When most of us were children, we played make believe. And while we may have given up playing pretend as we grew up, there are adults in the world who give in to their “childish” impulses. They are the subject of “Darkon,” a film about Live-Action Role Play gamers (LARP for short — think Dungeons and Dragons, but live) who are inhabitants of a mythic fantasy world.  The trials and tribulations of the inhabitants’ relationships — in the game and out — build to an explosive crescendo as countries battle one another for honor, glory and bragging rights. Andrew Neel and Luke Meyer, co-directors of the documentary, spoke to us about discovering this new world and their experiences in making the movie. — Jason Nellis, Hulu.com

Hulu: How did you hear about Darkon?

Andrew: While I was researching and making my thesis fictional film about the Internet and virtual worlds, I got interested in Dungeons and Dragons, and the idea of role-playing in general. I became enamored with it. I went down to Maryland for the first time in 2002 where I met people from a different gaming organization. Skip (the main character), was a member of a country in that game, and said there was this other game called Darkon that’s really amazing. I couldn’t get financing for the project and shelved it for a while. Then, I met Luke in summer of 2003, and I said “Hey, do you want to check this out? I think we should do it.” And we just started shooting and it progressed from there.

What was your intent when you set out to film the world of Darkon?

Andrew: I wrote a fiction screenplay about this subject matter before making a documentary, and it was through researching the film that got me interested. Originally, I thought I was going to make a fiction film about this. And just through the exposure to it, I thought it was so amazing that perhaps maybe a documentary was perhaps the best thing to do. It was also just more available to us.

Luke: I think that once we just started shooting, something from the first shot forward, we knew we wanted to make a documentary.

Luke, what attracted you to the project? What was it about it that made you want to sign on?

Luke: I didn’t have a very strong background in it before Andrew told me about all his research and his initial exposure to it. The look of [Darkon] is part of the draw, and I think part of the draw to the film for people as well. It’s just amazing to see someone dressed up in the whole fantasy, medieval regalia. But more so, the attraction is this idea of fantasy lives, of having an ideal existence that exists somewhere outside of you. In a way, it’s the way things should be, but at the same time it requires so much upkeep, so much work, it’s so messy to keep in place.

There are a lot of themes of escaping ‘real life’ in the film, and that role-playing isn’t just in the game, but that we role-play in life. Did you set out to explore these themes in the film, or did you discover them organically?

Luke: The Shakespearean notion of life being a stage is a major draw for both of us from the beginning. They’re playing out that mantra in pretty recognizable terms. It’s fun subject matter for anyone who’s into theatrics, and anyone who buys into the philosophy of human beings as performers on stage. Immediately, there was an intellectual interest in that particular topic, and how the extremes draw attention to the parts of regular existence that everyone who lives experiences. This world of Darkon, this fantasy world with role-playing, where everything is very clear to see and literally tangible, becomes an allegory for all of the little ways that happens for everyone as they live their lives and live all the different roles that we play as we navigate our days, our lives, our careers. The word escapism is used in the film, and it makes sense on a certain level, but it’s also about an ideal of having something beyond the cluster of life. One of the obvious subtexts in the movie is that everyone is role-playing all the time, in their everyday lives. I think that Keldar/Kenyon is especially demonstrative of that.

Am I correct in my assumption that neither of you do Live Action Role-Play (LARP)?

Luke: That’s not true at all — as we were shooting the film, we made a rule for everyone in the production company that we would not play while the documentary was being shot. But for a period of time afterwards, our company formed a country, and we had land on the land map.

Andrew: We made a film about these people because we were enamored by what they were doing. No, this isn’t a film about LARPers by LARPers, but it’s definitely a movie by people who deeply appreciate it.

Luke: Conversely, it’s also not a film about LARPers by people who think LARPers are fun to look at. The relationship is tighter than that.

One of the things that I took away from the film was how much of it takes place in the middle of unscripted, unpredictable battles where anything can happen. What was it like to film them, given that the line between reality and the game seemed the most fragile during those parts?

Andrew: It was actually one of the most exciting things about making the documentary. We were in this really weird netherworld between fictional and documentary filmmaking, because when the guys are out there role-playing, they’re doing a form of improvisational acting, which we are then recording for an audience, which they are aware of. It wasn’t always entirely clear whether we were shooting a strange form of a stage play or a documentary. Just because of the nature of the subject matter, we were always in a very strange gray area when they were in character and sometimes when they were out of character. You’d be shooting things while they were at home, and we’d be discussing things that were in the context in the game. The discussion was a real discussion about a fictional game, so people are getting angry about one another, and how they’re acting. You say to yourself “Wait, are we talking about something real here, or something fake? How much is made up?” That was always swimming around in the production process. Sometimes, we’d have these conversations on the way to the hotel or New York, where we’d be talking about the stuff in-game as if it was really happening. It’s a game that you play, albeit these people are planning out some form of virtual characters that they are — it’s a created context.

Can you guys speak to the families of the people who LARP? During the film, we see brief interviews with Skip’s (aka Bannor’s) family, and with Kenyon’s (aka Keldar’s) family. Were their overall reactions neutral, positive, or negative?

Luke: I think all of the families have had the full range of reactions over different periods of time — but I think in general, it’s a positive thing and they see it as a positive thing. They see their family member having this thing in their life that makes them really happy, is a form of expression, and is a great addition to their life.

Andrew: Most people, after some time of them being part of the game, realized that it wasn’t as bad as they may have thought at the beginning. There’s always that stigma of “D&D” kids, “gamer” kids, “dorky” kids, and I think there is and will always be a rolling of eyes behind backs sort of thing for people who are predisposed to feel that way about it.

Luke: I think, in addition to that, there’s also the occasional person who is worried that someone is getting lost in it. It’s a rare thing when it actually happens, but it does happen sometimes. Naturally, for that family that it’s happening to, it’s something to be very concerned about.

One last question — Andrew, you mentioned meeting Skip and getting introduced to this world. Do you still keep in touch with these people? Is it something you still find yourself connected to?

Andrew: Darkon was our first film, so it has a special place for us for that reason alone. I miss Darkon in a lot of ways. There was something so expansive and exciting about it, in a really childish way. Not in a bad sense, but in a sense of wonder, of expanse, of fantasy, of a limitless reality. I miss that, and I know why people play that game — to just get a taste of that feeling every once in a while is therapeutic. There’s something wonderful about it. I miss the game, I miss shooting that documentary, and I miss being around with them sometimes. But yes, we keep in touch, mostly with Skip. We’re hoping to go to a campout sometime this summer. It’s kind of nice, because everyone comes to the campout and we can see all the people that we met. But yes, as time goes on, you do fall out of touch. It’s weird making documentaries — you’re so much a part of someone’s life for this intense period of time, and then you leave and you edit the movie, and then like all long-distance friends, everyone has their lives to live. There’s something kind of sad in documentary filmmaking in that way, at least for me.

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