Okay, after about two minutes, it’s pretty damn clear that this a bogus tape. Even I was almost fooled. Okay, not really. But the tape itself is damn funny. The real story is this: “Anakin Auditions” is a 14 minute short film inspired by the real life chase for the next young Darth Vadar/Anakin Skywalker. When Hollywood started buzzing about talk of “Leo” and “Paul Walker” taking on the role, Drama ¾ Productions started buzzing about “Luiggi” and “Michæl Cornacchia” getting a shot at a read. Needless to say, a short film (or prank) was in these filmmaker’s destiny. Made by filmmaker David Fickas on a budget of exactly $40 dollars and with the help of Terry Linderman and GKB Casting Unlimited, auditions for the future star were held immediately. (The video can be downloaded from their official site in three parts: First Auditions, Out in the Hall and Call Backs.)
David Fickas is a writer/director/actor/producer from Arcadia, California and attended the USC. (His credits include “Loves me, Loves Me Not” a short film dealing with domestic violence and “The Basement and The Kitchen,” his feature film debut.) Fickas describes his plan to take over Hollywood with his bogus tape. “Okay, here is what we did. I called Ric Barbera and asked him to write out a couple of scenes. One for the first set of Auditions and one for call backs which had to have a lightsaber in it. Then we held the auditions. I gave Kenny Blank a call to see if he would play the part of ‘Kenny’ the camera man for GKB Casting Unlimited. We set it up using some borrowed lights and the office of a friend. Then, we called the actors, gave them a brief run down of what was going on, handed out the sides and brought them in one by one. Then we edited it down, took some time to do the special affects and that was it.”
When Fickas first finished the Anakin Auditions, he thought… “What the hell did we make and what are we gonna do with it know?” As part of a phony marketing campaign and for their own amusement, Fickas created Terry Linderman, the fictional intern at GKB Casting Unlimited. So, to make fun of “Industry Buzz” David had Terry “steal” the TAPE and send it to his new friends in the industry. Which, believe it or not, confused a lot of people. Including me. For about thirty breathless seconds. Then, it’s easy to see that this is a phony, but I don’t regret watching it as I was entertained. As I’m sure you were reading every mundane detail about the tape in the first part of this story.
David actually did send a copy of the tape to Steven Spielberg and has been mysteriously dropping it off around town to gain attention. Watch the video for yourself at the official web site at Anakin Auditions.
