Star Wars precursor to be crowdfunded

Long-lost Star Wars precursor Black Angel is to be made into a full-length movie with the help of fans from around the world. This crucial part of the sci-fi franchise’s legacy first screened as a short film alongside Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. The story follows a Knight who sets off on a quest to fight Demon Kings commander the Black Angel and stop darkness taking over the lands, guided by sorcerer Myrddin and helped by Princess Kyna.

John Rhys Davies ( The Lord of the Rings) and Rutger Hauer ( Blade Runner) have signed up to be part of the new movie’s star-studded cast, with Oscar winner Roger Christian on board to write and direct the film after doing so for the original short.

Black Angel: The Feature Film will be shot in an “earthy and authentic style combining high adventure with high drama” in a similar vein to The Lord of the Rings and The Hunger Games.

Production slated to begin in September this year with shooting locations set to include Morocco, Belgium, Hungary and Scotland.

Christian is asking fans to join the production process by donating on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. The campaign goes live today and will run for 45 days, with a target of $100,000.

Contributors will be awarded with exclusive perks, including an invite to the red carpet premiere, a role as an extra in the Demon King’s army, an all-expenses paid week of work experience with the audio department and the opportunity to own a piece of film negative from Star Wars: A New Hope, given to Christian by George Lucas.

The Black Angel short was made on a budget of just £25,000 in 1979 and hailed by Steven Spielberg as “one of the most enigmatic films he’d ever seen”.

Christian hopes that modern cinema-goers will “experience the intensity of the battles where life or death is the only prize”.

Gary Kurtz, Star Wars producer, said the team “all believed in Roger Christian because of the incredible way he transcribed George Lucas’s drawings into life on the Star Wars films”.