The Inspiration
The Story
As Many Stars as in the Heavens
Little Green Men and Other Special Effects
Production Design
Costume Design, Hair and Make-Up
The Martian Girl
On Location: Washington, D.C.
On Location: The Heartland
On Location: Viva Las Vegas!
On Location: Martian Desert Landing
Life On Mars

The Inspiration

Over the past decade, Tim Burton has become one of the most imaginatively daring and commercially successful filmmakers of our time. He has applied his signature style to such unforgettable visions and popular films as the contemporary Gothic myth of "Batman" and "Batman Returns," the tender fable of "Edward Scissorhands," the eye-popping comic underside of the underworld in "Beetlejuice" and the delicate fantasy of "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas."

Now, Burton turns his characteristic deft, dark humor to a classic genre of the silver screen: the Martian invasion of Earth! Evoking the grade-B, alarmist horror "classics" of the `50s, "Mars Attacks!" found its conception in a series of bold trading cards once considered too extreme for the marketplace.

After the release of his homage to the best bad director of all time, "Ed Wood," Burton was trying to determine what his next directorial effort would be. He found himself recalling the low-budget, double-feature fare of his youth. "I wanted to do something fun, the kind of movies I grew up watching," Burton explains. "I've always loved the science-fiction movies of the `50s. Growing up on all those movies about Martians with big brains sort of stays with you forever."

In conversations with Warner Bros., Burton came to encounter a trading-card series, "Dinosaur Attacks!," issued by the Topps Company in the late `70s. Warner Bros. had once owned the rights to the cards, which featured carnivorous prehistoric monsters returned from extinction to devastate contemporary cities . . . but the option had expired.

Something inside of Burton clicked: "After I saw the `Dinosaur Attacks!' cards, I remembered, `Wasn't there something else like it?'"

Indeed there was. Nearly two decades earlier, Topps had issued a series of cards under the title "Mars Attacks!" Created during the height of the Cold War in 1962, the trading cards depicted a War of the Worlds-style invasion of Earth by Martians. However, due to the nature of some of their images, the cards were never distributed nationally and were pulled from the market after only a few months. Over the years, the cards developed a cult status and currently bring high prices in the collectibles market.

Burton recalls, "Because the cards had come out and gone so quickly, I didn't know if it was a dream or something I made up. After rediscovering them, however, I couldn't get them out of my head."

Warner Bros., the studio where Burton made his directorial debut with "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" and where he had enjoyed some of his greatest artistic and commercial triumphs with "Batman," "Beetlejuice" and "Batman Returns," was eager to renew its relationship with this singular filmmaker. They quickly secured the rights for "Mars Attacks!" from Topps, and Burton immediately began imprinting his own inimitable creative vision onto the story of defenseless Americans facing a seemingly invincible foe.

The Story

To help him develop that vision, Burton turned to British-born screenwriter Jonathan Gems, whom he had met during the filming of "Batman." Burton and Gems began to conceive of a storyline inspired by images from the original "Mars Attacks!" cards and classic alien invasion films of the `50s and `60s.

Burton jokes, "We developed the script painstakingly by taking the cards and throwing them on the ground and picking out the ones that we liked." He wanted to maintain the style of the cards, whose images seem milder now with the passing of 25 years since their initial release. "Part of what I like about the cards," he says, "is they're real kids' stuff -- pretty over-the-top."

Gems recalls, "Tim had a key idea for the basic construction of the film. He wanted to have a large cast in different locales, with the characters going through their own private dramas at the same time that the world is going through a very public drama. That was Tim's perception, and I started with that and the cards.

"Tim decided that we should set it in Washington, D.C., because we had to see the President," says Gems. "And he said, `Let's have a group in Las Vegas,' because Vegas has that kind of sleaze appeal. Then we decided we should have a contrast, so we chose the Midwest."

The breathless action in "Mars Attacks!" bounces between the stately grandeur of Washington, D.C.; the studios and apartments of New York City; a desolate donut shop and the surrounding plains of Kansas; the deserts of Arizona; and the bulbs and buzz of Las Vegas. To populate these varied locales, Burton called upon a dream team of some of cinema's foremost talents.

As Many Stars as in the Heavens

Casting the nearly 20 lead roles in "Mars Attacks!" proved not too arduous for Burton as he discovered many of the screen's brightest stars clamoring to be a part of this once-in-a-career ensemble in this one-of-a-kind comedy.

To portray United States President James Dale, Burton needed an actor of impressive stature -- somebody who could reasonably fill the shoes of the leader of the free world and who wasn't afraid to stumble over those shoes as the character bungles his overtures to the Martians again and again . . . and again. Burton approached Jack Nicholson with an open offer of his choice of roles in the film. Nicholson, of course, had previously worked with Burton when he memorably personified the fiendish Joker in "Batman."

Burton recalls his initial conversation with Nicholson, who wanted to create a multi-role tour de force performance. "I asked him if he'd read the script, and he said he thought it was funny. I asked, `So, Jack, which part do you want to play?' and he replied, `How `bout all of them?'"

The resulting decision was that Nicholson would portray two roles, the President and slick Las Vegas real estate hustler Art Land. Said Burton, "There's no better actor to go up against the Martians than Jack. I was very lucky. I enjoy seeing somebody who is really strong at what they do and who just goes for it. Jack is willing to do anything, no matter how crazy it seems. He's the greatest, and to see him in two parts is amazing."

Playing these divergent roles gave double Academy Award-winner Nicholson the opportunity to work for the first time with two Oscar-nominated leading actresses. To portray devoted First Lady Marsha Dale, Glenn Close stepped into very proper red dresses, a tidy wig and an uptight attitude. And as Barbara Land, who has channeled her former alcoholism into a passion for New Age philosophy, Annette Bening donned an auburn wig, big bangles and baubles, fake nails and a spaced-out air.

Close said she signed on for "Mars Attacks!" because "the script made me laugh out loud, and I've always wanted to work with Tim." Working with the inventive, always-experimenting director brought out the playful side of the actress, who was game to go where he suggested. "Tim was great about coming up with ideas," Close continues. "He told me at one point to be just like the Bride of Frankenstein, and on another shot, he said, `Oh, just do a spit take,' and I thought, `Great!'"

Close describes her styled-and-set, restrained grande dame of the White House as "very aware of appearances. She is a composite of a lot of first ladies, actually. She's quite controlled, but she adores her husband. I thought that tight-hair, tight-smile kind of look was appropriate."

Annette Bening, the other of Nicholson's on-screen wives, was also drawn to the project for the sheer outrageousness of it all. "The whole concept and style of the film made me laugh, and the character of Barbara appealed to me particularly. I love her optimism in the face of all this calamity," she remembers. "And getting the chance to work with Tim, Jack Nicholson and the rest of the cast was an opportunity that I couldn't resist. It was a lot of fun to be surrounded by these talented actors who were all clearly having such a good time."

Along with Bening's breezy Barbara Land, another of the casino denizens that battles the Martians in Vegas is known simply as "Rude Gambler" and is played with ungallant gusto by Danny DeVito, a Tim Burton alumnus from his days as the Penguin in "Batman Returns."

DeVito clearly relished the leering, loutish, loudmouth role. He describes the character as "a guy who just wants to gamble. He wants to go to Vegas, have a good time, and all this brouhaha is happening. Somebody's got news that Martians have landed somewhere. What is that? I want to play craps. They blew up the White House. Big deal! Let's get to work here. Let's have some fun. All those showgirls standing around watching T.V. when they should be shaking their you-know-whats."

DeVito also echoes the sentiment of his co-stars in appreciating the chance to go way over the top in such unique company. "I got to smoke stogeys with Tom Jones. We got chased by Martians; we ran through a casino and a neon graveyard; there were explosions everywhere; the sky was lit up and there were spaceships flying all around us. When do you get a chance to do stuff like that? You run down there and do that, baby!"

Providing a dose of reality to the Vegas sequences is Tom Jones, playing himself alongside the casino crowd populated by Nicholson, Bening, DeVito and Jim Brown. During pre-production, Burton and screenwriter Jonathan Gems were on a scouting trip to Vegas when they attended a Tom Jones stage show and visited the performer backstage.

Says Jones, "Tim came to see me during a show at the MGM Grand. He said he had this idea for a movie and that he'd like me to be in it. I was very excited, because I love the work that Tim has done -- he does outrageous things, and I'm glad to be a part of that."

Burton enthuses, "I've always been of fan of his. I remember in my neighborhood as a kid, I never got the sense that anybody really liked music -- except for Tom Jones -- so I heard a lot of him. He's got a great voice, and he's a great performer."

Back in Washington, D.C., among the cast of characters is scientist Donald Kessler, portrayed with English urbanity and blithering inanity by Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan, delighted to be working in this "silly, completely goofball, big romp," describes the pipe-chomping Kessler as "this guy who's a know-it-all scientist into Martianology. And basically, he's full of B.S. He hasn't a clue what's going on, even when his head is on a plate" -- which, of course, makes him one of the most trusted advisors to the equally clueless President Dale.

Brosnan, like the entire cast, cherished the chance to work with an ensemble of actors of such caliber and talent. "My first day's work was in the Oval Office and was a six-page scene," he recalls. "I looked around, and there was Jack - the man - as the President, Glenn Close as his First Lady, young and beautiful Natalie Portman, Mr. Rod Steiger, Paul Winfield, Martin Short and yours truly. It was amazing and wonderful."

Vying for the best coverage of the story of the century are a media couple made up of "In Style Fashion" correspondent Nathalie Lake, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, and her Global News Network reporter boyfriend Jason Stone, played by Michael J. Fox.

"I wouldn't call Nathalie a serious journalist," explains Parker, who starred in Burton's last film, "Ed Wood," and was one of the first to sign on for "Mars Attacks!," before even reading a script. "She probably doesn't have an inordinate amount of talent, but she seems to jibe with what is trendy and fashionable."

Jason Stone, on the other hand, takes himself quite seriously, says Fox. "The Martian landing is the biggest story of his career, which still makes it a distant second to his favorite thing in the world -- himself. He probably ties on the vacuous scale with Nathalie, so they're a great couple."

Parker and Fox describe their respective characters' reactions to the Martian landing in the desert, on which they both report. Parker says, "Nathalie just thinks it's some sort of spectacle to attend, and she has front-row seats, naturally."

Fox's Stone is "really much more concerned with his hair. `How's my hair? Is my hair okay?'"

As the festive celebration of the landing goes horribly awry and the Martians unleash an assault on the gathered masses, Fox displayed great prowess as an action star. He navigated exploding charges and careening Jeeps to try to save Nathalie and her beloved Chihuahua, Poppy, who, not coincidentally, is portrayed by Burton's own much-doted-upon pooch.

Tim Burton obviously had a ball directing some of the entertainment industry's finest talents as they fired ray guns, dodged lasers and confronted Martians who weren't even there. "I was very lucky to have such great actors working against imaginary green men. That was the most surreal thing. All of these great actors came in, and they basically reverted to play-acting. They all got into the spirit of it, and it was a joy to watch them."

Little Green Men and Other Special Effects

For as many stars are in "Mars Attacks!," there are countless more three-foot Martians who weren't so easily cast. They had to be created.

Burton characterizes the Martians as being like "anarchistic kids you can't understand. You don't really know what they want, and there's really no clear motivation. They're just like bad, hyperactive teens."

Before "Mars Attacks!," producer Larry Franco had just completed production on "Jumanji," which made extensive use of computer-generated imagery, and he recognized the potential for using this modern form of animation to bring the Martians to life in all their terrible glory.

"When I first saw it, I was amazed," remembers Burton. "Every type of animation has a different vibe, and it's not something that you can really analyze. But there was something about the computer medium that seemed to work with these characters because they were all the same and had a certain quality to their movement."

Burton, resolved that the Martians would be created as three-dimensional computer-generated characters, contracted with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), famed for their ground-breaking techniques in computer animation for films such as "Twister," "Jurassic Park," "Forrest Gump" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."

ILM's JIM MITCHELL served as visual-effects supervisor of all the Martian character sequences. Mitchell enthuses, "We were really excited about working with Tim because of his animation background and strong sense of design."

Mitchell continues, "We've come very far in the past few years, being able to build and animate any character we want. But most of the work has involved dinosaurs and animals from the real world, and I was ready to try something a little more strange and surreal. And what's weirder than a Martian?"

With just a little over a year before the film's release, ILM set to work creating the invading Martians in their spacesuits as well as the Martains who reside on the flying saucer. Says Mitchell, "Our biggest challenge was finding the quirky, eccentric behavior of the Martians Tim wanted. He gave us a lot of creative freedom to develop them into this `force of nature.' To me, they were basically like a bunch of mischievous kids -- maybe a little meaner, though."

In addition to the Martians themselves, the script contained some 120 shots of global destruction, airborne saucer sequences and the Martian landing in the desert. Warner Bros.' newly-formed visual effects facility, Warner Digital Studios, was responsible for designing and animating these sequences. For the main titles alone, they had to generate two-and-a-half minutes' worth of saucer animation as legions of Martian spaceships depart the Red Planet for Earth.

Warner Digital also created the various scenes of worldwide cataclysm, and the studio's workshop soon resembled a shrunken map of the world's leading tourist destinations, with scale models of Big Ben, The Capitol Building and other landmarks built for destruction. The wizards at the studio also created the Martian-driven robot that chases Richie Norris in his pick-up truck through the streets of Perkinsville, Kansas.

Vice president and sernior visual-effects supervisor MICHAEL FINK led the Warner Digital team. Fink had previously worked with Burton and Franco on "Batman Returns," which featured the first computer-generated creatures to faithfully replicate existing beings. Fink explains the special challenges offered in "Mars Attacks!": "Unlike other films where the effects you create are entirely realistic and completely modern, `Mars Attacks!' has a very different kind of production design. What we tried to do was re-create the feel of the `50s science-fiction `invasion from Mars' kinds of movies, but make it contemporary and modern and completely photo-realistic. It's a very fine line to walk."

To meet the special stylistic demands, Fink and his team watched all of the films in Burton's ouevre. "Tim is very consistent, and there are characters and motifs that have carried through from one film to another. We really studied `Edward Scissorhands' and `The Nightmare Before Christmas,' because there are things in the way those characters move and in the design of them that carry through to our animation."