A long–lost short that was screened before Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back during its original run, is to get a feature–length upgrade starring Rutger Hauer and John Rhys–Davies.
Swords and sorcery tale Black Angel was commissioned by Star Wars creator George Lucas to be screened with his 1980 box office megalith in European cinemas. Shot on location on the tidal island of Eilean Donan in the western Highlands of Scotland, it’s the Arthurian story of a knight who rescues a princess on his way home from the Crusades.
The short was revived at the Glasgow film festival in 2014 and it’s director, Roger Christian, who won an Oscar for his set design work on 1977’s Star Wars, is back to direct the feature-length project. The new movie has been inspired by rekindled interest in Black Angel, the original prints of which went missing after Empire’s run in cinemas, but turned up in the archives of Universal Studios in the US two years ago.
“It kind of happened – serendipity of the universe – as JJ [Abrams] was about to start filming [The Force Awakens], so it became this legendary story of a lost piece of Star Wars history,” Christian told the Hollywood Reporter. “It’s my passion project, has been for 35–36 years. I guess ‘patience is a virtue’ is a true saying.”
The feature–length version of Black Angel will have a £10m budget (the original short cost just £25,000 and was shot using equipment and stock borrowed from Lucasfilm) which the film–maker hopes will allow for a “huge epic film”. He added: “I want the audience to smell the blood and the sweat and the tears.”
The film will be shot over eight weeks, later this year, in Scotland, Hungary, Morocco and Belgium. A number of younger cast members are expected to join veterans Hauer and Rhys–Davies, both 71, known respectively for Blade Runner and the Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones movies. A 45–day crowdfunding campaign has been launched via Indiegogo to raise $100,000 towards production, though the vast majority of financing will come via London–based film sales and distribution firm Carnaby International.
