On-Set Interview: Kathleen Kennedy 2- "War of the Worlds" Previous Same for the weaponry? No, were trying to build as much as we can. It's mainly the tri-pods that are CG. What about the superbowl ad, where the bridge explodes, will something be added later on? Well I don't know (laugh). We are trying to be very true to the story. We are trying to do it in a very realistic way if that makes sense. How important was it for you to get someone from the '53 movie? You already have Ann Robinson? Gene Barry is in this too. We thought it was important to have an [homage] of the original. The interesting thing is that this movie is in no way trying to be a remake of the '50s movie it really is much more inspired by the HG Wells. We thought for the moviegoers what was just a nice homage within our movie. They don't have a huge role, but they'll be obvious. You destroying Los Angeles City Hall? No it's all East coast. Will you be destroying your writer? No we tried to talk David into a scene where he gets taken by a tentacle- but no [laughs]. Are these aliens recognizable as aliens or are they reinvented in a way we've never seen before? I think they've been reinvented, but they're still inherently inspired by what Wells describes. Well he had octopuses? No they're not octopuses. Are they Martians? No they're not Martians. The feeling was that we know so much about Mars now that doesn't really fall into the realm of realistic expectations. How realistic is this? It's always interesting when you try to arrive an attention and POV and try and get everybody on the same page visually that's going to make the movie. We talked a lot about 'Private Ryan' and for instance the reality of Private Ryan, the feeling of being the mist of a real event. Essentially we're bringing the fantasy element of aliens but were grounding it in a very realistic theory. It has a look, I have to say, this movie looks like nothing you've ever seen. The combination of the two is quite interesting. It really does have that kind of realistic feeling of 'Private Ryan.' It's not going to look like 'Ryan' it has its own look, but we are trying to do a lot of things to give it a very visceral feeling. You said that CG has come a long way, and 400 FX shots in that amount of time, is ILM working a massive shift? We actually organized the schedule so that the bulk of their work was up front so that we turned over almost 125 shots before X-mas... We haven't eliminated green screen, but augmenting things is much easier now and looks much more realistic. Again it still goes to that it's still art and you have to have people who are really talented at recognizing how the movie is going to look and matching lighting and coming up with really clever ideas, it's like anything- not everybody can create FX shots. What's going on with Talisman? Is there a director attached? I wish there was. Well eventually get around to doing that. We love that story. How long? We couldn't speculate because its all about finding the right person. How about Indiana Jones 4? We're going to see a script in about a month. Who's the screenwriter? Jeff Nathanson Will Sean Connery be back? Until I read the script I won't really know. What is it like watching Tom and Steve together? They're great. They haven't gone through the Minority Report experience. There's a real seamlessness to how they approach everything and they have such phenomenal trust both ways that they love working together and everything is a collaborative experience. Tom has great ideas; they bounce things off one and another- every scene just gets better. They're quite something to watch, Steven described something the other day that I hadn't thought about it quite this way but he's absolutely right, which is we sit around in this kind of hurry up and wait scenario and a lot of levity and we all have a lot of fun and laugh a lot, and then the minute we start to zero on what the scene is we're about to shoot, everyone gets extremely serious and extremely intense for that moment that is captured on film- and then is totally relaxed again. That's the beauty of watching Steven and Tom- that razor sharp intensity on every little detail on what's going on in that moment that we're trying to capture it pretty amazing. They don't let anything fall through the cracks and everything's discussed and everything's thought through and anticipated. Were always very very clear as to exactly where we are going with the storytelling. That's rare with an actor where it's not just about their performance but it's a constant discussion about the whole movie. What's the status on Benjamin Button. Is it dead? No, Fincher. I was just on the phone with everybody today on that. It looks like it may go forward this summer.		Home Interviews Antoine Fuqua Interview King Arthur Interview Arv Grewal Interview Asia Argento Interview Behind the Scenes of "War of the Worlds" Bernie Goldmann Interview Clive Owen Interview Dakota Fanning Interview Dennis Hopper Interview George A Romero Interview Greg Nicotero Interview The Hulk Press Conference Ang Lee Press Conference Ioan Gruffudd Interview John Leguizamo Interview Kathleen Kennedy Interview Keira Knightley Interview