“In the end I was really pleasantly surprised, it wasn’t about the band, it was about the message.” – Tom DeLonge
Sure to be one of the most talked-about films on the indie circuit, Love was filmed on a $500,000 budget and grew out of a music video project by Tom DeLonge (Blink 182, Angels and Airwaves) after the producers realized how powerful their idea was. The first feature film for director William Eubank as well as Tom Delonge, the set was truly Indie, and is still sitting in Eubank’s parent’s driveway.
“Love is an esoteric sci-fi movie about an astronaut who gets left up in space,” said Eubank. When asked what is the one thing he would like people to take away from the movie, he said “For me the film is a warning about human nature in some respects. We’re capable of so many things, yet it’s quite possible that one of the most awesome things we’ll ever do is just destroy ourselves. I hope that people think about that a little bit.”
About the selection of Gunner Wright to play the astronaut, Tom DeLonge said “Will was really interested in getting someone that had that All-American kind of appeal, like 2001 Space Odyssey. We were showing homage to the sci-fi films of an earlier time, and looking for someone who wasn’t too one way or the other, but that could show vulnerability and relate to the common person, but also be a good-looking guy at the same time.”
The ISS was built on a budget of $60,000, and there is no anti-gravity machine at that budget, so how did Eubank manage to build such a fantastic “homage” space station? Reading books, according to the director at a question and answer during Fantastic Fest 2011, where the film screened. Richard Garriott, a surprise guest at the screening, said “I can say from first hand experience that they really did a great job of capturing an amazing amount of the feelings of living in space and the isolation of living up there – the beauty of living up there.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise were the scenes depicting the American Civil War. Beautifully filmed, the depth and breath of Angels and Airwaves vision is equal to the skills of much larger Hollywood institutions, and you will see more of their work. The new breed of filmmakers are here and they are closing the gap between Indie and Studio Films.
