The 2 and a half minute trailer, which Garred believes “skillfully hides many of the narrative beats of the movie”, was released last Thursday and has already clocked up nearly one million views between YouTube and Facebook platforms.

“It’s so awesome to have this thing you did that you want to share with people, and finally getting to show them what it all was like,” Garred explained. “It’s like going to an awesome party and telling people about it later, but they don’t really understand how cool it was until you crack out the photos.”

Occupation, which was helmed by fellow Novocastrian Luke Sparke and tells the story of an alien invasion on the shores of the Land Down Under, now has a confirmed release date – July 12.

Now Garred is preparing for a slew of premiers, preview screenings and Australian appearances, all of which he’s “very excited for”.

“I was up at Supanova on the Gold Coast and we had an Occupation stall set up, and it was just so cool to see everyone interested in the props and alien set-ups,” he said. “We had a special preview screening while we were there as well, a bunch of us piled into the car and drove to Tweed Heads for it.”

Garred pointed to “finished special effects”, as well as “added music and sounds”, but overall said seeing the final flick was just “phenomenal”.

“I think everyone is really going to love it,” he said. “We’re just waiting on some final admin things with distribution, but we want to get it far and wide in Australia.”

Considering the last time he was back in Newcastle was for the Jets’ disappointment in the A-League grand final, he admitted he would love to have a “fun time” with a special preview in his home town.

“There’s a lot going on at the moment, but if we can manage something like a ‘sneak peek’ in Newy I think it would be awesome.”