Trivia for
Mars Attacks! (1996) More at IMDbPro »

• Warren Beatty was originally cast as the president.
  
  
• The Martian Girl dress had no zipper or buttons (to make it as smooth as possible), so Lisa Marie had to be sewn into it every day.
  
  
• Martian Girl (Lisa Marie) never blinks.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Tim Burton] [dogs] The First Family's dog is vaporized by the Martians.
  
  
• In a scene inside the UFO, the fat clown killed by the Penguin in Batman Returns (1992), an earlier film by Tim Burton, can be found inside one of the glass spheres.
  
  
• Jack Nicholson's tie disappears during his speech. This is a parody of a goof in A Few Good Men (1992) where he loses his tie in the final courtroom scene.
  
  
• The sound effect for the ray guns was taken from The War of the Worlds (1953).
  
  
• The scene where characters are wandering through a collection of old neon signs was filmed at the "Neon Boneyard", located on property maintained by the Neon Museum, a non-profit organization in Las Vegas. Many of the signs in the collection were donated by the Young Electric Sign Company (which constructed many of the casino signs and were originally salvaged for parts), and are slated for restoration and incorporation into outdoor exhibits. The "Boneyard" has been used in a number of film and TV projects, and is open for tours by appointment only.
  
  
• The appearance of the aliens was inspired in an old trading card collection that Tim Burton had collected.
  
  
• Johnny Depp turned down the role of reporter Jason Stone.
  
  
• The little dog owned by TV hostess Nathalie Lake (the Martians later swap their heads) is actually owned by Lisa Marie, the actress playing the Martian Girl.
  
  
• The writers weren't sure what the Martians should sound like so the script read "ack, ack, ack, ack" for all of their lines of dialogue. This became the actual words spoken by the Martians in the film.
  
  
• Although supposedly taking place today, the US Army uniforms, tanks, jeeps, artillery, etc, all date from the 1950s.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Tim Burton] [music] music by Danny Elfman
  
  
• Sylvia Sidney's last movie, although she want on to do a TV series (a remake of Fantasy Island) 2 years later.
  
  
• A flying saucer is shown flying through the clouds during the normal Warner Brothers logo title sequence showing the company's trademark shield with the cloudy sky background.
  
  
• Tim Burton reunites with Danny Elfman after not working together on Ed Wood (1994). Burton and Elfman experienced "creative differences" during The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).
  
  
• A real-life demolition in Las Vegas was filmed by Tim Burton, and incorporated into the movie. The casino was The Landmark, once owned by Howard Hughes. The location is now an expansion of the parking lot for the Las Vegas Convention Center.
  
  
• The Martians land in Pahrump, NV, home of radio talk-show host Art Bell, who is well known for his penchant for featuring guests on his show who are involved, in one way or another, with the subject of outer-space life forms, ranging from scientists investigating the possibility of it to people who claim to have been kidnapped, examined, impregnated (sometimes all at the same time) by space aliens or have had other kinds of contact with creatures from outer space.
  
  
• Barry Purves was originally involved with creating the aliens using stop-motion animation. He helped develop some of their gestures. However, the production decided to go the way of CG instead of stop-motion and Purves was never credited for his contributions.
  
  
• When the Martians first appear in TV interrupting the fashion show, the background when the Martian Ambassador is speaking is from the beginning of Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) when Criswell is talking.
  
  
• Features many actors cast in previous Tim Burton films:
  - Sylvia Sidney: Beetle Juice (1988)
  - Jack Nicholson: Batman (1989)
  - O-Lan Jones: Edward Scissorhands (1990)
  - Danny DeVito: Batman Returns (1992)
  - Sarah Jessica Parker: Ed Wood (1994)
  - Lisa Marie: Ed Wood (1994)
  
  
• When people had their flesh vaporized from their bones, the remaining skeletons were either red or green. Tim Burton explained this had been done because the movie had been scheduled for a Christmas release. Also, the red and green skeletons were first seen in Beetle Juice (1988). When Barbara and Adam were in Juno's office you can see them with other ghouls looking at the screen.
  
  
• Michael Keaton was also considered for the role of the President.
  
  
• Martin Amis worked on the script for Mars Attacks! He said, "I rather liked the film, though it contained not a word I wrote."
  
  
• In the scene where Martin Short is seducing a woman (actually an alien, played by Lisa Marie), he brings her into a secret room used by John Kennedy with a fish tank. The fish tank contains almost the entire cast of Finding Nemo (2003) including Nemo himself, Gill, Dory and Bubbles (no sharks, shrimps, whales and pelicans though.) The coincidence occurred probably because these species of fish are the most popular and colorful types of salt-water aquarium fishes.
  
  
• Paul Newman was cast as the Presdient when Warren Beatty dropped out, but then left the project over the violence concerns.
  
  
• Susan Sarandon was originally cast as Barbara Land.
  
  
• 'Hugh Grant' was considered for the role of Donald Kessler.
  
  
• Meryl Streep and Stockard Channing were considered for the role of the first lady.
  
  
• Tim Burton had wanted the Martians brought to life via stop-motion animation, but finally went with CGI. The animators told Burton they could animate the Martians without motion blur to make them look more "stop-motiony," but Burton decided against that.
  
  

• SPOILER: Tim Burton has said many times that he was told repeatedly he could not kill off Jack Nicholson's character in a movie. This led to his decision to cast Nicholson in two roles, and to kill him off in both of them.
  
  
• SPOILER: There were a number of scenes in the original screenplay that were never used, which actually made the film a lot longer and much darker. Among the cut scenes were: A scene in the beginning with Mr. Lee (originally, the burning cows trampled over Mr. Lee, killing him, as his family watches in horror); another where the Martians break into the White House (the White House decorator is decorating the Reagan Room, and the Martians break in through the window and vaporize him); an extended version of the Doughnut World scene (the Hispanic woman at the doughnut shop is trying to escape the building with Richie and some cops when the Martians attack. Richie gets out, turns around and sees the building burst into flames., and we see the skeletons of her and the police officers); the death scene of Dr. Zeigler; and the stealing of the translator device. An extended version of the casino break-in, including The death of Mr. Brian, who is trying to save his money and gets zapped, as well as many other gamblers getting vaporized; an alternate ending where Byron actually IS killed by the Martians and the Martians drag his body away. Planes fly by later, and kill those Martians with the Slim Whitman music. Later, during the award ceremony, Byron is remembered by Taffy in a long and sweet speech. Louise, Cedric and Neville are sitting in the audience of this ceremony, crying and wearing black.
  
  

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