Utah filmmakers delight in producing fantasy series


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PROVO — In an industrial warehouse in Provo, a man and a half-elf try to wrestle a magic hammer away from a god.

It's just another day on the set of Mythica, a five-movie fantasy series being produced by Jason Faller and Kynan Griffin of the locally based Arrowstorm Entertainment.

Faller and Griffin have devoted the past three years to the project. They shot the first three movies at the same time over a six-month period.

"Because the size and scope of making five movies all tied together is difficult to do on any budget, and on our budget some people would say impossible," Faller says. "Some people say it's like shooting a couple hundred weddings day after day after day."

With titles like "Orc Wars,""Shadow Cabal" and "Osombie" — Osama bin Laden's rebirth as a zombie — Arrowstorm has made a name for itself with lower-budget genre pictures.

"We always talked about doing fantasy films, also talked about the impossibility of it," Faller says.

"As computer imagery and graphics grew and changed and made a lot more things possible than were before, we finally felt that we were ready to try this out."

This day on the set there's an imposing figure familiar to many fantasy fans. Kristian Nairn, who portrays Hodor on the immensely popular "Game of Thrones," is Mythica's Tek, god of the forge.

"Who doesn't want to play a god?" Nairn says. "Look at all those armor and weapons. I'm a huge sci-fi fantasy geek. … It's a geek's dream come true."

One more battle scene, and filming of the last Mythica movie will be complete.

"A lot of melancholy feelings around the project right now," Faller says.

"Mythica," the first DVD, is now on shelves at Wal-Mart. The second movie will be released Feb. 9.

The third and subsequent installments will be at Redbox.

Faller and Griffin say the fantasies won't end. They're now planning a TV series.

"We've become a little bit addicted to this long form of storytelling," Faller says.

"We can take that and create another world, another set of characters who I think people would really love," Griffin says.

(Photo: Courtesy Arrowstorm Entertainment)
(Photo: Courtesy Arrowstorm Entertainment)

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