A feature-length version of ‘Black Angel’ has been set to be produced as John Rhys-Davies and Rutger Hauer sign on to the film that was originally created by George Lucas to accompany the screenings of ‘Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back’ released in 1980.
Rhys-Davies has been widely recognized for playing the dwarf Gimli in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ film series while Hauer has been known for starring in ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘Sin City.’
‘Black Angel: The Feature Film’ has collaborated with crowdfunding platform Indiegogo to carry out a campaign in under 45 days, which has already went live this week.
The movie will be filmed in “an earthy and authentic style combining high adventure with high drama hot on the heels of fantasy icons ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hunger Games,’” as described by the promo material used in the campaign.
“Black Angel: The Feature Film” will be an epic fantasy that follows the story of a knight who goes on a journey to battle it out with the Black Angel, known as the Demon Kings commander in the lands of Serandal.
With the help of sorcerer Myrddin and Princess Kyna, the daughter of a rival king, the group goes on an adventure to get rid of the darkness that has been taking over the lands and allowing the demon king to be in power over them all.
As production has been set for December, its filming locations include Belgium, Hungary, Morocco and Scotland.
The upcoming ‘Black Angel’ version will be helmed and written by Roger Christian, who also worked on the original short film. His previous works also include ‘Nostradamus’, ‘Masterminds’ and ‘Underworld.’
Christian will also be reuniting with ‘Nostradamus’ producer Harald Reichebner, Sean O’ Kelly, Alex Tate and Andrew Loveday.
The original short film version of ‘Black Angel’ was released together with ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and was described by Steven Spielberg as “one of the most enigmatic films he’d ever seen.”
It has also been claimed that the movie had a significant influence on other fantasy films, including 1981 pic ‘Excalibur’ by John Boorman.
“With flying demons and sorcerers, princesses and knights, armies of the undead and an evil god of the underworld, we are filming down and dirty- ultimate realism that audiences hunger for and the world I am passionate to create on film again,” Christian said of the new ‘Black Angel’ feature film version.
