Bill, the Galactic Hero (film)

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Bill, the Galactic Hero is a 2014 American science-fiction student film directed by Alex Cox with six student co-directors. It is based on Harry Harrison’s 1965 novel Bill, the Galactic Hero. The story follows Bill, a farm worker who is drugged and drafted into the Space Troopers. He starts as a fuse tender, but after his ship is hit by the enemy Chingers, he becomes the only soldier who can fire. A lucky shot destroys the enemy fleet and Bill is hailed as a hero, but he soon gets lost in bureaucracy and even recruits his younger brother into military service, much to his mother’s disappointment. The film stars James Miller.

Production began years after Cox first optioned the rights in 1983 during Repo Man, but the project stayed on hold until 2012 when Cox taught at the University of Colorado Boulder and proposed a student adaptation. Harry Harrison granted an academic license and worked on the screenplay before his death in 2012. A Kickstarter in March 2013 raised about $115,000 from over 1,100 backers. Filming took place mainly on the university campus, with many crew members contributing on a royalties basis. Iggy Pop wrote and performed the film’s theme song. Bill, the Galactic Hero premiered in Boulder on December 12, 2014, and received positive reviews; it later screened on New Year’s Eve at Clinton Street Theater.