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IRON SKY: Yes, they can!

Now finally we know why it´s next to impossible to communicate/co-exist with (Neo)Nazis – they indeed come from outer space! Well, from the Moon, to be precise – that at least is the story of „Iron Sky“, told with a good portion of dark humour, as to be expected of a Finnish movie. 

2.4.2012, Finnkino Tennispalatsi

Iron Sky preview in Helsinki, the last stop of a real „Finland tour“, Monday evening, the second screening of that day and once again totally full, almost 700 people. Surely everybody is curious about the most expensive Finnish film ever made (voice from the crowd „the best Finnish movie ever made“), with a 7,5 Mio E budget that „perhaps equals a Transformers movie catering budget“, according to the definition of director Timo Vuorensola who gave a short introduction. But can those Finns with their amateur-Sci-Fi-Fan background („Star Wreck“, see STALKER special ) or better their product (a Finnish-German-Australian co-production) with all those special effects indeed keep up with those „professionals“ on a big screen?

Julia Dietze as Renate Richter

About 2 h later I have to confirm – YES THEY CAN. Not quite as bloodthirsty as Quentin Tarantino, the brutality is more subtle with some tongue-in-cheek attitude, so that you can still have this LOL moments. Wonderfully sarcastic details and sick ideas with a touch of Steam-Punk – and yes, some characters seem to be straight from a graphic novel, but one where Frank Miller might have been in a really jocular mood. And I think Iron Sky does even much better than many movie versions of popular comic heroes/heroines, because of a much more intelligent, complex and somewhat „realistic“ story… So get up from the sofa and into the movie theater, on April 5, 2012 the film premieres also in GER/AUT/CH and after that in almost all of Europe, and then worldwide. According to producer Tero Kaukomaa the screenings in the USA are going to happen for sure, he just cannot tell yet when exactly.

Finnish press today finds words of praise for the movie, yet the ratings remain cautious. Tabloid stories mention difficulties to export the movie costumes to Germany for the shootings in Frankfurt, as the officials saw a violation of anti-Nazi laws. Those costumes, by the way, were designed by Jake Collier (u.a. TV series Farscape, Xena) … But those were trifles compared with other problems the production team faced in those 6 years of getting the movie done: The actual shootings started 2010 and the team faced Tornado threats, or they ran out of money…

Apropos money: not only the 3 national movie funds but also many Sci-Fi-fans financed this film – as you can see clearly in the credits section. Many people dug deep into their own pockets to support Iron Sky, the top donation was 60.000 Euros, says Tero. About 2,5 Euro could be raised that way, and thus a truly professional acting cast could be hired, e.g. the Australians Christopher Kirby and Peta Sergeant or the Germans Götz Otto, Tilo Prückner, Julia Dietze and Udo Kier. Tero mentions that this were the goals right away which they reached already – namely having Udo Kier and LAIBACH on board… The story how director Timo managed to convince the legendary Slovenian band to contribute the soundtrack would be too long to be told here (it includes a Laibach gig in Tampere, FIN, and a mountain climbing tour in Slovenia etc etc etc)

Another remark about the cast – you can see that they had hell of a time in front of the camera, therefore it´s even more fun watching. „Hats off“ is what Timo says about his cast and acting as such, he definitely prefers to be behind the camera, although he experienced to be in front of it (as the Klingon) during the Star Wreck production „in my mom´s kitchen“. Nothing in comparison to the amount of work that this Iron Sky project required…

The movie title, by the way, was born during a brain storming session combining all kinds of words to be associated with Nazis. The result alludes to a situation „where the sky is filled with space ships so that it looks like being made of iron“ (Timo). Even poetic somehow…

What´s up next, a fan asks. Well, after all those Iron Sky merchandise (games for computer / iphone , board and card games etc) Timo Vuorensola and his team want to create „a real good international SciFi TV series.“
Cool, already looking forward to it as those guys are indeed capable of pulling it off.

And you people, have fun with those Moon Nazis!

More info about Iron Sky, trailers and making-of video features at www.ironsky.net

Klaudia Weber

reckless and merciless dictator, so KNEEL! In other words, editor-in-chief, translator, website and ad admin, "Jane of all trades" - - - addicted to books (everything between Lord Of The Rings & quantum physics) and music, mainly Metal made in Finland. Furthermore, there's painting, drawing, movies, theater... so you can expect some variety on this website too. MA Master of Arts, English and American studies & Media communication = completed two full studies parallel within 5 years; very proud of my achievement - a bit later in life thanks to a scholarship - as a working class girl in a highlyconservative-romancatholic nation...