Director Roland Emmerich says, “We shot a lot of stuff with painted backgrounds and photographic backgrounds.” He also notes that the film’s teaser trailer was one of the highest-testing in studio history. The decision to build the film’s concept and even its title around a specific date paid off: Fox got to promote a previously unknown movie with its release date essentially in the title. Posters suggested, “Don’t make plans for August,” and featured the memorable, American-themed (if not exactly patriotic) image of the White House being blown to pieces by aliens. However, Emmerich says the studio was nervous about using that imagery in the teaser before the test results came in.
Test screenings of the film showed that excitement was building. But the actual release was still surprisingly huge. “I was in Mexico, hiding,” Emmerich says of the film’s blockbuster opening weekend. “But there was huge excitement in the air. They showed me clips of endless, endless lines… which you don’t see anymore! It was a different time.” Everyone knows the film boosted Will Smith’s Hollywood profile even higher—he returned to fight more aliens in the more comedic Men in Black a year later, cementing his status as the biggest summer-movie special effect around. But Devlin notes that Jeff Goldblum was also treated like a rock star.
“I took Jeff Goldblum to the big sci-fi convention outside Denver,” Devlin says. “He was like, ‘Why are you bringing me? Nobody’s going to know who I am.’ I said, ‘Jeff, to this audience, you’re bigger than Tom Cruise.’ And he said, ‘Oh, get out of here!’ We hadn’t told the audience we were bringing him. I went on stage and said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Jeff Goldblum,’ and you would have thought the Beatles walked on stage. They went crazy. The look on Jeff Goldblum’s face—he had no idea how much the nerd community loved him. He was taken aback, and it was one of my favorite experiences on the movie.”
Of course, the directing, writing, and producing team behind the film also got a huge boost. After the film’s success, Emmerich notes, “Everybody took me seriously. Dean and I—everyone wanted to work with us.” The pair made several more movies together, including an American version of Godzilla that wasn’t very well received. Emmerich says, “I went to Japan and hoped they’d say no. But they said yes. For me, it was almost to prove we were filmmakers you could count on.” They also made the Mel Gibson hit The Patriot.
Eventually, they split to make their own films—though they did reunite for 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence, a sequel released 20 years after the original. Neither filmmaker speaks fondly of it. “It was a horrible, terrible experience,” says Devlin. “I’d like to pretend it didn’t happen.” He and Emmerich were proud of their first script together in 12 years, and the studio was happy too. But then leadership changed, the cast changed, and rewrites took the film in a less optimal direction. Emmerich agrees: “For me, it wasn’t as satisfying because Will wasn’t in it. Will dropped out at the very last minute to do Suicide Squad. My first idea was not to do it. But so many people were already involved—two or three hundred people with the production. So we had to come up with a whole new storyline. It was all very rushed.”
The experience didn’t sour either of them on the series entirely. “I’d love to do part three and say, ‘No, I can do this right,'” says Devlin. Emmerich goes as far as to say they actually have an idea for a third film—but one that would involve Smith. As big as their movie became, both Emmerich and Devlin seem to recognize thatIt was really the human elements that made it work. Even though parts of Independence Day remind you of sci-fi movies like Alien and Star Wars, it was the film’s use of a disaster-movie structure that made it feel so fresh and easy to connect with. That approach also influenced later blockbusters like Armageddon, Transformers, and Emmerich’s own The Day After Tomorrow. Even the ending of The Avengers—a superhero movie from a very different time—features anonymous alien armies descending on a major American city.
If Independence Day is now seen by some as a cheesier summer blockbuster compared to, say, Spielberg-level films, Devlin isn’t worried about it: “Somebody’s got to make hotdogs and popcorn, and that’s what I like and what I make, and I’m unapologetic about it.” (It probably helps that Spielberg himself called to congratulate him when the movie came out.) As much as Spielberg is still linked to alien movies—Emmerich hasn’t seen the recent Disclosure Day yet, but plans to watch it “first thing” on his upcoming trip to Los Angeles—it’s Independence Day that made both disaster and alien-invasion genres directly tied to summer blockbusters, not least because it’s still a go-to movie for holiday rewatches.
As for the real-life questions playfully raised by Spielberg’s recent alien project, Devlin doesn’t think any possible visitors from another world would arrive with such hostility. “Even though I made Independence Day, I have a hard time believing that someone with the technology to travel billions of light years to get here would do it just to pick a fight,” Devlin says. “I’d imagine if you have that kind of technology, you’ve evolved into something a bit better—or at least I’d like to think so.” In the meantime, Independence Day still makes facing those worst-case, large-scale fears fun, even comforting.
Independence Day is available to watch on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK and Australia.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on the article title Looking back on the making of Independence Day 30 years later I panicked and rushed to the set to rewrite the script
BeginnerLevel Questions
Q What is this article about
A Its a retrospective look at the making of the 1996 movie Independence Day 30 years later The title highlights a moment when the writerdirector panicked and had to rewrite the script right on the set
Q Who is I in the title
A I refers to Dean Devlin the screenwriter and producer of Independence Day or Roland Emmerich the director
Q Why did he panic and rush to rewrite the script
A Most likely because a scene wasnt working the actors were struggling with the dialogue or the special effects didnt match the original words On big movies lastminute changes are common
Q Is Independence Day a good movie
A Yes it was a massive hit and is considered a classic summer blockbuster famous for its action special effects and the iconic Presidents speech
IntermediateLevel Questions
Q What kind of changes were made to the script on set
A Common changes include shortening long speeches adding more humor fixing plot holes that became obvious during filming or adjusting dialogue to fit the actors personalities better
Q Was the whole movie rewritten on set
A No The title suggests a single panicked moment Most of the script was written beforehand but key scenesespecially the Presidents speech or the dogfight sequenceswere often tweaked right before filming
Q How did the actors react to lastminute rewrites
A Actors like Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum are known for improvising A lastminute rewrite meant they had to memorize new lines quickly but it often resulted in more natural memorable performances
Q Does this happen on other big movies
A Yes its very common Movies like
