THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 3, 1996 TAG: 9607030069
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: 139 lines
APOCALYPSE IS NOW at least at the movies.
``Independence Day'' arrives this week, both on the calendar and at the local multiplexes.
``They'' are here, the nasty little green fellas of our endless imaginations, the creatures from outer space that have been a part of our psyches since childhood. Their spaceships are so huge that one casts a shadow over the entire city of New York. They vaporize the Empire State Building. They level the White House. Los Angeles is wiped out.
Yikes! Have we got a chance? The best thing to do is get another bag of popcorn and, maybe even rally behind the president (played by Bill Pullman, an actor who, in his other movies, couldn't even get the girl).
The advance screening of ``Independence Day'' at New York's Ziegfeld Theater the other night was more like an audience event than just a sci-fi flick. In rock-concert style, the crowd cheered and stomped their feet at every alien setback while flag-waving suddenly became hip.
Sitting in the back row was 40-year-old Roland Emmerich, a German immigrant with close-cropped blonde hair. He directed and co-wrote the flick - and he was smiling.
``Thank God it worked,'' he said, with a thick German accent. ``Us poor directors - we always get blamed if it doesn't.''
So what are we so afraid of, anyway?
Why, even after the years of friendly aliens like ``E.T.'' and ``Starman,'' are we again cringing at the thought of bogeymen (who always seem to be much smarter, and far more advanced, than us)?
``It is a `What if?' premise,'' Emmerich said on the morning after the amazingly noisy New York premiere. ``We are afraid of the unknown, of course, but, to be frank with you, I don't take it seriously. I want to have fun with it. This is a popcorn movie, you know? That's why, when you finally get a glimpse of the alien, 70 minutes into the movie, Will Smith just punches it in the face. The audience laughs with relief. It's American know-how, you know?''
Emmerich admits that he doesn't believe in monsters from outer space. In fact, it was this disbelief that led him, with his co-writer and partner Dean Devlin, to make ``Independence Day.''
``The idea came to me during an interview with a newspaperman for my other movie, `Stargate.' When I told him I didn't believe in space aliens, he became indignant and asked `How can you make a movie like ``Stargate'' and not believe in aliens?' I thought about it, and my answer is that I believe in fantasy. Dean and I like to create our own world - and make you believe it. I believe in `What if?' ''
The two sent out the script, a basic ``War of the Worlds'' premise, on a Thursday at noon. By Friday at 10 p.m. Twentieth Century Fox had purchased the screenplay.
Emmerich liked sci-fi films like ``The Day the Earth Stood Still'' and ``Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' but admits that ``most of my memories, from childhood in Germany, are from TV. For several decades now, attackers from Mars have disappeared. Have you noticed? We have been through the period in which Steven Spielberg created good aliens, in `E.T.' and `Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' And there was `Starman' and `Cocoon' - big friendly aliens come down to teach us something. It became kind of like a religion, like a religious thing.''
The ``good alien'' movement, among ultra-serious analysts, was widely compared to the end of the Cold War.
``Silly,'' Emmerich said. ``Why should they visit us anyway? What is so interesting about us? And if they do come, they'll come in the open. If they can design spaceships that can travel billions of miles, they wouldn't have to disguise themselves as flowers when they get here.''
Devlin, the other guy responsible for the ``Independence Day'' attack, said ``Roland and I just ask ourselves what movie do we want to see Friday night, and if it ain't playing, we go make it. We aren't really obsessed with science-fiction movies. I think the reason we did `Independence Day,' really, was that aliens are the only PC villains left. There are still Nazis, but they're so tired and old hat.''
Devlin is a boyish and energetic filmmaker who describes himself as ``a reformed actor.'' His primary childhood experience with sci-fi is the fact that his mother once had a bit part in a ``Star Trek'' episode when she was beamed up by Scotty.
``I don't even worship `2001: A Space Odyssey,' '' Devlin said. ``If you're a sci-fi person, you're supposed to worship that. I never understood it. Once the ape threw that bone up in the air, at the first, it lost me. But we do have a homage to it, when someone says `Good morning, Dave.'
``I grew up a very frightened child. I was frightened by E.T. I never trusted him. I know everyone else loved him.''
Both Devlin and Emmerich are eager to brag that their film cost less than other summer blockbusters. ``We made this movie for just a little over $60 million,'' Emmerich said. ``I heard `The Rock' cost over $70 million, and they don't have half the special effects we have.''
He imported college students from Germany to experiment with computer technology, which markedly cut the cost. Both models (of some spaceships) and computers (for just about everything else) were used.
``Don't try to explain about how de film is made,'' Emmerich advised. ``(Viewers) don't want to know anyway. They know it isn't real. I don't take myself too seriously, and they shouldn't take the movie seriously. It's a make-believe world.''
Devlin chimes in: ``The solution, the way we get rid of the aliens, is ludicrous. We admit it. Jeff Gold-blum even plays it that way. It's as if he's saying `Well, this doesn't make sense, but, after all, it's the only plan we've got.' ''
The two admit that most of the ideas were borrowed shamelessly. Devlin sees the film as a return to the multi-character disaster flicks of the mid-'70s, things like ``The Towering Inferno,'' ``The Poseidon Adventure,'' ``Earthquake'' and all the ``Airport'' flicks. Emmerich sees it, too, as a throwback to World War II movies in which America rallied to beat a common foe.
As for the humans, Devlin explains, ``We didn't use big names, but we used the best people. We wanted everyone to be vulnerable. The audience never knows who might die, and none of our actors got $20 million salaries, so any of them might die at any time.''
As for casting Jeff Goldblum as the smart scientist, Devlin said it was the only natural choice. ``I wrote the part for him. He's a god of science-fiction. He was in `The Fly' and `Jurassic Park' and `Invasion of the Body Snatchers.' ''
Emmerich echoes, ``He's one of the best explainers. I mean few actors can make people sit still long enough to explain the silly scientific stuff. James Spader is a good explainer, but I used him so recently in `Stargate.' Jeff lets you know not to take it seriously.''
Will Smith, fresh from his ``Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' TV role, is the jet fighter who is forced into heroism.
``He's Mr. Charisma,'' said Margaret Colin, his co-star. ``Will comes on the set and he's always on. He's going to be a real movie star.''
Smith says he modeled his role after Harrison Ford in ``Star Wars'' adding, in a throwback to his earlier rap career, ``You'll laugh; you'll cry; you never know who's going to die.''
As for the Devlin-Emmerich team, they are thinking of two remakes, either ``Fantastic Voyage'' or ``Godzilla,'' or maybe both.
``We make big movies for less money,'' Emmerich said, ``but the important thing we must always remember is not to ever let all the special effects get in the way of telling a story.
``Oh, and, too, not to take it all seriously. I come across like a German goofball, but I love this kind of movie. I don't believe we are alone in the universe, but I'm not much worried about who else is out there. There are more important things to worry about, or, maybe, just not worry at all.''
Emmerich and Devlin's solution to the entire alien threat is apparently to just order another bag of popcorn. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo 20TH CENTURY FOX
20TH CENTURY FOX photo
Will Smith, left, and Jeff Goldblum map out their strategy for a
mission which could save the planet in ``Independence Day.'' by CNB