Archetype is an impressive indie clip produced and directed by Aaron Sims of White Rock Lake Productions.
The sci-fi clip short offers an impressive budget to fidelity ratio, and was essentially Sims’ way of pitching a possible longer film to Hollywood.
The rights to produce the film have now been picked up by John Davis – of Chronicle fame – who will be working with 20th Century Fox to develop and produce the feature.
Of course, Sims is only an amateur by technicality of not being involved with a major studio. He’s a 25 year veteran of the Hollywood special effects industry, with quite a bit of hard won expertise, and a lot of friends who were willing to help out with time and equipment.
Archetype is about a robot fighter with a mind that was programmed via the imprint of a real person. However, the original personality begins to somehow bleed through, ostensibly due to some internal error. Yes, it might sound a little trite, but at 7 minutes, well, one can only ask so much.
Clearly, with a major Hollywood budget, 20th Century Fox will be able to make a nice looking film from this scrap of an idea, and possibly even a good film, though I wouldn’t count on much more than awesome special effects.
The synopsis for the original short is thus:
“RL7 is an eight-foot tall combat robot that goes on the run after malfunctioning with vivid memories of once being human. As its creators and the military close in, RL7 battles its way to uncovering the shocking truth behind its mysterious visions and past.”
As he undoubtedly planned from the start, Sims will be directing the film, but unlike the short, he won’t be writing it himself. Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy have already signed on to pen the screenplay, with John Norris agreeing to exec produce. No word if any of the volunteer actors from the short will be returning to the cast for the feature.
Archetype is currently in development, and has no announced production or release dates.
