
Experienced actor David Warner plays Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn, the leader of the vast Confederation fleet and the man who makes command decisions in the war against the Kilrathi.
Warner was recently seen in James Cameron's Titanic as Spicer Lovejoy, the mean-spirited valet to Billy Zane's character Cal Hockley.
A partial list of Warner's extensive film credits includes Scream 2, Money Talks, In the Mouth of Madness, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, Tron, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Time Bandits and The Omen.
Warner's television credits include Twin Peaks, Babylon 5, The Larry Sanders Show, Star Trek: The Next Generation and the mini-series Wild Palms. Warner has also done voice-overs for numerous cartoons and movies such as Babe: Pig in the City, Toonsylvania and Batman: The Animated Series, and was the narrator in Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin.
Jürgen Prochnow
Commander Paul Gerald
German-born Jürgen Prochnow appears in WING COMMANDER as the experienced executive officer of the Tiger Claw, Commander Paul Gerald. Gerald harbors a deep prejudice towards Blair, due to Blair's being half "Pilgrim".
Probably best known for his roll as the Captain in Das Boot, he has also appeared as "Duke Atreides" in Dune, and played "Michael Kogan" in The Replacement Killers. Most recently Prochnow appeared in the Canadian film, The Fall.
Among his many film credits are Air Force One, Judge Dredd, The English Patient, In the Mouth of Madness, Body of Evidence, The Seventh Sign, and Beverly Hills Cop II.
Prochnow's television credits include Der Schrei der Liebe, Human Bomb, Der Fall Lucona, On Dangerous Ground and Lie Down with Lions.
CREW
A multinational (and multilingual) cast and crew, representing the U.S., France, England, Germany and Ireland, among other countries, assembled in Luxembourg to bring WING COMMANDER to the screen. Luxembourg may not be on everyone's list of exotic film locations, but for WING COMMANDER, the tiny Grand Duchy, better known as a diplomatic enclave and banking and insurance center for the European Union, was out of this world, literally.
On two sound stages located clear across the country (30 kilometers) from one another, compelling celestial environments took shape. The stages were transformed into the vast flight deck, bridge, pilot's mess and corridors of the Confederation carrier, Tiger Claw. In addition, they served as the bridge of the merchant vessel Diligent, and the bridge and corridors of the Kilrathi ship.
The live action filmed on these sets was seamlessly integrated with more than 250 digital effects shots. These enormous sets gave an all-important sense of epic scale to the production. Says producer Todd Moyer: "We did our best to make a movie that looks big and will live up to the fans' expectations and, we hope, create many new fans. "Shooting the entire movie on a set gave us much more ability to keep control," continues Moyer. "That was important because every shot in the picture has green screen elements and/or holograms. We even had sets built on hydraulics, which added to the feel of movement in space."
Chris Roberts
Director/Writer
If anyone is capable of converting the most popular and successful com puter game series of all time into a major motion picture, it is Chris Roberts.
He is one of the most recognizable names in entertainment software. As a top grossing game designer, producer, live-action director and above all, storyteller, Roberts blends his vision and technical expertise to keep his projects on the cutting edge of entertainment.
At an early age, he became one of England's best-known game designers and by 1987 had three #1 hits in the United Kingdom: Match Day, Wiz Adore and Stryker's Run.
Prior to forming his new company, Digital Anvil, Roberts was vice president of new technology at Origin Systems, Inc. as well as executive producer for Origin's parent company, Electronic Arts. As a member of Electronic Arts' development executive staff, he formulated the company's interactive movie and flight simulation strategies. During Roberts' eight-year tenure at Origin, he produced numerous international bestsellers: Times of Lore, Bad Blood, Strike Commander and WING COMMANDER, which remains one of the top selling games today.
When new CD-ROM technology enabled Origin in 1993 to include full-motion live video with the 3-D space action beginning in WING COMMANDER III, Roberts not only designed the game, but jumped into the director's chair as well. WING COMMANDER III became the most successful computer game of 1994. In 1995, Roberts directed the epic WING COMMANDER IV, which contained some five hours of branching video on six CDs.
Roberts' latest venture, Digital Anvil, is an entertainment company. In addition to creating innovative interactive computer games and movies with star power and mass-market appeal, Digital Anvil is also a digital production house creating state-of-the-art special effects. With the WING COMMANDER movie, Roberts demonstrates Digital Anvil's ability to affect the "fusion of silicon and celluloid," giving new life to characters from the popular game series.
Todd Moyer
Producer, No Prisoners Management
Todd Moyer is partnered with Executive Producer Jean-Martial LeFranc in No Prisoners, a management and production company specializing in cutting-edge technology-based directors and writers.
No Prisoners is a production and visual effects company specializing in producing visual effects driven, cutting-edge motion pictures. Todd Moyer serves as President of No Prisoners Productions and CEO of No Prisoners 3DFX. Moyer is a long-standing entertainment executive and film producer.
Prior to starting No Prisoners, Mr. Moyer was President of Steven Seagal's production company, Steamroller Productions, where he oversaw production of Fire Down Below.
Before joining Steamroller Productions, he served as Executive Vice-President and Producer for Dark Horse Entertainment (DHE). While at DHE, Moyer transformed the venture into an extremely successful feature film production company specializing in comic book and pop-culture related material. He oversaw the production of the company's first three feature films: The Mask, Timecop (where he served as co-producer) and Barb Wire (where he was Producer). In addition, Moyer co-produced Virus for Universal. Aside from producing and developing feature films, Moyer launched a number of joint ventures for DHE. These ventures include Dark Horse Interactive, Dark Horse Publishing France and Dark Horse Publishing Japan.
Next up for No Prisoners is Battlestar Gallactica, which is scheduled for a late summer start in Luxembourg. Moyer is also producing the high-concept action/adventure update of Jason and the Argonauts for DreamWorks Pictures. Also on the No Prisoners slate is a motion-picture adaptation of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly, which Moyer is producing with Jersey Films for Universal Pictures. No Prisoners 3DFX, which comprises numerous members of the effects team responsible for the stunning visual effects for Wing Commander, is presently providing the special visual effects for the upcoming Fortress II.
Peter Lamont
Production Designer
Peter Lamont has had a long and successful career as Production Designer. His most recent movie, 1997's Best Picture, Titanic, won him an Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Set Design, as well as a Golden Satellite Award and a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award. He also has received Academy Award nominations for his work on such films as Aliens, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Fiddler on the Roof.
For WING COMMANDER, Lamont has created a "retro-future world" which includes extraordinary spaceships, the hangar deck of an intergalactic spacecraft carrier, and a number of other immersive alien and confederate environments.
Lamont has worked on eight of the James Bond films as production designer, including GoldenEye, License to Kill, and the forthcoming Bond 19: The World is Not Enough.
Kevin Droney
Writer
Writer Kevin Droney is probably best known for his script for the sucessful Mortal Kombat, released in 1995. Droney has also written several episodes for the 1992 television series Highlander. After WING COMMANDER, Droney will go on to work on The Deceivers, a new movie directed by Simon West.
Sharing writing credit with Droney and Roberts on the WING COMMANDER movie is newcomer Mike Finch.
Romain Schroeder & Tom Reeve
Executive Producer, Line Producer
Romain Schroeder has served as executive producer on several movies and television shows, mostly in other countries. He was involved with this year's Talos the Mummy (released in Argentina). Schroder also served as co-executive producer on 1997's Sub Down.
Romain Schroeder together with Tom Reeve heads up The Carousel Picture Company, which produces feature films and high-end television dramas.
Schroeder's film production credits include The House That Mary Bought, Words Upon the Window Pane, Lie Down with Lions and Sub Down. He produced Eye of the Storm for Showtime, the Live Home Entertainment movie A House in the Hills, and Women's Wing I, II and III, each of which aired as a 22-hour series on RTL4.
Reeve's television production credits include the Hallmark production of One Against the Wind, Fatal Vision, Coins in the Fountain and The Way to Dusty Death.
Jean-Martial LeFranc
Line Producer
Jean-Martial LeFranc is presently partnered with Todd Moyer in No Prisoners, a management and production company specializing in cutting-edge, technology-based directors and writers.
Prior to No Prisoners, LeFranc founded his own production company, Compagnie des Images, which produced and released numerous international award-winning films. At the same time he started Cyro Interactive Entertainment, which later became one of Europe's major game developers with clients that included Virgin Interactive.
LeFranc is also a partner in a comic book and Id3D computer graphics company, Dark Horse France. During his tenure as the head of Virgin Communications for France, under LeFranc's supervision, Virgin started the distribution of the Sega consoles and released the movies Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Akira, Metropolitan, Drugstore Cowboy and many others both for theatre and for video.
An attorney by trade, LeFranc earned his law degree as a Laureate of Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris before joining Publicis, the eighth largest world-wide advertising agency, in 1984.
