10 Out Of This World Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Mars Attacks
Celebrate the B-movie classic's 20th anniversary with some well-deserved Martian trivia.
Click to reveal each fact!
Martian Girl's dress had no zipper or buttons (to make it as smooth as possible). This required actress Lisa Marie to be sewn into it every day.
Before being incinerated, Jack Black's character Billy tells his grandmother goodbye and she calls him "Thomas". This is Jack Black's real first name.
The movie almost reunited Batman actors Jack Nicholson (Joker/the President) with Michael Keaton (Batman) but Keaton bailed on the project.
The producers wanted to use the heat ray sound effect from The War of the Worlds (1953) as the sound of the Martians' ray guns, but Paramount refused.
The little dog owned by Sarah Jessica Parker's character belonged to Lisa Marie who played Martian Girl.
Tim Burton pitched the movie by showing Warner Bros. the Tops trading cards his script was based on.
After being vaporized, the victims' skeletons were either red or green. This is because the movie was scheduled for a Christmas release.
Tim Burton had offered the role of Jason Stone to his bff, Johnny Depp, but Depp turned it down. Burton of course then offered it to Michael J. Fox.
Unsure of what Martians would sound like, the script just read "ack, ack, ack" for dialogue. This later became the actual words the Martians spoke.
The deaths were originally much more violent with exploding limbs and shredded, melting flesh. The effects were toned down to prevent an "R" rating.
