With the release of the Australian sci-fi alien invasion film Occupation Rainfall, we caught up with writer/director Luke Sparke to find out more about it…
STARBURST: When you made Occupation in 2018, was it always the plan to do a follow-up?
Luke Sparke: Not straight away. It was supposed to be one and done for me, something to keep us busy making films in between larger projects I was working on. It wasn’t really until I got into the editing process and there were a few key scenes I was really interested in. Namely, the alien’s backstory, human interaction with them and what it means to have ‘invaders’ come looking for a new home. I thought that was all really interesting, then got to work dreaming up the sequel and had it written before the first one came out. When I wrote Rainfall, I had to deep dive into the alien culture, history, and all that which was really fun.
How would you pitch the film to STARBURST readers?
A roller coaster ride through an alien invasion set Down Under!
You had a much bigger budget for this film, what was your mindset going into filming?
Yeah. On Occupation, it started out very small and grew as cast members like Temuera, Bruce Spence, Jac Mackenzie, and Charles Mesure started to join. I had to run by the seat of my pants and come up with a way to make it as big as I could on a small budget.
I sat down with the team from day one on Rainfall and said I have a story in mind that’s huge and it’s going to be big. So we got to work to come up with ways to make that happen. It took a while to get the right team together, which is a major part of something like this. One way we had to achieve it was cutting the film up into ‘filming blocks’, which means we filmed for a few weeks in 2018, then a big break, then again in 2019, then some more pick ups after that.
All the while we were working on the post-production. I was working with my pre-viz artist to come up with the action scenes and look dev of everything. I was coming up with ideas up until the very last months before delivery – adding in vistas or adding in different aliens in the background to build the word.
What challenges did you have when making Occupation: Rainfall?
The big challenge was just the sheer scope that I wanted in this film. Daily questions of “how can we achieve that?” People out here were convinced that it just wasn’t possible to do for an independent film. Not everything I wanted came across, the Sydney escape sequence was even bigger again, with command ships levelling buildings, but I always save ideas for down the road.
The other challenge was the filming blocks being cut up and the continuity that came with that. Some actors were only on one block but had to talk to an actor on another block, which we used green screen and VFX for. Others we had to shoot with stand-ins. There’s a scene in there where the two major shooting blocks come together and there are reserve shots of the cast that are a year apart. It’s all very much about problem-solving.
Was it important to you to have a female character upfront in the film?
It was. Obviously, females can be just as strong as their male counterparts, but they also bring other qualities and not just the mother or maternal instinct. I think a different mindset, a way to look at the world. But even in this post-alien invasion world, our main character comes up against, what could be perceived as, misogynist male egos.
There are lots of themes throughout the film but I’m not one to politicise my work, people have reached out to me and commented on various themes like the female characters but also themes of invasion, war crimes, and some more. If people see that in there, great. But it’s also just a fun film. The two producers are also female, so I know it was very important to them to have the characters upfront.
Temuera Morrison returned for the second film too, was it filmed before he appeared in The Mandalorian? If so, did you know about it? As a Star Wars fan, how did you manage not to geek out?
It was filmed before all of that, especially his part. It’s crazy to think as an indie film, I’ve slogged away at this for four years and in that time, Boba Fett has come back around. Tem is as big a Star Wars fan like most of us and we would always chat about it, Battlefront 2, action figures, etc. He actually gifted me a Mandalorian jacket from a Star Wars celebration event, signed by him, Jeremy Bulloch, and Daniel Logan – the three Fetts! It’s an amazing piece for my collection. I’ve been collecting Star Wars since I was a little kid in the ‘80s.
I heard about Season Two with him back as Boba about six months before it aired and shared some emails with him. I was super excited about it, absolutely giddy. So I knew it was coming when I saw the first episode and the sixth episode – but man, it was still awesome to watch! I was like everyone else, smiling from ear to ear – and I cried at the season finale when Luke appeared!
The film has great production values, what was the reaction of those in the Australian film industry? Do you think it will open the doors for more ambitious sci-fi movies?
Thanks! I remember coming out of the red carpet premiere on the Gold Coast over here, and people seemed shell shocked. It took a minute for people to have a drink then start talking about it. We played it in a huge cinema with Dolby Atmos and it was this unrelenting bombastic experience. There was lots of praise from our film industry peers, ‘how did you do that’ questions and whatnot. The American release has been great, opening in the top 10 VOD charts over there really helped and solidified the film with a fan base and also networks, distributors, and buyers. We’ve had a lot of offers come our way, which is great for the franchise.
I hope it opens the door for more ambitious films like this. We’re a small industry down here, but it would be great to see a yearly output of at least one good film in every genre and see it get the attention it deserves.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on a TV pilot for a book series that we are going to adapt into a TV series, it’s huge and extremely exciting to be working on it.
Off the success of the rollout of Rainfall, I’m going to finish the story of these characters as well. The script is done and we’re in early development of the next chapter. I’m excited to show audiences where I’m taking this. I’ve had it all planned out since writing Rainfall. We are also in talks now with comic books and more material to expand the world, which is amazing and humbling from the worldwide rollout.
Signature Entertainment presents Occupation Rainfall in Cinemas and on Digital from July 9th.
A Blu-ray and DVD release follows on September 13th. You can read our review here.
