Filming has wrapped on Dark Resurrection: Keepers of the Force, the final chapter of the sci-fi saga loosely based on Star Wars, written and directed by Angelo Licata.
The first film, released in 2007, surprised the world and has received compliments from Lucasfilm. Driven by the success of the prequel Dark Resurrection Vol.0, which has generated millions of views on YouTube, and thanks to the donations from fans from all over the world, it has been possible to produce a concluding chapter with a narrative arc so ambitious to make necessary the division of the project in two parts: an illustrated novel and a trailer which conceptually is not dissimilar from a short movie.
It’s the most spectacular thing I’ve ever done,” said actor Michael Segal, who plays evil Lord Drown in the movie. Unlike most of our local productions, the action scenes were filmed using cables and special effects that allowed actors to perform stunts worthy of the latest Marvel films.”
Actor and stunt-man Daniele Balconi, who is also responsible for all the acrobatic scenes and combat choreography in the film, plays the hero Dan Lee. Actress and model Olga Shapoval is Ruya, a character that could be described as a female Han Solo. The young Lorenza Testa is Sabine. Veteran actors of the saga joined the cast: Giuseppe Licata (Sorran), Maurizio Zuppa (Zui Mar) and Grazia Ogulin (Nemer), as well as numerous extras from all over Italy. Filming took place in Carmagnola at Ouvert Studios.
The desire to improve the quality of previous work was very strong,” says Angelo Licata, “so I worked for a long time on pre-visualisation, developing the animation of the entire trailer to understand which shots were really necessary. In the meantime, I’ve put together an incredible and talented team. Some of them were a real surprise and could work in the most important international productions. In the last few years I have worked on many other movies sets, but Dark Resurrection remains my first love. The air you breathe on the set is different, people work only out of passion, you can feel the fire of art in each of them, a bit like the “Force” of Star Wars, it crosses, it keeps us united, it binds us.”
The directors of photography are two young talents, Riccardo Antonino and Luca Facheris. Andrea Navicella is the first operator. The costumes were made by Giulia Danese and the set design is by Morena Trevisol. Special makeup effects are by Mila Mirenghi. The assistant director is Mattia Stancanelli. Weapons were made by propmaker Roby Rani, swords were created by Skyforge. Piero Bockos, Andrea Zanichelli and Luigi Bellucci of the 501st Italica Garrison contributed with props and armors, while Robin Studio, a production company based in Turin, contributed to its technical support. Production assistants were students of the Cinema Engineering Course in the Polytechnic University of Turin. Production has been managed by Riviera Film, Angelo Giampietro’s cultural association which has supported the saga since 2007.
In a few days post-production will begin, and Mirco Paolini, a 3D artist who has collaborated on numerous Hollywood films, will join Licata in the production of the VFX. Some sequences will be done by Hive Division, an important Italian company owned by Giacomo Talamini. It will take several months to be able to view the final product, but as all previous episodes, it will be completely free.
We’ve gotten our hands on an action-packed behind-the-scenes video to share with you, check it out.
