The Gillian Anderson and Ben Kingsley starrer, “Robot Overlords,” along with Callan McAuliffe features a prominent location that is part of Northern Ireland’s Built Heritage, the Carrickfergus Castle, the place is reported to have first been built by the Norman adventurer John de Courcy in the years 1177-1181.
“Robot Overlords” sees the adults losing the war and now the kids must save the world. Robots rule the streets and the people are locked in their homes. Stepping outside means being vaporized by a hulking sentry or picked off by a lethal sniper. Through the ruins of Britain, a group of kids, led by Callan McAuliffe (The Great Gatsby), set out to join the Resistance. Hot on their heels, however, is their old teacher turned robot collaborator Mr Smythe, played by Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3) and his captive Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) where earth has been occupied by intergalactic robots on a cosmic fact-finding mission and is placed under global house arrest.
Northern Ireland’s Environment Minister Alex Attwood, said: “The fact that this production company has chosen Carrickfergus Castle as a venue for their filming is an excellent example of how our Built Heritage can be used to encourage interest and investment in Northern Ireland. One of our most impressive built heritage assets will now be showcased to both a local and global market.”
Mark Stay, screenwriter of the movie narrates on how he and director Jon Wright envisioned the film, “We decided early on that it should be a family film, but with a real edge to it: proper peril, lots of action, explosions, death, running and screaming. We were inspired by the kind of movies we loved as kids: Goonies and Raiders, especially, but also by more recent films that merged great storytelling and strong VFX; Jurassic Park, Super 8 and District 9.”
“One of the many great things about working with Jon is, thanks to his experience with VFX on his previous films, he knows precisely what can and cannot be done on a relatively small budget, so our movie will definitely be punching above its weight when it comes to spectacle. But, thanks to over 2 years of development and support from our producer Piers Tempest (Best. Name. Ever), and Natascha Wharton and Jamie Wolpert at the BFI, we also have a script with characters that are just a joy to write and will hopefully be more engaging than the kind of one-note cyphers you can get in certain big-budget Hollywood fare,” Mark further shares.
“Robot Overlords” is now showing in cinemas nationwide (opened March 25) from Pioneer Films.