A Look At SAILOR MOON THE MOVIE
In this article, we interview David Paritsky, Director, Producer and Idea Man behind Sailor Moon The Movie (Pretty Guardian). Being a fan of indie films and growing up watching Sailor Moon, I was very interested in interviewing David about his inspirations and motivations as well as how he put this all together. Included in this interview are two trailers of Sailor Moon The Movie. Support them at http://www.IndieGoGo.com/
How did the idea for this movie come together?
The idea of taking one form of media and translating it to live-action video has always fascinated me. I love seeing other people’s take on stories that have already been told. With film, there’s so much room for artistic interpretation; the world of comics, manga and animation is so stylized. I find it interesting to see filmmakers striving to maintain that balance between fantasy and a more heightened sense of realism. As an aspiring video editor and effects artist I have always wanted to work on this type of project so I figured why not just make it myself.
Why Sailor Moon? What about this manga/anime did you find appealing? What makes their stories timeless?
Sailor Moon is such an iconic piece of anime history and being a huge fan of the series since I was kid, making a live-action Sailor Moon movie was more like checking something off a list of things to do before I die. It’s something I’ve always wanted and planned on doing. The series is just amazing in terms of adaptability. It’s been retold in almost every form; anime, manga, live-action and even on the stage in a long running series of musical performances. Of course this was only in Japan and still geared towards younger audiences. A rougher more adult take on Sailor Moon is something I feel hasn’t been done before and would provide a fresh and entertaining spin on an old classic. The characters of Sailor Moon are so easy to love and relate to. You find yourself staying attached to them your whole life, specially after growing up watching them every morning before school. Their message is very universal, to stand up for what you believe in and to protect the people most important to you.
Is this your first movie you’ve written and directed?
As a film student, I had worked on many projects, both my own and other students as well. Starting as an office intern, I worked my way up to production intern on the set of John Cameron Mitchell’s 2006 film Shortbus which involved mostly observation and grunt work. Since graduating from the School of Visual Arts, Sailor Moon The Movie marks my first solo project in both directing and writing.
Tell us about the actors involved in this process. How did you find them? How did you know they were right for their parts?
Sailor Moon The Movie began years ago with a group of Junior High School kids performing Sailor Moon skits and making home movies with a small handheld camcorder. These were my friends growing up who all shared a similar passion for the series. It wouldn’t be for another decade or so that I’d earn my degree in film editing and come up with the idea to start adapting the series for a feature length film. To this day, all these people remain true Sailor Moon fans and were of course my first choice in asking to play the parts. They spent just as much time as I did growing up with these characters and assuming their roles and traits as if they were really their own. I felt only a true Sailor Moon fan, with their extensive knowledge and experience, could step into the character’s shoes and successfully portray them in a manner that was both realistic and true to the source material. I wouldn’t have to spend as much time explaining characters motivations and actions. All the leg work was already done.
What is the story of Sailor Moon The Movie? What can fans of Sailor Moon expect to see in this film?
What makes this project so unique is that it’s a culmination of every reincarnation of the series. While the main storyline is largely based on the original Japanese anime, there are many elements collected from it’s other counterparts; the manga, Japanese live-action series, and even a little bit of the original DiC english dub, just to pay homage. Another interesting note is that the film has been localized to New York City where the film was shot. Being a live-action film for American audiences I could think of no better city to have these five sailor soldiers running around fighting crime with magical powers. Fans can expect us to remain true to the original anime and will recognize many familiar scenes but at the same time, adapting an entire series of television to fit into a single film is no easy task. Unfortunately, many characters were cut or drastically changed, plot points were given to other characters or cut for time constraints but you can also expect a fair amount of completely original material that was added as a result of combining all these changes and elements from the other versions of the series.
How has your experience with online support helped with the project? Do you find that it’s been helpful so far?
The fundraising site we chose to use was IndieGoGo.com. It’s a great tool for helping young artists like me who are just starting out. It’s great in that it allows you to customize many aspects of your campaign like it’s duration, target goal amount and continuous updates to the campaign which was great for communicating with the fans of the project and expanding the fan base at the same time. We are very close to the end of our campaign with a total of $2,700 raised of our $3,000 goal, which has been a small but helpful source of funding. (UPDATE: As of November 24th, they have reached their $3,000 goal!)
How difficult was it to create the costumes for this series? Who is in charge of the design?
When dealing with the intricacies of the iconic looks from Sailor Moon, we wanted to find people who knew what they were doing, and who could do it on a very tight budget. So, of course, we turned to the professionals; the cosplayers. Cosplayers are a very large part of the anime culture and tend to pay close attention to detail which is what we were looking for. We had the main sailor outfits custom made from a cosplay tailor who specialized specifically in Sailor Moon dress. The accessories and boots were custom made from a very talented individual from Catzia’s Collectibles. Being an independent film, we had a very small almost nonexistent budget so the remaining costumes were hand made by myself in an effort to assure the same level of quality and detail was maintained. Our very own Christine De La Rosa is a student from FIT’s illustration program with extensive experience in fashion design. She was in charge of designing one of the most memorable costumes in the series, that is Princess Serenity’s. We spent a lot of time focused on this piece, wanting to create something that stayed true to the original while still giving it our own touch of originality. I think the end result was amazing and is definitely one of my favorite costumes in the film.
Who else is involved in the creation of this movie?
When I referred to this as my first solo attempt at writing and directing, I really meant that. I saw Sailor Moon The Movie as a great opportunity to show off my video editing and digital effects prowess but to get to that point I had to have film to edit. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who is willing to put in the time, money, and effort needed to put together an undertaking of this magnitude, someone who also shares a similar passion for the subject matter. Being the perfectionist that I am, I kept telling myself “I can handle doing this” or ” I’ll do that when we get to it.” After saying that so often I realized I was pretty much putting on a one man show, aside from the actual acting of course. On set, we’ve had very few crew members come and go because I pretty much exhausted my resources trying to fill the acting roles required with such an extensive cast list. During production I ended up directing and operating the camera on my own and am responsible for all post production work being done on the film now.
Where can those interested in seeing this movie, when it is finished, go when it is completed?
One of the bigger obstacles in creating such a film is working with copyrighted material. The purpose of starting this endeavor was never for profit but out of love for the series and the pure satisfaction of making it and having fun while doing it. Because of this the film may not be shown at regular venues but only at specific events like film festivals, anime conventions and other similar nonprofit screenings. Once the film is completed, a full list of screening dates and locations will be posted on our official website at www.SailorMoonTheMovie.com. For those Sailor Moon fans who are really interested in seeing the film you can also obtain a copy of the DVD through our campaign page at http://www.IndieGoGo.com/
