{"id":361546,"date":"2026-02-28T23:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/361546\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T23:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:15:09","slug":"inside-michael-fitzgeralds-recycled-sci-fi-film-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/361546\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Michael Fitzgerald\u2019s recycled sci-fi film studio"},"content":{"rendered":"

A feat of aerospace engineering nestled away in an old cattle shed, Michael Fitzgerald\u2019s homemade spaceship is one of East Cork\u2019s best kept secrets.<\/p>\n

Killeagh may seem like an unlikely home for such an ambitious creation, but the actor and filmmaker insists otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember we also have the national space centre near here too,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re nobody in East Cork if you don\u2019t own a spaceship.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

His labyrinthine film-set creation \u2014 150m long and spread across 1,800sq m \u2014 is a playground for Star Wars fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Built entirely from recycled materials and featuring a cockpit with a true\u2011to\u2011life control panel, the bespoke space was originally constructed for Fitzgerald\u2019s fan\u2011fiction film Stormtroopers.<\/p>\n

Released in 2018, Episode 1: The Raid\u00a0features locations such as Mitchelstown Caves, the National Space Centre in Midleton, and the National Maritime College of Ireland. It has amassed over 1.6m views on YouTube.<\/p>\n

Episode 2: Siege followed in 2023 and has accumulated more than 1.2m views.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Fitzgerald tests a lighting control pad he designed from everyday gadgets for use on the spaceship set he constructed near Killeagh. Picture: Chani Anderson<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald, who has a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Manchester, now has his sights on expanding his brainchild \u2014 Cork Racing Film Studio\u00a0\u2014 as a commercial enterprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to build a second spaceship that I can keep in another farm shed,\u201d he tells the Irish Examiner.<\/p>\n

A location scout for the Star Wars, Batman, and Indiana Jones series, whom Fitzgerald befriended at a film festival, has even been to visit the set in Killeagh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While movies have always been his passion, Fitzgerald has found other practical uses for the life-sized craft.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great place for babysitting my nieces and nephews. As soon as they step into it, the place becomes a creche and they don\u2019t want to leave.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They come down with their dad sometimes. You\u2019ll see them play chase games and hide and seek.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AA corridor inside the spaceship set built by Michael Fitzgerald. Picture: Chani Anderson<\/p>\n

“I hope that coming to see the spaceship reiterates to them that you can do anything you want in life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And Fitzgerald should know. \u201cGrowing up I always knew I was going to own a spaceship someday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Everyone has their core influences whether that\u2019s boy bands, games, or Game of Thrones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I happen to like spaceships, planes, and helicopters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“My day job is as a construction engineer so I was able to draw on the characters I work with to make this a reality.<\/p>\n

\n I have a master’s in aerospace engineering but I\u2019m also a carpenter which allowed me to combine these skills to build the spaceship.\n <\/p>\n

He has a connection with Suas Aerospace, based at the National Space Centre in Elfordstown, Co Cork, with a focus on creating infrastructure for small satellite launches, including rocket engine testing, vertical launch services, and assembly facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building rocket ships for Suas so when I talk about building spaceships, we\u2019re actually kind of getting there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“One day I\u2019d like to make these spaceships for real but if I can make them for film then I\u2019m 50% there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald jokes that having a studio in the secluded countryside is not without its challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Fitzgerald in his Star Wars-inspired soapbox, which he raced at the Red Bull Soapbox Race in Cork in 2016, combining his love of sci-fi, engineering, and daredevil antics. Picture: Chani Anderson<\/p>\n

\u201cIn summer you get a lot of silage harvesters going so there is a period in May that kills you for sound.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He takes pride in his grassroots approach to set building. \u201cIn the cockpit I have old barber chairs. There is nothing more off-putting than seeing an office chair in a cockpit because you instantly know what you\u2019re looking at is a studio setup.<\/p>\n

\n A lot of what I have has been taken from old ships and was given to me by the Maritime College of Ireland in Ringaskiddy. All the switches work and you can adapt the lighting to suit the mood.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

“There is such an emphasis on AI now but I prefer the real deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Here you can see details like the light bouncing off the wall which you wouldn\u2019t get with visual effects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It makes the audience more inclined to believe what they are seeing. There is some greenscreen tape which can be keyed out afterwards to create the illusion of stars outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“However, any greenscreen we have is kept to a minimum. I want to deliver something real.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“A lot of what you see in the spacecraft is rusty around the edges. This is done intentionally as there can be an element of disbelief when things appear too perfect.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The studio is a treasure trove of props and costumes, with a collection that includes everything from life-sized 3D-printed androids to scale models.<\/p>\n

\n The props are made from everything from kitchen sieves to hoovers. I repurposed a coffee machine as a medical bay scanner, which you often see in sci-films.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

“We were able to do this by using cheap materials like the shiny paper you get from Mr Price. It only cost us \u20ac50 and we were able to get \u20ac42 and 30c back from coins that were left in the machine.<\/p>\n

\"PropsProps and models created by Michael Fitzgerald are displayed inside the shed near Killeagh where he constructed his Star Wars-inspired film set. Picture: Chani Anderson<\/p>\n

“When it comes to the spaceship a lot of what appears plastic to the eye looks great on camera. All of what you see here is recycled. I buy all the paint cans from Vibes & Scribes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Sometimes a lick of paint can completely transform a piece. One of the great things about the spaceship is that we can take the roof off to project studio lighting down on what is being filmed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald’s Stormtrooper costumes take pride of place in his studio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kits are all hardened as they often have to take a battering when filming. They have been everywhere including 30m underwater.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A man of many talents, Fitzgerald also uses the studio to work on his racing projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Cork man has raced with Formula Ford in the UK, Ireland, and Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dream when I was a child was to build starships and race cars. I\u2019ve been able to do both of those things so I\u2019m very lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A feat of aerospace engineering nestled away in an old cattle shed, Michael Fitzgerald\u2019s homemade spaceship is one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[781,18,117,19,17,3544,327],"class_list":{"0":"post-361546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-cork-news","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-life-sciences","14":"tag-movies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116150804427161945","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}