Roger Christian

Roger Christian

Roger Christian

Roger Christian

Roger Christian

To think, there was a time before castles, swords, dragons, and magic dominated the world's biggest film and TV franchises. When that kind of geekdom was nowhere near a badge of pop-culture honor, we had to make the most of our limited options—particularly the limited option that was Black Angel.

The 22-minute short film, made in 1980, preceded The Empire Strikes Back's theatrical screenings in certain countries. Its medieval story—drenched in moody, Scottish landscapes and Arthurian inspirations—was soon lost to the world when its original negatives seemingly disappeared. But what a difference a few decades makes. The negatives were rediscovered in 2011 just as Tolkien fever had swept the world, and the film was posted to YouTube in its newly remastered form last month.

Now, Black Angel's creator has pushed forward with an ambitious plan: to remake the medieval short as a feature-length film, complete with actors Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) and John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lord of the Rings trilogy) on board.

The ambition stems largely from writer and director Roger Christian—the Oscar-winning set designer for Star Wars: A New Hope, who went on to become a beloved art director for films like Alien—believing that a new audience of knights-and-magic fans are ready for the kind of "down-and-dirty" period piece that he couldn't have filmed in the early '80s with the film's original budget, paid by George Lucas, of £25,000.

"At each Q&A when the film was first screened again, I was always asked, 'if you could do CGI, what would you do?'" Christian told Ars. "'No,' I told them. I was inspired by the films of Kurosawa, and I want to take the same exact approach—almost like documentaries made in amazing landscapes."

In modern fashion, the new film launched an IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign this morning, but Christian assured Ars the campaign's low asking price of £66,000 wasn't some unrealistic goal. This movie's getting made, whether or not the Internet campaign hits its goal.

"We already have most of the money in place," Christian said, and he clarified that producers in Hungary and Belgium, where the film will largely be shot, are on board with funding in place. "I’m asking [fans] for a bit of money so I can have a few more of the Black Angel’s army of the undead, so I can have a slightly bigger set, a few more costumes... but we’re not attaching the making of the film to this. We can build interest."

Robert Christian



Robert Christian





Nine people, four actors, two horses

"I grew up with Arthur and the Norse legends, Lord of the Rings—that was my world," Christian said about his fantasy-novel upbringing, which was always in the back of his mind as he climbed the film industry's ladders before eventually making a name for himself with his set design work for Star Wars. "When I decided, enough of art directing, I had to do what I really wanted to do. I knew I had to write a short film. Stop talking and prove yourself."

Christian admitted that when Lucas asked the aspiring director to put together a short film, he'd already imagined a longer feature, but the film industry wasn't interested in his story. "I just plucked a few moments out of it" to make the 22-minute short, Christian said. His longer, ideal story was inspired more directly by an ancient sorcerer from Scottish folklore, Myrddin—a name you may better recognize as the kinder Merlin from Arthurian tales.

"I had to add an introduction to the YouTube video because it was a mere fraction of what I was trying to tell," Christian said. "I had a crew of nine people, four actors, and two horses. I couldn’t do much with that."

Christian is already five drafts into writing—and, quite frankly, remembering—the story that he'd wanted to tell so long ago, and he says it's finished. He attributes his producers' interest in its remake to a mix of "a lost-and-found romance" of the original and of pop culture catching up to his own love of Medieval tales. The original story was presented in a Tarkovsky-style way—"I told enough keys to be able to make a story"—but it contained a mere fraction of the "real big story" that Christian has planned.

All of this isn't to say the original short can be ignored; it's certainly worth a quick YouTube stream. The film's influence only grew over time as fans thought it may never resurface. When Ars' own Nathan Mattise broke the news of its rediscovery and rerelease, Christian relayed stories of films like Excalibur, Dragonslayer, and Ridley Scott’s Legend being influenced by Black Angel. And 20 years after the fact, Peter Briggs, writer of the original Hellboy, would tell Christian that he still couldn’t get the short out of his head. But perhaps most importantly to fans of the series Black Angel preceded, this work is where Christian showed Lucas step-printing, the technique that eventually made its mark during the iconic lightsaber battle in Empire. From Ars' feature on the film:

Christian was forced to employ some emergency techniques because there wasn’t enough initial material for Black Angel to fill the required 25-minute runtime. “So we slowed down fight scenes in it to build up the time,” Christian said. They did this through a technique called step-printing. Strategic scenes are shot at a slower film speed so action is sped up, then frames are printed at a slower speed onto the finished film. Action becomes very fluid, with individual moments seemingly smearing together with the next.

"One-on-one fights in mud and rain and dirt"

The two announced actors thus far, Hauer and Rhys-Davies (both of whom starred in Christian's 1994 bio-drama film Nostradamus) specifically requested to be in the Black Angel remake, the director claims. Christian is "throttling at the bit" to announce other actors who are all but signed to join the cast. He also insists that the leading character will be more age-appropriate this time: "In an ancient era, by 25, they were worn warriors," he said.

He's also in talks with Industrial Light and Magic, at least on a consultation basis if not an outright contracting gig, to help bring Black Angel's most ambitious ideas to life, particularly its sorcerers and flying demons. Christian wants any magical elements to feel "absolutely real, that you'd never even question it," and he reiterated his desire to steer clear of computer wizardry whenever possible: "I don't want armies of 500,000 CGI soldiers all battling it out. I want one-on-one fights in mud and rain and dirt, where you can feel every blow."

If the film's fate and schedule is as sealed as Christian says—specifically to tie into the hype and attention it will enjoy next to this December's new Star Wars film—then why bother with a crowdfunding campaign? Christian admitted that publicity is a big reason, but he also sees the campaign's be-on-the-set reward tiers as a chance for lightning to strike twice. "When I was growing up in Redding, I had no connection to the film industry," Christian said. "I got so broke trying to get into it, I sold my car, and by hitching a ride, I got a job. I’m offering to the Indiegogo crowd a chance to be a part of making the film. You never know if someone is hugely talented; maybe being a part of this will change their lives."

From the sound of things, it's Christian's life that has been hugely changed by this project. Filming will begin in September, and Christian looks forward to beginning work on another film, like Alien and Star Wars before it, that blurs the line between fantasy and reality.

"This is my passion project—the film I’ve always wanted to make," Christian said. "The tape being found out of the blue, the film being remastered, all of that has created a moment in time where it’s possible to do it. I pulled the sword out of the rock. This is it."

Listing image by Robert Christian