The trailer has dropped for Brave New Jersey, a comedy based on the impact of Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds radio broadcast on October 30, 1938.
The Gravitas Ventures release has been called “an alien invasion movie where the aliens never show up.” It will be available on demand and in select theaters on August 8.
Written by Michael Dowling and director Jody Lambert, Brave New Jersey is set in the small Garden State town of Lullaby.
Reminiscent in tone to the 1975 TV movie The Night That Panicked America, the independent film looks at how ordinary citizens react to news that their world is coming to an end, though it does not have actors cast as Welles or members of his Mercury Theatre.
In Brave New Jersey, the over-worked town’s mayor Clark (Tony Hale, Veep) will take a chance on love. The neglected housewife, Lorraine (Heather Burns, Manchester By The Sea) will break free from her big-cheese husband (Sam Jaeger, Parenthood). The demure schoolteacher Peg (Anna Camp, Pitch Perfect) will become a warrior. The aimless reverend (Dan Bakkedahl, Life in Pieces) will rediscover his faith. The scared Sheriff (Mel Rodriguez, The Last Man on Earth) will find his courage. And the reclusive war veteran (Raymond J. Barry, Training Day) will become a hero as he convinces the town to fight the Martian invaders.
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