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Mars Attacks

Warner Bros.

Release Date: December 13, 1996

MPAA rating: 'PG-13' for sci-fi fantasy violence and brief sexuality

THE MARTIANS ARE COMING!!!

From the swank casinos of the Las Vegas Strip through America's sweeping Heartland and into the inner sanctum of the Oval Office, where even the President sits powerless, "Mars Attacks" casts a comic eye at the hysterical pandemonium wrought as Americans battle against an invasion by warmongering Martian hordes.

Visionary filmmaker Tim Burton returns to the screen with "Mars Attacks," a broad science-fiction comedy populated by one of the coolest ensemble casts of major stars ever assembled. Led by Jack Nicholson, the principal actors include (in alphabetical order) ANNETTE BENING, PIERCE BROSNAN, JIM BROWN, GLENN CLOSE, DANNY DEVITO, MICHAEL J. FOX, PAM GRIER, LUKAS HAAS, TOM JONES, LISA MARIE, SARAH JESSICA PARKER, NATALIE PORTMAN, BARBET SCHROEDER, MARTIN SHORT, SYLVIA SIDNEY, ROD STEIGER and PAUL WINFIELD.

In "Mars Attacks," the world turns to United States President James Dale (Nicholson) for leadership at their hour of greatest need. But as he continually bungles his overtures to the Martians, the world wonders: isn't there somebody better to represent us? The First Family is rounded out by First Lady Marsha Dale (Close), more interested in redecorating the White House than dealing with the end of the world, and by disaffected First Daughter, the apathy-afflicted Taffy (Portman). Advising the President alternately to welcome the cosmic contingent and blow them back to Mars are a cadre of his closest confidants: scientist Professor Donald Kessler (Brosnan), Press Secretary Jerry Ross (Short), bellicose General Decker (Steiger) and peace-minded General Casey (Winfield).

Nicholson also appears in Las Vegas as real-estate hustler Art Land, trying to capitalize on the cash cow of increased room demand from new tourists, even if they are from Mars. His New Age fanatic wife, Barbara (Bening), is staging a one-woman harmonic convergence to welcome the Earth's saviors ... if she can stay off the bottte long enough. Ex-professional boxer Byron Williams (Brown) just wants to get to'his estranged wife (Grier) and kids back in D.C. In the midst of the pandemonium in Vegas, one belligerent gambler (DeVito) doesn't get the fuss, and Tom Jones Uones), ever the entertainer, tries to go on with the show.

Battling for the inside scoop on the invasion are Nathalie West (Parker), a hip Gen-X reporter, and her more "hard-news" boyfriend Jason Stone (Fox). In the Heartland, stoner teen Richie Norris (Haas) might finally have the chance to outshine his martyred otder brother, but first, he's got to save Grandma (Sidney). On the other side of the globe, the President of France is played by director Schroeder in a cameo appearance.

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Citizens of Earth face their doom with gung-ho valor and brainless abandon as little green men from outer space gleefully terrorize the planet in an all-star, cross-country sci-fi comedy from director TIM BURTON.

Playing the Earthlings under intergalactic siege is a stellar cast of dazzlers unlike any assembled on the silver screen before:

WATCH! . . . JACK NICHOLSON as President of the United States James Dale, worried about the best suit to wear to greet the Martians; GLENN CLOSE as appearance obsessive First Lady Marsha, not about to have those things in her house; and NATALIE PORTMAN as First Daughter Taffy, bored with the whole hullabaloo -- a Family that is one of the First to come unglued!

WONDER! . . . at the worthlessness of the President's closest cadre of advisors: ROD STEIGER as "blow-'em-back-to-Mars" General Decker, who never met a war he didn't like; PAUL WINFIELD as "they-come-in-peace" General Casey, who wants to drive the welcome wagon; MARTIN SHORT as the Oval Office's hormonally driven spin doctor, Press Secretary Jerry Ross; and PIERCE BROSNAN as Professor Donald Kessler, who wants to know what makes those big-brained fiends tick!

THRILL! . . . at the denizens of glittery, glitzy Las Vegas: JACK NICHOLSON (yes! again./) as real-estate slickster Art Land; ANNETTE BENING as his chakra cleansing, 12-stepping, harmonically converging wife, Barbara; DANNY DeVITO as a foul-tempered and fouler-mouthed low-roller; JIM BROWN as ex-pro boxer Byron Williams, now a casino greeter; and legendary, ladies-love-him showman TOM JONES as legendary, ladies-love-him showman Tom Jones!

GASP! . . . as a young couple -- SARAH JESSICA PARKER as hip go-getter fashion-newsgal Nathalie Lake and MICHAEL J. FOX as her straighter-laced boyfriend and newshound rival Jason Stone -- race to scoop the story of the millennium without mussing their hair!

TREMBLE! . . . in the Heartland as LUKAS HAAS as slacker stoner Richie Norris and SYLVIA SIDNEY as his hazy-headed grandma make up a cross-generational vigilante team to battle the Martian madness!

SHRIEK! . . . as, back in the Capitol City, PAM GRIER takes no guff -- from her sons or from any E.T., either -- as Louise Williams, and LISA MARIE woos her way into the White House as the alluring, irresistible Martian Girl!

This Martian-mayhem, madcap spoof is produced by Tim Burton and LARRY FRANCO ("Jumanji") from a screenplay by JONATHAN GEMS based upon the Topps trading-card series depicting the planetwide pandemonium that ensues when little green men from the Angry Red Planet invade.

To transform those cards into a celebrity-studded, effects-loaded, full-fraught motion picture, Burton assembled a superlative crew of behind-the-camera talent that swept across the nation from-Los Angeles through Arizona, Las Vegas and Kansas to Washington, D.C. to capture the coast-to-coast commotion of America under alien attack.

The Main Cast

President James Dale / Art Land......... JACK NICHOLSON
First Lady Marsha Dale.................. GLENN CLOSE
Barbara Land............................ ANNETTE BENING
Professor Donald Kessler................ PIERCE BROSNAN                                                                                                                   
Rude Gambler............................ DANNY DeVITO
Nathalie Lake........................... SARAH JESSICA PARKER
Jason Stone............................. MICHAEL J. FOX
General Decker.......................... ROD STEIGER
Tom Jones............................... TOM JONES
Richie Norris........................... LUKAS HAAS
Taffy Dale.............................. NATALIE PORTMAN
Byron Williams.......................... JIM BROWN
Martian Girl............................ LISA MARIE
Grandma Norris.......................... SYLVIA SIDNEY
General Casey........................... PAUL WINFIELD
Louise Williams......................... PAM GRIER
Jerry Ross.............................. MARTIN SHORT

Directed by............................. TIM BURTON