Full-Length Version of R’Ha Short Coming From Star Wars Producers
This article is more than 2 years old
You know what science fiction has too much of nowadays? What was that from you in the back? Okay, yes, M. Night Shyamalan is a good answer, but that’s not what I meant. The answer is human beings. Sci-fi has too many… Yeah, Shyamalan is technically a human being, so i guess you’re technically right, imaginary man. Anyway…
The dark, human-free short film R’Ha, created by German digital film design student Kaleb Lechowski, was released earlier this year to much acclaim, and it now has a powerhouse of creative talent behind it. Stepping in as producers are Rick McCallum, former head of Lucasfilm and producer of the second Star Wars trilogy – hold your applause – and Steve Tzirlin, a former producer on the recently cancelled Star Wars: Clone Wars. They’ll join the short’s production company IAM Entertainment in turning it into a big screen sci-fi actioner.
The screenplay will be written by familiar sci-fi scribe Matthew Graham, who created the British series Life on Mars – which had a lower quality U.S. adaptation – and wrote a few Doctor Who episodes. (He was supposed to have a parallel worlds series coming to ABC, but I’m not sure where that stands.)
Lechowski will be staying on as the feature’s director, which says a lot about the confidence he inspired within the producers. And that makes sense, given both the slick look and cleverness behind the short.
McCallum’s interest in the film was directly related to the lack of a human element, and he calls it “very different from anything I have seen in the sci-fi world.” He wants to do it in Europe, utilizing VFX studios that could make the film for a price that “not only allows Kaleb total control of his unique vision, but is incomprehensible in the big-budget VFX world that we now live in!” I believe we all know how foreign low-budget indie District 9 fared.
If you didn’t catch the film, you can watch it below. Pay attention, though, because it utilizes an excellent bit of misdirection at the end that makes you nod your head in appreciation. I mean, it’s no Shyamalan twist…
