Mars Attacks! (1996) on Netflix
Martian ships gather around Earth. President James Dale addresses the nation while his science aides arrange a first-contact meeting, and General Decker argues the visitors cannot be trusted.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.4/10261,234 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes55%
Trailer
Plot summary
A Martian craft leaves its planet and gathers hundreds of other ships for the journey to Earth. President James Dale speaks to the nation about the historic event, and days later his science aides arrange a first meeting with the visitors in Pahrump, Nevada, which he watches with Marsha, his wife, and their daughter Taffy. A translation machine carries the words of the Martian ambassador, who declares that his race has come in peace. General Decker urges the president to fight, while General Casey takes the hopeful view. Art Land, an alcohol dealer from Texas, and his wife Barbara are eager for what the visit might bring them, while Richie Norris is valued mostly by his grandmother Florence.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mars Attacks! (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Approached for the role of the President, Jack Nicholson joked that he wanted to play all the roles, and Burton agreed to cast him as both Art Land and President Dale, specifically remembering their positive working relationship on Batman.
- The destruction of Art Land's hotel was footage of the real-life nighttime demolition of the Landmark Hotel and Casino, a building Burton wished to immortalize.
- Roger L. Jackson, best known as the voice of Ghostface in the Scream films, makes an uncredited appearance as the voice of the Martian translator device, and that performance helped him get the audition for Scream.
- In 1985 Alex Cox pitched a film based on the Mars Attacks trading-card series to Orion and TriStar Pictures and wrote three drafts over the next four years, but he was replaced by Martin Amis before the film was placed in turnaround.
- Susan Sarandon was originally set to play Barbara Land before Annette Bening was cast, and Bening modeled the character on Ann-Margret's performance in Viva Las Vegas (1964).
- An international team of about 70 animators worked on Mars Attacks! for eight months and began compiling test footage in Burbank, California, studying Gloria Swanson's choreography and movement as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard for the Martians' movement.
- Burton believed a Mars Attacks! adaptation could work like a 1970s disaster picture with an ensemble cast, so he and Gems rented a copy of The Towering Inferno (1974) and watched it for inspiration.
