Trivia: According to the Director's commentary, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation did not want the film to be released under the title "Independence Day" to avoid legal complications (specifics weren't disclosed as to what the problems might be, but it's also why the abbreviation "ID4" was used). Roland Emmerich (director/writer) and Dean Devlin (writer) needed to justify the title, so they added the rousing bit right at the end of President Whitmore's speech at the hangar when he ends with, "The 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday...today we celebrate our Independence Day!"
Trivia: During filming, Val Kilmer became so difficult to work with, that after his final scene was filmed, director John Frankenheimer ordered his crew to "get that bastard off my set."
Trivia: The look of the movie is based on a collection of Topps trading cards.
Trivia: I was reading through some of the entries concerning the Borg in the Star Trek Encyclopedia, and came upon a comment they had about Wolf 359 - it's the name of an actual star in space, it makes up part of the Constellation Leo. It's also the site of the first major fleet battle between StarFleet and the Borg. Take your mind back to the scene where Zef and Lily first walk out of that bar, and Lily sees a speck of light that is actually the Borg Sphere, and asks Zef what it is. He replies "That, my dear, is the Constellation Leo". Now, obviously he didn't see what she was pointing out the first time around, but we could probably assume that from their point of view the sphere was in the general area that the constellation occupies in the night sky. Nice coincidence that the first attack on Earth by the Borg came from the same direction as the major battle between Starfleet and the Borg.
Trivia: It took three hours to apply Eddie Murphy's make-up every day for the entire 70-day shoot.
Trivia: This was originally supposed to be the sequel to the first Darkman movie. When Larry Drake said he would like to appear as Durant, Die Darkman Die became the third film with the second film being Darkman 2: The Return of Durant.
Trivia: In the scene where Kamil the dog attacks the drunken guy at the crotch, no protection was used in order to make the scene as real as possible, but the dog had been specially trained for weeks beforehand to bite the area, but to not clamp down or force itself down. In the first take of the scene, where Barb Wire makes Kamil sit down, the guy used timed it badly, and forgot to bend down as the dog did. As you can imagine, this was painful.
Trivia: When Mike puts on the Manipulator Arms, you can hear Torgo's Theme from 'Manos: The Hands of Fate' for a bit in the background.
Trivia: Though promotional photos of Victorian dressed Cenobites wearing white powdered wigs were released in various sci-fi magazines to promote this film, the Victorian Cenobites were never shown once the movie was released.
Trivia: Michael Keaton is seen wearing a Penn State hat. Keaton was born in Pennsylvania and is a long time resident of Pittsburgh, although Penn State is not his alma mater.
Trivia: In this movie, the hinges on the small phone box door, which is contained in the larger left hand door of the Tardis are located to the right, causing the door to open from the left. In the TV series (original and new) the same door opens from the right, with hinges on the left.
Trivia: In this film, they make remarks about both N.Y. and Cleveland. Although Escape from New York was a film, the story about Cleveland only appears in the comic books.
Trivia: Early in production, the film was reportedly intended to be a theatrical release as the first film became a huge hit on VHS and on cable. However, when original co-stars Kevin Bacon and Reba McEntire were unable to commit for various reasons, the budget was lowered and it became a direct-to-video feature. While this was initially disappointing, it paid off in the long run, as it launched a continuing franchise with a further five sequels and a popular (but short-lived) TV series.
