Mars Attacks! Premier Blows Them Away
LOS ANGELES - Appropriately for a movie inspired by 1950s trading cards, the premiere of "Mars Attacks" heaped on the campy fun. Although the slimy green Martians were conspicuously absent, the rest of the cast zapped in for the party.Director Tim Burton, looking creatively disheveled, commented tongue-in-cheek on the nature of his film. "It's all based on actual fact," he said. "I thought it was time to attack something real and hard-hitting." Burton's other ventures into the surreal include "Batman" and "Edward Scissorhands."
Girlfriend Lisa Marie, who stars as the Martian ambassador with Barbie-doll proportions, accompanied Burton to the premiere. Minus the blond beehive wig, she still looked out-of-this-world in a silver and black bustier designed by John Galliano.
A spoof of classic alien invasion films from the 1950s, "Mars Attacks" stars Jack Nicholson as President James Dale and Glenn Close as First Lady Marsha Dale. Natalie Portman is their rebellious daughter Taffy Dale. Portman, who rocketed to critical acclaim at age 11 in "The Professional," said the movie opened her eyes to the appeal of sci-fi. "I've never been a big science fiction fan until this movie," she said.
Martin Short, dapper in a lilac suit, said his New Year's resolutions for 1997 included lessons he learned from the film. "I'm going to avoid aliens and give up deep sea fishing," he joked. Short's role as presidential aide Jerry Ross draws the amorous attentions of Lisa Marie, an alien camouflauged as a curvaceous human.
Rounding out the rest of the all-star cast are Christina Applegate, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Michael J. Fox, Pam Grier, Lukas Haas, Tom Jones and Sarah Jessica Parker. The Martians, computer-animated by the multimedia studio Industrial Light and Magic, add the finishing flourish to the cast of "Mars Attacks."
Of course, the Martians are bent on world domination and annihilation of the human race. Set in the major cities of New York, Washington, Las Vegas, and the rural town of Perkinsville, Kansas, the denizens of the U.S. of A. try to resist the Martian invasion.
The premiere also drew an all-star guest invasion, as other celebrities at the "Mars Attacks" premiere included Sharon Stone, Famke Jannsen, Rob Schneider, Matt Leblanc and Daphne Zuniga.
Taken from "Hollywod Online".