LONG ISLAND, NY

- Inspired by a television special hosted by the late Bill Bixby which focused on supposed "Elvis sightings," independent filmmaker Hubie Giblets and his team at Colossal Mountain Productions recently produced a one-hour satirical documentary based on America's fascination with the King's legend. Titled "The Return of the King?" the no-budget, 16mm production received top honors at the Long Island Film Festival in the category of "Best Satirical Film" and has gone on to generate noticeable box office sales at local theaters.

Giblets, who gained recognition while a student at the New York Institute of Technology on Long Island for his award-winning horror satire Arbor Day, co-authored "The Return of the King?" with cast-member Elmo Birch. Made possible through scholarships and donated services, "The Return of the King?" was shot entirely on Long Island and stars local talent.

"There's a great diversity to Long Island where you can simulate all types of areas," explains Giblets, who shot on the beach, wooded areas and urban locations. Some cast members from Arbor Day appeared in "The Return of the King?" Like Steve Strangio, the winner of "Long Island's Funniest Comedian" competition.

Giblets, also selected Elvis impersonator Barry Weil to star in the film after an ad he placed drew some unexpected responses. "We got some pretty funny responses from people who claimed to resemble Elvis," recalls Giblets. "We were getting all sizes, ages and ethnicities including Asian and Indian Elvis impersonators - it was very odd." Giblets notes that many impersonators might decline a role such as this, under- the false assumption that it's an Elvis-bashing film. "It's not really about Elvis, it's about the Elvis controversy," he says.

Scraping up enough money to cover the cost of film alone, the skeleton crew at Colossal Mountain Productions shot the scripted documentary using Arri BL 16mm cameras provided to Giblets through a New York Tech scholarship. "We had built up a great relationship with the lab [Lab Link/ NYC] we used," explains Giblets, "and basically they had given us credit to make the film with, and that's what made it possible. We figured we had credit, we'll just worry about paying the Iab costs later. We just kept shooting the film."

The mock-umentary features interviews with subjects who claim to have spotted Elvis, alive after all these years. One of the key scenes in the film is based on the famous Super 8 "Sasquatch" footage filmed in the American Northwest. "W'e rented one of those 'In search of videos', copied every camera shake and duplicated it exactly," Giblets explains. "It was exactly like the Patterson footage only of a fat Elvis in full costume. Blowing-up Super 8 would have been more costly, so instead we shot it hand-held with 16mm cameras and then videotaped the projected image. We took the videotape and transferred that to film. We also played with the focus a little bit to give us that Super 8 camera look, so that saved us a lot.

'Transferring from video to film is not very expensive at all," says Giblets. "We've been doing that since Arbor Day - cutting corners and doing things that are not the industry standard by any means."

The feature also makes use of computer altered photos designed to support the theory that an Elvis icon is linked to earlier cultures. Computer graphic artist Bob McGuire used a Macintosh computer running Photoshop to place images of Elvis into scenes from ancient Greece and Egypt. McGuire also put Elvis into more recent scenarios, compositing his image into photographs with Jimmy Hoffa and Jim Morrison.

In addition to featuring original Music scored and composed by Chris Calomino, "The Return of the King?" also features Frank Zappa's "Elvis Has Just Left the Building," a piece that required a relentless pursuit from Giblets in order to obtain permission for use. After a number of desperate calls and faces, Zappa's wife Gail returned his call and asked for a rough cut of the film for viewing. She later called back saying that Frank granted permission to use the song.

Giblets plans to release "Return of the KIng?" on video, noting that a number of companies have expressed interest. For the time being, he has completed his next project, a thought provoking, dramatic comedy about film school entitled "Devoured By Boars". It's a more serious script, and it's something that actually needs a budget, albeit a small one," says Giblets. It's not something we can just go out there and shoot with a skeleton crew."