AP Features, February 9th, 2007
Anna Nicole Smith's film finale _ a campy B-grade movie called "Illegal Aliens" she helped bankroll _ was supposed to be a comedy. Whether it will be received that way now is unclear, though, says director David Giancola, who canceled three screenings in the wake of her death.
"I don't think it's appropriate, based on the content of the film, to be screening it at this time," he said Friday. "We don't know what happened to Anna. The press speculation is endless. We didn't think people would find it funny. It's a comedy and it's her making fun of her public persona. So much of it is riffing on Anna and her riffing on herself, I just don't think, with her passing, it's appropriate to screen it so quickly after her death."
Smith, 39, was found unconscious Thursday in a Hollywood, Florida, casino-hotel and declared dead later. An autopsy was performed Friday.
The former Playboy playmate, whose previous screen credits include "The Hudsucker Proxy" and "Naked Gun 33 1/3," filmed her last movie in Vermont in 2005.
In the 96-minute "Illegal Aliens," she plays one of three extraterrestrials who fight an intergalactic terrorist. Edgewood Studios bills it as "Charlie's Angels goes sci-fi." One of her co-stars is professional wrestler Joanie Laurer.
Once Smith agreed to do the movie, she also agreed to invest in it _ Giancola would not say how much. Smith and her son are credited as associate producers, Giancola said.
A screening planned for Saturday night in Johnstown, New York, and two more next week in Vermont are now canceled. The release date for the movie has not been set.
"We had planned to release it in April and were making preparations. But right now, it's such an early stage, we just don't know. We're all kind of in shock right now," said Giancola, 37.
He said he does not know whether her sudden death will ramp up interest in "Illegal Aliens" or not.
"The public interest in her is so great, in everything she does. I don't quite understand it," Giancola said.
