50 Fun Facts About Independence Day (1996 Film)

Which landmark's fiery destruction in Independence Day became the centerpiece of the film's marketing campaign?

The White House later hosted a private screening for President Bill Clinton and his family. The exploding version was a model about 10 feet wide, wired with 40 charges.

Which actor plays Captain Steven Hiller, the Marine pilot who captures a downed alien in Independence Day?

Will Smith won the part after the filmmakers saw him in Six Degrees of Separation. His character also dreams of becoming an astronaut.

In Independence Day, the alien ship hidden at Area 51 crashed in 1947 near which New Mexico town?

Roswell gives the film its backstory: a government faction has kept the recovered ship and three alien corpses at the base ever since.

In Independence Day, what does David Levinson upload to the alien mothership to bring down the invaders' shields?

A computer virus written with Area 51 researchers knocks out the shields, an idea Levinson gets from a remark by his father, Julius. A nuclear missile then finishes the job.

Which actor plays President Whitmore, whose Independence Day speech Empire readers voted the cheesiest movie moment?

Bill Pullman prepared to play a president by reading Bob Woodward's The Commanders and watching the campaign documentary The War Room.

Independence Day's $817 million made it the second-highest-grossing film ever at the time, behind which blockbuster?

Jurassic Park had set the record three years earlier. Independence Day passed The Lion King to take second place and was the highest-grossing film of 1996.

How do American forces in Independence Day contact other nations to organize the united July 4 counterattack?

Morse code carries the plan around the world. A tie-in novel, War in the Desert, follows the two RAF officers seen receiving the message in the film.

Jasmine's earrings and wedding ring in Independence Day sparked real demand for jewelry featuring which animal?

Dolphin jewelry was in demand a month after release, designers reported. Jasmine wears dolphin earrings and is given a wedding ring with a gold dolphin.

Fox opened Independence Day's ad campaign with a commercial during which broadcast, starting a blockbuster trend?

The Super Bowl spot cost Fox $1.3 million, and the film's success made the game the place to launch campaigns for would-be blockbusters.

Which actor plays David Levinson, the cable company engineer who warns the president in Independence Day?

Jeff Goldblum's character was based on Christopher Weaver, founder of the game publisher Bethesda Softworks, who advised the production on its science.

Which German-born filmmaker directed Independence Day and later The Day After Tomorrow and 2012?

Roland Emmerich hit on the idea when a reporter asked him about aliens: he pictured waking up to 15-mile-wide ships hanging over the world's biggest cities.

Which giant monster movie, released in 1998, was the next film from Independence Day's director and producer?

Godzilla reunited the pair in 1998. They had signed on in May 1996, before Independence Day reached cinemas, on condition they could do it their own way.

Independence Day's survivors converge on Area 51, a secret base in the desert of which US state?

Nevada kept a souvenir: the producers gave the town of Rachel, the nearest to the real base, a time capsule meant to stay sealed until 2050.

Which Star Trek actor plays Dr. Brackish Okun, the excitable chief scientist at Area 51 in Independence Day?

Brent Spiner, the android Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation, plays a character whose look and manner of speaking were based on effects supervisor Jeffrey A. Okun.

Which Texas city is destroyed in Independence Day when the president approves a trial nuclear strike on a saucer?

Houston had been mostly evacuated, but the saucer's force field shrugged off the blast, so every further nuclear strike was called off.

Which actor plays Russell Casse, the crop duster who crashes into the saucer's main weapon in Independence Day?

Randy Quaid, Cousin Eddie in the Vacation films, first shot the ending with a missile tied to Casse's biplane. It was redone so he flies a modern fighter instead.

What does Russell Casse claim he experienced while crop dusting, ten years before Independence Day's invasion?

An alien abduction is the story nobody believes until the saucers arrive. Casse, a former fighter pilot who served in Vietnam, takes the invasion as proof.

Which Taxi star plays Julius Levinson, the father whose remark inspires the winning plan in Independence Day?

Judd Hirsch, the cab driver Alex Rieger in Taxi, played a character the film's producer based on one of his own uncles.

Through which natural landmark does Steven Hiller lure an alien fighter before ejecting in Independence Day?

Grand Canyon pilot's-eye shots came from a World War II training plane flown through the Little Colorado River canyon with a camera on its nose.

Which New Orleans singer plays Steven Hiller's fellow pilot Captain Jimmy Wilder in Independence Day?

Harry Connick Jr. took over the part from Matthew Perry, who had originally been cast as Hiller's friend and wingman.

Which Independence Day producer and co-writer had earlier written the screenplay for Universal Soldier?

Dean Devlin and the director wrote the script on a month-long vacation in Mexico, and the studio's chairman approved it one day after they sent it out.

Independence Day was conceived while its makers were in Europe promoting which 1994 science fiction film?

Stargate prompted a reporter to ask the director why he made such films if he did not believe in aliens. His answer became the pitch for the next one.

Which Academy Award category gave Independence Day its only Oscar win, out of two nominations?

Best Visual Effects rewarded a production that built more than twice as many miniatures as any film before it. Its other nomination, for sound, went unrewarded.

Which title did Fox reportedly prefer for Independence Day before the studio won the rights to the name?

Doomsday would have matched other disaster films of the day. Warner Bros. held the Independence Day title through a 1983 film, so the shoot went by ID4.

Which actor turned down the role of Steven Hiller in Independence Day because he thought the script was terrible?

Ethan Hawke was offered the part first and passed. The film he dismissed went on to sell an estimated 69 million tickets in the United States and Canada.

Jada Pinkett passed on playing Jasmine in Independence Day in favor of which Eddie Murphy comedy?

The Nutty Professor was in cinemas the same summer, and Independence Day beat it to the number-one spot at the box office when it opened.

Which actress plays Jasmine Dubrow, who survives the attack by sheltering in a tunnel alcove, in Independence Day?

Vivica A. Fox broke through with the role, earning an MTV Movie Award nomination for breakthrough performance and sharing the award for Best Kiss with her co-star.

Which company used footage of David Levinson's laptop in its own ads under a co-promotion deal with Independence Day?

Apple put shots of Levinson at work on his PowerBook 5300 into its print and television advertising.

Independence Day became the best-selling home video release of 1996 by outselling which animated film?

Toy Story lost out to a VHS that sold 22 million copies in North America, helped by a six-week marketing campaign costing $30 million.

Which alien comedy took Independence Day's record for the biggest July opening weekend one summer later?

Men in Black took three of its records in 1997, including the biggest opening weekend for a film that was not a sequel.

Which British composer won a Grammy for Independence Day's score before scoring five James Bond films?

David Arnold recorded the score with an orchestra of 90 and a choir of 46, and the film's producer marveled that a Brit had written such rousing American music.

Which Dances with Wolves actress plays First Lady Marilyn Whitmore in Independence Day?

Mary McDonnell later swapped first lady for commander in chief, playing President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica.

Which Hunger Games actor led the 2016 Independence Day sequel as fighter pilot Jake Morrison?

Liam Hemsworth's character is engaged to Patricia Whitmore, the president's young daughter in the original film, who has grown up to be a combat pilot herself.

What is the subtitle of the Independence Day sequel that reached cinemas twenty years after the original?

Resurgence opened in June 2016 without Steven Hiller, who is said to have died while trying out an experimental hybrid fighter.

Which broadcaster aired Independence Day UK, a 1996 spin-off drama showing the invasion from a British viewpoint?

BBC Radio 1 got permission on condition that the British were not shown saving the day. The play opened as a live broadcast, echoing the 1938 War of the Worlds.

Which voice actor, the longtime voice of Fred in Scooby-Doo, supplied special vocal effects for Independence Day?

Frank Welker was the original voice of Fred Jones when Scooby-Doo began in 1969 and later took over Scooby himself. The alien sounds were credited separately, to Gary A. Hecker.

Robert Loggia modeled Independence Day's General William Grey on which World War II commander?

George S. Patton was Loggia's main model among several World War II generals. In the film, Grey is the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Which body withdrew its offer of personnel and vehicles when Independence Day's producers kept the Area 51 references?

The US military had also planned to supply costumes. The production reused sets from other films too, including a bomber cockpit built for Broken Arrow.

What does David Levinson find hidden in the alien signal carried by Earth's satellites in Independence Day?

A countdown to a coordinated strike is what he decodes, which sends him racing to Washington with his father to warn the president.

Which New York skyscraper is blown apart by the saucer hovering over Manhattan in Independence Day?

The Empire State Building is where the New York saucer strikes. The rolling wall of fire that follows was filmed by tilting model streets upright above an explosion.

What kind of assault does the captured alien launch on President Whitmore at Area 51 in Independence Day?

A psychic attack backfires on the invaders: through it Whitmore sees their plan to wipe out humanity and strip the planet of its natural resources.

Censors in which country cut scenes of Julius Levinson leading a Jewish prayer from Independence Day?

Lebanon also removed footage of Israeli and Arab troops preparing side by side to fight the invaders.

Which London venue marked Independence Day's 20th anniversary with a screening scored live by an orchestra?

The Royal Albert Hall staged the one-off show in September 2016: a full orchestra played the score live with the film, and its composer gave a talk before the screening.

Which real fighter jet do Steven Hiller's Black Knights fly against the alien saucers in Independence Day?

The F/A-18 Hornet was the real aircraft of the Black Knights, Marine squadron VMFA-314. The film bases them at El Toro, which the unit had left two years earlier.

Aboard which aircraft do President Whitmore and his staff escape the destruction of Washington in Independence Day?

Air Force One gets away just in time and later lands at Area 51, where a secret kept since 1947 finally comes out.

Which cabinet post does Albert Nimziki hold before President Whitmore fires him in Independence Day?

Secretary of Defense Nimziki's firing lampoons Joe Nimziki, an MGM advertising chief who had made life unpleasant for the filmmakers on an earlier film.

Which radio telescope facility on the Plains of San Agustin did Independence Day's second unit film?

The Very Large Array in New Mexico was filmed for establishing shots, and its dishes reached cinemas again a year later in Contact.

Each Independence Day action figure from Trendmasters came packaged with which bonus item?

A floppy disk came in every box, from action figures to playsets, and held an interactive computer game.

Which future Arrested Development actress plays the president's young daughter, Patricia, in Independence Day?

Mae Whitman also played George Clooney's daughter in One Fine Day the same year. A different actress took over the grown-up Patricia for the 2016 sequel.

Which Full Metal Jacket actor plays Major Mitchell, the commanding officer of Area 51, in Independence Day?

Adam Baldwin, the Marine nicknamed Animal Mother in Stanley Kubrick's film, plays an officer from the faction that already knew the aliens existed.