As far as moviemaking meccas go, the West Coast has Hollywood and the East Coast has New York. However, much lesser known is the vast resource that the Northeast possesses in Edgewood Studios, the sprawling, fully functional Rutland, Vermont movie studio, the only one in New England. All-purpose guy David Giancola founded this formidable outfit literally right out of high school in 1987, going on to write, direct and produce a mix of for-hire disaster movies for TV like Frozen Impact and Landslide and home-grown genre flicks like the horror film Zombie Town and the sci-fi spoof Illegal Aliens, which was the late Anna Nicole Smith’s last film.

“My initial perception of Anna,” says the 37-year-old Green Mountain State native, “was that she was a spoiled brat, but I soon found out that wasn’t true. It wasn’t until the last week of shooting that I really got that how in public, she was the Anna Nicole character, and in private, when she was in a really safe place, she was just a simple Southern girl who liked KFC, loved to laugh and really cared about people.”

Smith and her late son Daniel were both producers on the film, a sort of Earth Girls Are Easy in reverse. Smith, Gladys Jimenez and Lenise Sorén play shape-shifting babes from beyond who must save the Earth from a naughty escaped space convict, played with great relish by former WWE wrestler Joanie “Chyna” Laurer. The movie is irreverent without being excessive, and the laughs come at a pretty steady clip.

“When we cast her in the movie, they announced their investment in it along with the fact that Daniel would be an apprentice producer,” Giancola recalls. “They dropped bomb when they decided they’d rewrite my script. It was 2005, and she really had no clout, with her reality show over and her career was at an ebb. We moved forward, tried to re–conceive it without them. Their script sat on my desk, and I wouldn’t read it. [Executive producer and co-star] John James told me to read it, and when I finally did, I realized they hadn’t changed movie so much as satirized the dumb blonde, bombed-all-the-time character people mistakenly think she was. In the end, it was a lot more edgy than I would have written for her.”

With Smith’s sudden passing in February at the age of 39, post-production of Illegal Aliens, which is out on DVD this week, took a decidedly serious tone as Giancola and company readied it for an out-of-competition slot at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t need to create publicity for the movie,” Giancola remarks, sadly, “like the fight we had planned for Joanie and Anna on ‘Leno.’ Anna did get to see the movie before she died, though, but my greatest regret in her passing is that she never got to hear the laughter of the audience enjoying her work in this new way.”•••

DIGGERS [R]
An ensemble piece that brings to mind Beautiful Girls (and then surpasses it) is director Katherine Dieckmann’s dramatic comedy, focusing in four Long Island clam diggers on Long Island in 1976. She takes The Ten writer Ken Marino’s script, and infuses it with every bit of claustrophobic angst he intended, making the looming specter of change in this small town so palpable. Paul Rudd (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) solidly anchors the cast as an umpteenth-generation digger with creative aspirations that come out after the death of his father. Maura Tierney (”ER”), as his sister, mirrors him nicely, with Marino a standout as the dutiful but hard-headed buddy Lozo. He plays very well off of Sarah Paulson of the soon-to-be-late “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” a long-suffering, overtaxed mother who has yet to enjoy the benefits of Women’s Lib. Part of the Cuban Brothers’ experimental release model at their HDNet Films, which brings their pictures to market in theatres, on PPV and DVD day-and-date. –Robert Newton

ALPHA DOG [R]
Nick Cassavetes may not have all the skills of his indie vanguard father, John, but this hard-edged tale of a kidnapping gone wrong starring Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin and Bruce Willis is worth a watch.

DREAMGIRLS [PG-13]
I am woman, hear me roar! Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson may not be the only reason to watch this big-screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical, but she’s a big part of it, no pun intended.

HAPPILY N’EVER AFTER [PG]
Trying to cash in on tongue-in-cheek synchronicity that Shrek had in spades is this sad CGI pretender, which can’t even scare up enough laughs to be called as good as Hoodwinked.

THE HITCHER [R]
As far as remakes go, this modern version of the dark 1986 Rutger Hauer favorite does the job right, thanks to some smart pacing and a great titular turn by Middle Earthling Sean Bean.

LITTLE CHILDREN [R]
Talk about injustice — former child actor Jackie Earle Haley, in an incredible performance as a convicted child molester trying to resettle in his hometown — lost Best Supporting Actor at this year’s Oscars.