‘Kecksburg’ will bring to light events in 1960s Pennsylvania
Grand Conspiracy Films, LLC, an established production company based out of southwestern Pennsylvania and specializing in films based on folklore and urban legends is proud to announce production of a forthcoming feature film. Kecksburg is based on the historical incident of a supposed UFO crash-landing in the small town of Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, on December 9, 1965.
Kecksburg will be the third feature film produced by Grand Conspiracy Films, LLC, and the fifth feature film directed by southwestern Pennsylvania native Cody Knotts. Their most recent collaboration, Gore Orphanage, based on an Ohio urban legend, attracted 1,108 paid attendees to its premiere screening in Sandusky, Ohio, and subsequently received national distribution through Amazon.com and Family Video retail stores. The production company plans to create a series of films based on American folklore and urban legends, all of which will be filmed in West Virginia.
Kecksburg is already generating interest among UFO enthusiasts throughout the United States and abroad. The script, based on extensive primary and secondary source research, seeks to answer many of the unresolved questions surrounding the mysterious acorn-shaped object which crashed in 1965. Among the actors already attached to the film are UFO experts John Ventre and Fred Saluga, state directors for Pennsylvania and West Virginia, respectively, of the Mutual UFO Network. MUFON’s director of communications, Roger Marsh, will film behind-the-scenes footage of the production.
Other actors slated to appear in leading roles in the film include Remington Moses, Maria Olsen, Shane Douglas, Richard John Walters, and “Pittsburgh Dad” Curt Wootton. Ms. Moses, who will play Anne LeMaster, is an accomplished young actress with an impressive family heritage in the performing arts. She is the great-granddaughter of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, granddaughter of Ricky Nelson, daughter of actors William R. Moses and Tracy Nelson, and niece to actor Mark Harmon. She has appeared in several Lifetime films and was the recipient of the “Outstanding Performance in the field of Drama” award from Campbell Hall.
Maria Olsen is a South African-born actress now based in Los Angeles who has appeared in more than 65 feature films and over 150 shorts, television shows, music videos and commercials since 2005. Ms. Olsen is best known for her appearance as Mrs. Dodds/The Fury in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, as well as roles in Paranormal Activity 3, American Horror Story and Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem. She has also won awards for both acting and directing, had two short films appear at the 2009 Cannes Short Film Program and one at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and is the eight great-granddaughter of famed Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn.
Shane Douglas will play Kecksburg fire chief Stan Zielinski. Douglas is a five-time world champion professional wrestler, a four-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion and a one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Mr. Douglas is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he worked as a wrestler and a manager. He is now forging a career in film, having recently appeared as one of the lead actors in Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies.
Pittsburgh-based actor Richard John Walters played iconic horror villain Harry Warden in My Bloody Valentine 3D, and appeared on the TV series 24. A graduate of West Virginia University and Duquesne University School of Law, he is also licensed to practice law.
Curt Wootton is best known as the YouTube character “Pittsburgh Dad,” whose short films generated 3 million views within six months. His portrayal of a blue collar Pittsburgher has become a regional pop culture icon; Restaurant chain Eat’n Park’s special edition “Smiley Cookie” bearing Pittsburgh Dad’s face was the first ever Smiley Cookie to feature the likeness of a living person. Wootton will bring his signature “Pittsburghese” flair to the character of Kecksburg fireman Richard.
The “object in the woods” was designed by billionaire and Lycos founder Michael “Fuzzy” Mauldin, for whom Carnegie-Mellon University’s Mauldin Auditorium was named, based on eyewitness reports. Kecksburg will feature talented production staff including Pulitzer-nominated composer Luke Mayernik, producer Andrea Ogden, who has successfully produced 14 other films, and writer/director Cody Knotts, best known for the 2014 feature film Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies, which starred “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Kurt Angle, Matt Hardy, Shane Douglas, and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, and was filmed in Parkersburg, WV.
Filming for Kecksburg is scheduled for the spring of 2018 in northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. Over 250 actors are needed for principal, supporting, and background roles in the production.