Aliens Among Humans
Thanks to Francine for sending this in!
From Ventura County Star:
Article Title: �Aliens Among Humans�
By Dave Mason
TV Star EditorHOLLYWOOD – Majandra Delfino, who plays a teenage waitress on �Roswell,� believes UFO�s exist and wonders whether the government is hiding something about Area 51.
She�s sitting on a stool at the counter at the Crashdown Cafe, not too far from a big menu on the wall. This fictional restaurant serves everything from �Grilled Moon Cheese Sandwich� to Abduction tea� and my own favorite, �Sigourney Weaver Kick Alien Burger.�
This is Roswell, N.M. – a series of fairly complicated, realistic sets in Hollywood. Roswell High School has been created here with several, complete classrooms connecting into a hall of lockers. It looks more like the inside of a real school than a Paramount Pictures sound stage.
Just around the corner is Crashdown Cafe, a room covered with murals of classic Roswell aliens (big heads, big eyes) and lots of references to everything alien. It was here Max Evans *Jason Behr) first used his alien powers to save Liz Parker (Shiri Applyby) in the pilot episode of �Roswell.�
The cafe is much brighter and more colorful than it appears on �Roswell,� which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on The WB, Channel 5.
Delfino, 18, plays Maria DeLuca, a waitress who knows about the teen-age descendants of the aliens who crashed in Roswell in 1947 and has been frightened of them.
Before �Roswell,� Delfino played Tony Danza�s daughter on �The Tony Danza Show� and Kathleen Quinlan�s daughter in the family movie �Zeus & Rosanne.�
Delfino is less scared than Maria about extraterrestrial life and is more excited about the possibility of it.
The actress has found the federal government too secretive about Area 51, a New Mexico military area. The government has said no alien ships have crashed there and that a weather balloon, not a spacecraft, crashed in 1947 in Roswell.
�When �Independence Day� was being filmed, the government was going to give (technical) information (to the producers) only if they didn�t mention Area 51,�Delfino said. The film did mention Area 51 – it had to; that was one of the main plot points.
Maria�s nemesis on �Roswell� used to be Isabel Evans, the alien teen-ager played by Katherine Heigl. Maria�s fear of the aliens almost drove her to report to Sheriff Valenti (William Sadler). Isabel was suspicious enough of Maria to sue her alien powers to enter her dreams.
But their relationship has evolved since those early episodes, and some of their new rapport reflects real life.
�Katherine and I are best friends,� Delfino said. �Our characters have a bond, and there is an unspoken affection between them. I�m too crazy to admit it; she�s too stubborn to admit it.�
Heigl said she likes the series� take on the alienation many teen-ages feel in high school.
Making several of the characters actual aliens is the ultimate metaphor for that feeling.
�In high school, you feel like you don�t fit in,� Heigl said.
�Roswell� continues to evolve with the recent news of a new alien.
The teen-ages, meanwhile, are curious about their roots – they don�t know what planet they�re from – but also want to be accepted by their friends, just like any other kid, human or alien.
