"Independence Day" Turns 30: Behind-the-Scenes of the Alien Invasion Blockbuster

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The makers of the blockbusting sci-fi thriller reveal how they made a hit, why Kevin Spacey was almost involved and what went wrong with the sequel

The architects of cinema’s most popular alien invasion have slightly differing accounts of how exactly the original plans for Independence Day came to them. But they both agree that it began with the now-famous image of a massive spaceship looming over a city skyline.

Roland Emmerich, the director, recalls explaining the scope of the concept to Dean Devlin, the co-writer and producer, at the latter’s home: “He lived in an area on a hill, so I said, let’s go to the window – all of what you see would be [covered by] the underside of a spaceship. He said, where’s the humor? And I said, there’s a guy knocking out an alien saying ‘welcome to Earth.’ Then we learned that Tim Burton, a director I really admire, was doing Mars Attacks! We knew that movie was coming out in August, and we said, well, there’s a great date before: Fourth of July. And that’s why the movie is called Independence Day.”

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