‘Mars Attacks!’: 10 Things You May Not Know

Mars Attacks! is certainly one of director Tim Burton’s most bizarre movies, which is really saying something. Let’s revisit the quirky sci-fi film with these 10 behind-the-scenes facts!

2Tim Burton wanted stop-motion martians

Using computer graphics to animate the Martians in the movie was not the plan from the start. Inspired by Ray Harryhausen works like Jason and the Argonauts, Tim Burton wanted to use stop-motion animation for the invading aliens. He went as far as hiring Barry Purves to supervise a team of 70 animators to work on the project. The workers spent eight months on the film, using Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard as the basis for the aliens’ movement.

Unfortunately, the costs involved with going the stop-motion route were too steep for Warner Bros. The studio wanted a budget closer to $75 million, which created a problem when the film’s budget was projected at $100 million. Burton then made the call to use computer animation for the Martians, which brought the production budget back down to $80 million.


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