Astral Plane Drifter is the award-winning, multi-genre, cult-classic smash film by local auteur director Mike Caravella. The psychedelic Western, sci-fi, kung-fu comedy will be having its hometown premiere this Saturday night at Yucca Valley’s Paradigm Cinemas.
Partly inspired by that strange transformational part of history during the COVID lockdown, Caravella used the time on his hands in 2020 to get creative with an experimental new project that could utilize his penchant for our open spaces.
“I was familiar with our landscape and the locations, and I was inspired by some of the quirky things about it, so I wrote this short, and then I shot the short quickly thereafter. I started submitting it to film festivals and I spent a year and a half on the film festival circuit winning 35 awards with just a short. So I said, ‘I think I have something here.”
Caravella then wrote the full-length version of Astral Plane Drifter, followed by two more scripts that will eventually comprise a trilogy in the works. Meanwhile, he wasted no time with his preproduction hustle: Raising money and awareness through a successful Indie-A-Go-Go campaign, then acquiring investors while he and his wife “threw everything they had into the movie.” The full-length version of Astral Plane Drifter went into on-location production in winter of 2023, followed by a lengthy editing period from January to early fall of 2024.
“That’s a quick turnaround for even a low-budget indie, though it’s a pretty ambitious low budget indie. This movie is crazy. We used all the locations up here in the high desert and it’s beautiful… it’s a landscape filled Spaghetti Western vibe but it’s crazy… most movies in this budget are four people sitting in a room talking to each other.”
Some of the local landmarks Caravella filmed for Astral Plane Drifter include Giant Rock in Landers, Amboy crater, various Joshua Tree and 29 Palms locations, plus further out into the dunes at Death Valley. While backed by a daily crew of sixty people that included twenty-five actors, Caravella took a painstakingly hands-on auteur approach to the film he not only wrote, directed, produced, and acted in the lead role in as “The Drifter,” but he also location scouted the film, eventually using his own house as the film’s basecamp. And anything he wasn’t directly involved in; he oversaw with a close eye.
“For casting, I watched a thousand tapes of actors and countless other things. I’ve sat in every minute of postproduction. I sat with the editors, I sat with the color correctors, I sat with the sound guys. Every minute from inception from the little spark of an idea in my head all the way through. I’ve been involved in every step of the way.”
Following a red carpet pre-party where the public can meet the cast and crew, Astral Plane Drifter plays at 9:45 this Saturday at Paradigm Cinemas, followed by a Q&A with the director and cast members.
