Jennifer Beals Joins Chloe Bennet, Phil Dunster In Area 51 Dramedy ‘Hello Out There’

EXCLUSIVE: Jennifer Beals (Flashdance) has wrapped a lead role opposite Chloe Bennet and Phil Dunster in the New Mexico-set alien dramedy Hello Out There, marking the first feature from writer-director Otis Blum.

Shot over the summer in New Mexico, the film centers on Minnie (Bennet), a young journalist who embarks on a road trip across the state with her cousin, Rex (Dunster), a punk rock guitarist fresh out of rehab, who is trying to figure out what’s left. Their stated mission: to investigate Area 51 and unearth the truth about extraterrestrial life. But as the journey unfolds, a deeper, more personal reason for their quest comes to light.

Beals plays Judith, an art dealer who lives in Santa Fe. She is Minnie’s mother-in-law, and the two are bound together not only in name but also through shared tragedy. Thomas Mahoney (Wild Indian, Only the Good Survive) produced the film via Handsome Watson, with Purple Intuition providing production services.

Breaking out as a pop culture icon of the ’80s with her Golden Globe-nominated turn in Paramount’s romantic drama Flashdance, Beals is also known for starring in Showtime’s The L Word, a drama series of the 2000s examining the West Hollywood lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women, as well as the 2019 sequel series The L Word: Generation Q.

A collaborator of Denzel Washington’s on the neo-noir mystery Devil in a Blue Dress and the post-apocalyptic actioner The Book of Eli, Beals has more recently been seen in the popular YA titles Before I Fall and After, as well as series including The Book of Boba Fett, Swamp Thing, and Law & Order: Organized Crime. The actress is represented by CAA, Amplified, Constellation Media Group, and Felker Toczek Suddleson.