The architects of cinema\u2019s most popular alien invasion have slightly differing accounts of how exactly the original plans for Independence Day came to them. But they both agree that it began with the now-famous image of a massive spaceship looming over a city skyline.<\/p>\n
Roland Emmerich, the director, recalls explaining the scope of the concept to Dean Devlin, the co-writer and producer, at the latter\u2019s home: \u201cHe lived in an area on a hill, so I said, let\u2019s go to the window \u2013 all of what you see would be [covered by] the underside of a spaceship. He said, where\u2019s the humor? And I said, there\u2019s a guy knocking out an alien saying \u2018welcome to Earth.\u2019 Then we learned that Tim Burton, a director I really admire, was doing Mars Attacks! We knew that movie was coming out in August, and we said, well, there\u2019s a great date before: Fourth of July. And that\u2019s why the movie is called Independence Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mars Attacks! didn\u2019t wind up making it out that summer or making anywhere near the $800m-plus worldwide that Independence Day did when it hit its titular release date in 1996, 30 years ago. Devlin also has a different account of what prompted Emmerich to think about aliens in the first place: \u201cAs I remember it, we were doing press for [their previous sci-fi hit] Stargate, and a reporter said, do you believe that aliens actually built the pyramids? We said no, and the reporter actually got angry and said, well, how can you make a movie like Stargate if you don\u2019t really believe that the aliens built the pyramids? Then Roland said, it\u2019s such an amazing idea: What if we woke up tomorrow morning and we walked outside to get the newspaper and above it was a 15-mile-wide spaceship blotting out the sun for an entire city? Then he turned to look at me and goes, I think I have our next movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatever the precise origins of those 15-mile ships, Emmerich and Devlin turned the idea into a full draft in a matter of weeks, and wound up inciting a multiple-studio bidding war. So often these big-money scripts wind up disappointing at the box office, but that wasn\u2019t the case here. Independence Day boosted the careers of just about everyone involved, especially then-rising performer Will Smith<\/a>, putting him on the path to becoming the biggest star in the world. The movie itself became one of the biggest of the 90s-era summer blockbusters; at the time of its release, it became the second biggest global grosser of all time, second only to Jurassic Park.<\/p>\n The film also shared a star with that Spielberg smash: Jeff Goldblum<\/a>, playing a satellite engineer who realizes before anyone else that the looming alien ships are planning a massive attack, and leading a sprawling story structured more like a 70s disaster movie than a typical 90s blockbuster. \u201cWe wanted to have a story of three totally different characters coming together and saving the world. We kind of modeled it after The Towering Inferno,\u201d Emmerich says, referring to the famous 1974 disaster movie with an all-star cast that includes Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, and Fred Astaire. The film-makers had a clear idea for Independence Day\u2019s central trio: Goldblum, Smith, and \u2026 Kevin Spacey?!<\/p>\n Yes, the US president who ultimately leads the world in the fightback against the aliens, even jumping into a fighter-jet cockpit himself, was originally earmarked for a now mostly exiled actor known for the multiple accusations<\/a> of sexual assault leveled against him. Originally, the president was a more slippery character: \u201cHe was a liar who finds himself in a moment of glory,\u201d Devlin says. At the time, Spacey was known but still a novel presence, relatively untested as a star \u2013 as was the other lead the studio wasn\u2019t so sure about. Fox execs said no to both Spacey and Will Smith. The film-makers stood their ground and eventually the studio relented: They could have one of their preferred stars, but not both. \u201cWe said OK, it\u2019s Will Smith,\u201d says Devlin. Emmerich describes their reaction with similar certainty: \u201cWe will find another president.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a good call, and not necessarily the obvious one; it\u2019s easy enough to picture film-makers in 1995 opting to use their clout on Spacey, especially after Seven and The Usual Suspects boosted his profile. (He would go on to win an Oscar for The Usual Suspects, albeit after Independence Day had been shot.) But Emmerich and Devlin both saw something special in Smith. \u201cWe wanted the ultimate all-American boy,\u201d Devlin says, \u201cand in our minds, Will Smith in real life kind of was that. He was every kid\u2019s dream of rising to fame and fortune.\u201d Emmerich says another contributing factor was the chemistry between Smith and Goldblum: \u201cThey\u2019re so different from each other: Jeff, the more nebbish intellectual, and Will, totally gung-ho. It was a good combination. We also let them go free,\u201d he adds, praising their respective skills at ad-libbing additions to their dialogue.<\/p>\n Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day. Photograph: Moviestore\/Rex\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n So Spacey was out, and the president part was rewritten for Pullman, now playing the commander-in-chief as \u201cthe sweetest guy in the world trying to deal with compromise\u201d, Devlin says. \u201cThat fit him so much better. He\u2019s so likable. I\u2019m actually very grateful we ended up with Bill.\u201d Pullman, of course, was charged with delivering what is probably Devlin\u2019s most famous piece of writing: the president\u2019s rousing speech to troops of the world as they prepare to counterattack the alien forces.<\/p>\n \u201cI was describing this to Roland and I said, it\u2019s very much the St Crispin\u2019s Day speech in Henry V,\u201d says Devlin. \u201cRoland goes, oh great, we just have to write a speech as great as Henry V, no problem, Dean. So I said look, don\u2019t worry about it, I\u2019m just going to vomit something out for now, but later we\u2019ll rewrite it, we\u2019ll do a lot of work on it. He said, OK.\u201d Time came to shoot the scene, and Devlin realized he never had gone back to do that heavy rewrite: \u201cI panicked and I raced to set to rewrite this thing and they were rehearsing it. Bill knocked it out of the park and the extras went nuts. They all started screaming and jumping up and down. The only change I made was I added the line at the end: \u2018Today we celebrate our Independence Day.\u2019 I only added that because the studio wanted to change the name of the movie to Doomsday so I said, I\u2019ve got to lock our title into the speech.\u201d<\/p>\n It was just one instance of many where the 72-day shoot \u2013 unusually short for a movie of this scale, especially compared with today\u2019s blockbusters \u2013 went easier than expected. Their faith in their chosen star was reaffirmed, Emmerich says, on the very first day of shooting. For scheduling reasons, it had to actually cover the film\u2019s ending, shot in the California desert. Smith was the first one there, ready to go. It established a set that prioritized working together over serving anyone\u2019s ego. \u201cThere\u2019s a hundred speaking roles so there\u2019s lot of room for some egomaniacs to make this difficult,\u201d Devlin notes, \u201cand we didn\u2019t have any.\u201d<\/p>\n The shoot also involved a great deal of visual effects \u2013 but in keeping with the movie\u2019s throwback charm, Independence Day was very much not a showcase for groundbreaking techniques like the computer animation in Terminator 2 or Jurassic Park. Many of the film\u2019s most renowned moments, including one that wound up as the centerpiece of the film\u2019s Super Bowl teaser, were done practically: \u201cThe explosion of the White House was a model,\u201d Emmerich says. \u201cWe shot a lot of stuff with painted backgrounds and photographic backgrounds. It\u2019s the perfect mix of visual effects and models. That was our goal.\u201d The film won an Oscar for visual effects the following year.<\/p>\n \u2018We shot a lot of stuff with painted backgrounds and photographic backgrounds,\u201d director Roland Emmerich says. Photograph: Cinetext Bildarchiv\/20th Century Fox\/Allstar<\/p>\n