Assistant professor Alex Cox. (Matt Sisneros/CU Independent)
Alex Cox, assistant professor in the Film Studies department and director of “Repo Man” and “Sid & Nancy,” returned to filmmaking this year to bring to life one of the most expensive CU student films to date, “Bill, the Galactic Hero.”
Cox has had the unique opportunity of exploring not only the professional film industry, but also the vast uncharted terrain of student filmmaking. Cox said that tackling an intense project like “Bill, the Galactic Hero” was a golden opportunity.
“I have the opportunity to work with some very talented students at CU and recent graduates of CU, and must seize the day,” he said.
After a lengthy career in the professional film industry, Cox said he is happy to now be involved in student film at CU. He believes the student and professional film industries are very similar. In either arena, he gets to do what he enjoys with a professional-standard crew.
“The only difference is that, because they are students, we have to work around people’s schedules,” Cox said of filming this year.
Because “Bill, the Galactic Hero” is a student film, the production has no studio affiliation. That independence allows Cox and the student cast and crew to explore different film styles that would usually be prohibited in the professional industry.
“Films used to be funded, at least partially, by sales to television, and they always wanted films to be made in color, so it was always a struggle to make films in black and white,” Cox said. “The bulk of [“Bill, the Galactic Hero”] will be in black and white because we don’t have anyone to tell us we can’t.”
For Cox, another difference between the student and professional industries is the emphasis placed on profit.
“We want the film to be shown,” Cox said. “The fact that it does not have to be monetized takes away a lot of the anxiety.”
Cox’s former work in the professional film industry has not always resulted in huge sales, but he said films can be successful in spite of whether the filmmakers get paid.
“Bill, the Galactic Hero” is based on the novel of the same name by Harry Harrison, and is set as a parody of other science fiction stories such as the 1997 film, “Starship Troopers.” Harrison felt Starship Troopers was inauthentic in its depiction of military life, Cox said.
“He had been a machine gun instructor during the Second World War, so he decided to set the record straight by writing his own version of intergalactic warfare,” Cox said.
The CU version is being constructed on a $100,000 budget and with the help of 70 students. Filming will take place this and next semester, Cox said,
“The actors here are great, I’ve been working with students in film production for the last two years. It seemed natural to get them involved because they’re quite talented and they do very sophisticated work.”
He said viewers should be in for a wild ride of “laughter and cries of horror and alarm.”
“Bill, the Galactic Hero” debuts in December 2014 at the International Film Series on campus. For more information, visit the film’s Kickstarter page.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer, Xandra McMahon at Xandra.mcmahon@colorado.edu.
