A few weeks
ago I was sent an intriguing e-mail. It was a movie, more specifically a secure
link to see a short-movie, titled Rise of the Fellowship. I was intrigued. I
watched it, I enjoyed it and was fortunate enough to ask the director, Ron
Newcomb some questions about this passion project, which you can see on Netflix
and on Amazon where it is currently on the top 40 most watched films.
Rise of the
Fellowship follows Randall Dooley who is a geek and “his three best friends are
geeks too. He works in a game shop, he spends all his free time playing online
games, his older brother bullies him unmercifully, his widowed mom doesn't
understand him, and he's hopelessly in love with the prettiest cheerleader in
high school. In short, he's a loser. All of that changes when he hears of the
Lord of the Rings Online gaming competition. Finally! Meaning in life! Rise of
the Fellowship is a buddy-comedy written in honor of online gamers and The Lord
of the Rings. Full of Tolkien-references and good-hearted parody, Rise of the
Fellowship will appeal to Tolkien-fans and gamers alike, as well as anyone
who's never been part of the in-crowd.”
Rise of the
Fellowship is a fantastical/buddy/road trip short that makes good use of the mythos
from The Lord of the Rings to tell a new story.
Galactic News
One (GN1): Was developing a story that has a strong connection with something
that is so precious to so many people difficult? And how was the process of
developing and shooting Rise of the Fellowship?
Ron Newcomb: We certainly
are fans ourselves and are not coming in from a place to exploit a fan base. We
are one amongst. Many people hold the stories so close that any interpretation
or exploration can become a challenge for some fans to take. As a filmmaker,
you are going to get criticized and hear from them, even louder at times. We
have created a world where people believe we all have a right to quickly
critique a work without much merit.
However, the ones that we
made the film for, the fellow Ringers, we’ve heard from them too. They sit down
and watch the film with their whole family and love it. They laugh and at the
end of it, they’ve all had a nice time together.
Developing the story was
over a longer period of time. I had gone to New Zealand in 2006 and am a huge
Lord of the Rings fan. I also knew gaming was here to stay as part of our
culture. And so my business partner, Scott, and I kicked around the idea of
mashing gaming and an epic LOTR style adventure…and so Rise of the Fellowship
was born.
This is
our “love letter” to Tolkien and a fun way we could, in some small way, be a
part of his legacy. It pays tribute to Lord of the Rings, by having some
parallels. We have many characters that are in the film, however, you'll
recognize a few others that did not make it into the LOTR films but were a part
of the books.
It’s not beholden to Peter
Jackson’s work and the story is really a stand alone, you don’t need to be a
Tolkien fan to get our film. However, if you are, you’ll find all of the little
gems; which there are many to be found.
One of things we knew
early on, was the our fans “A-lister” was really what game we would have in the
film, so landing “Lord of the Rings Online” (LOTRO) was huge for us – it felt
like getting a major talent.
Having real footage of
LOTRO in the film really offers a unique perspective from the gamer. It does
not mock gamers so much as it celebrates them. In so many films, the gamer is
the “geek”. We flipped it saying, “There’s a little bit of geek and hero in all
of us.” Which is our films’ theme.
GN1: How was
the reaction from the fans of the J.R.R. Tolkien books or the Peter Jackson’s
movies to the film?
Newcomb: Our objective
is what any movie should be – and that is to first simply entertain. We also wanted
to offer families the opportunity to come together and simply just laugh and
have fun. To have people feel good about themselves and for all of the geeks to
realize that they are not alone – that we are all geeky about something – but
they also have a hero inside, waiting to come out!
For those that get what
we were hoping for – they love the film. Those that get it, really get it. They
get all of the fun references and really enjoy it. I’d say our sweet spot in
the pre or teenage boy that is into gaming, which sounds like most teens these
days.
GN1: I really
liked the cross between the “real life” and the Lord of the Rings reality,
namely in the paintball scene. Were there more scenes like that in the script,
that weren't for one reason or another shot or make the cut?
Newcomb: It’s
certainly true that you are not going to be able to film everything, and everything
you film is not going to be used. We had more references than just Tolkien in
the film, and had the kids in a dumpster and somewhat recreated the infamous
Star Wars scene in the trash compactor. It was loads of fun and took a whole
day to shoot, but at the end of the day we didn’t need it, so it got cut. I
believe you can now see a few of our deleted scenes on the DVD, so it now lives
there. That is a hard thing to do, to take out those scenes you loved filming.
GN1: The film
is now available on Netflix and is currently on Amazon’s top 40. Do you see
indie films changing venues to internet content providers like Netflix, Amazon,
etc… and stop all together from appearing in theaters or do you feel that there
are still a demand for this and other types of indie films?
Newcomb: Actually I’m
thinking the opposite may be somewhat true. I believe we are going to see more
films hit online pretty quickly, if not even more same day releases. Theater
owners would much rather have a true special and unique first release where
they are not competing with other online releases. Certainly the major films
will still hold to this, but I believe indie films will fill the gap for
theater owners who are looking for content to be released theatrically. It
seems to me, that theater owners have to go this route or they themselves will
be out of business.
At one point
Netflix had many indie films, and now they are releasing studio films. Redbox
carried many indie films, and now carry studios. Well what’s left over for
people that still want that film experience? Primarily teens that was a
destination to get out of the house. Indies are the perfect fit for this.
I also
believe however that there is so much content out there, it’s hard to find
those special gems out there. So when you find someone you like – get out there
and support them!
GN1: What is
next in terms of directing?
Newcomb: I always have something in
the works. Right now an epic action fantasy adventure has my attention. It’s a
web series called “The Rangers” which can be found here; http://therangers.mymiddleearth.com/
I also have a reality TV showed I’ve
put together called “Weekend Warrior” which is a show about LARP’ing and more
can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh2oS9X50N0
I’d like to say
“thank you” for giving true indie film a voice, it’s the only way we’re going
to get out there. People can head to our website to find ways to see the film
and thus be able to get out and “vote for the film”, which people do for films
every weekend, www.RiseoftheFellowship.com.
“Voting” for the film
is the one true thing that matters most for indie filmmakers like me, so I do
hope fans get out and support true indie film and “vote”!
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