GEORGETOWN THEATRES LAUNCHES “INDYPEDENT FILM PROGRAM” WITH A HOMECOMING CELEBRATION FOR “SAVING STAR WARS.”

After 4 years and showings in England, France, Canada, and an invitation for a mini-tour of Australia, “Saving Star Wars” is returning home to Indy with an exclusive engagement at The Georgetown Theatre, March
The independent movie that has become a cult hit in “Star Wars” fan circles tells the story of two “Star Wars” fans the accidentally kidnap creator George Lucas while trying to honor the wish of a dying child.
“Yes, it’s a comedy about a dying child. And they said it couldn’t be done, says filmmaker Gary Wood, who wrote, produced (with partner Justin Escue) and directed the little movie that was shot entirely in the Indianapolis area in the summer of 2003 using an all-volunteer cast and crew that gave-up practically all their weekends for that summer to bring the story to life.
“Saving Star Wars” will kick off Georgetown Theatres new Independent Films Program that will feature little-known, low-budget, NO-budget movies from around the region. Theatre owner Mitch Bryson has wanted to produce such a program for some time, “We have the capacity in our off-seasons to show Independently produced films Monday thru Thursday. All but a minimal amount of business is on the weekend excluding summer, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We would end our Hollywood print on Sunday night and play Independent product Monday thru Thursday before opening up a new film on Friday.”
Both Bryson and Wood have seen movie production change drastically in this digital age, allowing the average Joe to get involved, and are taking advantage of it. Bryson said, “ Due to the low cost of HD cameras and high quality home editing equipment it is now possible to make and edit a very high quality production on a very low budget. I expect to see a large bloom of independent move productions starting this year and growing. If you have a good script and film concept a well make movie can be made and mastered to DVD for a low as $4,000.00.” Wood agrees, “The digital age is the only way I was able to follow my dream. I grew up in the ‘70’s and didn’t have the opportunity to go to film school or have a 16mm viewfinder stuck to my head. I couldn’t afford the even the viewfinder, not to mention the camera.”
As a theatre owner, Bryson also sees the Indypendent program filling a void, “Hollywood has reduced it film production by almost 1/3 over the last three years and put out more limited release films. As they slow up print release it opens up space for independent films to fill screens. Cinemas owners have to have fresh films to bring in customers. An opportunity exits to the better independent producers to start filling some open screen space. This is a recurrent cycle in the film industry and our program is an opportunity for the independent film producer and director to get a real showing on a cinema screen. Most independent films never get shown in an actual cinema environment. It gives you some show times opportunities on more than one day. And our revenue share terms allow the producers a chance to recoup some of their investment on the feature. A successful showing over four days has the opportunity to fund more productions. Overall it's a chance to promote independent film production in an area of the country where there is a strong presence of production and interest. The opportunity is there if we can make the concept happen and attract a regular following.”
Bryson is thrilled to be able to honor the achievement of Wood and his team. Wood and Bryson will continue to partner for the film series and honor a different film once a month at the Georgetown Theatres. “We’re hoping to build a following and an appreciation for movies that may not the budget or the technical savvy of the Hollywood fair, but are every bit as creative and content-rich as those million dollar ‘blockbusters’. I’d rather watch 100 movies like that then sit through another Spiderman 3 or Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3. Those were painful. And it’s frustrating to see some much and talent dump into such weak scripts. It’s fun to see how much someone with very little money and a whole lot creativity can create and accomplish with sheer passion and guts, with little hope of making a dime.”
“It really started as an experiment,” says Wood. “Let’s see if we can pull together a crew and make a movie. If we can do it, then next we’ll try to make a REAL movie. So we took off…about half-way through shooting, I met Dave (Darth Vader) Prowse and, to my surprise, he agreed to be in our goofy little movie.”
Despite the fact that Wood had not written a part for Prowse, the announcement that the REAL Darth Vader hit the internet like a tidal wave, “Suddenly our little experiment was being considered a real movie. It was being talked about on fan sites like The Force.net and others. With the addition of Prowse to the cast, a veteran of countless British TV shows and movies such as “A Clockwork Orange”, “Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell” as well as the “Star Wars” films, “Saving Star Wars” even found itself listed on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com) alongside thousands of Hollywood blockbusters.
Then Wood found himself in the uncomfortable situation of having to create a character in a completed screenplay, half of which had already been shot, without changing the story. Wood happily thought of a device that he could weave into the completed screenplay, enhance the storyline and give the famous villain a chance to save the day. “One of Dave’s requirements was that his part be significant, not just a cameo,” explains Wood. “So, if you’ve got Dave Prowse in a movie about “Star Wars”, he MUST play himself. “Star Wars” fans KNOW Dave Prowse IS Darth Vader.” Wood came up with about 8 scenes that he strategically placed throughout the movie to give Prowse a presence throughout the story. “We shot those scenes all together in about a week. It was a blast. Dave Prowse can now brag that he’s been directed by Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas….and Gary Wood. He’s so proud.”
Dave Prowse has since returned to work with Wood on “Open Mic’rs” and other smaller projects. When asked why this London veteran of movies, TV and stage would continue to return to Indianapolis to work with an unknown, he quipped, “I keep hoping he’ll get better.”
After shooting Prowse’s scenes, Wood still had to shoot the other half of his movie, and the internet buzz was only growing. “It was scary,” remembers Wood. “The pressure became intense. I eventually had to take anti-anxiety medication to be able to breath. We were not even finished shooting this movie that was really just intended to impress my friends and family and now the whole world of Star Wars fandom had expectations. Every day there was another roadblock between us and finishing the movie. I probably quit the film two dozen times before I finished it.”
But in the end, it was fear that made failure not an option, “I had said I was going to do this. Everyday in Indy, someone says their going to make a movie and they don’t complete it for whatever reason. I had told the entire state and world, I was doing this. If I failed, no one in this city would ever listen to me again. No would work with me or have faith in me enough to volunteer their time and effort. My credibility was on the line,” recalls Wood.
Fifty thousand dollars and several maxed-out credit cards later, the movie was finally completed and had a sold-out premiere at the Greenbriar Cinema Grill, one of the locations in the movie, with Dave Prowse in attendance. The actor and the filmmaker were invited to speak on nearly all the radio stations in Indy and even The Bob and Tom Show. “X103 invited us back again, when local celebrity Sammy Terry asked to meet Dave,” tells Wood. Sammy Terry had shown many of Prowse’s horror films on his “Nightmare Theater” over the years and was a Dave Prowse fan. “So they set up the meeting and did it on the air. It was hilarious. And I was right in the middle of Darth Vader vs. Sammy Terry, two icons from my youth. I even got to see Darth put the smack-down on Terry when they disagreed over some movie fact. Sammy didn’t want to admit defeat and Dave wasn’t having it. But it all ended well. It was good fun.”
Wood has many anecdotes to tell of their mini-world tour with ‘Saving Star Wars’, but is thrilled to have homecoming opportunity and launch a new program that will benefit other small film and videomakers. “We started with nothing but passion, drive, and credit cards. Now we have passion, credit card debt….and a piece of cinematic history that is all ours. Wood says, “I’m betting that .0000015% of the world’s population has seen or heard of ‘Saving Star Wars’. Even if that figures high, if I can get one dollar from each of them, I can pay off those cards….and stop delivering pizzas.”