Jack Nicholson’s audacious request for Tim Burton’s ‘Mars Attacks!’
The films of Tim Burton tend to lean heavily into the darkest and most gothic moods in cinema. But with the 1996 movie Mars Attacks!, the director was adamant in testing his talents in the realm of science fiction comedy, with an all-star cast including Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan and Danny DeVito, to name but a few.
Burton’s movie tells of Earth’s reaction when a fleet of alien flying saucers visit the planet, but its big draw is certainly that excellent cast, also featuring the likes of Martin Short and Sarah Jessica Parker. Commanding a team of actors with such high-profile names would have been no easy feat, but there was a deeper reason for it, according to Burton.
During an interview with Arts Beat LA, Burton admitted to wanting to “try something different” with his sci-fi movie by bringing a number of big-name stars to proceedings. “The only time I had ventured into bringing together several high-profile stars was for the Batman movies, and here I wanted to repeat this experience on an even bigger scale,” he said.
The director continued, “There are more than twenty lead roles in Mars Attacks! so it was quite a challenge for me to put together this cast.” The first name to be added to the cast list was Burton’s then-girlfriend Lisa Marie, who he called “truly from another planet and who could be the only human being able to play a Martian”.
With Lisa Marie in her role as a Martian, there was still a significant role to fill, the President of the United States, James Dale. Burton needed a real star to fill the boots of the American leader, so he consulted his former Batman colleague Jack Nicholson, an actor primed to play just about any role regardless of stature.
Interestingly, though, when Nicholson was contacted by Burton and was asked which role he’d be interested in playing, the actor made a rather audacious request. “I remember that at first Jack wanted to create a multi-role tour de force performance,” Burton noted, “And when I asked him which part he wanted to play, he replied, ‘How ’bout ALL of them?'”
Sure, Nicholson is one of the greatest actors of all time, but could he really manage to play every single character in a film? Most likely not. Still, Burton heard his suggestion and wrote the actor in to play not only the President of the United States but also Art Land, the owner of the Galaxy Casino.
“This is how we developed the two characters for Jack, the one of the President and the one of this decadent Las Vegas mogul trying to set up a new hotel franchise with a Martian theme,” Burton said. “There is no better actor to go up against the Martians than Jack. I was very lucky. I enjoy seeing someone who is really strong at what they do and who just goes for it. Jack is willing to do anything, no matter how crazy it seems. He’s the greatest, and to see him in two parts is amazing.”
Check out the trailer for Mars Attacks! below.
