War of the Worlds - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of War of the Worlds or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to War of the Worlds

[janice]

This is one of the first movies to show The United States Marine Corps' new MARPAT digital camouflage uniforms, as well as the Interceptor body armor vests used by all branches of the U.S. military.

[amber]

Justin Chatwin plays a character who has Dragonball toys on the shelf in his room. Chatwin would later play Goku in Dragonball Evolution (2009).

[beth]

Steven Spielberg: [Signs] Using a sign with directions or instructions as a joke. In this case, as the first buried machine is tearing up the street in Ray's hometown, causing all sorts of damage, the camera pans past a close-up of a municipal "No Littering" sign.

[oscar]

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Steven Spielberg (music): John Williams scores. A short sequence of notes, repeated used as a signal to the audience. The tripods use a long, drawn out, low tone (like a foghorn), followed by a higher pitch (sounding like an orchestra), as a way of communicating to other tripods (as it was in the book). The two notes are similar to the two notes used in Jaws (1975). As in different attacks in the movie, like the beginning of the Hudson Ferry attack, it announces to the audience that something is about to happen (again, like in Jaws (1975)). In that scene, it seems to mean "Come here, other tripods, I've found a bunch of humans." As a counter-example, though, the same tones are used at the end of the "aliens in the basement" scene, and seem to mean a rallying signal, as in "everyone, report back to your posts", as the aliens immediately leave. Note, also, that a basic five-tone sequence was used in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), as a connection to that film's aliens.

[oscar]

The convoy scene was filmed on one of 2004's coldest days in Virginia - so cold that "unfreezable" blue liquid in portable latrines froze solid.

[sandra]

Ray carries a Charter Arms Off-Duty .38 Special revolver.

[beth]

The tripod design for the alien machines is based on H.G. Wells' original description from his book, including the heat rays at the ends of arms. The "red weed" is also from the novel, as is the alien "need" for humans.

[jessica]

The words "alien" and "Martian" are never spoken in the movie. While it was plausible in 1898 to believe that sentient beings could live on Mars, this had been debunked by the late twentieth century. So for verisimilitude, the aliens' origin point is left undefined.

[chris]

Initially estimated to have a 2007 release date, this film was abruptly green-lit in mid-August 2004 for a 2005 release, when Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise happened to become available, when other projects stalled.

[maureen]

The actors (including extras) portraying soldiers used real military firearms rather than the usual cast-rubber prop weapons. The current-issue carbines and M-16 rifles were de-weaponized by removing the firing mechanisms, but otherwise were "the real thing."

[kyle]

In 1987, Paramount made its first attempt to remake [The War of the Worlds](/category/4158/the-war-of-the-worlds) (1953) with George A. Romero slated to direct. The project was quickly redeveloped into the television series War of the Worlds (1988), a sequel to the 1953 film, and talks of a remake stayed dormant until 2002, when Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise chose the project as a follow-up collaboration to Minority Report (2002).

[sara]

Even though they didn't share any screen time together, this is the first collaboration between Morgan Freeman and Tom Cruise, the other being Oblivion (2013)

[ivan]

The tripods are not the only alien invaders to begin with tri; there is also the Triffids from John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids.

[janice]

Before David Koepp was hired, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise asked J.J. Abrams to write the script. But, he had to turn it down, as he was working on the pilot for Lost (2004) at the time.

[ken]

After hearing Steven Spielberg make a remark about how catastrophes brought out the best in people, David Koepp wrote the scene where Ray is forced to give up the van at gunpoint.

[liam]

This is the third incarnation of H.G. Wells' [The War of the Worlds](/category/4158/the-war-of-the-worlds) that Ann Robinson has appeared in, having played Sylvia Van Buren in the first film [The War of the Worlds](/category/4158/the-war-of-the-worlds) (1953), and then reprised her role for three episodes in the television series, War of the Worlds (1988).

[ivan]

The first time we see Ray, he is operating a towering crane, a structure similar to the aliens in their huge tripods.

[francisco]

Tim Robbins' character can be seen digging a tunnel to escape from the invading aliens. Tim Robbins previously played Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), who also dug a tunnel to escape from prison.

[aaron]

According to an interview with Miranda Otto, she originally turned down the part offered by Steven Spielberg as she was newly pregnant. However, Spielberg wanted her to play the part and changed the script to incorporate her pregnancy into the role.