The Director Of The Substance Made A Star Wars Fan Film, And It’s As Odd As You’d Expect
A new take on an old story.
The Star Wars saga is a formative franchise for so many: not just science fiction fans, but filmmakers who hope to emulate what George Lucas and his collaborators achieved. The original films have influenced countless directors and writers — including Coralie Fargeat. With her aptly-titled debut feature Revenge, the French filmmaker carved out a niche within the horror genre. Her latest effort, The Substance, has confirmed what a small group of cinephiles already knew: Fargeat knows how to get under your skin, and she’s going to have lots of fun doing it.
Last year, The Substance put Fargeat on the map in a major way. She’s up for Best Director at the Academy Awards, and all that prestige buzz has inspired her to look back at her first effort behind the camera. Ahead of the Oscars, Fargeat shared her first short film, La guerre des étoiles, with Letterboxd. As its title might suggest, Fargeat’s short is also a Star Wars fan film. It’s light on the blood and gore that would later become Fargeat’s calling card, but it reveals plenty about her taste as a filmmaker. Check out the film below.
Fargeat shared a bit of her process in a statement with Letterboxd. She shot La guerre des étoiles when she was 17 years old: “Using my family’s camcorder, I animated my toys frame by frame in stop-motion, disguised my friends as Ewoks and stormtroopers, and edited on a VHS video recorder,” she explained. Continued Fargeat:
“It was such an amateur endeavor, but everything I loved about making films was already there… It was the place where I felt free, passionate and alive, and able to fully express myself. It’s after I made this little film that I knew that I wanted to be a director… Today as I am nominated for Best Director, I can’t help but remember this little film… Follow your dreams!”
In La guerre des étoiles, Fargeat interprets the events of two Star Wars films: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VI — Return of the Jedi. She cleverly utilizes sound from the films to depict the battles on the planets Hoth and Endor, blending live-action sequences with stop-motion animation. Though she calls the film an “amateur” production, it does speak to Fargeat’s desire to play and explore. Aspiring directors can learn a lot about the craft, and their affinity for it, by making a fan film. We all have to start somewhere, but if Fargeat’s success is any indication, the effort’s always worth it.
