Independent comedy borrows Kecksburg UFO crash

March 14, 1:07 AMUFO ExaminerRoger Marsh

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DVD cover for Mars Attacks Mt. Pleasant.

UFOs and comedy. Dare we poke fun at our serious struggle to understand?

Well, yeah.

Mars Attacks Mt. Pleasant  was 2008's B comedy release as my second attempt at independent filmmaking. The premise was simple. I was going to write, direct, produce and distribute my own full-length comedy. Start to finish, I had a budget of $1,000.

No, I was not a patient in a mental ward at the time.

The project was opened up to the community of Mt. Pleasant, PA and surrounding towns - and an outpouring of talent, locations, props, costumes and everything in between - came at us.

The literary challenge was adapting a Chicago stage play - Mars Attacks Chicago - to a rural Pennsylvania small town and absobing its surroundings. Trying to fit the plot into Mt. Pleasant, I was looking for something bizarre - and the Dec. 9, 1965 UFO crash at Kecksburg fit all expectations.

Now how does a comedy writer approach a serious UFO case and ask someone permission to have a little fun?

Pennsylvania Ufologist Stan Gordon, a friend and colleague, is the lead researcher on this case, and pointed me to the local firemen at Kecksburg and specifically to Ron Struble.

I admit, I was a bit nervous about approaching the Kecksbug firemen at first. I wanted to include the Kecksburg UFO crash as a piece of the plot - in a funny way - and I hoped they would not take offense at my story.

Dave Williams is a Mt. Pleasant native, someone we nicknaked our "sound and light wizzard" for the film. Dave went with me on the trip to Kecksburg, although between the two of us - me, a native, and Dave, a local - we somehow managed to get lost in a "you can't there from here" scenario - but somehow we made it through the jungle to Kecksburg. We refer to that episode now as the "scenic tour." What we found at Kecksburg, though, was a warm group completely open to new ideas and ready to help where needed. In the end, we brought the Kecksburg Volunteer Fire Department into a scene near the film's end where they steal a model UFO that a local wealthy eccentric has wired for blast off. They kindly brought a vintage fire truck for the shoot and about a dozen men and women - something I will never forget.

Link to Kecksburg Volunteer Firemen - their new UFO Cafe

Video on Kecksburg Volunteer Firemen - the 2008 annual UFO festival.

A frequent question I get as director, is where did you get that UFO for the film?

The script called for a scene near the end of the film called - UFO Invasion. We were shooting at a 123-year-old hotel in Mt. Pleasant - a restaurant, hotel, and bar - but it included a fair sized parking lot attached to its rear. Location scouting, we decided the scene would be shot here. And looking at the lay of the land, I envisioned a UFO looking like it had crashed into the side of a hill there. Beyond that, the scene needed darkness, lots of fog, and a bunker area beyond the UFO.

Luck had it that I was interviewed by local print media and the idea of needing a model UFO came up. The day the story broke, our Production Manager Shawn Galligan's cell phone rang. A guy was calling saying he had built a UFO model years ago for a local festival, and that the piece was sitting in cold storage.

Dave Williams and I met up with Mt. Pleasant Mayor Gerry Lucia and we met the model builder at a local trailer where it was stored. We only took one half of the top of the model, enough we thought for the job, and thanked the artist.

Williams had to rebuild the lighting wiring and make the thing work, but that's why we call him the "wizzard." No questions asked. Something went from moth balls to a working model for shooting when we needed it - thanks to Williams.

As we put the parking lot set together, after assembling the UFO crash, we needed to construct a bunker area where cast members would be viewing the UFO from. As a director, I needed a quick solution. Some kind of dark material humped up two or three feet - all in a skinny row - to place a large group of actors behind. A large piece of black colored tarp was located as the covering. And minutes later Dave Williams had the solution to the bunker's "under structure." He brought out several booths from the bar, and turned on their side, were wrapped in the tarp, in the configuration I was looking for. It worked.

Darkness came, the fog machines went on, and we shot into the cold night.

Many local resources offered assistance.

I met Musician Steve Hawk with band Forgotten Nobody late one night at the smoky hotel bar. He offered me several tracks to review. While I looked at dozens of artists while researching this film, Hawk's music caught my attention immediately. I guess it was the words.

I chose two tracks - one to start the film, and one to close it out.

Photo: Musician Steve Hawk doing what he does best during a break in shooting where he was part of the extras - cast background for an outdoor shot.

But it was the closing tune that was significant for me. I had written an ending to the film, but when I read Hawk's words to The Way Things Used To Be, I had an altered vision. The tune's title words became the final words spoken by the lead female - Donna, played by local actress Kat Post - to Sam, played by local actor Philip Haddad.

I then set up a kiss between the two leads in the street against a car, and a shot that panned back as the musician passed their car, and moves back into the dark of the street as Steve Hawk himself walks carrying a guitar and singing the tune a cappella.

It worked.

Photo: Actors Kat Post and Philip Haddad in the final scene of the film - the Theater Scene.

More on UFOs, comedy, and Mars Attacks Mt. Pleasant soon.