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‘I’m going to write something big’: how a little-seen sci-fi movie spawned a $25m sequel
By Garry Maddox
It’s rare to make a sequel to an Australian film that few people have even heard of. It’s even rarer to make it with a budget that is more than 10 times bigger without support from a government agency or a Hollywood studio.
But Luke Sparke has done just that with the $25 million sci-fi movie Occupation: Rainfall that opens in more than 200 cinemas next week.
Dan Ewing in Occupation: Rainfall.Credit: Occupation Two
A high-action Star Wars-like adventure set two years after aliens have invaded Sydney, reducing the Harbour Bridge and Opera House to ruins, it stars former Home and Away star Dan Ewing, Temuera Morrison from The Mandalorian, Ken Jeong from The Hangover movies and Jason Isaacs from the Harry Potter series.
It’s the sequel to 2018′s Occupation, which was barely-seen until it became a surprise success on Netflix in the US.
“Out of that, I was able to make connections in America for the next film,” Sparke says. “That opened the door a little then Australian Netflix picked it up as well.”
The 35-year-old, who lives on the Gold Coast, grew up around the film industry with parents who owned a military costume and props house. After working in wardrobe and art department roles on the likes of Kokoda, The Pacific and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he wrote and directed the 2016 horror film Red Billabong.
But with Star Wars a major influence on his decision to become a filmmaker, Sparke quickly moved on from horror.
“I’ve grown up loving sci-fi and specifically Star Wars,” he says. “I used to attend all the Comic-Cons and sci-fi conventions when I was a kid. I’ve alway said, man, I’d love to direct a Star Wars movie.
“I don’t know if it’s ever going to happen but this was my chance to go as close as I possibly could to doing it.”
Even before starting the script, Sparke decided the sequel would be much more ambitious than the original Occupation.
“I said to everyone, this time I’m going to write something big,” he says. “And don’t worry, we’ll figure it out after I write it just how we’re going to actually achieve it.”
Luke Sparke (right) on the set of Occupation: Rainfall on the Gold Coast. Credit: Occupation Two
Drawing on the same small group of family and friends who invested in the original film, Sparke started to shoot the sequel, maxing out credit cards as it kept growing, in a converted warehouse on the Gold Coast.
He said his producers brought in more private investment from their own sources and mortgaged their homes, encouraged by the film selling to Netflix in the US.
But Sparke did not mortgage his home for a very good reason.
“I don’t have a house,” he says. “All my money has gone into my films.”
Temuera Morrison (left), Ken Jeong and Garry The Alien (Lawrence Makoare) in Occupation: Rainfall.Credit: Occupation Two
The production received an unexpected boost when the pandemic hit.
Australian visual effects houses that had lost overseas jobs offered to help make Occupation: Rainfall to keep their staff working, investing a chunk of their fees in the film.
Strangely, Occupation: Rainfall is the second privately-funded sci-fi film from the Gold Coast in a matter of weeks, following Mark Toia’s Monsters of Man.
“I think that’s just timing,” Sparke says. “I know Mark was filming even before I started Occupation 1 so he’s just taken his time to do what he needs to do and I’ve been the same.”
So how does he feel on the eve of the film’s release?
“Quietly confident,” Sparke says. “I hope the audience is going to turn up. It’s the first movie I’ve made knowing that I did everything I possibly could with the time and money I had.”
Alien attack in Occupation: Rainfall.Credit: Occupation Two
Does he worry about getting his money back?
“That’s the element that keeps me up at night,” he says. “But looking at the overseas sales we’ve already secured and the negotiations we’ve done, I’m pretty sure it should all work out in the wash.”