News Clips Shown

[Anthony]

But I did want to fill you in on more of the information from Rick Carter and Doug Chiang in the War of the Worlds panel. Rick Carter is the production designer and Doug Chiang is most likely the conceptual designer, which is what he was on Star Wars Episode I and II. I want to work in effects so naturally I'm a big fan of both.

Rick explained that when H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds the popular notion from a French astronomer was that there were canals on Mars, meaning civilization. We know so much about the planet now that it would be a leap of faith to say that the invaders with their war machines originated on Mars. Rick and Doug also described this film as an intensely realistic movie, and said that Spielberg wanted to give us the feel that we were living through it (not their exact words - I'm doing this from memory, and I took in a lot yesterday).

They couldn't say much about the Wells' tripods because Spielberg wants to save the surprise and we didn't see them in the footage, but they did show a few things from the film:

*A quick shot of red weed snaking over a country farm *a city on fire at the end of a long freeway packed with cars *A lighted ship tipping over (Thunder Child?)


At the start of the panel they showed a Japanese trailer that was completely different from the Superbowl trailer. The longer footage they showed had Cruise and Spielberg talking about the movie intercut with film of them shooting on location. I remember Cruise saying "We've been invaded full on." Spielberg said that the film will show Americans becoming refugees and all of us being forced to unite since the threat doesn't come from each other, it comes from ... (and here he pointed to the sky) ... up there. The footage that followed made this film seem real for the first time. I wish they would have shown it a second time as I had a sense as I was watching it that there was so much detail I was missing.


Thanks to Aint it cool


Wow red weed creeping over a farm, and the thunderchild.

[Winky]

if it was a small-medium sized ship it could have been the ferry after the tripod gets its tentacles on it.

and i bet the city is boston

[Cylinder]

Boston nowhere near New Jersey tho

[Winky]

www.hudsonreporter.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13963362&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523584&rfi=8

"Spielberg's crews closed off the highway for filming and posted signs directing movie extas to various locations. The scene was NOT a traffic jam. It was a scene in which the city is under attack, and people are driving, and at on[c]e, all of their cars go dead. Many of the extras had to get out, pop open their trunks, others walked, finally all start running from the fire in the city behind them."

[Topaz]

Anthony said:

...Spielberg said that the film will show Americans becoming refugees and all of us being forced to unite since the threat doesn't come from each other, ...

Oh, how touching. I think we all need to hug.

Sorry for the cynicism - this was exactly the sort of warm, feely cra... um, 'stuff' that I was afraid of. Hopefully the sensitive, emotional message won't be spread on too thickly.

However, I'm very glad to hear the implication that the invaders are from space, not some parallel dimension. That's very encouraging!

[RustiSwordz]

not really warm and fuzzy, if SS has his head on hell also show people fighting each other for scraps of food, punching and kicking each other to get onto the ferry/train anything to get away...

[Winky]

that's basically what happens when we try to get on the ferry...pushing and shoving and the army not caring about the crowd and just pushing us back. and then there are good moments like people on the ferry reaching their hands out trying to save others. but in the end we are all screwed

[Topaz]

Winky said:

that's basically what happens when we try to get on the ferry...pushing and shoving and the army not caring about the crowd and just pushing us back. and then there are good moments like people on the ferry reaching their hands out trying to save others. but in the end we are all screwed

Rusti, Winky -

Yeah, I hope it's balanced like you've shown. I'm just concerned by the possibility of this being an overarching 'message of hope' for all of us. Blech.

Remember the scene in Volcano where the little girl looks at the ash-covered mixed-race survivors and says wistfully, "Like this, we all look the same."

Gag, spew, wretch! ('course, that movie was trash throughout)

I just hate when a syrupy, heavy-handed message gets hammered into the audience. Spielberg is prone to that, albeit mostly in his earlier works.

Perhaps it won't be the case this time.

[RustiSwordz]

the story of war of the worlds is not so much the actual martians tearing the place up but the effect on ordinary humans.

'deny a civilised population for three meals and you will have anarchy'

take all our homes, food, and shops away and what are we. Savage animals. There is a scene in the WOTW novel where panicked people try to storm a steam train once full the train had no choice but to 'plough' trough the hundreds of panicked people to move off with people clinging to the outsides.

[themotile]

There is a scene in the movie when Cruise and co escape the bridge disaster in the mini van they come accross a croud of people who then dragg them out of the van as its one of the only vans working, the mini van hits a lamp post leaving Cruise and co on foot (is this where the mustang comes into it...?).

I dont think a mob pulling kids out of a van has a nice wholesum messgae attached to it, and it seems to be the themes running all the way through, dark and desperate.

[maniacs]

There was no feel good for 'saving private ryan'. Maybe the old man at the end but from what Ive heard that was natural for many veterans to that way.

[timeship2]

There is a scene in the movie when Cruise and co escape the bridge disaster in the mini van they come accross a croud of people who then dragg them out of the van as its one of the only vans working, the mini van hits a lamp post leaving Cruise and co on foot (is this where the mustang comes into it...?).

Isn't this very similar to the scene from the 1953 movie where they head for the hills?

[themotile]

Timeship said:

Isn't this very similar to the scene from the 1953 movie where they head for the hills?

The trouble with making comparisons is that most of the ideas have been used up, we have started recycling old ideas in our fiction, and when somebody actualy writes or creates something of there own that was in no way taken from anything else but it may have similaritys to something in another film or book the comparison will be drawn non the less.

There is a bit where Gene Barry gets dragged from a truck full of equipment but thats where the similarity ends, remember that if you had the only working car in town and the martians were comeing you may get dragged from your car too.