Hand Of The Empire Interview

Star Wars: Hand of the Empire takes place about 6 years before the Battle of Yavin (The Space Fight at the end of the 1977 original film for those who aren’t as geeky as us).  The initial idea was Band of Brothers with Stormtroopers.  We wanted to make a hard hitting war film with Troopers as the main characters.  What I found was if you stray too far away from Star Wars, it doesn’t work so you really have to find the right balance.  Humor is your friend but you need to keep it organic and not forced.  I also noted that almost every Star Wars film is a chase.  Everyone is after something or someone.  The Death Star plans, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, the map to Skywalker, etc.  The film begins on the forest planet of Cilpar (a planet from the comic books) where a unit of Troopers led by Captain Quarrie (after concept artist Ralph McQuarrie) is down in numbers and without communication.  A lone survivor of a battle with a mysterious figure show up in his camp saying his unit had the target–a young girl wanted by Emperor Palpatine–but the stranger took everyone out single handedly and took the girl with him.  Now Quarrie and his men along with a Mandalorian guide named Loto Tane are trying to find the girl and the man who took her to complete their mission.  The film stars mostly new characters with some familiar characters as well.  Shortly, the stranger is Kanan Jarrus of Rebels and the girl is Mara Jade of Heir to the Empire and other EU tales.

I believe it was in 2015 that Executive Producer Ken Daniels and his wife Myra met a young teenaged boy named Phillip Parks who was battling brain cancer.  The couple ran Fright Night Film Fest and Fandomfest in Louisville, KY and through those shows met a lot of people in the SW costume community.  They were asked if an event at their comic shop–The Nerdy Planet–could be held to make a wish of Phillip’s come true.  Phillip wanted to be a part of one of these costume groups and have his own Stormtrooper kit.  So the local group, led by Don West (who also stars in the final film), built Phillip a costume (which is worn by his brother in the film).  As you may have guessed from the last sentence, Phillip sadly lost his fight in 2016.  After seeing Rogue One that December, Ken and the local costume group started entertaining the idea of making a fan film as a way to honor the memory of Phil and maybe help raise money and awareness for Children’s Cancer for the hospital who took care of him during his illness, Norton Children’s Hospital.  I first met Ken back in 2006 and they had invited me to be a guest at their convention for years–I am a professional commercial illustrator with a history in comics and blu ray and dvd art.  But since 2008 I had also become an indie filmmaker.  Ken called me up and asked me what Star Wars meant to me.  I was born in 1976 so I literally grew up with the original trilogy and it was my introduction to heroic journey storytelling.  I am a huge Star Wars fan.  He asked if I wanted to help out with making a fan film.  I had made a fan film in 2015 called The Confession of Fred Krueger and afterwards had decided to only do original films but when he told me about Phillip and Norton Children’s Hospital and why they were making the film, I said I’d love to help.  I had no idea I’d end up directing, writing, producing, editing, illustrating the poster and many other jobs.  But it became a labor of love and I love the team we assembled and the project we had before us.  In the end we were able to help raise $3,600 for Norton Children’s Hospital.

The biggest challenge of making a Star Wars film for no budget without the proper time to do it the way studios do it is that you are making an action film with Stormtroopers who are either actors or cosplayers who are wearing these extremely expensive suits they of course don’t want to get dirty or ruined/broken and they aren’t stunt people or people of action and unknown to us at the time, the costumes are loud and impossible to move in.  They can’t sit, squat, bend over, run, it’s quite comical really.  Watch the old school films and see how motionless and awkward the Troopers are.  Luckily we had Chad Zigmund starring in the film and Troopers are completely covered and being a trained stuntman as well as a fantastic actor, he was able to hide behind a single costume we had and knew how to fall and basically DIE in the Trooper kit.  So when you see anyone falling and dying, it’s most likely Chad.  I think we kill him on screen 16 times.  So shooting an action film with people who aren’t professional fighters, stunt people and who were not trained and you are making it up on the day.  That was tough.  Not to mention shooting it in the Summer heat in the woods with vicious ticks.

You could spend the rest of your life trying to make everything better than it is.  At the end of the day you have to know when its time to move on.  I have done so much education over the past 2 years since making this film that I would redo almost the whole film now as I’ve learned so much but that would be ridiculous.  And that isn’t suggesting the film needs to be redone at all.  That is just the nature of an artist.  We will always see what could have been done and as you progress, you see nothing but what could be.  But you have to be content.  I won’t put anything out that I don’t feel comfortable with.  In fact we reshot some scenes over the past six months.  Scenes that just always bothered me and I knew we could do better.  My original edit was an hour and five minutes long.  I cut it down to 50 minutes.  Rarely is a film what you started out with or thinking it would be.  They say you make a film three times.  The one you script.  The one you shoot.  And the one you edit.  It will always grow and change.  All I can say is when we premiered it on that big screen with 240 people packed into every seat and the film played, despite having edited the film (which is to say I have watched it 200 times in every incarnation it’s been in) I felt overwhelmed and moved and excited for what we had pulled off.  Our cast is phenomenal and people just really responded so positively.  A woman–who I later found out is considered the biggest Star Wars fan in Kentucky (she runs two official groups)–stood up and proclaimed to the packed house, “Now THAT, was Star Wars!”  It’s got a strong and complete story with characters you connect with and care for.  It has a lot of heart, humor and action.  Long story short, I love the film and everyone who helped us make it.

Well in terms of breaking into the business, I am still in the indie world in that area.  I have been a professional artist for over a decade but not as a film writer or director.  I have had offers from people to come work on their projects, writing, directing, etc.  I’ve done a few jobs but none of them panned out.  But with resources and affordable equipment these days, there is little stopping you from making films outside of the industry.  Hand of the Empire is my 7th film.  My advice to any filmmaker coming up is to do the homework.  Study as much as you can.  Don’t take shortcuts.  Don’t think just being a movie fan is enough to do the job well.  Instinct and passion will get you far but in order to turn heads and pull off accomplished and polished work, you have to know what you are doing and how the professionals do it.  There is a craft and science to it.  Hollywood is a machine.  Learn the dos and don’t of screenwriting.  There are mistakes that all of us make and once you learn the right way of doing things it is extremely eye opening.  Make sure your story is something others will want to witness.  Don’t ever be boring.  What is exciting to you won’t always be for others.  Try to avoid cliches but understand what always works.  There are less than ten stories ever told, its all about how you tell them.  Consider each frame.  Think about it.  Think about each line.  Each action.  Pay attention to camera movement, blocking, lighting, art direction, the use of color, character, props, costumes, editing, sound design, music.  The best thing to become a better director is to do as much editing as you can.  Editing informs you on what you need to get on set.  Know every job enough so that you can communicate to those in that area.  And make sure you get the best people you can for each job.  Surround yourself with positive people who are passionate about what they do and know more than you.  Be open to learning.  Listen.  Learn something every day.  The most successful people are those who work hardest.  Forget ego.  Forget fame.  Forget all of those distractions.  Just work every day to be your best and to tackle all of your weaknesses and as Bill Burr said a while back, “Become undeniable.”  You do that, people will notice.

Alright,  well thank you so much Mr. Milliner for your time and those incredible stories. I personally can’t wait to see the movie this Saturday and I’m really looking forward to “On a Dark and Bloody Ground” cause that sounds awesome. Best of luck with everything!