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Nephilim is a sci-fi action thriller film currently being produced in Wisconsin, created and directed by Danny Wilson. This is the first film in a trilogy written by Darren Foster and Danny Wilson. The film stars David Charvet (Father Markus Knight), Gulshan Grover (Azazel), Danny Nucci, John Savage, and Huyen Thi, among others.

Nephilim is described as the first installment of a motion picture trilogy created by Danny Wilson, this is an introduction to Fr. Markus and the other characters all over again for people that do not read comics. The trilogy was started with a prequel called Darkest Days^[1][2] (originally defined by Wilson as the first movie in a trilogy),^[3] released in 2005,^[4] and is based on a comic book series by the same name.

Plot

"Nephilim" is a good-vs.-evil story set in modern times as archangels, a priest, an ex-homicide detective and a resurrected spirit form an alliance to fend off an upsurge of fallen angels. ^[5]

Nephilim follows the story of Markus,a gun-toting, motorcycle-riding, demon-fighting priest,^[6] in a mystical world of blended realities. He is thrown into a confrontation of warfare between good and evil.^[7]The story begins with the first signs of the warfare evolving between good and evil. Set in modern times two archangels, an atypical priest, an ex-homicide detective, and a resurrected spirit form an unlikely alliance uniting to obstruct the upsurge of the fallen angels and the termination of free will. The final battle was destined when the seeds of the initial race of Nephilim were planted by Beshwa, the first fallen angel to mate with a human in the early times on earth. Now Markus must lead the war against a fallen angel named Azazel who moves to release Beshwa from his shackles so he can mate again, this time with a succubus, Semyaza, for the new race of Nephilim to begin. If born, the Nephilim will prevail over all mortals, and wreak unmitigated havoc and unstoppable evil. With the birth of Nephilim the final battle for eternity would commence.^[8]

One of the reasons for the Great Flood was because the bloodline of humans was so contaminated by half human and half demon beings, called Nephilim. There was a need to wipe out the human race and start over. All the antediluvian Nephilim were wiped out. The Prince of the Nephilim (the first one to mate with a human) was put into the Abyss – locked up in solitude for punishment. Then today, Azazel (a fallen angel) has found a way to release Beshwa (the prince of the antediluvian Nephilim) from his shackles, and be able to mate again, but this time with a succubus. And, if Beshwa mates with a succubus, then the baby from that union would be a female queen Nephilim (able to reproduce other Nephilim rapidly). Father Markus Knight, Detective Sue Lynn, two angels, and Dante - back from the dead with more power so he can face off with Azazel again – are trying to stop this from happening.

Cast

Development

When Danny Wilson was a freshman at a Catholic High School he began to read the Bible in math and biology class. Wilson started his story writing on Revelation, thinking that it would be something good to write on, then with more research the Nephilim came up, and it became a subject that he wanted to integrate into his story of the end of the world. Wilson also gets ideas for his story from listening to movie scores. Revelation serves as the foundation to the story of the Nephilim. Wilson spent years and worked hard developing stories and characters for the prequel to Nephilim, Darkest Days. Then out of this creative period came a screenplay^[9] (according to the script filed with the Library of Congress the story of Darkest Days has a second creator).^[10]

After spending three months forming a limited liability company, Wilson secured a one hundred thousand dollar ($100,000) budget for the making of Darkest Days.^[11] The movie was then filmed in Virginia and Texas.^[9] The story of Darkest Days focuses on Dante. The film was shot in a time period of three weeks, and was edited by Wilson himself.^[9]

After being denied entrance into many festivals, Wilson entered Darkest Days into the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival and was accepted. When Stuart Alson and Susan Moses saw the film, and learned more about Wilson's accomplishment on such a small budget, they decided to meet with him.^[9] The film was picked up and distributed in Spain in September 2006.^[12] A video of the executive producer and producer appeared on the Internet stating that Darkest Days had been distributed in Russia as well^[13] - released under the name Tron Lucifer (Трон Люцифера).^[14] It is also the opinion the Nephilim's producer Susan Kay Moses that the movie's DVD sales performed "pretty well" in foreign territories.^[15] Wilson states that the experience of making Darkest Days has created a "solid foundation for the Nephilim Trilogy."^[9]

During the writing of the Nephilim screenplay, Darren Foster was brought out of Los Angeles onto the project because Wilson did not want to write the screenplay on his own. Wilson states, “I’m definitely, definitely am a director at heart, more so than a writer.” The overall story had already been written in a treatment form. By July 2007 Wilson had storyboarded all of the Nephilim script himself.

Location scouting was projected to begin sometime in August 2008, with a cave being built on a sound stage in Eastern Europe. Danny Wilson and a Wisconsin native, producer Susan Moses, had been searching Eastern Europe for film location and had settled on Bulgaria before the US dollar fell and costs rose. The two eventually found Wisconsin to be a good place for the film, and they teamed up with Pulse Studios out of Green Bay, Wisconsin.^[9] The State of Wisconsin has a new tax incentive that was one reason the movie Nephilim will be shot there instead of Eastern Europe. Nephilim was also guaranteed a theatrical release by Marcus Theatres, who owns 700 screens across the Midwest,^[16] Susan Moses, the producer, states that this makes DVD sales worth more and increases the value of foreign sales.^[17]

Parkour will be used in the stunt performances of scenes in the movie. The movie will utilize a stunt coordinator (Gary Morgan) and a martial arts coordinator (James Lew).^[18]

A press conference was held September 30, 2008 in a vacant manufacturing plant that is to become the sound stage for film Nephilim.^[17] The sound stage will begin being utilized for the film sometime in the beginning of January 2009.^[19] Pulse Studios in Green Bay is set to unveil a new production facility by the beginning of 2009 with a 20,000-square-foot soundstage, 2,500-square-foot greenscreen stage and full post facilities.^[16]

Production for Nephilim being filmed in Wisconsin was originally scheduled for September and October 2008.^[20] Production of Nephilim has been rescheduled to November 8, 2008.^[17] Producers for Nephilim will return to Wisconsin in mid-February 2009 for the filming of the movie.^[21] Susan Moses, the producer of Nephilim, said that if a Wisconsin pre-approved tax break is eliminated by the state's governor Jim Doyle], then she may "pull the plug on the project." The making of the film is set to begin in May 2009,^[22] or summer 2009.^[23]

The production of Nephilim qualified for $794,000 tax incentives from the state of Wisconsin, but has left the state to produce the movie elsewhere once Gov. Jim Doyle announced that the states film tax incentive would be eliminated.^[24] A correction has been released that this press release of the "Nephilim" project leaving the state may be erroneous.^[25]

Film budget

It was reported in September 2007 that Gulshan Grover said that the film Nephilim had a budget of around 50 million dollars.^[26] Also Grover is reported in September 2007 that the film would have a budget close to "30-40 million dollars." The reason stated for such a large budget was for visual effects.^[27] In August 2008 it was first reported that Nephilim had a 2.5 million dollars budget. In October 2008 it was reported that the film had a budget of $5.2 million,^[17] the film plans to spend $3 million of its $5.2 million budget in Green Bay and Milwaukee.^[28]

Prequel

Darkest Days is a 2005 thriller, the first film to feature Dante, Sue Lynn, Azazel, Beshwa, and Fr. Markus. It is a prequel to the Nephilim comic and movie. The script and story was created by Danny Wilson and Derek Knighten in 2003^[29] and tells the story of the evolution of the fallen angel Azazel, and his plan to prepare the world to be controlled by Lucifer.

Plot

The film is set in contemporary times with Dante being counseled by Fr. Jacob inside of a mental hospital. Dante keeps having nightmares about the murder of his wife and events related to it. Father Jacob is interested in Dante mainly because of the symbol that keeps reccurring in his nightmares.

The Roman Catholic Church sent Fr. Markus to the mental institution to pull some strings to get Dante an early review by the hospital board; and to get Dante released under the custody of Fr. Jacob because the Church had some knowledge of the meaning behind the dream symbol.

With Dante now released under the care of Fr. Jacob, Dante's dreams turn into real-time visions that lead them into encounters with angels and demons; and directly into thwarting Azazel's plan to release Beshwa from the Abyss and thereby allowing Lucifer into the world.

Comic book

Danny Wilson is the creator of all the Nephilim characters. Wilson stated,"The characters, color schemes, various locations and storyline have all been established within the first twelve issues of the comic book."^[9] The comic book is also called Nephilim, and is also a sequel of Darkest Days. There are to be 12 issues of the Nephilim comic that carries the storyline between Darkest Days and the first Nephilim movie. After the first movie Wilson will go back and produce another 12 issues before the second movie is released. Then after the third movie the story will go into strictly comic books and other spinoff into each character having their own comic book series.

The Character of Azazel has been modeled after the Indian actor Gulshan Grover. Hundreds of photographs of Grover were studied by the artist team in New York to create a comic book character that resembles him. He is the first Indian actor to have crossed over into the role of an American comic.^[27] Danny Wilson, Susan Moses, casting director Michael Sonntage and Wilson's creative team watched many of Grover's films to decide what sort of character to create for him to play. In the end 'Azazel' was a villain created for Grover.^{[27][30][31][32][33]}

During the pre-production phase of the making of the Nephilim movie has been able to further advance the development of the comic book series. The director and creator of the Nephilim franchise is planning to be at the July, 2009 Comic-Con where he can begin to warm up audiences to the story. The producer and the director have received contacts from literary agents that are interest in helping launch the comic book series, as well as other elements planned by the Nephilim franchise.

The first issue of the Nephilim comic book is out (Issue #0) which is available on a limited basis (less than 12 stores across the United States). Nephilim Issue #1 has an even more limited release than Issue #0, its publications has not gone into mass release. After Comic-Con 2009, there will be a rerelease of Issue #0 and Issue #1. It is producer Susan Kay Moses' opinion that the comic, and some of the merchandise, will go into a wide release some time around the Christmas holidays of 2009. She goes on to speculate that Issue#1 and #2 will be available at the Berlin Film Festival in early 2010.^[34]

Issue #0

The first issue of the Nephilim comic book series is issue #0. The comic was first released in 2006, and begins with the final scene of the movie Darkest Days. Dante is killed by Azazel, and Sue Lynn becomes one of the "Chosen." Azazel is killed by Dante and is sent to the Abyss allowing Azazel access to release Beshwa.

See also

• Nephilim

References

External links

• The original source of this article at Wikipedia
• Official website
• This movie at the IMFn
• "Darkest Days" Novel Online