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Australian filmmaker Luke Sparke is used to taking bold risks to fulfil his creative vision. His last project, Primitive War, a film adaptation of the titular novel by Ethan Pettus, proved to be a worldwide phenomenon and a viral internet sensation, unleashing dinosaurs into the Vietnam War on the big screen last year.
Primitive War fans know the impact these prehistoric creatures had on the Vietnam War, but what would happen if they existed in another unlikely time period, like the Wild West? Saddle up with Sparke’s newest project, Dinosaurs of the Wild West, an original concept that dares to answer this question.
With the release of the full trailer and the launch of the Dinosaurs of the Wild West Kickstarter, we spoke with Sparke to get an exclusive breakdown of this exciting venture.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO CREATE ‘DINOSAURS OF THE WILD WEST’?
A few things I’ve always been obsessed with are the time period of the American frontier and, of course (if you’ve seen Primitive War), the mythology of dinosaurs. One day, the question just formed when I found the works of artist Shaun Keenan, when he drew his amazing look at what if those two worlds were never separate. What if the Wild West and history were always built on dinosaurs?
The moment that idea clicked, I couldn’t shake it. Everything else followed from there, and it’s been many years to bring it to this point of showing the public.
WHAT IS THIS PROJECT, AND HOW DOES IT DIFFER FROM YOUR PREVIOUS WORK ON ‘PRIMITIVE WAR’?
Primitive War was a survival horror. Humans versus dinosaurs, pure tension and pure threat. Dinosaurs of the Wild West is a completely different scale and tone. This is an epic adventure universe where humans and dinosaurs have coexisted for generations. It’s not about survival as much, but in a way, it’s more about civilisation.
What does a world look like when the entire frontier was built alongside these creatures? That’s a different canvas, so this is a series. This is like a cross between House of the Dragon and Red Dead Redemption – but with dinosaurs. A growing cast of characters on a chessboard traversing the wild west as their world faces a threat that could change everything.
WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO ACHIEVE WITH YOUR NEWEST VENTURE?
I want to prove that audiences don’t need a studio to greenlight the stories they want to see. With Primitive War, we proved there’s a global appetite for original dinosaur storytelling built outside the system. With Dinosaurs of the Wild West, we’re going further, and building a full cinematic universe directly with the audience.
If this works, it changes what’s possible for independent genre filmmaking. It’s been proven that it can work, with films like Iron Lung, Obsession and Shelby Oaks. This is just the next stage of that.
WHY SHOULD SUPA-FANS SUPPORT THE KICKSTARTER?
Because this only exists if you make it exist. There’s no studio. There’s no safety net. Every person who backs this campaign is part of building something the world has never seen. And just because it’s a Kickstarter, you’re not donating – you’re actually pre-ordering the episodes and other amazing perks up for grabs. All our rewards on Kickstarter are real, tangible things you can get in return, including names in credits, all the way to designing your own dinosaur to be used on screen, and set cameos.
The more pre-orders, the more show we can do. Bigger action. More episodes. But more than that, you get to say you were there when it started. The Kickstarter is now live, and we’re hoping Australian cinema and dinosaur fans turn up to support it!
