On Tuesday June 25 on his Instagram feed, director JJ Perry announced that filming on the AFTERBURN movie has wrapped!
Perry will now head into post-production on the film for a release some time TBD for 2025.
At the beginning of June we were able to visit the set in Bratislava, Slovakia for a couple of days. The cast and crew were filming at an abandoned nickel smelter in nearby Sered, Slovakia. The site looked appropriately post-apocalyptic as we arrived. As we walked through the site, we saw it dressed as the Burn Zone with bones tied to a fence and a rubber severed head on a pike. We were told on that day they'd be filming the "War Train", a big gun battle, an explosion, and blowing up "meat dummies". We couldn't be more excited.
As we approached where they were filming, the cast and crew preparing to film a big gun battle involving an actual train on location. We made a point to hang back and ensure we were not in the way as the crew hurried about their tasks. JJ Perry then yelled, "Die hard, brothers! Action!" The gun battle then ensued, the soldiers dropped to the ground, and the scene ended.
We continued to hang back until JJ spotted us. He walked over, enthusiastically made introductions, then invited us over to his director's tent. He cleared the chairs and let us sit in his director's chair. JJ couldn't have been more welcoming. Between takes he'd hand us his cell phone and show us rough cuts of the action he had filmed over the previous month. We saw an amazing car chase filled with explosions, a brutal fight scene filled with humor, and more. Honestly, we liked what we were seeing as it perfectly hit the tone of the AFTERBURN comic.
We were also able to chat with the crew of AFTERBURN and got a pleasant surprise. We fully expected the comic book to be an afterthought and the movie to be its own thing, but the crew were actually referring to the comic book regularly. Director of Photography Jose Montero showed us he had the Volume 1 comics on his iPad and was referring to them to set the color palette for the look of the film. Stunt coordinator Felix Betancourt showed us he also had the comics on his laptop and was referring to them for fight scene inspiration. It was quite an honor to see them use our humble indie comic as inspiration.
As we departed the apocalypse, we were glad to see that our baby is in good hands. JJ Perry is a great director with a vision for the film very much in line with the comics. As the movie enters post-production, we can't wait for everyone to get a taste of what we've seen.
As for the comic, we can let you know that Volume 1 is being reprinted as a trade paperback and Volume 2 AFTERBURN: CROSSFIRE is being printed now. Volume 3 is being written and drawn at this moment. It is being drawn by DEAD KINGDOM artist Etienne Derepentigny and colored by ATOMIC ROBO Eisner-Nominated colorist Ronda Pattison. AFTERBURN: BAD BLOOD will be timed to be released alongside the movie in 2025. The story takes place in the Burn Zone in Africa and features Jake, Drea, and Mattias looking for... not a "what", but a "who". More details to come!
You can pick up our current stock of AFTERBURN in our online store here! And stay tuned for more AFTERBURN news soon!
