On IMDb, the cast list includes Kimberly Beck, from Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter as playing the character listed as 'housewife'. Where exactly can I find her character in the movie?
Great sites
Mistakes
A couple of shots after Jasmine grabs Dylan from the car, the rears of a red car and white car are shown tossed up from a front shot. Next shot from behind, the same two cars are shown tossed up again where we can see the flat belt system between the four tires and the mechanical arm at work doing the flipping. See more...
Trivia
A promotional piece that aired in Spain for this film set off a "War of the Worlds" type of wide spread panic. The promo featured a popular Spanish news anchor and the piece ran as if there really WAS an alien attack to occur on July 4. People believed the broadcast and panicked until officials spread the word that this was only a promo for a US movie. Confirmed on DVD commentary. See more...
Independence Day (1996) - 18 questions
Directed by Roland Emmerich, starring Bill Pullman, Brent Spiner, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid, Vivica A. Fox, Will Smith (add more)
Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-fi, Thriller
The "questions" section is for any random questions that occurred to you while watching this film, or anything you didn't entirely understand, and which Google or the IMDb can't help with. Submit them as a question, and hopefully someone will answer (the bold comments in brackets) - check back regularly. If the answer is wrong, or missing information, please use the "clarify answer" option. Don't feel limited - want to know what music played in a certain scene? Whether this was the first film to use a certain effect? Here's the place to ask!
On IMDb, the cast list includes Kimberly Beck, from Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter as playing the character listed as 'housewife'. Where exactly can I find her character in the movie?
When Julius and David are in the White House on their way to meet the President, Julius is mentioning he should have worn a tie. He then said he looks like a "schlemiel". What did he mean by this? What is a schlemiel? [Essentially a shlemiel is a clumsy bungler or an inept person according to the Yiddish on-line dictionary. It's saying since he is not wearing a tie, he looks inept or dopey in that situation.]
Answered by Zwn Annwn
What are the physical dimensions, if any, of all the enemy ship types? Is there any biological information like height, weight of the enemy beings? I am looking at using this enemy in a fanfic of another show. [Try http://www.merzo.net/ This site is devoted to size comparisons of ships and aliens from different shows and movies.]
Answered by Grumpy Scot
This question was asked and answered but the answer was unsatisfactory so I am asking the question again. It was asked if it was common for the President and General Grey not to know about area 51 and the answer was given that because of plausible deniability, the President would not need to know about area 51 until the aliens arrive. This answers the question for in the movie but what about in real life? Wouldn't the 2 most powerful people in charge of the military (The President and The General) in real life be made aware of area 51? I can understand if the president is not made aware but I find it hard to believe the General wouldn't know about it. [General Grey is listed as being Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which does not make him the second-in-command of the military - that position rests with the Secretary of Defense, who, as we see in the film, does know about Area 51. Grey, as Whitmore's primary advisor on all matters (not to be confused with the President's Security Advisor, who, in all likelihood, would be aware of the installation's existence as it would fall directly under his area of concern), would need to be covered by plausible deniability just as much as his boss would. As such, Grey holds what is very much a need-to-know position - with regard to Area 51, he doesn't need to know.]
Answered by Tailkinker
Since I have never been in the military this is confusing. Does it make any sense that The President, a former fighter pilot, as well as General Grey would not know about Area 51? I find it hard to believe that Captain Steven Hillard would know about Area 51 but the 2 most powerful men in the U.S. would not. [Just like it said in the film. "Plausible deniability". And until the aliens invaded, the President really had no need to know about it.]
Answered by Grumpy Scot
At the beginning of the movie at S.E.T.I. ,while the Asian guy is hitting the golf ball, what is the name of the song playing and who is the band? ["It's the End of the World As We Know It" by R.E.M.]
Answered by Stephen Edmonds
Why was Will Smith's El Toro Marine unit the only U.S. force engaging the Aliens? [Most likely because the military "deciders" didn't know what to expect from the aliens and the ship Will Smith's unit attacked was in the least populated area, thus minimizing any potential civilian casualties. They were testing the waters, so to speak, before committing too many resources on a tactic that may prove futile.]
Answered by Phixius
What's the building the UFO nuts are on top of; it looks very familiar to a building in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. [Now it's the US Bank tower, the tallest structure in downtown Los Angeles, although at the time of filming I believe it belonged to IBM.]
In the special edition there's a lot of mentioning of Randy Quaid's younger son being ill and having to take his medication. It's implied that the mother died of the same illness. What is he ill with? [The reference to the boy's adrenal cortex, and the few symptoms that appear, sound like Addison's Disease.]
What does the phrase "not until the fat lady sings" mean? [It's an opera reference. The common phrase is, "It's not over until the fat lady sings." Many operatic sopranos (female lead performers with high-toned singing voices) are of large girth. In an opera, the soprano usually sings a dramatic aria just before the big finale. Basically it means that unless every option has run out, there's still hope of succeeding.]
Answered by raywest
This seemed like a couple of mistakes, but I'm not a technology expert: First of all, if the aliens are interfering with Earth's satellites, how are cellphones able to work [so well]? Secondly, how is Dave able to triangulate Connie's position? He sticks some kind of device on his roof, and presumably uses a satellite. Regardless of the satellite problem, I thought triangulation (as the name implies) needed at least three points for determining location. [Cell phones do not use satellites, they use towers on the ground in each area and land lines to link each area. So as long as the towers and lan lines are still there the cell phones will work. He triangulates her position using a signal from the cell towers on earth, and you do need 3 points, but those points are just 3 towers on earth, no satellites involved.]
Answered by pross79
How come with computers and electronic gadgets everywhere they have to use a telegraph to let the world know how to destroy the aliens? [The aliens had destroyed the satellites orbiting Earth. This meant that the usual hi-tec methods of communication could not be used (as most use satellites now), and a low-tec method had to implemented.]
In the scene where Steve & Jimmy are being chased by the 2 alien fighters, Jimmy says "I'm gonna try something" and his plane rises up. Steve shouts "Jimmy, you cant fake at that speed". Jimmy's plane begins to turn to the left and drift sideways before he eventually gets shot down. What maneuver was Jimmy trying to do & why did he start to have trouble breathing when he attempted this? [He doesn't say you can't "fake" at that speed. He says you can't "bank" at that speed. Steve and Jimmy are flying at close to the speed of sound. At that speed, banking an F/A-18 would cause very bad things to happen to the pilot and airplane, including incredibly high g-forces which would make it difficult for Jimmy to breathe.]
Answered by Guy Brigman
Whereabouts is the Stargate film poster in this film? Apparently it's on the side of a bus, but I'm not sure where. [It's actually not in the film, the shot was edited out. In that shot the poster was on a billboard which a bus went through.]
When they board Air Force One, Bill Pullman tells the pilot that they are ready to take off. He then says something to a female flight attendant, she nods and then walks away. Could someone who has subtitles please tell me what he says to her? ["Could you please get a blanket for my daughter?"]
When firing a missile, why do the pilots always precede it with the word Fox (e.g 'Fox 1.')? Also, what significance does the phrase 'pile the road' mean? ["Fox One" represents the launch of a semi-active, radar-guided air-to-air missile, "Fox Two" stands for the launch of an heat-seeking air-to-air missile, "Fox Three" is the launch of an active, radar-guided air-to-air missile and "Fox Four" is the firing of air-to-air guns. Source http://www.jimclonts.com/gloss.htm. The President says "Plough the road", meaning he wants a path cleared for Randy Quaid's plane.]
This film is also known as ID4. What's the relevance in this (or am I missing something big)? [ID stands for Independence Day and in the US, Independence Day is on July 4th.]
Answered by shortdanzr
The Welcome Wagon helicopter brings a message in lights. Exactly how would that work, how do different light patterns communicate any message and who decided what patterns there would be? [The pattern of lights shows that we are an intelligent race. The lights would show a pattern and then become random. There isn't a message to speak of, but a demonstration of our intellect. Scientist would normally use the lights to represent a scientific equation or something of that nature. The aliens would respond by either mimicing the patterns, or producing a variation of the pattern we showed them.]
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