Key Takeaways

• Scott Cooper’s Project: The director is working on a thriller about the Roswell UFO incident.
• Historical Event: The Roswell incident began in June 1947 with the discovery of strange debris.
• Conspiracy Theories: The legend surrounding Roswell grew significantly in the late 1970s.
• Film Reception: Cooper’s previous film, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, did not perform well at the box office.

After bringing The Boss to the screen with Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, writer/director Scott Cooper is setting his sights on one of the most famous UFO mysteries in American history: Roswell, New Mexico. According to Deadline, Cooper is attached to write and direct a new thriller for 20th Century Studios inspired by the Roswell UFO incident—an event that continues to fuel debate and conspiracy theories nearly eighty years later.

What is the Roswell UFO Incident?

So what actually happened at Roswell? In June 1947, rancher W.W. “Mac” Brazel discovered strange debris scattered across his property. After notifying the local sheriff, the discovery was reported to the Roswell Army Air Field. An initial press release claimed that a “flying disc” had been recovered, only for the military to quickly walk back the statement and identify the wreckage as remnants of a weather balloon. Decades later, it was revealed that the debris was actually part of Project Mogul, a top-secret U.S. program designed to detect Soviet nuclear tests—information that remained classified for years.

The conspiracy surrounding Roswell didn’t truly take hold until the late 1970s. In 1978, Jesse Marcel—the first military officer to investigate the crash—gave an interview in which he stated that he believed the material was not of earthly origin. From there, the legend snowballed, with claims of indestructible metals, mysterious hieroglyphic symbols, and even the recovery of alien bodies entering the public imagination.

The mythos only grew more elaborate in the years that followed, bolstered by new theories and supposed evidence. Among the most infamous was Ray Santilli’s Alien Autopsy footage, which he claimed to have purchased from a retired Air Force cameraman. More than a decade later, Santilli admitted the footage was faked, though he insisted it was based on real film that had since been lost.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere Wasn’t a Success

Despite some early buzz, Cooper’s Springsteen biopic didn’t take off as expected. It grossed a mere $45 million against a budget of $55 million and received mixed reviews. But our own Chris Bumbray enjoyed it. “While no one would say Jeremy Allen White of The Bear is a dead ringer for Springsteen, as a fan of The Boss going back to my childhood, I can say that he captures the essence of the man,” Bumbray wrote in his review. “Why has Springsteen resonated so much over the years? To me, the answer has always been his authenticity — and both Deliver Me From Nowhere and White’s performance have that quality.”

UFO movies seem to be hot right now, with Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day coming later this summer and Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski working on his own UFO disclosure movie.

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