Alien Trespass is a 1950s monster movie that was filmed half a century late. But it’s wonderful! It’s either an homage, a mash-up, or just the latest 1950s monster movie. Director and producer R.H. Goodwin, best known for his extensive work on The X-Files, was approached by James Swift, who first thought of the idea, and his screenwriter, Steven Fisher. Together, the three of them combined forces and efforts to produce a brand-new movie with 1950s’ sensibilities, looks, feels, and themes, and they make it work. The story line, in brief, is that a flying saucer crash lands in the California desert, the local scientist investigates the crash and encounters the aliens in it, and he turns for help to the waitress in the local diner, the only person who really believes his cockamamie story. Together, they try to stop an alien monster that’s killing people, and may destroy all life if allowed to run free. The scientist’s loving wife, of course, believes none of this, and the gruff chief of police would rather not have any trouble on his watch.
In fact, if not for the fact that the movie has a heroine, rather than a hero, Alien Trespass might easily have been on the bill as a double feature with any of the other classic B-movie monster films from half a century ago. And that’s precisely what the filmmakers were aiming for.
There’s a brief trailer about the movie on the film’s official web site (and the movie starts with a wonderful news reel setting the events in their time). But for those of us with more modern sensibilities, there’s a brief featurette that Goodwin showed Tuesday night at the New York Film Academy, during his presentation. This eight-minute mini-film, purportedly explaining the history of Alien Trespass, is itself wonderfully anchored in both the 1950s and today. It has clips from interviews with the “cast” (including “Eric McCormack’s great-grandfather”, “Robert Patrick’s grandfather”, and “Dan Lauria’s great-uncle”), as well as an explanation that the film is in fact the last known print of a movie made in 1957 and then thought destroyed due to contractual difficulties. The featurette will not be seen in theatres, but is, or will soon be, available on the movie’s previews page.
The film actually stars Eric McCormack (in the photo, on the far right, with Goodwin at far left and Baird in the center) as both astronomer Ted Lewis and the alien Urp, Jody Thompson as his wife Lana, Jenni Baird as the smart and caring waitress Tammy, Dan Lauria as the no-nonsense police Chief Dawson, and Robert Patrick as Officer Vernon. They, the rest of the cast, and the crew threw themselves headlong into making a 1950s B movie classic, and it shows, from the story and set design, to the lighting, colors, acting (remember, this was before the method and all the modern sensibilities of acting), all the way to the music and the look of the credits in the film. For fans of the ’50s movies, here’s one you haven’t seen yet. For fans of science fiction, this is an interestingly nostalgic entry. And for fans of Eric McCormack or classic cars, well, Goodwin mentioned hearing from a club of gay car collectors, who are thrilled by the movie, so this one’s for you.
Goodwin, Swift, and Fisher were separately raised on those 1950s classics, and they’re so ingrained that the clips from The Blob which appear on screen aren’t the least bit jarring. They’re there because they are entirely appropriate. But something that’s missing, which modern audiences might notice, is CGI. They didn’t use computer graphics for the movie, relying instead on the 1950s staples of limited camera work, rubber-suited monsters, metallic fabric costumes, and a wonderfully quirky shot of McCormack walking along a desert road as a car pulls up, stopping, and then seeing the scenery stop behind him. Discussing the production of the film with a class of would-be directors and producers, Goodwin also mentioned the scene where Lana blows out the candles, and the ambient light dims… a few seconds later. It’s touches like that which prove this film is far more a labor of love than just a job.
The idea was originally Swift’s, who conceived of the story twenty years ago. His treatment, at the time, was called Invasion of the Spaceman. After moving to Seattle, Washington, he met artist Steven Fisher who was similarly enamored with the concept, and wound up writing the screenplay. Eventually, they teamed up with Goodwin, who said “I just loved the story. It seemed like Jim and Steven had taken three of the classics of the genre, War of the Worlds, It Came from Outer Space, and The Day the Earth Stood Still, and smushed them all together.”
After completing the film in a scant 16 days of shooting, and $200,000 under budget (though Goodwin refuses to say what the actual budget was), they sold it to Roadside Attractions, which will be releasing Alien Trespass in theatres on 3 April 2009. Goodwin said the current plans are to open in 30 cities.
Producer/director R.H. Goodwin was an executive producer and director for most of the run of The X-Files, as well as writing one episode. He won three Golden Globes and picked up five Emmy nominations. He also worked on the series Tru Calling, and one other feature film: Richard Donner’s Inside Moves (1980). Fisher and Swift are new to movies.
McCormack is best known for starring as Will Truman in television’s Will & Grace, for which he won an Emmy and received five Golden Globe nominations.
Alien Trespass is Jenni Baird’s feature film debut. She played Dr. Meghan Doyle in the fourth season of The 4400.
Dan Lauria has a long film and television resume, including his role as the father on The Wonder Years. He also appeared in Independence Day and Wide Awake.
Robert Patrick’s movie debut was in Future Hunters (1986); on television, it was in Tales from the Crypt (1992). He is probably best known for playing the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.