by John Wildman, AFI FEST Daily News

ALIEN AUTOPSY, director Jonny Campbell's comic look at the true story of two men behind a supposed extra-terrestrial film in the mid-1990s, screens at AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi.

The film stars Declan Donnelly, Ant McPartlin, Bill Pullman, Harry Dean Stanton, Omid Djalili, Orson Bean and Jimmy Carr.

ALIEN AUTOPSY makes its North American premiere November 11, 10:00 PM, and screens again November 12, 12:00 noon, at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood.

AFI FEST Daily News: Which of the two men responsible for the scam do you identify with the most?

Jonny Campbell: Neither. I feel more like the guy on the slab.

AFI FEST Daily News: What would be your hors d'oeuvre of choice if you were performing an alien autopsy?

Jonny: I think I'd double-check its pulse to make sure it was dead. Then the reproductive organs just in case we had company.

AFI FEST Daily News: Do you think the film owes more to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND or THE STING?

Jonny: Good question. It could be the low-budget illegitimate offspring of both.

AFI FEST Daily News: Which one do you think honestly believes there was an alien autopsy - Bill Pullman, Harry Dean Stanton or Orson Bean? And which would claim he was there when it happened?

Jonny: That's hard to say. Bill did of course witness an alien autopsy with his own eyes back on INDEPENDENCE DAY 1996. Harry Dean was himself subjected to a violent ALIEN abduction back in 1979 and then in 1984 carried an alien in the trunk of his car, though no autopsy was performed to my knowledge.

Orson didn't bring up alien autopsies over dinner, and one might just put that down to his immaculate table manners. But judging by his performance in ALIEN AUTOPSY I can only say that he felt very "method" to me.

I honestly don't think he could have played the role so convincingly unless he'd actually been there.