Prior to the
anniversary screening, Emmerich was joined onstage for a Q&A session with
stars of the original film and its upcoming sequel, Jeff Goldblum and Vivica A.
Fox. Both actors have fallen out of the spotlight in recent years, shifting away
from blockbusters and into other areas of entertainment. Goldblum is regularly
seen guest starring on a variety of television shows, and has also put his
distinct speech pattern to use as a voice actor, whereas Fox’s most
recognizable title in the past years was a sequel in the campy Sharkanado
franchise. Needless to say, Independence Day: Resurgence will provide both
stars with a comeback on the big screen, and their enthusiasm at Tuesday’s
screening fittingly matched the opportunity.
For Fox, the
original Independence Day was her first big break in a transition from daytime
TV to film, and perhaps this is why she seemed the most excited of the three to
celebrate the 20-year-old box office success. Engaging with the audience from
her first moments onstage (during both entrances, since a technical mistake led
to a false start), Fox’s energy only increased as stories from filming began to
come out. Whether it was the cringe-worthy missteps of her original audition
(the casting director told her “It’s a good thing you can act” when she
mistakenly “took the [stripper] character very literal,” showing up to the
audition wearing “patent leather, white pants, jumpsuit, with the boobs and
everything.”) or her hysterical full-body impression of the humping done by her
canine co-star, Boomer (who apparently took a bit too much of a liking to his
onscreen owner), Fox had the audience laughing and engaged through the entire
Q&A.
Goldblum also
had his moments, though they were delivered in his recognizable cadence. When
Fox told the audience that Boomer’s trainer explained the amorous behavior
occurred “when he gets tired,” Goldblum responded by casually saying “That’s
what I do when I get tired.” Then once the laughter had died down, he followed
it with another well-timed deadpan remark, stating that he was “feeling a
little woozy now.” But there were also moments that Goldblum reminded us why he
is so great at playing the wise (and aside from The Fly, often morally sound) scientist roles, intelligently
breaking down the social relevance of the new film’s message.
Since (the original film) I’ve been
given this job as so-called ‘Director of Earth/Space Defense.’ So it’s my job
to now be one of the leaders with this new technology, and mainly to anticipate
and analyze and figure out if anything’s coming back, who those guys were the
first time, if they’re coming back, and if there’s gonna be more trouble and
how we prepare ourselves. So there’s new technology from the downed spacecraft
that we use for those purposes, for defense… But I’ve also been involved in
using (the) technology to handle environmental challenges that the whole planet
has. And we’ve rebuilt. That war of ’96 was a species-changing,
world-transforming event. Three billion people died. So, we’ve spent 20 years
grieving terrifically, but rebuilding effectively because not a shot has been
fired amongst ourselves. The human family has transcended all religious,
political, national, petty differences and come together.
The thoughtful speech from Goldblum suddenly gave real-world
relevance and gravity to the special effects blockbuster, peppered with his final
line, “How about that?” How about that, indeed.
Emmerich was
easily the quietest of the trio, though he shared with audiences stories about
a two-week period in which the screenplay was written, as well as admitting to
working on an upcoming war film about the 1942 Battle of the Midway when an
emotional audience member and fan of The Patriot questioned whether he had
plans to make another historical film. “At the time, the Americans were the
underdogs,” Emmerich explained, as he made parallels between the real-world
WWII events and his science-fiction franchise. “It was one of those moments
where, against all odds, people came together and did the impossible.” These
themes of humanity coming together in tragedy not only match with the heart of Independence Day, but they also seem to
run constant through much of Emmerich’s filmography, which also includes The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and even White House Down.
The Independence Day Anniversary Edition Blu-ray and DVD are
available now, with plenty of time to re-familiarize yourself with the
characters prior to the theatrical release of Independence Day: Resurgence on
June 24th. Emmerich once again directs, with Goldblum and Fox
returning alongside Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, and franchise newcomers Sela
Ward, William Fichtner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Liam Hemsworth. The absence
of Will Smith was only briefly addressed in an awkwardly tentative question
during Q&A, at which point Fox expertly deflected by stating that his
character stayed within the franchise “in spirit.”
No comments:
Post a Comment