Steve Kostanski, a special effects artist working out of Toronto who has been a part on such productions as Silent Hill: Revelation and the upcoming Pacific Rim, began making the film Manborg as a personal project. It was mostly shot in a garage with his friends and a budget of roughly $1000. Now, much to his surprise, the film has become something of a cult sensation as it screens in theatres all over the world as well as receiving a loaded DVD release in almost every region. I spoke to the Director about the explosion of Manborg fandom worldwide:
Upcomingdiscs: What are your thoughts on the rising cult of Fanborgs (as they are dubbed online)?
Kostanski: It’s ridiculous to me that people like this movie at all. I wasn’t exactly making it with the intention of it being released worldwide. The whole thing was just me indulging my childhood love of sci-fi fantasy epics, so I guess it’s good that there are people out there who share that fascination with these types of movies.
UD: Manborg has been screened and released in several regions now. Do you plan to travel to more screenings?
K: There might be a New York screening down the road, but I’m honestly tired of traveling around. I’m itching to get back into production on something, so I’d rather stay in Toronto and start building monsters.
UD: Did you foresee any of this when making it?
K: Heck no. I planned on maybe screening the movie once or twice and then putting it on the shelf, like most of my other movies. When the possibility of putting it out on DVD was first presented to me, I laughed. Even now looking at the DVD it’s absurd to me that this movie is available for purchase.
UD: What did you originally hope for Manborg to achieve?
K: Realistically, while I was making the movie the only thing I hoped for was that I would be able to finish it without going insane. There were periods during the post-production process where I was considering scrapping the whole thing, because it was such a ridiculous amount of work.
UD: What would you like to see happen with Manborg now that its in the hands of the audience?
K: I just hope it continues its life on DVD and inspires creative young people to make their own crappy sci-fi action epics.
UD: If someone where to make an action figure play set based on the film, would you rather see a Manborg fort, vehicle or alt-suits come out first? (By alt-suits I mean hydro Manborg, flying Manborg, camouflage etc.)
K: I’m holding out for the Draculon 2.0 Psycho-Copter, with twin-torpedo-firing action! I’d like it if there were no standard versions of the figures, just alt-suits. All the Ghostbusters toys I had were some weird variation on the characters and it used to drive me nuts. I want to force that frustration on future generations.
Manborg is available on DVD from Anchor Bay.
