When you were a kid did you ever imagine how much impact Star Wars would have on your future career as a movie director?
During middle school, I wrote an essay about Star Wars, that it affected my life so much it changed what I wanted to do and made me want to make movies. I remember my teacher gave me a really crummy grade on it. So I went and argued with her about it. She thought since I wrote in such an affectionate way about Star Wars, that I hadn't taken the assignment seriously. But luckily, I convinced her to change my grade.
Sounds like you were a hardcore Star Wars fan from an early age. What do you think makes someone a real fanboy?
It's someone who's willing to submerge themselves in something and embrace it, and make it a part of who they are. In this movie, the main character tries to turn off being a fanboy. But when you turn that off, you turn off yourself. Real fanboys don't hide who they are; they don't outgrow it and they don't apologize for it.
Why do you think sci-fi and sci-fantasy films like Star Wars are so important and trigger such strong loyalty in movie fans?
They make you think beyond the here and now. Star Wars explored spirituality, and good versus evil, in a different way. It also addressed growing up in a small town and moving on to a larger world. There's a mythology to the story that people can discuss in new ways. In a way, George Lucas showed his own influences when he made Star Wars. He clearly loves pulp films, and westerns, and Japanese cinema, and it all comes together in A New Hope. So in a way, George Lucas is the ultimate fanboy. When Star Wars debuted in theaters in 1977, the entertainment industry changed forever. And people have been trying to recreate his film magic ever since.
Before I got involved, there was the film's original screenwriter, Ernest Cline. Matt Perniciaro, one of the producers, is another die-hard fan, and he brought me the project because he knew I was a big fan too. I knew we could make this movie appeal to everyone who's passionate about something in their lives and have a special bond with friends who feel the same way.
I felt like I had to make this movie. If I made it, then it didn't matter if I did anything else, in a way, because it completed a whole chapter in my life, and then set me off on a new one. So many things would come out about myself that I would put into these characters. I feel like there's a little bit of myself and a lot of the key people involved in the movie. What's so good about Fanboys is that the characters end up feeling real.
What was the most challenging aspect of filming the movie?
The biggest hurdle before filming it was convincing people that audiences would care about a movie set in 1999. It's a coming of age story, and the backdrop was during this age of innocence before the Prequels. Fans expected the Star Wars movies to grow up stylistically with them. We had 16 years to write the Prequels in our heads as fans. I've watched the Prequels 30 or 40 times and I love them just like I love the other films. Empire Strikes Back is closer to my heart, but I also love Revenge of the Sith. We ultimately had to remind people that this is a story about friendship, and that Star Wars is a common language they speak.
There's a fine line between showing what real Star Wars fans are like and just mocking them.
I never want to make fun of Star Wars fans. There's one character that mocks them, but for the most part they all go unchecked. I wanted to show fans being as in love with Star Wars as possible without anyone really criticizing them. It's not like these guys in the film are nerds.
Were you surprised when Lucasfilm gave you permission to film on Skywalker Ranch?
Not only did I not think it was going to happen, our budget didn't even really sustain a trip going up there. The Lucasfilm camp embraced the project and they got that it was a love letter to everything they do. I was so overjoyed they let us film there. The Weinstein Company gave us a little more money so we could make that trip possible.
What was the best part of filming at Skywalker?
Probably when producer Rick McCallum drove up and was watching us film scenes. We had fun chatting with him. And then he agreed to be in a scene just for fun, which will probably be on the DVD. Just walking around the property was great.
It was originally a pizza delivery van and evolved into the Millennium Falcon of this universe. The dashboard has all these gadgets and secret surprises that no other vehicle has. There's an R2-D2 unit on the roof. And of course there's the mural painted on the side of the van of the character's version of Luke and Leia. It has a Slave-2 license plate. The look of it works well for a character -- Hutch played by Dan Fogler -- who thinks he's a combination of Han Solo and Chewbacca.
I heard the van was channeling its inner Falcon by breaking down a few times during shoots?
We bought three vans. One we cut up to make a stage van that never moved. Another was the real van that the actors would drive and perform in. And the other was purely a stunt van. The vans would break down daily. I remember we had to fix the transmission three times in one day.
Where's the van now?
It's in storage in Los Angeles. I wanted to give it away for a contest, but it's not in that great of condition. Maybe one day we can auction it off for charity.
You should go the J.J. Abrams / Slusho route and have the van make a cameo in all your future film and TV projects.
That's awesome. I should buy back that van. (laughs)
