Lou Ferrigno’s “Liberator” Now Available on YouTube
FERRIGNO’S “LIBERATOR” RELEASED ON YOUTUBE
Award-Winning Short Film Features “Super” Geek Cast
Los Angeles, CA, January 14, 2015—There’s a new superhero in town — and chances are, you’ll like him when he’s angry. LIBERATOR, an 18-minute short film/presentation pilot, stars “The Incredible Hulk” star Lou Ferrigno, returning to superheroics to play an aging, disgraced ex-superhero turned whistleblower. After a successful festival/Comic-Con run followed by six months on iTunes and Amazon streaming, LIBERATOR is now available for the world to see in HD courtesy of YouTube.
LIBERATOR stars a panoply of uber-geek luminaries: Peta Wilson (“La Femme Nikita”), Michael Dorn (Worf from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”), kickboxing legend Don “The Dragon” Wilson (“Bloodfist”) and the legendary Ed Asner (“Up”) as the President. LIBERATOR mixes a timely, gritty story about taking a stand against government corruption — and the resulting blowback — with a very human subplot of a father desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Fear not — there’s a big dollop of superhero action on top. Ferrigno goes deep here, surprising many with the performance of a lifetime, winning a Best Actor statuette from Cinerockom Film Festival in the process. The film also drew the attention of geek news sites like Ain’t It Cool News and many others, as well as national outlets USA Today, Yahoo! News, and Huffington Post, who called LIBERATOR “a perfect storm of awesomeness.”
“I play a government agent who takes the fall for a bad situation, and finally he decides to blow the whistle and write a book,” says Ferrigno. “Being a police officer myself—being a deputy sheriff—I think leaking classified information is wrong. But the Constitution protects freedom of speech. (Edward) Snowden felt he had to speak out. It’s the same thing with my character. Some people see him as a hero, others a traitor.”
Says Director Aaron Pope (MY HAUNTED HOUSE), “I’m really so thrilled that LIBERATOR is now going to be available free, worldwide. Our tagline is ‘truth is worth fighting for,’ and never has that statement been more true than right now. If putting our movie out there now helps anyone anywhere realize the value in fighting for what’s right, it’s well worth it. And hey, if people just want to enjoy a bit of superhero fun at the same time, they can do that too.”
LIBERATOR’s success also led to a 2-shot LIBERATOR comic book series as well as graphic novelization from Bluewater Comics. Producers Coverage Ink Films (www.coverageinkfilms.com) hope that the film’s YouTube release will interest people around the world in seeing more of Liberator. “We’d love to continue the adventures, whether it’s as a feature, webisodes or TV,” says LIBERATOR executive producer Jim Cirile. “Producer Tom DeSanto (X-MEN, TRANSFORMERS) said it best — ‘I encourage everyone to take to the social media and do whatever you can to promote (LIBERATOR), because I want to see what happens next.’ Thanks, Tom!”
WATCH LIBERATOR NOW: www.liberatormovie.com
Other links:
www.facebook.com/liberatormovie
www.twitter.com/liberatormovie
http://www.youtube.com/liberatormovie
Review: Lou Ferrigno – Liberator Issue 1
Lou Ferrigno has come full circle. He achieved international fame playing TV’s Incredible Hulk, based on the green, raging Marvel Comics character. Now there is a comic based on a character Ferrigno played on screen–Lou Ferrigno: Liberator. It is a 2-shot comic, of which I have read part 1.
Now, full confession, I had never heard of Liberator, the short film on which this Bluewater Comics title is based. I received a solicit from Bluewater requesting we review the title, and was provided this first issue.
From the title, with Ferrigno’s name prominent and his face drawn on the cover, I expected an End of the World type story telling of a “real world” Ferrigno becoming a superhero. The rock band Kiss had such stories told, as did Mr. T and pro wrestler The Undertaker. So I was surprised to see that despite his name in the title Ferrigno is neither a character in this book, nor credited as part of the comic’s creative team.
Research then led me to realize that this comic is an adaptation of an 18-minute film starring Ferrigno, Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson, and Star Trek’s Michael Dorn. Both the film and comic focus on Ed Migliocetti (Ferrigno), pro footballer-cum soldier-cum superhero named Liberator. A decade earlier Ed was assigned to kill someone, but rather than be a whistle-blower he took a fall that landed him in prison. separating him from his wife and daughter. Now Ed wants redemption and is writing a tell-all book. Of course, shadowy figures don’t want the truth coming out, and the first issue ends on a cliffhanger.
This comic is a very short read. With more of an emphasis on art rather than dialogue, the book feels very anemic for a first issue. It is an introduction issue and little more, with the characters and movie events recapped for those who have not seen the film. While the story has a good hook, there is nothing in this first issue to make me crave Issue 2.
But the research did take me to YouTube where I saw a trailer and a clip for the film Liberator and despite the cast being a list of comic-con autograph hall staples, the production values have me very interested. Unfortunately there is no online or video release of Liberator, the film. It is currently touring.
The film looks really good, but the comic only works for me as a teaser for the film itself. It’s a pretty book, but the story is average. So I will give it a pretty average rating of 2.5 stars.
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