Star Wars: The Dark Redemption: Interview

Interview by Clint Morris

Interview with Peter Mether
Creator/Director of Star Wars Dark Redemption.

Is George Lucas himself the greatest threat to our known galaxy? Just maybe. With the hype surrounding the latest chapter in the Star Wars series, Attack of the Clones, Clint Morris talks to one young filmmaker who has experienced the 'Dark Side' of the science fiction director.

Beware the Dark side...

"How George Lucas struck me down"

In 1988, Lucas gave the thumbs up to a short film competition revolving around Star Wars. The unsuspecting audience, and especially Lucas, never dreamed that one of them would actually be a great flick, and never did uber-beard even imagine any of these films would play to packed theatre audiences worldwide - despite only being a 30 minute fan films.

But that's exactly what Pete Mether, creator of The Dark Redemption, says provoked Lucas to put a stop to his 15 minutes of fame.

"I think George underestimates independent filmmakers and was expecting to get shorts with toilet roles as Lightsabres," laughs Peter Mether from his Sydney home.

"We were also a little cheeky and set it days before Episode IV: A New Hope". Mether adds that his story is simply that, a story.

"I should stress that our film is a piece of fan fiction and should not be taken seriously as the actual events which took place - only George knows that."

"Initially I was approached by a friend, Warren, (asked) if I wanted to direct a Star Wars fan film. I said 'no'. Then I saw that the hard-core fans had storm trooper outfits and I thought that this could be fun if combined with my filmmaking connections. So we asked ourselves what could have happened two days before A New Hope? How did Princess Leia get the plans to the Death Star? And why did Jabba put a bounty on Han Solo's head?" Mether explains.

"On set my co-producer Warren Duxbury and myself, also asked people to leave their egos at the door. Since there was such good will on the set (surprisingly, considering everyone was working for free) word quickly spread that this was a good project. As soon as Lucasfilm struck The Dark Redemption down (as in Darth striking down Obi-wan!), everyone wanted to see it!"

"The film was an unusual collaboration of hard core Star Wars fans and filmmakers. You see, usually hard core fans want to star in their own films as they believe they are the only ones who understand the Star Wars characters," he laughs.

"But we chose to use actors and celebrities instead, while our hard-core Star wars fans focused mainly on the story and art direction. We also layered the story for 2 audiences, hard core Star Wars fans and a mainstream audience."

One of those actors who agreed to appear was actually in the original 1977 Star Wars film. "The team was very fortunate to have Peter 'tk421' Sumner lend his support. In A New Hope his character, Lt Pol Triedum, gets killed by Chewbacca on the Death Star - so in The Dark Redemption we put Triedum in a bar celebrating his transfer to the Death Star. We also put a spin on his famous line 'TK421 why aren't you at your post' for the hardcore SW fans."

Mether, who believes that the original Star Wars is easily the best of the series and the film that made him want to be a director, says he'd love to be involved in Episode 3, if Lucas would have him. "I'm not sure in what capacity, as I earn my crust as a director myself - but a director's attachment would be fun. My co-producer Warren Duxbury is a huge Star Wars fan and hopefully he will be working with the creature like he did on Phantom Menace."

The Dark Redemption, needless to say, was a labour of love, and was financed completely out of the creator's own pockets. "We had over 250 on the team, all volunteering their time, meaning endless hours. So to put real monetary value would be difficult and misguiding.

"As an independent filmmaker I wanted to show what could be done in Australia with the right ground connections. The Dark Redemption is now 3 years old, so the standard of work of everyone involved now has increased ten-fold. I would love to do another project with the The Dark Redemption team (which isn't Star Wars) - I just need to the right script."

And what's this whole experience taught Mether? "If you treat people with the same respect you want for yourself, anything is possible"

If you want to watch the film in QuickTime format, hit this link.

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