How Bill Pullman’s Independence Day Speech Changed The Title Of The Movie
By Anya Stanley/Dec. 10, 2022 9:30 am EST
“Independence Day” was not always going to be the title of Roland Emmerich’s 1996 mega-blockbuster movie. Over the German director’s four decade-plus career, he’s been partial to single-word titles like “Godzilla,” “2012,” and most recently, sci-fi disaster extravaganza “Moonfall.” When it came time to tell the story of the mighty resistance to a global alien attack, the title was going to refer to the first offensive and not the Earthlings’ counterattack; the studio wanted to call the movie “Doomsday” (not to be confused with Neil Marshall’s 2008 post-apocalyptic action picture of the same name).
Bill Pullman stars in the film as one of the great movie Commanders-In-Chief, President Thomas J. Whitmore. It’s on Whitmore’s watch that the alien warships converge over Earth’s major cities and blow most of them to smithereens. Though he’s forced to flee to Nevada’s Area 51, Whitmore commands a final counterattack with the remaining fighter jets available. The pilots are young and few; the stakes are sky-high. He grabs a mic and calls for unity, citing the day’s date (July 4th) as not just an American holiday, but a global one in which mankind asserts (with missiles) “our Independence Day.” See one of the greatest big-screen presidential speeches of all time here:
President Whitmore then walks the walk, personally leading the squadrons into “the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind” and, after some absurdly fun fight sequences, wins one for humanity. Like the story’s concept itself, the speech was specifically centered around the American day of independence; according to the film’s star Pullman, the speech would end up solidifying “Independence Day” as the film’s title.
Bill Pullman stars in the film as one of the great movie Commanders-In-Chief, President Thomas J. Whitmore. It’s on Whitmore’s watch that the alien warships converge over Earth’s major cities and blow most of them to smithereens. Though he’s forced to flee to Nevada’s Area 51, Whitmore commands a final counterattack with the remaining fighter jets available. The pilots are young and few; the stakes are sky-high. He grabs a mic and calls for unity, citing the day’s date (July 4th) as not just an American holiday, but a global one in which mankind asserts (with missiles) “our Independence Day.” See one of the greatest big-screen presidential speeches of all time here:
President Whitmore then walks the walk, personally leading the squadrons into “the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind” and, after some absurdly fun fight sequences, wins one for humanity. Like the story’s concept itself, the speech was specifically centered around the American day of independence; according to the film’s star Pullman, the speech would end up solidifying “Independence Day” as the film’s title.
‘Today we celebrate our Independence Day!’
“Independence Day” invaded theaters, scoring an $817 million box office payday, making a splash big enough to influence the summer blockbuster for decades. There was a middling sequel in 2016, but we don’t talk about that, so enjoy Pullman’s SNL monologue where he mentions his sex symbol status in the wake of the movie instead.
