Happy 25th Anniversary To Independence Day!

I'm a couple days late here, but whatever. Happy 25th Anniversary to Independence Day (the movie, not the holiday)! Believe it or not, it premiered back on July 3rd, 1996 (although some cities just couldn't wait and began running it a day early).

The movie was written by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, and was directed by Emmerich. Over the years the duo collaborated in one form or another on films such as Universal Soldier, Stargate, Godzilla (1998) and The Patriot.

Independence Day had a budget of just $75 million, but went on to gross an astonishing $817 million— in 1996 dollars! That's the equivalent of $1.4 BILLION today! Holy Crap!

ID4 (as it's often known) is one of my guiltiest of guilty pleasures. No, strike that— there's nothing guilty about it, as it's one of my all time favorite movies. I saw it in the theater back in 1996, and immediately loved it. I've seen it a good twenty or thirty times over the years, and I never get tired of it. Any time I see it playing on TV I have to drop everything and watch it.

I'm not exactly sure why I like it so much or what makes it so compelling to me. I freely admit it's big, dumb and loud, but damn if it isn't engaging and entertaining, and in the end, isn't that a movie's job?

Yes, many of the characters are paper thin or stereotypes. But the film allows the audience to spend time getting to know them, so we end up becoming invested in their lives and what's happening to them. Modern movies could learn a thing or two from ID4.

It's become an annual tradition in my household to watch it every July 4th!

ID4 has a huge cast, featuring a large number of actors who'd worked primarily in TV— including Will Smith. He'd just finished his stint on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air TV series when the film premiered in 1996. The movie catapulted his career and made him a superstar overnight. 

The FX work is top notch as well. The film premiered after the dawn of the CGI age, but still used a massive amount of practical effects. In fact it holds the record for most miniatures used in a single production. That's probably why most of the effects still hold up a quarter of a century later. It featured its fair share of digital work as well though, mostly in the fighter jet scenes. In all the film features over 3,000 effects shots.

What made the movie stand out was its "go for broke" attitude toward the alien destruction. This wasn't your typical wimpy invasion— these aliens didn't hold back, and went for the major landmarks! It's fair to say audiences had never seen carnage on such a massive scale before, which is part of what made the film so successful. The shot of them destroying the White House was totally unexpected and at the time, shocking. It ended up becoming the most iconic image of the entire movie.

The idea for the film came when Devlin and Emmerich were on a promotional tour for Stargate. When a reporter asked if he believed in aliens, Emmerich said no, as he didn't believe they'd fly all the way here just to hide in a backwoods field. He said he was fascinated by the idea of waking up one morning to see fifteen-mile wide spaceships hovering over the world's cities. He then reportedly turned to Devlin and said, "I think we have an idea for our next film!"

The pair wrote the script during a month long vacation in Mexico, and it was greenlit by Fox chairman Peter Chernin just one day later. Three days after that they began pre-production on the film!

The US military originally promised to provide personnel, vehicles and uniforms to the production, but pulled out when Devlin & Emmerich refused to remove references to Area 51!

Watch for the edit when David (played by Jeff Goldblum) warns his coworker Marty (played by Harvey Fierstein) to get to safety. Marty says, Oh, my God. I gotta call my brother! I gotta call my housekeeper! I gotta call my lawyer! Nah, forget my lawyer!" If you watch closely, he clearly says, "F*ck my lawyer," but the filmmakers dubbed the line to "forget" to avoid an R rating.

In the original ending, Russell Casse (played by real life crazy person Randy Quaid) saved the day by strapping a missile to his red biplane and flying it into the alien ship hovering above Area 51. Emmerich eventually reshot the scene with Russell piloting a fighter jet, as he thought it was too unbelievable for a biplane to keep pace with such planes. I think he made the right decision.

Something I noticed in my most recent viewing— the movie features a large and very diverse cast, consisting of numerous races, genders, religions and orientations. Everyone gets along as they all work toward the common goal of survival against insurmountable odds. Best of all, this diversity feels completely natural and not forced, as it so often does in films today. It simply exists, and no one comments on it— which is the way it should be done.

If this film were being made today, you can bet your bottom dollar that the studio would be trumpeting its diversity, representation and inclusivity and beating the audience over the head with the fact, and would sacrifice story for identity politics. Again, modern films could learn a thing or twelve from this one.

So Happy 25th to Independence Day!