Back in May we posted news of Alien Identity, an upcoming Alien fan film by Sonnet Realm Films. Since that announcement news has been trickling down from their Facebook page (including news that professionals such as Neville Page and Brian Sipe would be involved with the film). They have just announced that Aliens actors Ricco Ross and Carrie Henn would be returning to star in Alien Identity:
“Sonnet Realm Films Announces Actors Ricco Ross and Carrie Henn to Return to the Aliens Universe in the Tribute FilmALIEN IDENTITY.
Sonnet Realm Films is excited to announce that Ricco Ross (Aliens) will be joining the cast of ALIEN IDENTITY as Richard Frost, the brother of Pvt. Robert Frost, and will also be coming on board as a producer for the film.
“When I heard of the story I thought, ‘why hasn’t someone thought of this sooner?’ Great idea and it makes sense that the concept would come from a fan and not Hollywood Execs. Very happy to be a part of this exciting project and to get the cast on screen together again. Aliens fans, buckle up, you’re in for a hell of a ride. Stay frosty.” – Ricco Ross
As a surprise to the fan community, we’re happy to announce Carrie Henn (Young Newt from Aliens) is confirmed to make an appearance in ALIEN IDENTITY as Anne Jorden, young Newt’s mother in a flashback. This will be Henn’s first film in nearly 30 years since Aliens (1986).
“I am looking forward to working on Aliens from a different perspective. I can’t wait to hear what all the fans think!” – Carrie Henn
Elle Viane Sonnet stars as Rebecca “Newt” Jorden, 14 years after the events of Aliens.
“Ricco’s and Carrie’s contributions to this tribute film are very exciting for us all. They are both amazing people and we’re thrilled to work with them. I am also really excited to play Newt, she’s a strong character with a complicated past. There’s a lot to explore there.” – Elle Viane Sonnet”
Ricco Ross (Frost) and Trevor Steedman (Wierzbowski )
This is quite exciting because Carrie Henn quit acting following her role as Newt in Aliens and will make her return to the world of acting. Ricco Ross has been quite active since his time as Frost in Aliens and maintains an active presence on Facebook.
Alien Identity will be a crowd-funded project and will be launching their Kickstarter campaign over the coming months. You can follow them on Facebook to keep an eye on the project.
That's nice, but I don't know if the cartoony style is all that appropriate...
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11698430_1628837557355816_4451775166525856233_n.jpg?oh=3acc9805bbb16c0054d590a2c36ec5bb&oe=56228B9B
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t1.0-9/11401150_1628433107396261_1435035936203221424_n.jpg?oh=d9500eb1b7e22249de158b28da09ec88&oe=5615A372
They don't know who the artist is going to be yet but I love the idea.
Also the guys over at Perfect Organism did an interview with the Sonnet's.
https://soundcloud.com/perfectorganismpodcast/perfect-organism-episode-13#t=0:00
I've only listened to the first half on my way to work so far.
Ricco Ross is ageing well!
I don't recognize him myself but he's been in quite a lot of stuff.
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/l/t1.0-9/11665428_1625794380993467_5843855607166326015_n.jpg?oh=a89f077b1479e211b6d5da6a31d7ea5b&oe=5616007C
It's all in the article on the front page.
New header on Facebook.
As someone who's doing my own effort, I'm feeling increasingly secure about this aspect for today's generation of fan-films, yeah. The only part which worries me is whether mine might get taken down for the various pieces of music I'm going to have to use. 'Dark Ages' seemed to have its own composed soundtrack (and a great one, too), but lower-end projects without any real budget have to rely on existing scores.
It's just about the only aspect which might convince me to do a crowd-funding attempt. Original music probably goes a long way to getting around legal concerns, these days.
It's becoming more and more common practice for fan films to actually have involvement from some people in the film industry or people who worked on the original films (it's quite abundant in Star Trek fan films now) and to be crowd-funded. It's really increasing the quality of these projects.
And at the end of the day, it's a non-profit project, just for the love of the franchise.
After all, they allowed 'Predator: Dark Ages' to be funded using 'Kickstarter' and as for the actors, it's not really Fox's prerogative to dictate what work an actor can or can't do. I suppose that they could stop the film through a copyright claim out of resentment for Carrie Henn and Ricco Ross appearing in it. Not that I see any reason whatsoever that they would hold a grudge for such a thing (no disrespect intended towards the two actors but their hardly Sigourney Weaver). Besides, Fox were perfectly happy to allow a fan film featuring Trevor Steedman ('Aliens') to go ahead in the past ('Aliens: Epilogue').
As long as a fan funded film is not making a profit from sales, then I see absolutely no reason why Fox's legal department's feathers should be even slightly ruffled. Based on their track record of passive neutrality towards such things in the past, I'd say; there's nothing to be concerned about.
http://www.avpgalaxy.net/2015/06/29/ricco-ross-and-carrie-henn-return-to-aliens-in-alien-identity/
http://www.sonnetrealmfilms.com/apps/blog/show/43401628-aliens-actors-ricco-ross-and-carrie-henn-return-in-sonnet-realm-films-new-alien-tribute-film-alien-identity-