Jackson native presents fan film

Jackson native Nick Murphy has always been into video games. He said he's been playing them since he could walk. But it's the ability to transform these games into live action movies that really gets his juices flowing.

"It's been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. I grew up playing them and really wanted to -- in a way -- create my own," he said.

Murphy, who moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to attend film school, returned to Cape Girardeau this weekend to debut his 40-minute fan-film based on the best-selling video game "Lara Croft Tomb Raider."

The film "Tears of the Dragon" will be shown for free at Buckner Brewing Co. at 2 p.m., 5 p.m., and 8:30 p.m. today. It is part of the two-day comic and gaming expo being held by Ken Murphy, owner of the comic shop Marvels and Legends. Other events today include an appearance by Gary Friedrich, creator of the "Ghost Rider" comic book.

There is a long tradition of devotees of video games and comic books picking up the video camera to create their own stories. The most extravagant of these was called "Batman Dead End," which cost $30,000 to produce and lasted only seven minutes. But other cheaper ones like the $500-budget "Green Goblin's Last Stand" develop a cult following and are widely distributed on the Internet.

Nick Murphy said his film, which cost $3,000 to make and took two and a half years to complete, rivals the big-budget Hollywood series starring Angelina Jolie. "It looks epic. It looks and feels just as good as the real films," he said.

But that realness was hard-earned. Murphy said he and his "guerrilla crew," did all their own stunts and "risked life and limb" to get just the right shots.

"A lot of the stuff that the Hollywood guys have, we don't have, so when it came time to do a crane shot, I would actually have to climb up something and hang off just in order to get that shot," he said. "There were just so many stories on this movie."

The brunt of the action sequences fell on Valerie Perez, the film's star and Jolie look-alike. The film's script called for her to submerge in 40-degree water in an underground mine shaft and participate in gunplay and karate on the streets of Los Angeles. The incendiary sequence that opens the film with an explosion of napalm simulator was particularly risky.

"During the second shot, she stepped a few feet back and the explosion went off bigger than the first time and came over her back," said Murphy. "She had to roll out of the way and she actually has scars from the explosion."

To get the aerial shots necessary for the film, Murphy rented a helicopter and airplane, all while staying under budget. "I found out it wasn't that expensive to rent a helicopter for an hour," he said. "But being at 3,000 feet, strapped in a harness, in a the helicopter without any doors, was pretty crazy."

The early feedback for the film has been positive. Murphy said he is in talks with Eidos, the creator of Tomb Raider, about a wider distribution. Because Paramount owns the film rights, Murphy cannot profit from the film, but hopes the attention he has received will lead to other opportunities. The cable television channel G4 has run two feature pieces about the film and the London-based newspaper the Sun has posted a piece about the fan-film on its Web site.

The Web site for the film, tearsofthedragon.org, which features clips and profiles of the cast and crew, gets more than 400 hits daily.

Murphy already has his next project planned.

"I'm going to do a movie about interns, three best friends graduating college trying to figure out what happens next, so that'll be kind of a comedy. I'm really looking forward to it."

tgreaney@semissourian.com

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