The makers of the blockbusting sci-fi thriller reveal how they made a hit, why Kevin Spacey was almost involved and what went wrong with the sequel<\/p>\n
The architects of cinema\u2019s most popular alien invasion have slightly differing accounts of how exactly the original plans for Independence Day came to them. But they both agree that it began with the now-famous image of a massive spaceship looming over a city skyline.<\/p>\n
Roland Emmerich, the director, recalls explaining the scope of the concept to Dean Devlin, the co-writer and producer, at the latter\u2019s home: \u201cHe lived in an area on a hill, so I said, let\u2019s go to the window \u2013 all of what you see would be [covered by] the underside of a spaceship. He said, where\u2019s the humor? And I said, there\u2019s a guy knocking out an alien saying \u2018welcome to Earth.\u2019 Then we learned that Tim Burton, a director I really admire, was doing Mars Attacks! We knew that movie was coming out in August, and we said, well, there\u2019s a great date before: Fourth of July. And that\u2019s why the movie is called Independence Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/9325d2eef6aab980e0de073b185b4c2accee4d22\/21_0_2526_2020\/master\/2526.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=efe98e13258eeb7296d9b9d5f9dfba4e\" "\\"The")
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