After ‘Signs’, ‘Quest for Truth’ and the completed but unreleased ‘A Place to Stay’, there seems to be another movie-world take on crop circles being filmed…


It would seem that yet one more movie concerning crop circles may be on its way, this time starring Billy Zane, of ‘Titanic’ fame.

A press release, recently featured on the Bulgarian news website www.novinite.com, states the following:

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“Hollywood star Billy Zane arrives in Sofia on Tuesday to join the rest of the cast in his newest movie. The film tells a story that features the mysterious crop circles found in grain fields all over the world and often connected to extraterrestrial activity. The first footage was shot on Monday in the American College in Sofia and at the Sofia-Plovdiv highway. With Zane onboard, the cinema people will move to a maize field near the town of Radomir. The movie casts Bulgarian actors. Producers of the new Zane's movie from US company UFO from have made thirteen movies in Bulgaria. However, the co-producers from one of Europe's largest producing companies, Senator, work in the country for the first time.”

[Original report can be found at: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=14770]

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It is not clear from this whether the film is English-spoken or in Bulgarian with a Hollywood actor included to attract attention. We have no further information available, but suffice to say that there have been numerous films concerning UFOs over the years, so why not crop circles?

‘Signs’ has become one of the biggest box office smashes of the year, both in the US and the UK, so it is logical other companies may try to cash-in. That said, the UK production ‘A Place to Stay’ still seems no nearer to any kind of release. It is a sad reflection on the current state of the UK movie industry as a whole that the vast majority of productions made here never receive any kind of distribution, and ‘A Place to Stay’ may have fallen victim to that syndrome. However, it did receive a special screening for cast, crew and supporters in the summer, and reports on its content, with a few reservations, were good, prompting Peter Sorensen (alas, now turned planker), in a circulated review, to write the following:


“’A Place to Stay’ has a romantic theme that grew on me, and the cinematography is beautiful (wait ‘till you see the time-lapse pan of the Pewsey Vale that ends in sunset over Tan Hill!). In addition to the lovers, there are villains (who get their come-uppance in unexpected ways) and a host of believable characters involved in overlapping sub-plots. And pioneering circle researchers, Busty Taylor, Colin Andrews and Reg Presley have cameo roles, playing themselves.

The story, set in the present in the Alton Barnes area (!), is seen through flashbacks in the mind of an old Wiltshire Country police officer (played by Johnny Dallas), who, riding around on his bicycle, is the one person who knows everybody and everything that is happening.

As someone who is practically a citizen of Alton Barnes, I must say I was aghast to see how the fictitious townsfolk were portrayed as intolerant simpletons, easily led by the hate tactics of the chief villain, Carl Streathan (played by Llewellyn St. David). Speaking like a Nazi in the town hall, Streathan inflames the villagers to evict the Gypsies and “Travellers” from the area. The real people of Alton Barnes wouldn’t stand for such bigotry and hatred. But, of course, this is simply a plot device, and I can accept it as such.”


How the folk of the real Alton Barnes will react to being portrayed as Nazis is another matter, of course, but the story also includes a sub-plot about American secret agents and the suchlike, and, naturally, the appearance of crop circles, including footage taken inside the huge Milk Hill formation of 2001. Peter continues:


“Marcus [Thompson] is a man who has done his utmost to put together a motion picture, at significant personal expense and time, which tells a good story involving the crop circles without sensationalism. And WITHOUT getting hooked into the shallow debate [?!? – Ed] about where they come from. He simply and beautifully conveys the wonder and magic, and the EXPERIENCE of being inside these magnificent temples of grain.”


We can only wait to see if this “experience” will ever grace our screens. One imagines that at the very least, some kind of video and DVD release will be forthcoming at some point.