22 unknown facts about the film “War of the Worlds,” in which Spielberg and Cruise finally quarreled (11 photos + 1 video)

Director Steven Spielberg wanted to stage War of the Worlds back in the eighties. But at some points the film was postponed due to the fact that the special effects were not yet at the required level, and then Spielberg’s own busy schedule and the box office success of other films about alien invaders interfered.





1. Spielberg and Cruise enjoyed working together on Minority Report so much that they decided to definitely do it again. During the filming of Catch Me If You Can, they met in an informal setting and Cruise offered a choice of three options, of which Spielberg chose War of the Worlds.

1.1. Both liked the project so much that Spielberg postponed the filming of “Munich” for later, and Cruise postponed the third part of “Mission: Impossible”.



1.2. However, this was the last collaboration between Spielberg and Cruise. In the early 2000s, the actor became seriously interested in Scientology and Katie Holmes, which negatively affected the filming process, the promotion of “War” and a whole series of strange antics of Cruise, which is why Spielberg vowed not to film him again.



2. Spielberg admitted that this film reflected his impressions and experiences of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.



3. By the way, Roz Abrams is a real television journalist from New York.

4. Unlike the original source, “The War of the Worlds” (1897) by H.G. Wells, in the film no one calls the aliens Martians.

5. In the basement of the house where Ray and Rachel are hiding, the aliens are looking at the bicycle with interest. This is a reference to Wells' book, in which the main character (who remembers his name?) suggests that, despite many cool technologies, the Martians missed the invention of the wheel.



6. Mary Anne's parents were played by Anne Robinson and Jean Barry, who starred in the previous 1953 film adaptation of The War of the Worlds. This is Barry's last film role.



7. The first tripod appears on Van Buren Street. Sylvia Van Buren is the main character of “War” 1953. It was she who was played by Anne Robinson.



8. Harbor crane operator Ray wears an expensive Omega watch and drives an even more expensive vintage Shelby Mustang GT-350H. Such a rarity in those days was sold at auctions for ~$160 thousand. What are they loading there at the port? :)

9. The “battle cry” of the tripods was based on the sound of the didgeridoo, a wind instrument of the Australian aborigines. Plus, of course, a lot of computer processing.

10. George Lucas mentioned in an interview that this was the first Spielberg film that the director shot using computer previsualization instead of a hand-drawn storyboard. According to him, Spielberg was convinced by Lucas' experience working on Revenge of the Sith, and it's been that way ever since.



"Out of the Night" is the secret title of the film at the pre-visualization stage so that no one will guess :)

11. In the frame we see a real M1 Abrams battle tank (and not fake superstructures as was previously in the cinema), real M16 assault rifles (and not plastic dummies), other real military equipment and even real members of the National Guard.

12. Miranda Otto (Mary Anne) was actually pregnant during filming. Spielberg specifically added this feature to her character because he really wanted to see the actress in the film.



13. A crowd of onlookers photographing the sky as Ray runs out of the house in search of Robbie - a real crowd of onlookers who were lured into filming with the promise of free photos of Tom Cruise himself. How much will fit?

14. How to distinguish the American version of the film release? In it, the Paramount logo comes before Dreamworks. Worldwide and on DVD Dreamworks first.

15. Several dozen floating mannequins were made for this scene. Several of them could not be caught, causing panic among local residents downstream.



16. Decorations of the scene of plane crashesWe made it from a real decommissioned Boeing 747, previously owned by the Japanese airline ANA (this is noticeable by the coloring of the fuselage). Transportation of the aircraft cost $2 million.

17. Filming lasted 72 days. It seems, like, a little for such a blockbuster. But Spielberg himself said that this is more than his usual scope. One can only imagine how much time it would have taken without computer previsualization.

18. The design of the tripods was based on sea mollusks. Or Ray's harbor crane (just kidding:) The appearance of the alien Martians themselves was inspired by jellyfish and the red-eyed tree frog.



19. For the hero Tom Cruise, 60 identical leather jackets were made, which were then aged according to the moment of their appearance in the film.

19.1. By the way, pay attention to Robbie's clothes. He's unconsciously copying his father!

20. The film premiered on June 23, 2005 at Broadway's Ziegfeld Theatre. On it, Tom Cruise announced his relationship with Katie Holmes.



21. And yet, it is not clear how Ray managed to chop off with an ax the reconnaissance limb of a technologically advanced tripod, which was not hit by shells or missiles (well, ok, they exploded on the way, but still). It is possible that this is a tribute to the 1953 film adaptation, in which Clayton Forrester accomplishes a similar feat.

22. Budget - $132 million, box office receipts - $603 million (4th place among Hollywood films in 2005)

22.1. The film was nominated for three Oscars, but lost them all to Peter Jackson's King Kong.