Mars Attacks!

The Art of the Movie
by
Karen R. Jones

Del Rey, November 1996, 159 pp.
ISBN: 0-345-40998-1

Genre: Non-Fiction
Subgenre: Movie Tie-In
Reviewed: 5/10/2002

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

All the President's Little Green Men

At 7:00 on the morning of February 26, 1996, principal photography began on Stage 6 at Warner Hollywood studios, a Warner Bros. satellite facility located just the other side of the Hollywood Hills from the main lot in Burbank. Mars Attacks! construction crews had been laboring since mid-December to erect the sets designed by Wynn Thomas and team. The production company had taken over all but one of the lot's seven soundstages for the first six weeks of filming.

Early on, Tim Burton had decided that the White House would figure as a primary locale. So several stages housed sets that re-created interiors of the White House, including the Oval Office, sitting rooms, and executive living quarters. To portray U.S. President James Dale, Burton needed an actor of impressive stature. He contacted Jack Nicholson.

But it wouldn't be enough to play the leader of the free world; Nicholson wanted to create a multirole tour de force. As Burton recalled from an early conversation, "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?'"

In actuality, Nicholson would portray two roles: the President and Las Vegas real estate hustler Art Land. Says Burton, "There's no better actor to go up against the Martians than him. I was very lucky. Jack is the greatest, and to see him in two parts is amazing."

Synopsis

Mars Attacks starts off as a set of 55 trading cards put out by the Topps Chewing Gum Company in 1962. In the 1994, Topps reissued the original cards along with a new set of 35 cards with all new artwork. Comic books also hit the shelves the same year. Tim Burton and Tomas Lassally, a Warner Bros. executive vice president of production, were reminiscing about these cards in 1994. From that starting point, the idea of turning Mars Attacks from a set of trading cards into a full blown movie with stop action animation for the Martians was born.

Mars Attacks!: The Art of the Movie takes the reader on an interesting journey through the making of the movie. The book is divided up into eleven chapters, covering from how the idea began for the movie to the final product. The book is packed with beautiful color photos that greatly enhance the description of the making of the movie. The following are also included: 1) Tim Burton's own initial concept sketches, 2) production models and blueprints, 3) storyboard outlining the movie mayhem, 4) photos taken on the set and behind the scenes, 5) earthly and unearthly costume designs, and 6) computer-generated Martians and their murderous machines. 

Review

Tim Burton is one of my favorite directors. But having been disappointed a few times on some of his movies, I wasn't real big on seeing his latest creation, Mars Attacks! As of this time, six years later, I think I have only ever seen little bits and pieces of the movie. But after reading this wonderful guide on the making of the movie, I feel an intense need to go and rent this movie.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I thought Karen R. Jones did a wonderful job of giving the inside scoop on how the movie was made and all of the processes that go into making a complex movie with computer-generated Martians that go on a killing spree, just because they want to. There is so much neat stuff in this book that it has to be seen to be believed.

All I can say is that if you want to read a fun-filled book on the making of the movie, you will love Mars Attacks!: The Art of the Movie. Plus, it will make you want to go out and rent the movie.