Making The Movie

An exclusive news update revealing the latest on the long-awaited Red Dwarf movie.

18 April, 2003

With rumours buzzing across the net and appearing in SF publications, reddwarf.co.uk can bring you details of the latest movie goings-on - and it's good news indeed.

Doug Naylor is currently in Australia investigating studio facilities and commencing preliminary design work for intended shooting in late September. The move may come as a surprise to those who expected a Shepperton shoot. "We had originally planned for Shepperton," Doug told reddwarf.co.uk, "but at the time we were told there were no studios available. We looked everywhere - Germany, Austria, Italy - and eventually Richard Taylor at Weta (Lord of the Rings) recommended Australia."

Ultimately, Doug has been pleased with how things have turned out. "We've been delighted by everything we've found out here. Australia's the sci-fi capital of the world right now. Star Wars, The Matrix, Farscape... It's the ideal place for Red Dwarf."

No additional cast or crew have yet been announced, although a number of names are in the frame for key positions. What we do know is that reddwarf.co.uk will be constantly on-set to follow production as it happens, with Andrew Ellard also writing The Making of Red Dwarf book for publication on the film's release.

Finally, we can clear up the truth about the movie flyer which has appeared on a couple of sites over the last few months. The flyer itself (which appears here in its complete form) is genuine. Distributor Winchester Films created it to market Red Dwarf - The Movie overseas. Small errors made by the graphic design team, and since picked up by fans, did slip through. A GNP corrected version went missing in transit and so didn't make the print run in time.

So - what about the plot? This text appears on the flyer:

RED DWARF THE MOVIE is set in the distant future where Homo Sapienoids, a fearsome combination of flesh and machine, and the next stage of human evolution, have taken over the solar system and almost wiped out the human race.

The only survivors are the crews of long-haul space freighters that left Earth before the conflict began. The Sapienoids send forth fleets of Death Ships to hunt them down. One by one - the human ships fall, until only one remains.

Its name - Red Dwarf...

Yes, once again, the blurb is for real. This is indeed the plot of Red Dwarf - The Movie. Kinda. It misses the bit where Lister, Rimmer, Cat and Kryten come together, obviously. It also misses out Holly and Kochanski. It misses the actual plot, in fact, and with good reason. This flyer was produced as a marketing tool for Winchester Films to sell the movie in various international territories. What story is included is there to whet the appetite.

It's been a long time coming, but finally Red Dwarf - The Movie is becoming a reality.

You can check out the Movie Deck for previous news stories and storyboards.