THE LAST GIRL is the latest upcoming, independently financed short film from Spectacle Pictures, directed by 37 year old filmmaker, Jela Oba Okpara, born and raised in Philidephia, now living in Los Angeles. The film stars Nick Den, Marissa Pistone, Lincoln Centeio and William J. Hill, and is described as a science-fiction kung fu short story set in a barren wasteland on futuristic, post-apocalyptic Earth, where nearly all of mankind is wiped out with more men left than women. Eventually, the fate of mankind rests on the fighting spirit of the character “Man”, who will do anything to protect “Girl” from the dangerous villain called “Trouble” and his side kick, “Littles”. The shortfilm is produced by Keyan Safyari who also served as director of photography, with fight choreography by award-winning martial artist, kung fu instructor, XMA and Cirque veteran, Chibi, and musical score by Sylvain Loiseau, whose individual and collaborative credits also include The Tournament, Tekken and The Forbidden Kingdom.
I asked Jela how he got the idea to make the film, and this is what he had to say:
The genesis of the film started from being a longtime screenwriter. And there are a ton of hoops you have to go through to “make it” as a screenwriter. I went through them all. Ultimately you learn that you must create your own content. So I wrote and directed a webisode sitcom pilot but my heart wasn’t there. And I decided I better start doing what I really want. So I went to all of the short film festivals and saw what everyone else was doing and wanted to move really far away from what everyone else was making. Two things I loathe are sitting down talking scenes and movies that you watch that you realize could’ve actually worked as a play (Mamet’s work excluded lol). Then I had to figure out how to get a non gun action fight scene in a film without making a period piece.
When I asked Jela about how the casting went, he expressed his fascination and excitement, as well as a slight revelation regarding lead actor Nick Day, who plays the character “Man”:
It was interesting. Full of surprises. None of the guys I chose were who I thought I would get going in. Like during auditions you have a list of who’s coming in. And you begin to look forward to certain people then when they arrive it may be an off day for them. Like Nick came out of nowhere. I was so glad! I don’t even remember Nick on the audition list.
Jela was kind enough to link me to his Vimeo archive where I managed to view several video confessionals with cast and crew members discussing various film subjects and the film itself. I took some notes down from one video featuring lead actor, Nick Den discussing his character at one point:
My first impression of my character is.. he’s “old school” man, you know? He’s real, he’s a protector, he’s a fighter…he doesn’t want to kill people, he’s just not into that.
Nick also illustrated how fun and convenient it was to work with Jela on set, being able to mix ideas with Jela and work from each other’s creativity:
I think that’s when you find the best balance and find the best work. You can throw ideas back and forth, and be able to bounce ideas to the director and see what he thinks.
Lincoln Centeio who also stars as the villainous character, “Trouble” who goes up against “Man” in the battle for “Girl” played by Marissa Pistone, had postive words to share in his experience working with Jela:
I really like the director, the director gave me a good vibe right from the beginning, I said “I’d like to work with this guy.”
Lincoln, who also happens to hold a fourth degree blackbelt, shares some of his experience working with fight choreographer, Chibi (pictured below), in preparation for the action:
We’d get together and the choreographer would give us a series of moves. And piece by piece we’d keep working at it until we got the entire choreography down. We went at a slow pace until we worked up to more of a natural speed. And it got to a point where it was just a fight with the choreography. It was great.
The shortfilm will premier in about a few weeks as it makes its rounds through the film festival circuit. Jela’s next project will be horror-related, but hopefully we will continue to see more of this kind of action from the rising talent seen from this crew.
Check out the trailer below or click HERE to view it. It has a great spaghetti-western feel, its got fisticuffs, bladed weapons and a spicy soundtrack. Jela clearly did his homework, as The Last Girl definitely looks to be the exemplary kind of martial arts action cinema that fans can adhere to, and hopefully on a feature-length scale with a bigger budget. And I seriously hope Jela gets his big break in that regard, and VERY soon!
Photo Credits: TheLastGirlMovie.com
