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!
6Tim Burton intentionally killed off Jack Nicholson twice
For years, a famous Tim Burton quote has been floating around which goes, “People told me I couldn’t kill [Jack] Nicholson, so I cast him in two roles and killed him off twice!” Perhaps that quote was born after people complained about the director’s choice to kill Nicholson’s Joker at the end of Batman. The only way to top that was to do it twice in one film, which is exactly what happens in Mars Attacks!
The more prominent of Nicholson’s two roles in the movie is of the president of the United States. He is killed by the Martians when an attempt to negotiate peace goes terribly wrong. Nicholson’s secondary character, the manager of the Galaxy Hotel, also dies when the building is destroyed by the attacking aliens. Officially, this makes Nicholson 0 for 3 with surviving Tim Burton movies.
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