Published: May 01, 2008 09:42 pm         

Kentucky man wins ‘Indiana Jones’ video competition

It seemed like an impossible mission. Then again, impossible missions are right up Indiana Jones’ alley.

John Alexander — a Somerset media personality well-known for his love of the cinematic adventurer (and pretty much all things Harrison Ford, for that matter) — is headed for the Big Apple in May to attend a screening of the movie “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” And it’s all thanks to his winning an “Enter-tainment Tonight” promotional contest.

“It was a contest for you to do your best Indiana Jones impression,” said Alexander, “and I've been doing that since 1985.”

Together with Jason Stogsdill, a co-worker at area communications marketing firm Viamedia, Alexander shot a 30-second reenactment of the escape scene from the beginning of the original Indiana Jones action-adventure film, 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Alexander’s daring acts of heroism included being dragged along the ground by the character’s trusty bullwhip and dashing off in a seaplane while ranting about his distaste for snakes.

But this was a national contest, with Indy fans from all over the country submitting their stuff to “Entertainment Tonight” — so Alexander and Stogsdill never imagined they’d actually win.

“At the time I thought it would be fun, but there’s no way it could win,” said Stogsdill, who filmed the clip and engineered the special effects. “We did it and I sort of forgot about it. When (Alexander found out that they’d won), he called me — I was al-ready in bed. I thought he was joking around, then I figured out that he was serious.

“If I knew (the clip) would end up on TV, I probably would have worked on it a little more,” he added.

Stogsdill lived in New York before moving to this area last year, so winning this contest will provide a homecoming of sorts for him.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” due out in theaters May 22, is the fourth in the popular film series starring Harrison Ford as a World War II-era archeologist-slash-adventurer. It’s been a long wait for Indy fans — the last film, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” was released in 1989.

Alexander received paperwork last Friday in-dicating it was his and Stogsdill’s project that took the prize — he wasn’t sure how many other fans competed, but it could have been in the hundreds or thousands, as “Entertainment Tonight” is a nationally syndicated program.

On April 23, popular entertainment newsmagazine host Mary Hart announced Alexander had won — and noted that he did a great job.

“Never in my lifetime did I imagine I’d hear Mary Hart say my name on TV,” quipped Alex-ander.

As their prize, Alex-ander and Stogsdill will be flying to New York City on May 20 to attend a special screening of what is expected to be one of the summer blockbuster season’s hottest films.

But it’s when Hart said star Ford will attend the screening himself that Alexander, a stage thespian who has done extra work in the film “Seabis-cuit,” really found himself on cloud nine.

“That’s when I lost it,” said Alexander. “That’s when I officially freaked out.”

The whole thing was a whirlwind endeavor. Al-exander first heard about the contest from a co-worker in London, who knew Alexander was a movie buff — “but she didn’t know that is my movie,” he quipped, noting “Raiders” is among his all-time favorites.

Alexander approached Stogsdill, himself an actor, about helping him film the project. Working with a specific scene as directed by contest guidelines, the two shot it in a day, just under three weeks ago, and uploaded the video to the “Entertainment Tonight” Web site.

Most of the special effects shots — Alexan-der in full Indiana Jones costume riding in the open-air seaplane, and preparing to lift a golden idol from a cave in the Peruvian jungle — was done with blue screen technology in the Via-media studio. Images were lifted from “Raiders” and superimposed behind Alexander, making the scenes look authentic.

All Alexander had to do was sit in a chair and shake his fist in rage at the snakes.

Other scenes were shot on location — Alexander and Stogsdill headed out to Eubank to shoot a scene with a ca-boose on the trolley in the city’s park, at Somer-Sport Park (where Alex-ander got dragged along in the dirt), and about 10 miles out KY 39 in the Buck Creek area — which Alexander said “kind of looked like a jungle.”

The videos were judg-ed on a 100 point scale with points awarded for categories including acting performance, cinematography, and additional creativity.

It’s even possible Alex-ander will get a personal critique on his acting skills from his big-screen idol.

“They had Harrison Ford watch the videos,” said Alexander excitedly. “So by now, Harrison Ford has seen me running and jumping around as Indiana Jones. ... What a crazy, geeked-out ride, huh?”

To see the clip of the “Entertainment Tonight” broadcast, go to www. youtube.com and do a search for “Entertain-ment Tonight Indiana Jones Contest Winner,” or visit www.myspace. com/jasonstogsdill.

For Alexander, living this kind of dream is no longer just something that happens in the movies.

“I don’t know that it’s sunk in yet," said Alex-ander. “It’s almost too good to be true.”