War of the Worlds (2005 movie)
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War of the Worlds is a 2005 modern retelling of H.G. Wells' original novel. It is to be directed by Steven Spielberg, with a script by David Koepp and starring Tom Cruise. The budget is US$128 million.
The film tells H.G. Wells' story "through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it." Locations were in Bayonne, New Jersey, Athens, New York City (Staten Island), Rockbridge County, Virginia, Brooklyn and parts of Los Angeles. Steven Spielberg cast Ann Robinson and Gene Barry, the two stars of George Pal's 1950s adaptation of War of the Worlds, in cameo roles of his film.
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Spielberg on the adaptation
Spielberg told the web site Dark Horizons: "I'm more interested in concept shots and money shots than I am in tons of MTV coverage, which certainly takes a lot of time. But if I can put something on the screen that is sustained where you get to study it and you get to say, 'How did they do that?' That's happening before my eyes and the shot's not over yet, it's still going and it's still going and my God, it's an effects shot and it's lasting seemingly forever. I enjoy that more than creating illusion with sixteen different camera angles, where no shot lasts longer than six seconds on the screen. To pull a rabbit out of a hat, because you are really a smart audience and you're in the fastest media, the fastest growing new media today and you know the difference between sleight of hand visually and the real thing. I think what makes War of the Worlds, at least the version that we're making, really exciting, is you get to really see what's happening. There's not a lot of visual tricks. We tell it like it is, we shot it to you, and we put you inside the experience. "
And this about the story: Spielberg: "It's nothing you can really describe. The whole thing is very experiential. The point of view is very personal - everybody, I think, in the world will be able to relate to the point of view, because it's about a family trying to survive and stay together, and they're surrounded by the most epically horrendous events you could possibly imagine."
Tom Cruise and Scientology controversy
Press coverage in the lead up to the film's release, notably in May and June 2005, covered Tom Cruise's proselytisation for Scientology. Around this time Cruise had changed publicists, from Pat Kingsley to his sister Lee Anne De Vette, and notably talked more about Scientology, overshadowing talk of the film itself.
Press coverage has noted [1] (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=100&ObjectID=10328889) the similarity between the movie poster and the front cover of The Invaders Plan (volume one of Mission Earth) by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology.
Budget
In August of 2004, the Internet Movie Database reported that the film was "poised to make history in Hollywood as the most expensive film ever made - surpassing Titanic's $198 million budget." The report quoted an unnamed source that said, "No expense will be spared. Spielberg wants to make it the film of the decade." The New York Times, the original source for this number, ran a correction a few days later that the budget is actually $128 million.
Main cast
- Tom Cruise — Ray Ferrier
- Dakota Fanning — Rachel Ferrier
- Tim Robbins — Ogilvy
- Miranda Otto — Mary Ann Ferrier
- David Alan Basche — Tim
- James DuMont
- Yul Vazquez — Julio
- Daniel Franzese
- Justin Chatwin — Robbie Ferrier
- Lenny Venito — Manny
See also
External links
- Official Site (http://www.waroftheworlds.com/)
- The War of the Worlds Movie Site (http://www.waroftheworldsfilm.com/) - Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise
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- Guardian Unlimited: Spielberg and Cruise plan new War of Worlds (http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1171975,00.html)
- First teaser trailer (http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/waroftheworlds/)
- Cruise - Spielberg interviews on Dark Horizons (http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/warworlds.php/)
- Interview with Doug Chiang and Rick Carter, designers on the film (http://romanticmovies.about.com/od/waroftheworlds/a/warworld022305.htm/)
- Behind the scenes featurette on the film (http://www.latinoreview.com/films_2005/paramount/wotw/featurette.html/)
- Los Angeles Times Summer Sneaks Article (http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/cl-ca-war8may08,2,6048620.story?coll=cl-home-top-blurb-right/)
- Fansite's new images from War of the Worlds (http://www.dreamworksfansite.com/waroftheworlds/images_official.php/DreamWorks)
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