Samus Aran, star of the Metroid series, may be one of Nintendo's most iconic action heroes, but it took the group of fans behind non-profit production studio Rainfall Films to translate the intergalactic bounty hunter's adventures to live-action.
Jessica Chobot of The Nerdist stars as Samus in Metroid: The Sky Calls. America Young, who worked on Halo 5: Guardians, performed motion capture for the character.
The short film follows Samus Aran on one of her atmospheric space exploration adventures. According to its production page, the inspiration behind the project was less Metroid Prime, more original Metroid.
"Instead of using a modern approach," the group writes on its website, "director [Sam] Balcomb chose to incorporate a style more in tune with the types of films that inspired the first Metroid game in 1986, favoring exploration and isolation over action spectacle."
That doesn't mean the twelve-minute short is light on action, however; while it certainly seems to value setting the tone of the space series, there is still some impressive, computer-generated attacks to behold. Not only does Samus show off her Arm Cannon, but her Morph Ball makes an appearance, as well.
Rainfall Films, which also produced an elaborate The Legend of Zelda live-action film teaser several years ago, is careful to emphasize that the fan film was made purely out of a love for the franchise, and that it "is not associated with or endorsed by Nintendo or its subsidiaries."
