Strange Invaders
Encyclopedia
Strange Invaders is a spoof science-fiction film made in 1983, as a tribute to the 1950s films, but most notably The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It stars Paul Le Mat
, Nancy Allen
and Diana Scarwid
. The film was intended to be the second installment of the aborted Strange Trilogy with Strange Behavior
, another 1950s spoof by Michael Laughlin, but the idea was abandoned after Strange Invaders failed to attract a wider audience. Scarwid's performance earned her a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.
Twenty five years later, university lecturer Charles Bigelow (Paul Le Mat
) learns that his ex-wife, Margaret Newman (Diana Scarwid
), has disappeared while attending her mother's funeral in Centerville, and travels there to find her. The disguised aliens are all dressed in 1950s clothing, and try to capture Bigelow as he escapes, but only capture his dog, Louie.
Seeing a photo of an alien in a tabloid magazine, Bigelow soon finds Margaret, who is now revealed to be one of the aliens. She warns Bigelow to escape with Elizabeth (Lulu Sylbert), their human/alien hybrid daughter, to protect her from the aliens, who want to take her to their homeworld.
, his co-writer and associate producer from Strange Behavior. The first image Laughlin came up with was that of a midwest landscape with an "old-fashioned mothership sliding in". He wrote the first few pages himself and then he and Condon completed the screenplay in two parts, each writing different sections. They wrote the script without any deal in place but were confident that it was going to be made into a film. They even figured out the budget, scouted locations, cast the actors, and worked on the production design while arranging the financing. This pre-production was all done at the expense of Condon and Laughlin. To help produce the film, Laughlin brought in his friend Walter Coblenz, who had been the assistant director on the Laughlin-produced film Two-Lane Blacktop
. They shopped the script for Strange Invaders around Hollywood.
Laughlin's previous film, Strange Behavior, had been released by a small distributor and this time around he wanted his film to be handled by a major. Orion Pictures
liked the script and was looking for a good film at a modest price with mainstream appeal. Orion provided half of the film's $5.5 million budget with England's EMI
Films coming up with the rest. Orion received distribution rights for North America while EMI handled the rest of the world. As part of the financing deal, Orion and EMI demanded several script changes which Condon and Laughlin found difficult because they had to try and explain their ideas verbally. The financial backers influence reduced the film's scope. For example, in the original script, the American government was a much bigger threat with a big sequence taking place at an Air Force base. These changes bothered Laughlin because they resulted in a lack of a well-defined middle section in the script.
Orion and EMI also influenced the casting process and approved every choice Laughlin made. The original script was written with Michael Murphy
in mind (he had been in Strange Behavior) but EMI refused to allow him to be cast much to the director's confusion "because there didn't seem to be a good reason for his rejection. I guess it was a matter of personal taste". Orion and EMI suggested Mel Gibson
and Powers Boothe
instead but Laughlin's choice was Paul Le Mat because he had not played that kind of role before and had a "Joel McCrea
quality" that he was looking for. For the role of Betty, Laughlin wanted an actress from New York and not someone from California playing a New Yorker. Condon was a big fan of Brian De Palma
's films and Nancy Allen who appeared in several of them. Louise Fletcher's government agent was originally written as a man, a "Bob Balaban
bureaucrat", but during the screenwriting process, Condon and Laughlin decided to change the character to a woman and cast Fletcher who had been in Strange Behavior.
Condon and Laughlin created a visual plan in advance and this helped them shoot the film fast - in only five weeks. Laughlin was helped out by a second unit that worked on the film's visual and prosthetic effects. He hired Private Stock Effects to work on the visual effects. They had previously worked on Battle Beyond the Stars
and Escape from New York
. For the prosthetic alien effects, he hired James Cummins
a veteran of the John Carpenter film the The Thing, and later, the writer and director of the cult horror classic The Boneyard
, who had his name removed from the credits after heated debates with Laughlin about the way the effects were being used and shot. Laughlin relented and allowed Cummins to reshoot a lengthy scene near the end of the film where the aliens shed their human guises as they prepare to disembark on a 50s style spacecraft. Laughlin planned a third film in a proposed "Strange Trilogy", entitled, The Adventures of Philip Strange, a World War II spy thriller with science fiction elements and hoped to cast many of the same actors and crew from his two previous films.
, Vincent Canby
called it, "a tasteful monster movie with a terrible secret: it eats other movies". Newsweek
magazine's David Ansen
wrote, "Hovering unclassifiably between nostalgia and satire, this amiably hip genre movie confirms Laughlin as a deliberately minor but unique stylist. It's up to the viewer to determine just how faux his naif style is, but either way you choose to take it, Strange Invaders offers a good deal of laid-back fun". Jay Scott
in his review for the Globe and Mail wrote, "Strange Invaders is a pastiche, a film-school jumble of aphorisms and winks at the audience that are neither as knowing nor as amusing as they are meant to be".
Paul Le Mat
Paul Le Mat is an American actor who first came to prominence in the 1973 film American Graffiti, which won him the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actor.-Life:...
, Nancy Allen
Nancy Allen
Nancy Allen may refer to:* Nancy Allen * Nancy Allen -See also:* Nancy Allan , Manitoban politician...
and Diana Scarwid
Diana Scarwid
Diana Scarwid is an American actress. Scarwid has done work in film, television and theater.-Personal life:Scarwid was born in Savannah, Georgia, and left Georgia at the age of 17, heading to New York to become an actress. She graduated from Pace University and The American Academy of Dramatic...
. The film was intended to be the second installment of the aborted Strange Trilogy with Strange Behavior
Strange Behavior
Strange Behavior is a 1981 mystery horror film directed by Michael Laughlin, written by Bill Condon, and starring Michael Murphy. It is a homage to the pulp horror films of the 1950s...
, another 1950s spoof by Michael Laughlin, but the idea was abandoned after Strange Invaders failed to attract a wider audience. Scarwid's performance earned her a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.
Plot
In 1958, the town of Centerville, Illinois was invaded by a race of aliens, who had the power to fire lasers from their eyes and hands, and could "crystallize" humans into glowing blue orbs. They took on the form of the humans who were either captured or, presumably, killed. As well as crystallization, the Aliens can also use their glare to unlock doors and drag elevators up and down shafts. They can also shoot bright-blue laser beams from their fingers, powerful enough to destroy automobiles.Twenty five years later, university lecturer Charles Bigelow (Paul Le Mat
Paul Le Mat
Paul Le Mat is an American actor who first came to prominence in the 1973 film American Graffiti, which won him the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actor.-Life:...
) learns that his ex-wife, Margaret Newman (Diana Scarwid
Diana Scarwid
Diana Scarwid is an American actress. Scarwid has done work in film, television and theater.-Personal life:Scarwid was born in Savannah, Georgia, and left Georgia at the age of 17, heading to New York to become an actress. She graduated from Pace University and The American Academy of Dramatic...
), has disappeared while attending her mother's funeral in Centerville, and travels there to find her. The disguised aliens are all dressed in 1950s clothing, and try to capture Bigelow as he escapes, but only capture his dog, Louie.
Seeing a photo of an alien in a tabloid magazine, Bigelow soon finds Margaret, who is now revealed to be one of the aliens. She warns Bigelow to escape with Elizabeth (Lulu Sylbert), their human/alien hybrid daughter, to protect her from the aliens, who want to take her to their homeworld.
Cast
- Paul Le MatPaul Le MatPaul Le Mat is an American actor who first came to prominence in the 1973 film American Graffiti, which won him the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actor.-Life:...
- Prof. Charles Bigelow - Nancy AllenNancy Allen (actress)Nancy Anne Allen is a Golden Globe nominated American actress and cancer activist.Allen began an acting and modelling career as a child, and from the mid-1970s appeared in small film roles, most notably the anchor of Robert Zemeckis's ensemble comedy I Wanna Hold Your Hand...
- Betty Walker - Diana ScarwidDiana ScarwidDiana Scarwid is an American actress. Scarwid has done work in film, television and theater.-Personal life:Scarwid was born in Savannah, Georgia, and left Georgia at the age of 17, heading to New York to become an actress. She graduated from Pace University and The American Academy of Dramatic...
- Margaret Newman - Michael LernerMichael Lerner (actor)-Life and career:Lerner was born in Brooklyn, New York of Romanian Jewish descent, the son of Blanche and George Lerner, who was a fisherman and antiques dealer. He was raised in Bensonhurst and Red Hook. His brother, Ken Lerner, is also an actor...
- Willie Collins - Louise FletcherLouise FletcherLouise Fletcher is an American actress best known for her role as Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and as Kai Winn Adami in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She also guest starred on the science fiction television series Heroes...
- Mrs. Benjamin - Wallace ShawnWallace ShawnWallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
- Earl - Fiona Lewis - Waitress / Avon Lady
- Kenneth TobeyKenneth TobeyKenneth Tobey was an American stage, television, and film actor.-Early years:Born in Oakland, California, Tobey was headed for a law career when he first dabbled in acting at the University of California Little Theater...
- Arthur Newman - June LockhartJune LockhartJune Lockhart is an American actress, primarily in 1950s and 1960s television, but with memorable performances on stage and in film too. She is remembered as the mother in two TV series, Lassie and Lost in Space. She also portrayed Dr...
- Mrs. Bigelow - Charles LaneCharles Lane (actor)Charles Gerstle Levison , better known as Charles Lane, was an American character actor seen in many movies and TV shows, and at the time of his death may have been the oldest living professional American actor. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You , Mr...
- Dr. Prof. Hollister - Lulu Sylbert - Elizabeth Bigelow
- Joel CohenJoel Cohen (writer)Joel Cohen is an American film writer who has worked on such projects as the movies Cheaper by the Dozen , Toy Story , its sequel Toy Story 2 and Garfield: The Movie...
- Tim - Dan ShorDan ShorDaniel Shor is an American veteran actor, director, writer and teacher with a career spanning over 30 years.- Early life :Shor was born and raised in New York City. Attended McBurney school from 6th thru 8th grade...
- Teen Boy in Prologue - Dey YoungDey YoungDey Young is an American actress and sculptor.Young was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the daughter of Pauline, a sociologist, and Donald E. Young. Her older sister is actress Leigh Taylor-Young; her brother Lance is a writer/director. She attended Kingswood School...
- Teen Girl in Prologue - Jack KehlerJack KehlerJack Kehler is an actor. He is sometimes credited as Jack Keeler.Jack has appeared in over 60 feature films, including Men in Black II. One of his most memorable performances was in film Love Liza as Denny, an energetic radio control hobbyist trying to help Philip Seymour Hoffman's character come...
- Gas Station Attendant - Mark GoddardMark GoddardMark Goddard is an American film actor who has starred in a number of television programs. He portrayed Major Don West, the space adversary of Dr. Zachary Smith in the cult 1960s CBS series, Lost in Space, and Detective Sgt...
- Detective - Thomas KopacheThomas KopacheThomas Kopache is an American actor.Kopache was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, the son of Dorothy E. . He is known as Assistant Secretary of State Bob Slatterly in The West Wing and for various roles in the Star Trek franchise...
- State Trooper
Production
Director Michael Laughlin re-teamed with Bill CondonBill Condon
William "Bill" Condon is an American screenwriter and director. Condon is best known for directing and writing the critically acclaimed films Gods and Monsters, Chicago, Kinsey, and Dreamgirls. In 1998, Condon debuted as a screenwriter in Gods and Monsters, which won him his first Academy Award....
, his co-writer and associate producer from Strange Behavior. The first image Laughlin came up with was that of a midwest landscape with an "old-fashioned mothership sliding in". He wrote the first few pages himself and then he and Condon completed the screenplay in two parts, each writing different sections. They wrote the script without any deal in place but were confident that it was going to be made into a film. They even figured out the budget, scouted locations, cast the actors, and worked on the production design while arranging the financing. This pre-production was all done at the expense of Condon and Laughlin. To help produce the film, Laughlin brought in his friend Walter Coblenz, who had been the assistant director on the Laughlin-produced film Two-Lane Blacktop
Two-Lane Blacktop
Two-Lane Blacktop is a 1971 road movie directed by Monte Hellman, starring singer-songwriter James Taylor, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates, and Laurie Bird. Esquire magazine declared the film its movie of the year for 1971, and even published the entire screenplay in its April, 1971...
. They shopped the script for Strange Invaders around Hollywood.
Laughlin's previous film, Strange Behavior, had been released by a small distributor and this time around he wanted his film to be handled by a major. Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures Corporation was an American independent production company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists. Although it was never a large motion picture producer, Orion...
liked the script and was looking for a good film at a modest price with mainstream appeal. Orion provided half of the film's $5.5 million budget with England's EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Films coming up with the rest. Orion received distribution rights for North America while EMI handled the rest of the world. As part of the financing deal, Orion and EMI demanded several script changes which Condon and Laughlin found difficult because they had to try and explain their ideas verbally. The financial backers influence reduced the film's scope. For example, in the original script, the American government was a much bigger threat with a big sequence taking place at an Air Force base. These changes bothered Laughlin because they resulted in a lack of a well-defined middle section in the script.
Orion and EMI also influenced the casting process and approved every choice Laughlin made. The original script was written with Michael Murphy
Michael Murphy (actor)
Michael George Murphy is an American film and television actor.-Career:Murphy played Woody Allen's duplicitous friend Yale in the film Manhattan...
in mind (he had been in Strange Behavior) but EMI refused to allow him to be cast much to the director's confusion "because there didn't seem to be a good reason for his rejection. I guess it was a matter of personal taste". Orion and EMI suggested Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
and Powers Boothe
Powers Boothe
Powers Allen Boothe is an American television and film actor. Some of his most notable roles include his Emmy-winning 1980 portrayal of Jim Jones and his turn as Cy Tolliver on Deadwood, as well as Vice-President Noah Daniels on 24....
instead but Laughlin's choice was Paul Le Mat because he had not played that kind of role before and had a "Joel McCrea
Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.-Early life:...
quality" that he was looking for. For the role of Betty, Laughlin wanted an actress from New York and not someone from California playing a New Yorker. Condon was a big fan of Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
's films and Nancy Allen who appeared in several of them. Louise Fletcher's government agent was originally written as a man, a "Bob Balaban
Bob Balaban
Robert Elmer "Bob" Balaban is an American actor, author and director.-Personal life:Balaban was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eleanor and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television...
bureaucrat", but during the screenwriting process, Condon and Laughlin decided to change the character to a woman and cast Fletcher who had been in Strange Behavior.
Condon and Laughlin created a visual plan in advance and this helped them shoot the film fast - in only five weeks. Laughlin was helped out by a second unit that worked on the film's visual and prosthetic effects. He hired Private Stock Effects to work on the visual effects. They had previously worked on Battle Beyond the Stars
Battle Beyond the Stars
Battle Beyond the Stars is a Roger Corman-produced science fiction film, directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and released in 1980. The film, intended as a "Magnificent Seven in outer space," is a pastiche of The Magnificent Seven, the Western remake of Akira Kurosawa's film Seven Samurai...
and Escape from New York
Escape from New York
Escape from New York is a 1981 American science fiction action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. He co-wrote the screenplay with Nick Castle. The film is set in the near future in a crime-ridden United States that has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into a maximum security...
. For the prosthetic alien effects, he hired James Cummins
James Cummins
James Cummins is an American poet.- Biography :Cummins teaches at the University of Cincinnati and is the curator of the Elliston Poetry Collection. He is married to the poet and art critic, Maureen Bloomfield...
a veteran of the John Carpenter film the The Thing, and later, the writer and director of the cult horror classic The Boneyard
The Boneyard
The Boneyard is a 1991 direct-to-video horror film directed by James Cummins.-Plot:The film plunges into the nightmarish experiences of a portly, depressed psychic , whose involvement in a grisly child-murder case leads her and her detective partner to an imposing, fortress-like mortuary...
, who had his name removed from the credits after heated debates with Laughlin about the way the effects were being used and shot. Laughlin relented and allowed Cummins to reshoot a lengthy scene near the end of the film where the aliens shed their human guises as they prepare to disembark on a 50s style spacecraft. Laughlin planned a third film in a proposed "Strange Trilogy", entitled, The Adventures of Philip Strange, a World War II spy thriller with science fiction elements and hoped to cast many of the same actors and crew from his two previous films.
Reaction
In his review for The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
called it, "a tasteful monster movie with a terrible secret: it eats other movies". Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine's David Ansen
David Ansen
David Ansen is a reviewer and senior editor for Newsweek, where he has been reviewing movies since 1977. He came to Newsweek after several years as the chief film critic at Boston's The Real Paper...
wrote, "Hovering unclassifiably between nostalgia and satire, this amiably hip genre movie confirms Laughlin as a deliberately minor but unique stylist. It's up to the viewer to determine just how faux his naif style is, but either way you choose to take it, Strange Invaders offers a good deal of laid-back fun". Jay Scott
Jay Scott
Jay Scott was the pen name of Jeffrey Scott Beaven , a Canadian film critic.Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Scott fled to Canada in 1969 as a draft dodger. He settled in Calgary, and began writing film reviews for the Calgary Albertan a few years later...
in his review for the Globe and Mail wrote, "Strange Invaders is a pastiche, a film-school jumble of aphorisms and winks at the audience that are neither as knowing nor as amusing as they are meant to be".