The creators of Iron Sky, the independent film about Nazis on the moon, are giving fans and supporters a look at the first few minutes of the film and other insider goodies in exchange for a donation of as little as one euro.
Nazis on the moon. Four words that should have your attention gripped, as Major Hochstetter might say, in a ring of steel and also the premise for Iron Sky, the upcoming sci-fi black comedy from the Finnish team behind the hilariously goofy Star Wreck parody film. The premise is simple: As the Third Reich crumbled in 1945, Nazi scientists made a breakthrough discovery in anti-gravity technology, allowing them to flee to a secret military base on the dark side of the moon. In the year 2018, rebuilt and rearmed, their descendants return to Earth in a powerful fleet of flying saucers, determined to conquer the planet once and for all.
Is that not freakin’ awesome? The Iron Sky project has been kicking around for a few years now, as independent films are wont to do, but now it’s time to get down to business. “After years and years of work, we are finally here – shooting the film,” said Iron Sky Director Timo Vuorensola. “We have an eventful month ahead of us, then a short break for the Christmas, followed by a month and a half of shooting in Australia. In Frankfurt we film our location shots, which is about a half of the movie. In Australia we do the studio parts.”
One of the things that makes Iron Sky so interesting (aside from the whole Nazis on the goddamned moon thing) is that a substantial part of the film’s budget has been supplied by fans and followers on the internet. The film’s budget is 6.8 million euros ($9.2 million), nearly one million of which has been donated by the online community. Now, as a bit of payback and to encourage further support, the team has unveiled Iron Sky Sneak Peek, offering exclusive “making of” footage and access to the first five minutes of the movie, for just a little over a dollar.
“Iron Sky Sneak Peek aims to offer the fans a great way to see how a movie project like this works, the whole process is going to be revealed and explained like never before,” explained Producer Tero Kaukomaa. “And additionally it’s another way for the Internet community to support and take part of making this film. Fan funding is extremely important thing for us, it was the last missing piece in our financing puzzle.”
The Iron Sky team plans to put out new material every month, showing the movie’s progress from the early concept right up to the finished product. Access to the Sneak Peek is a “pay what you want” deal, with a minimum fee of one euro, which is a little less than a buck and a half for folks on this side of the pond. Given that I would happily pay that just to see the original Iron Sky trailer for the first time, it strikes me as a pretty solid deal.
Iron Sky, starring the inimitable Udo Kier (so you know it’s gotta be good) is currently expected to be finished by the end of 2011. A videogame based on the Shadowgrounds engine called Iron Sky: Operation Highjump is also in the works. I am, as you may have guessed, totally jazzed for both.
