Fanboys - The Movie - Trailer and Video Clips

Wow, how the heck did we get to be involved with the movie Fanboys? I'm Ken VanLyssel, the Mos Alba and 501st Dewback Ridge Squad webmaster, and the Fanboys producers and director emailed me one fine day in early January 2006 after searching for 501st in Albuquerque, and they wanted to know if we would like to help. Melanie is my wife, and she gives her comments below as well.

Mos Alba is the Albuquerque Star Wars Fan Force, and has about 120 members. Many of our members are costumers and replica prop-makers. Some have good guy costumes and are members of The Rebel Legion, the worldwide Rebel costuming club. Fans of the Empire can become members of the 501st Legion, the worldwide Imperial costuming club. It is because of these clubs that the guys behind Fanboys were able to contact us and ask if we could help out on their movie, by providing costumes, props and consulting about all things Star Wars (click for examples). They also asked all of Mos Alba to be extras in the movie! We were excited to have this opportunity. While this was happening, I thought I'd better write down some of my experiences during the filming, so I wouldn't forget the details. What follows is a look behind the scenes of a film production, which hopefully will be interesting to both fans of movies in general and of Fanboys in particular...

Now... The Behind the Scenes Journals!
A true account of one geek's adventures with the filming of the movie, Fanboys!

January 2006
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May

Thursday, 1/5/2006: First contact:

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Matthew Perniciaro and I am producing a feature film entitled Fanboys, about a group of SW fans attempting to break into Skywalker Ranch during the fall of 1998 so that their friend can see Episode I before he succumbs to a terminal illness. The script has been well received by both fans and LucasFilm alike and will be distributed theatrically and worldwide by The Weinstein Co., formerly Miramax.

The film will begin shooting in mid-February in Albuquerque and Las Vegas, NM for six weeks and we are very excited to be shooting in your home state.

I'm not sure if you have heard about the project before, but the film started off as a fan written script, which found it's way into the hands of Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News. Harry loved the material and publicized it on his website almost seven years ago, which is when I first heard of the project and for the past five years, I have dedicated myself to getting it made. Throughout the entire process, one of the most important things to me as a producer has been maintaining that original spirit and therefore, we would love to have as many actual SW fans as possible participate in the shooting of the film.

I wanted to open up a dialogue between our two groups and hope that we can work together on this endeavor.

Thank you for your time and may the force be with you.

Best,
Matthew Perniciaro
Producer
FANBOYS

Comments:
Ken:
What the...! I didn't know at the time, but Fanboys has had a long journey to get to this stage; 8 years. I would later have the honor of meeting Ernie Cline, the very cool guy who wrote the story and the script in 1998 and you can see the full history of the Fanboys story and his quest to get it to the screen. But my first thought was, is this a prank? And my next was, this must be a small fan-film... but it sounds cool anyway, and knowing Mos Alba, we have a lot of members who would love to help.

Melanie:
I am practicing deep skepticism: I don’t think these are real “movie” people (though I don’t know what that is!) A movie…here? In Albuquerque? Are they insane? Etc….
Do REAL movie people talk like this? This is beginning to sound more like a really polite and well written Nigerian money scam.

Dear Ken,

It was great hearing back from you and we're excited that you would be willing to help with the film (and yes, we definitely need some Stormtroopers). We just recently landed in Albuquerque this weekend and have been busy scouting locations.
Director Kyle Newman and I would very much like to get together with you and some of the other members as soon as possible to discuss how we can work together on this project. Maybe we could take you guys out to dinner sometime later this week?
Let us know if that works for you and we'll go from there.

Best,
Matt
Matthew Perniciaro
Producer
FANBOYS

Comments:
Melanie:
The more than ten day response delay here is very indicative of how movie people apparently work! Though they are fairly nice when they respond – though not the case here, it is often clear they do not read your whole email. It takes us a while to learn this though!

Ken:
I wrote back and asked how many could go

Ken, Jess and Joseph, met with Matt Perniciaro, Kyle Newman and Scott Lumpkin at Gruet. Joseph let them know that we are the Real Deal. It's a very nice dinner, and they tell us the plot summary and some of the history of the script, like how Matt first heard about it on Ain't It Cool News, and had wanted to make it ever since then. We talked about ways that we could help, what costumes, props and collectibles we had. They explained that this was being distributed worldwide by the Weinstein Company, and that it was being co-produced by Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street Productions and Coalition Film, Matt's company. They mentioned some of the cameos they were trying to secure: Billy Dee Williams, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hammil, Harrison Ford, Ray Park, William Shatner, Kevin Smith, Bruce Campbell. Also, they said they were in talks with Viacom to get the Star Trek license, because some of the characters are Trekkies.

We were quite impressed; this was no small fan film!

At this point in the production, their nights were free and they were looking for something to do, so we invited them come to a party that weekend at Aaron's house. They said they would like to go.

Comments:
Ken:
When they walked in, Matt had a huge down jacket on and Kyle had a big parka with a fur lined hood. I thought that was funny, they looked so bundled up, but I wasn't laughing later when I was freezing my ass off on some of the night shots! Scott mentioned he has kids under 6, too, so we talked about that a bit. They were all very nice and down to earth. Kyle was 29, Matt was 26 and Scott was probably early 30's. I was expecting 50 year olds, I guess. Also, this was probably the most I heard Matt talk the whole time I knew him. I thought I was quiet!

Friday, 1/20/2006: Party

Aaron hosted a party at his house. Kyle and Matt showed up, and we had some fun talking. They got to meet more of Mos Alba, and we were laughing about the Chuck Norris list

Comments:
Ken:
I can't believe these guys are coming to one of our parties! They must be really bored! What did they think when they had to drive all the way out here and down some dirt roads? Did they think we were luring them out to the mesa to kidnap them? Ha ha!

Melanie:
This is the first time I get to observe the so-called movie people! I am very curious what they will be like. They arrive fashionably late (Aaron’s house is WAY out in BFE) bundled in coats and hats looking like they have just come in from the North Pole (It’s really not that cold here!). They are not Nigerian. They arrive with beer (obviously polite) and seem like nice young guys. No way these people are in control of a movie, I think… They stay for a good amount of time, view Aaron’s SW collection and generally try to talk to everyone. They officially get nicknamed “The Hollywoods” for easy reference….

Sunday, 1/22/2006: Matt Giese at Laff's Comedy Club

One of our members, Matt Giese, is appearing at Laff's for the first time. A bunch of us go to cheer for him, and Kyle and Matt show up to this too.

Comments:
Ken:
That's cool that they came to this... I guess we didn't scare them off yet! They had to leave early, they are starting to get busy.

Melanie:
Some of the Hollywoods show up here too – hey, they really DO care! J

Monday, 1/23/2006: Announcement of Fanboys on the Force.net

Matt posted the below on the force.net website, and then he emailed me to let me know.

Fanboys: The Movie
Posted on January 23, 2006
This just in from Matthew Perniciaro:

"January 23rd, 2006 Dear Star Wars Fans, In four short weeks we are about to embark on a journey of epic proportions to make the ultimate fan film, Fanboys, a comedy about friends, fans and delusions of grandeur. The film was written by Ernest Cline and Adam F. Goldberg and will begin shooting this February 22nd in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fanboys is a co-production between Trigger Street Productions (Kevin Spacey's production company)/ Coalition Film and will be distributed worldwide by The Weinstein Company. Fanboys takes place in the fall of 1998, a time when everything was pure and Star Wars ruled the world once again. We follow four life-long best friends who travel cross-country in an attempt to break into George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. Their mission is to see Star Wars Episode I early when they discover one of the young men in their group is diagnosed with terminal cancer and will not live long enough to see the film in theaters the following May.

This film expresses what it means to care about something so truly that you would do anything for it… what it means to be a fan. This is a film for the fans, made by the fans. We were at Celebration in the rain. We waited in line for days for all of the special editions and prequels. And, making this movie is the most important thing in the world to us. That being said, we need your help Fanboys and Fangirls! While distribution for the film is in place, this is an independent film and we are working on an independent budget. If there was ever a time to put your greatest geek skill to use, it is now. Do you have a knack for sculpting custom action figures? Or a special talent for making Astro-Mech Droids? Maybe you've always wanted to flaunt your Stormtrooper armor on screen? Whatever your Star Wars talent may be, we look to you, the fans, now to help us on this quest. Albuquerque's Mos Alba FanForce and their Dewback Ridge Squad division of the 501st have been extremely supportive in helping us make this film already and we thank them immensely. We wanted everyone out there to know they are more than welcome to be a part of this project and we will announce specific dates and locations in the near future as to when we will need extras in costume for you to be in the film. Email us at Fanboysthemovie@gmail.com with any and all things you would be willing to offer this project and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks and may the force be with you all. Best, Kyle Newman Matthew Perniciaro Director Producer"

Comments:
Ken:
That's cool that they mentioned us!

Monday, 1/23/2006: Website?

Kyle asked about me about making a website... So I did, this one, but they later said they couldn't use it because the Studio would have to be in charge of that....

Comments:
Ken:
I was excited for the opportunity, but that's OK, I knew I could still use the website for this.

Melanie:
Our first example of how when people ask for something, we try to deliver, but then it’s usually for nothing. Ken dropped everything to work on this for a day or so – too bad that they couldn’t use it ‘cause as of now they still don’t have a website – but I could see with all of the legal ramifications and such that they couldn’t do something that wasn’t “official” – though that’s pretty much what the whole movie/ SW thing is about – but whatever…

Tuesday, 1/24/2006: Meeting

Meeting with Fanboys. Matt invited us (Ken, Jess, Yvonne and Matt Giese) to a meeting at the 3rd St production offices to talk about what they are going to need from us, introduce us around and show us the place.

Comments:
Ken:
This was a cool meeting.... one room was plastered with location shots (pix of all of the places they had scouted around NM where they were going to shoot all of the various scenes). This was interesting, because NM has to double as all of these other states, since the boys are traveling cross-country to get from Ohio to California. Cory Lorenzen, the Production Designer, also shows us all of his drawings and ideas for the various stores and building shown in the movie, and a styrene model of the Trash Compactor.

Friday, 1/27/2006: Ken meets Johanna

Email from Matt
Matt emails me to introduce me to Johanna, the Wardrobe Designer

Email from Ken to Johanna
(I had asked about safety of the items they will borrow)
As to the other costumes you asked about, the ones that will be worn:
I've been waiting for the full prop list from Joe before I started matching people to who can lend what...
So, I haven't asked everyone yet about the possibility of the actors wearing their costumes...
I did briefly mention it to a couple of members, and considering how many months people put into making these costumes, a few wondered about the care that would be taken by the actors (vs. having them on display in the display room scene)... I don't know how careful actors would be, not knowing the care that was put into building the suits. I told them I would ask you about that... I can pass on some info to them if you can allay their fears!

Email from Johanna
Hey there,
I absolutely understand the concern about the actors wearing the costumes. I can tell you that for the particular scene the Vader costume will be worn in there is nothing physical the actor has to do that would put the costume in jeopardy.
Most actors a very careful with their wardrobe I mean there are always a few bad apples. I know the particular actor who would be boring the Vader set. I am also very careful and watch over actors, I don't let them eat in their wardrobe, play in their costumes, etc.... The production would also replace anything that was damaged. But of course it is at the owner discretion whether they chose to lend their costume. If they decide not to then we will build our own, hopefully it's not
too time consuming.

As for shooting schedule we won't have one until Wednesday. So we should know around then if the other Boba Fett will be ready.
My last thing I forgot to mention was the Grand Moff Tarkin Costume we are looking for. Any leads on this one?
I will be in New Mexico on Feb.7 or 8th. I look forward to meeting you. Thanks again, you are saving us!!!!

Comments:
Ken:
Good, it sounds like our stuff will be very safe with them (foreshadowing).

Email from Cory
It was great meeting with you guys the other night. Thanks for all the help. You guys sent us a great list of the items you have, we're really excited. I thought I'd send you a list of the items we were requesting from Lucas, just in case there was anything else any of you guys may have from this list. Take a look and let Ken know what you think. Thanks for all the help.

THE LIST
Vintage action figures, vehicles and playsets
Assorted POTF2 action figures
Darth Vader costume
10 Stormtrooper costumes
Kenner Lightsabers (1978)
Star Wars Darkhorse comics
Grand Moff Tarkin costume
R2-D2 action figure
4 Stormtrooper helmets
Limited edition bronze Yoda
Chewbacca (Lifesize)
Indiana Jones Stetson Hat and whip
Willow Spellbook
Howard the Duck costume
Han Solo blaster
Luke's lightsaber
R2-D2 (Lifesize)
C3PO (Lifesize)
Yoda (Lifesize)
Chewbacca coffee mug
Star Wars T-shirt (Vintage)
Slave Leia costume
Obi Wan Episode I costume w/ Jedi braid
Episode I poster
Various Star Wars costumes
Boba Fett costume
Lightsabers

Cory Lorenzen
Production Design

Comments:

Melanie:
I just realize….THE Cory Lorenzen from the chapstick tube on Napolean Dynamite? No Way!

Ken:
Heh

Johanna emails me to make arrangements for us to build her 2 sets of Stormtrooper armor.

Sets are starting to be built for the Skywalker Ranch hallway into the LucasFilm Trophy Room and the Trash Compactor. Also, bedrooms and hotel rooms.

Comments:
Ken:
This will be fun, we have a lot of experience doing this. One will be worn by Chris Marquette (Linus), one will be worn by Dan Fogler (Hutch).

Email from Ken to Kyle
I emailed Kyle to ask him if we can be Stormtroopers in the movie:

Email from Kyle
He replies:

Ken
You guys can totally be the troopers in that scene! And in line. And in the theater. No problem. We do need two Fetts. And we need a Vader costume for 6ft tall 150 -160 lb male as well as one for Big Chuck. But that costume doesn't need to be complete. We can use pieces of Vader’s costume and lots of black. It doesn't have to be literal. And we need a Vader to put on display at the Lucas Ranch. We could double these. And we would want one of the Fetts to be on display as well.
I am coming to the parties. Will bring the actors too, they'll love to hang.

thanks again.
Kyle

Comments:
Ken:
Great, we get to be Stormtroopers in a movie! Also, now we know more about which costumes they are going to need, so I can start making arrangements with members to see if they are going to want to lend their armor, and either to be worn or for a mannequin for the display room scene (which I am very excited about).