VOD - Occupation: Rainfall : discover the trailer of a new sci-fi film

By Mulder, 30 april 2021

Occupation: Rainfall is the new and spectacular Alien Invasion blockbuster, produced entirely independently by Sparkefilms and distributed by Saban Films.

Writer/director Luke Sparke is taking audiences on another action-packed, unstoppable thrill ride with Saban Films’ new sci-fi, action film Occupation: Rainfall, set to open In Theaters, On Digital and On Demand on June 11.

The highly anticipated follow-up to Sparke's 2018 alien invasion hit Occupation, Occupation: Rainfall picks up two years into an intergalactic invasion of Earth where survivors are fighting back in a desperate ground war. The film features eye-popping visual effects with a top-line cast that includes Ken Jeong (Crazy Rich Asians, The Hangover Trilogy), Daniel Gillies (The Originals, Vampire Diaries), Dan Ewing (Love and Monsters), Dena Kaplan (Dance Acad- emy), Temuera Morrison (Aquaman), Mark Coles Smith (Last Cab To Darwin), Jet Tranter (Thor: Ragnarök), Lawrence Makoare (The Lord Of The Rings), David Roberts (The Matrix 2 & 3), Vince Colosimo (Chopper), Zac Garred (General Hospital ) and Trystan Go (The Family Law), as well as Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter) as the voice of Steve the Alien.

The highly anticipated follow-up to Occupation (2018) picks up two years into an intergalactic invasion of Earth where survivors in Sydney, Australia are fighting back in a desperate ground war. As casualties mount by the day, the resistance and their unexpected allies uncover a plot that could see the war come to a decisive end. With the alien invaders hell-bent on making Earth their new home, the race is on to save mankind.

Directed and written by Luke Sparke and produced by mother and daughter duo Carly and Carmel Imrie (Occupation, Red Billabong) and co-executive producer Todd Williams (The Nun, Alex and Me), Occupation: Rainfall is an action-packed, unstoppable thrill ride that stretches from the scenic hills of the Blue Mountains to the battle-ravaged streets of Sydney. The film features eye-popping visual effects by local industry leaders including Creative Cupids, FIN and countless independent artists with experience working on major studio pictures. Writer and director Luke Sparke grew up on film sets, with his father working in the industry and Luke taking on various production roles from a young age. A passionate fan of sci-fi, he developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the genre and a passion to make big sci-fi films in Australia.

Luke Sparke: “It was the original Star Wars trilogy of films that set me on this path. They really shaped my childhood. From storytelling to the editing, to the characters and mythos – it was such a gift to grow up with them. I still have my first Star Wars action figures that were waiting for me when I was born, and I became an avid collector, which really sparked my imagination. Playing in the sandbox with G.I Joes, Star Wars and Transformers action figures and telling my own stories, to actually playing out my scripts on a green screen set with actors, extras and stuntman – it brings it full circle and allows you to tap into that daydreaming, child-like fantasy that I think you need on a genre film like this.”

Occupation, the 2018 first film of this franchise and Luke’s second feature film as director, was origi- nally envisioned as a million-dollar movie that Luke could shoot quickly out in the bush while waiting for other projects to come together. But when actors Temuera Morrison and Dan Ewing signed on, the movie’s potential suddenly changed. Luke Sparke: “I had so many ideas for Occupation that I just couldn’t include on the available budget. In post, I began to envision a sequel taking place two years into the alien invasion, picking up with the original characters, introducing new ones and seeing what their world has become. I pitched the idea to sales agents, distributors, and everyone ran with it, the cast really wanted to get on board, and we announced it even before the first film was out, in a way telling the world that Australians can make big films like this. We have the capacity, the crews, the talent, to tell stories on a big canvas and to get those big stories on screen.

“From the get-go I said that I was going to write what I think this film needs, no matter how big it was. And what I wrote was huge. A sprawling film with so many action sequences, large locations and set pieces.” From a story point of view, Luke was especially interested in looking at a human community under extraordinary duress – the people and their relationships, but also the relationship between the invaders and the changing of allegiances on both sides. “Occupation ends with one character shaking hands with an alien. I loved seeing the comments on Twitter, everyone saying, ‘That’s ridiculous, why would people shake hands with an alien, they should kill them all?!’ I really took that idea on and made it a major plot point. Some people believe we need to share this world, we have to co-exist; others say, ‘No, we have to destroy our enemies to ensure our safety.’ That is a fascinating topic for me, both in this film and in the world we live in.”

Trying to make a major Australian sci-fi film has never been attempted before. “I knew what I needed to do, but how to achieve it within budget? Australian films can’t be 100 million dollars. We set out to do something big and we did whatever we needed to do to make that happen.” Working once again with Occupation producers Quirky Mama Productions, the mother- and- daughter team Carly and Carmel Imrie, they set out to do just that.

Key cast members from the first film including Dan Ewing, Temuera Morrison and Trystan Go had signed on, and Luke and the producers had strong ideas about who they wanted to approach for the new roles. It fell to casting agent Cinzia Coassin CGA to secure the talent with the further casting assistance of Barbara McCarthy in Los Angeles and Carolyn McLeod CSA in London. Cinzia Coassin: “What I love about this film is that there are so many diverse cultures mixing here together, it’s a collective of people from different communities. It’s one of those huge films where I’ve witnessed everyone coming together to make sure we get to the finishing line.”

Luke Sparke: “It’s great to see up-and-coming actors who are amazing talents – like Jet Tranter and John Reynolds – working alongside top-line names like Ken Jeong, Daniel Gillies, Dan Ewing, and giving them a head start on a movie of this size. And then some greats like Mark Coles Smith and David Roberts. It’s been an amazing experience having all these people together.” Ken Jeong was one of the first the new characters to agree to come on board, playing NSA Agent Bud Miller. Ken Jeong: “I was a fan of the first movie, and I loved the script of Occupation: Rainfall. It was something different that I wanted to play and in a genre that I don’t typically do.”

Dan Ewing reprised his role as Matt Simmons and Temuera Morrison returned as Peter Bartlett: “With a lot of the movie roles I do, I am always dying. Occupation was a highlight for me, I remained alive! When I heard they were going to do a second one, it was a lovely opportunity for me to revive the character.” Dena Kaplan had wanted to do an action movie for years. “And to play a real badass character boss chick! it was such a physical role and challenging working with green screens. It’s a big production, big cast, the world we inhabit is very big – to work on something like this was exciting!

“Robin Sigiro is the commanding fighter jet pilot, an incredible fighter. To prepare I watched a lot of films about fighter jet pilots. I learned as much as I could, especially about female pilots – their rituals in the air, what happens when things go wrong, and the relationship they have with their vessel.” Mark Coles Smith said yes before finishing the script: “I know Luke and wanted to work with him. I love genre, I love sci-fi, free falling into fantasy! I get excited by that crazy stuff and I like the idea of Australia doing a lot more genre and sci-fi.”

A decision was made to break the shoot into two blocks, the first in October 2018 and the main shoot taking place over five weeks in November 2019. Once filming began there were huge challenges to face, from working with such a large cast to the complexity of the shoot itself, which involved mas- sive sets, lots of green screen, and fast-moving action scenes. On some days the crew amounted to hundreds, with extras and cast on top of that. In total, the production employed over 550 local film industry practitioners.

Luke Sparke: “We’re dealing with scenes that aren’t really attempted in Australia unless you are Baz Luhrmann or George Miller. We’re completely indie but filming scenes that feel at home in a Holly- wood film. It was nuts. Finding the right team become paramount. “Because the canvas is so big for this film and there is an ensemble cast, I can’t be just focused on the cast, I have to trust them to know their characters. So long as the cast is right, you’re always going to be okay. I like to talk to the actors, fill them in with everything they need to know of their character and then let them experiment.”

Ken Jeong: “I think Luke is a visionary. You can tell he has a wonderful passion for all the characters and his creation and he gives a lot of care to everybody. He is very open and collaborative to ideas, yet at the same time he guides the ship. Directors are purveyors of talent. After seeing the first movie and reading the script I kind of knew intuitively what tone he wanted for the character, so that was great to be on the same page with him.”

Temuera Morrison: “A highlight was working with Jason Isaacs, playing Steve the Alien, and Ken Jeong. Just seeing them work together was fascinating. Bouncing off one another they brought a whole new colour and crazy dynamic to the film. Ken especially loves to put the script aside and see what he can come up with. Sometimes you get magic from letting the actors explore. Luke has been great that way.”

Mark Coles Smith: “With directors and producers, the metric of their talent is their ability to do a lot with very little. We are on the clock and things move fast and that has an energy and buzz to it, it keeps you focused and the adrenalin up. There is a lot of green screen on this set and that is a new and unique experience for me, just turning up to set and then jumping into a giant armoured SUV with a 50 cal on top and Luke telling me what is happening all around me.”

Luke, his actors and cinematographer Wade Muller HKSC, ACS had to work constantly in a green screen setting with backgrounds obliterated during filming and replaced by massive frames filled with neon green fabric. This allowed the special effects teams to drop in whatever background im- ages they desire behind actors. Luke Sparke: “With each different set piece, I wanted a different look: Sydney was on fire after two years of fighting and is dark and hell-like. Outside in the country, it’s sunny and bright still, but there’s always hints of the war around. The Blue Mountains and the military base is a half and half colour palette, reflecting what goes on there. The final battles have a contrast to them all.”

The creatives were assisted by a small but brilliant team of visual effects artists and compositors led by Green Smoke Digital producer Alex Becconsall. Alex Becconsall: “The brief was both broad and specific at the same time. Big sequences pay homage to some of the great films that have come before, while also giving Rainfall its own flavour.” Alex Becconsall: “Luke’s vision for this film was infectious. Starting from concept design and pre- visualisation stage, it was apparent that the world he wanted to create was going to be huge and filled with creatures, vehicles and action scenes that have never been put on screen before. The vision of the film continued to evolve as we got further into building the film’s visual landscape. “The biggest challenges were the scale and the workflow. The amount of work required to get this project across the line was enormous, and bringing a team together to handle this job was the first hurdle. What we had in our favour was making a Star Wars/Marvel-style film, but on home turf, which gave a lot of artists the drive and motivation to come on this project.

“Another major issue was keeping the teams working once the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The need to have people sharing office space to work remotely meant that we had to reconfigure our workflow to keep the team operating at 100%. Happily, this transition happened smoothly and work carried on as planned. “The level of difficulty one to five was definitely five. An enormous, independent sci-fi film with around 1,500 visual effects shots, working with a team who were spread out due to a global pandemic and still hitting all our deadlines including trailers and previews. No sweat... “Thankfully we had top-class companies Creative Cupids and FIN coming on board, as well as countless artists all coming from backgrounds working on major studio pictures.”

Ryan Trippensee (Creative Cupids): “At a time when Covid-19 had wiped through most industries, the world of visual effects was no different. With film shoots shutting down the world over, projects started drying up and industry artists and professionals began to panic. It was at this moment that a mystery project came seemingly out of nowhere. It was already in the can, it was a small intimate production team, it was a massive sci-fi genre film, and it was simply waiting for someone to bring the VFX to life. “The brief was extraordinary both in terms of scope and fun. The film was filled with all of the effects that every artist got into this field to create. From aliens to spaceships, blasters to giant creatures, city-size explosions to asteroids... it has it all. It was a veritable rumpus room of toys begging to be played with.

“While the literal sky was the limit on our creative freedom under Luke’s guidance, the timeline for this project was definitely tight for the sheer magnitude of its visual ambition, and despite the budget being relatively substantial, it paled in comparison to the Hollywood blockbusters we’ve all come to know. This required a great deal of efficiency to be implemented and a great deal of management.” Jonathan Dearing (FIN): “I was awoken from my Covid-19 hibernation with an offer to come on board and help create some huge CG chase and battle scenes between military forces and an alien army in an Aussie sci-fi. I couldn’t say no.

“Some of the special challenges that first presented themselves was the size of the CG world we had to build, and in some cases the speed with which we had to move through it. We had to build enough CG terrain to accommodate a high speed chase over several kilometres and to stage an aerial dogfight that would take place within and above a huge valley in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. These environments were not simple clone stamped repetitive concrete city structures but detailed outdoor bush settings with trees and grass as far as the eye could see.

“Once the technical hurdles had been overcome, we could dive into the really cool world of animat- ing action scenes with multiple characters, chase and aerial battle scenes with huge explosions and variety of weapons and vehicles challenging each other to the end.” Nandakumar Payankulath, Creative Cupids: “When we sit and watch the finished product, you’ll see the real hard work behind it. If we rewind eight months back, this film was only in Luke’s vision, but with some fantastic planning and teamwork, we have a version which will remain as a visual marvel.”

Synopsis:
Bursting with spectacular special effects and exhilarating action sequences, Occupation: Rainfall unfolds two years into an intergalactic invasion of Earth, as survivors fight back in a desperate ground war. While casualties mount by the day, the resistance—along with some unexpected allies—uncovers a plot that could bring the war to a decisive end. Now, with the alien invaders hell-bent on making our planet their new home, the race is on to save mankind.

Occupation: Rainfall
Written and directed by Luke Sparke
Produced by Carly Imrie, Carmel Imrie
Starring Dan Ewing, Temuera Morrison, Lawrence Makoare, Daniel GillIes, Zachary Garred, Jet Tranter, Mark Coles Smith, Trystan Go, David Roberts, Dena Kaplan, Izzy Stevens, Vince Colosimo, Jason Isaacs, Ken Jeong
Music by Frederik Wiedmann
Cinematography : Wade Muller
Edited by Luke Sparke
Production companies :
Distributed by Saban Film (USA)
Release date : June 11, 2021 (USA)
Running time : 128 minutes

(Source : production notes)