UFO Movie Hoax Causes Confusion

Thursday, 16 November 2006

Is it a real UFO story or a fake one? People are debating over "The Top Secret UFO Project," filmmaker R. J. Thomas' study of a 1956 UFO incident.

When "The Top Secret UFO Project," filmmaker R. J. Thomas' parody of UFO documentaries, first appeared for sale online, Daily Grail.com, a UFO-themed website, said that the mockrumentary film was bound to cause some confusion. Well, they turned out to be right. The film, the story of a small Colorado town's UFO encounters in the summer of 1956, is being debated in the UFO world and beyond.

"I've received phone calls. I've received e-mails. Bloggers are arguing about whether it's a fake or not," Mr. Thomas said.

Since June, Temple Productions, a Los Angeles-based entertainment company, has been sending out newswire stories over the internet to promote "The Top Secret UFO Project," pushing the movie from every UFO angle possible. Because many prominent people have been interested in UFOs, there are often big names mentioned in the press releases. These include Steven Spielberg, President Bush, former president Carter, and even General Douglas MacArthur, who told the world in 1955 that the next war would be fought against aliens.

But people are taking the DVD's promotion a little too seriously. Some are telling Mr. Thomas that UFOs don't exist, and that the Bush administration has no UFO information to withold from the public. Others are saying that UFOs do exist, urging the filmmaker to be patient because government UFO secrets will be exposed shortly.

Based on Mr. Thomas' 2004 novella of the same name, "The Top Secret UFO Project" chronicles the UFO-related events experienced by Jasper, a tiny Colorado hamlet some 75 miles south of Denver. According to the film, the town dealt with one unusual event after another in the summer of 1956. After a farmer spotted a flying saucer zipping over his property, scientists rushed into Jasper to investigate, reporters rushed in looking for stories, and government officials rushed in to keep it a secret from the world.

Billed as "the movie the government does not want you to see," "The Top Secret UFO Project," is a parody of the cheesy UFO documentaries of the 70's like "Overlords of the UFO," and of TV programs like "In Search Of."

Mr. Thomas plays a documentary filmmaker who, in 2003, discovered (by accident) some top secret government films pertaining to the Jasper Incident of 1956. This inspired him to make a documentary about Jasper's UFO story, and to discover the truth behind what really happened that mysterious summer in Colorado.

"I don't think anybody's going to walk away from this movie thinking that it is real," Mr. Thomas said. "It's a joke, a spoof, a parody. It is told with a straight face, but it's just meant to be entertaining. Even the folks who are dead serious about UFOs can get a laugh out of this."