Q & A with TJ Walker, Director of the “Phoenix Run” series

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If the world you created in your film became a reality, is that a world you would want to live in? Is there a Sci-Fi world you’d buy a one-way ticket to?

The world of Phoenix Run? Hell no, give me a ticket to the Fifth Element universe.

Name a Sci-Fi character you relate to on a spiritual level? Who is your Sci-Fi spirit animal/spirit alien?

Buckaroo Banzai

Friend or Foe: humanoid robots with advanced artificial intelligence? What if robots start making their own Sci-Fi films? Will you support them in their endeavors?

I am a Humanoid robot with advanced intelligence so Yes I would show support.

In 1996, Bugs Bunny recruited Michael Jordan and Bill Murray to form the greatest basketball squad of all-time, the Tune Squad; you’re Bugs, who’s on your Sci-Fi Tune Squad?

Buckaroo Banzai
Jack Burton
Deadpool
Admiral William Adama
Starship Enterprise

You’ve gotta go through some bad ideas to get to the good ones. Tell us one of your bad ideas. How do you get past the bad ones to find your spark?

Phoenix Run is my 1st project so maybe the bad idea’s are on their way?

Do you consider yourself part of a sci-fi community? Or when your brain is in the future and your body’s in the present, is that isolating?

Yes, I now consider myself part of the Dust Sci-Fi community. We are going to change the world with our stories!

Do you consider yourself more of an analog or digital person? What kind of balance do strike between the two? Is there a disconnect between the technology you make films about and the technology that you make films with?

Digital all the way! In my series Phoenix Run there is great technology in a post apocalyptic/pandemic world.

When you’re creating the props and sets that make a new world, where do you look for inspiration? How do you create objects that are relatable but unfamiliar?

Great question! I research the grittiest and poorest areas of third world countries and research where they live, how do they eat, clean, cook etc. I take those elements and place them in a post apocalyptic united states that has left over buildings and technology, The characters use this left over technology and repurpose it for survival. A great example is a scene in Phoenix Run where my character Ma Jones refers to a ‘Omni Processor’ the processor is real, It takes waste and dirty water and creates clean water and energy using steam. It was funded by Bill Gates and is being used in third world countries.

Lightning round: Star Wars or Star Trek? Philip K. Dick or William S. Burroughs? Practical or CGI? Dystopia or Utopia? Post Apocalypse or Pre Apocalypse?

Star Wars
Philip K. Dick although I have a secret non Sci Fi project that is inspired by William S. Burroughs
I use both Practical and CGI together.
Dystopia
Pre Apocalypse is so much more exciting, I’m talking about right before everything goes to shit.