In 1989, an anonymous witness talked to KLAS Las Vegas about his alleged work engineering alien spacecraft at a secret underground location just south of Area 51. The story about the witness’ claims went global and made Area 51 famous, even though at the time the existence of Area 51 was being denied by the U.S Government. The anonymous witness was later identified as Bob Lazar. Now for the first time since 1989, Lazar will speak at length about his alleged alien insight in a documentary titled Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers. The documentary releases on December 3, 2019, and actor Mickey Rourke narrates the film.

When asked if he believed in UFOs, Rourke told Den of Geek, “I don’t know. I would like to.”

He continued: “When I was younger I thought there was no such thing; now that I’m older I think – why should this be all there is?” Rourke continued. “It’s so imperfect here. There’s so much horror. There’s so much evil. I’d like to think there are other places that are maybe a little better.”

The trailer for the film was just released, and in it, Rourke’s gravelly voice fits the topic well. He sounds like a video game character in an Area 51 first-person shooter who has gone through hell.

BOB LAZAR : Area 51 & Flying Saucers (2018) | Official Trailer HD from JEREMY KENYON LOCKYER CORBELL on Vimeo.

Besides his initial interviews with KLAS’s George Knapp, Lazar has shied away from the limelight, leaving all of the attention on Area 51 itself. Lazar made a video that can be found online explaining the technology he was working on, has appeared for an interview or two, and took the stage at the International UFO Congress in 2015. Other than that, he says he feels everything everyone needs to know was in his video.

Given the highly controversial nature of his claims, many assume he is lying. His claims regarding his educational background have not been able to be verified, and the U.S. government has denied ever employing him. Lazar claims that after he was caught talking about his super secret Area 51 job, the government purged his records. Some researchers do not believe that to be possible and point out that no professor or student who attended school with him has come forward to say they remember him at the universities he has claimed to attend.

However, Knapp was able to find Lazar listed in a directory for Los Alamos National Laboratories. Similar to Area 51, the existence of Los Alamos National Laboratories was a secret for many years after it was built. Although it began work on developing nuclear weapons in 1942, its existence was not revealed until 1955. Located in New Mexico, just northwest of Santa Fe, it is run by the U.S. Department of Energy and continues to house top secret projects.

As for Area 51, once Lazar’s claims began making headlines worldwide, it became the U.S.’s most secret base, and, eventually, the most famous at the same time. The CIA finally acknowledged its existence in 2013. The existence of Area 51 was still a shock to many. Although the base was the location of the development of super-secret aircraft, such as the SR-71 and stealth aircraft, Lazar’s claims attaching the base to alien folklore caused many to assume the base’s very existence was fantasy.

To this day Lazar stands by his claims. He currently owns United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies, which sells a variety of scientific instrumentation and materials. His clientele range from high schools to science labs, and he allegedly also has government contracts.

If you search for Area 51 on the United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies website, you will find a replica of a “Restricted Area” sign that one can find posted around Area 51, and a poster with the specs of one of the alien spacecraft Lazar allegedly worked on.

Lazar has become a folk hero in UFO circles. Googling his name returns around 3.5 million results.

Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

“The reason you know about Area 51 is because Lazar came forward and told you about it,” states the documentary’s website. “His disclosures have turned his life upside-down, and he has tried to stay out of the spotlight. For this reason, he has never let any filmmaker into the private world of his daily life – that is – until now.”

“This film is important – more important at this very moment than ever before in history – because of the brave new world we live in,” filmmaker Jeremy Corbell told Den of Geek. “…it’s a world where governments are acknowledging interaction with UFOs as a fundamental truth. A world where machines; craft; vehicles of unknown origin with hyper-advanced propulsion and maneuverability traverse our airspace with impunity.”

What Corbell is referring to is the news that broke this past December from the New York Times that the Department of Defense (DoD) had its own UFO research program. The DoD says funding for that program ended in 2012, but the now-retired former head of the program says the project continues to this day. He also says he believes they found evidence of “unusual aerial systems interfering with military weapon platforms and displaying beyond-next-generation capabilities.”

Since the New York Times story broke, UFO hunters have received a bit of vindication, and the topic has received a higher level of credibility.

“The world simply is not as it used to be,” says Corbell. “Lazar’s story is now able to be heard in a more fundamental way.”