It’s the No. 1 movie in America – raking in $36 million– and now THR has some surprising details about the alien invasion box office hit, starring Aaron Eckhart:
1. The film is based on true events.
The movie was inspired by an incident during World War II: On Feb. 25, 1942, several unidentified aircraft were sighted off the Los Angeles coast. The events of that night remain a mystery. Of bringing the story to the big screen, director
Jonathan Liebesman has said: “You want to draw on a collective conscious of images that have been seen, and the funny thing was that no one has really ever heard of it or seen it. What’s great is that it was a real event that you can extrapolate from. So it’s just using stuff in our collective conscious and melding it with this real event.”
2 Very little of the film was actually shot in L.A.
Tax incentives brought the production to Louisiana where sets of L.A. streets were constructed. It cost $70 million to produce.
3. Training was ‘gnarly.’
Marines from Camp Pendleton helped train the actors, with intense boot-camp workouts.
Michelle Rodriguez, who plays TSgt. Elena Santos, tells the
Los Angeles Times training got “pretty gnarly. I mean, I didn’t stick around at night… or anything, but I was there from 5 o’clock in the morning to 5 o’clock in the afternoon training hard-core. The PT, the running for two miles, the taking the guns apart and putting them back together, the clearing house, the whole technological training was awesome.”
4. Never-before-seen film photos are available.
The Hollywood Reporter has
an exclusive peek of Eckhart and others at Camp Pendleton.
5. The battle may not be over.
A sequel could be in the works, says actor Cory Hardrict, who plays Cpl. Jason Lockett. He tells the Web site, screen rant: “There’s tons of room, yeah. I mean this attack is going on across the globe so it’s worldwide. We’re just defending LA at the moment, so hopefully it resonates with the people. If a sequel happens, or if it’s franchised, I’ll be ready for duty!”
