The Independence Day duo gets an Art & Making of book
Believe it or not, it was twenty years ago that Roland Emmerich brought us the Jeff Goldblum/Will Smith/Bill Pullman blockbuster that personifies America’s love for…well..America. Now, Independence Day: Resurgence brings back the hoorah as a sequel no one really asked for but one we’ll happily enjoy during a surprising summer slump. If you’re lucky you can still catch Independence Day: Resurgence in theaters, so go check it out if you’re feeling particularly patriotic but also dig some blow-’em-up sci-fi.
Whether you enjoyed the movie or have yet to see it, Titan Books is back at it with their “making and art of” formula for exceptional art books complementing our biggest blockbusters. The Art & Making of Independence Day: Resurgence is a really nice companion piece that bridges the original film with the new sequel while providing plenty of behind-the-scenes sneak peeks and concepts.
Take a quick look inside The Art & Making of Independence Day and buy the book after the jump.
Surprisingly, the first fifty pages or so of the book are completely dedicated to Independence Day (1996). Having not watched the movie in a while, it was kind of cool to take a step back before jumping into the new stuff, and I even got a kick out of fun set photos (below) while reading through character details and past event recaps that were essentially footnotes of the first film. A quick search shows that HarperCollins released a behind-the-scenes making-of book for Independence Day, so it makes sense that Titan Books would want to do their own recap.
After those first fifty pages, we jump right into the meat of Independence Day: Resurgence. It’s pretty paint-by-numbers, as far as art/making of books go, with character rundowns, setting descriptions and insights, and the occasional sketch or storyboard filling in the cracks. I don’t mean that in a bad way either. I’ve grown to enjoy the art and making of material Titan Books has been putting out, and there’s plenty of content (new and old) to go over here. From characters returning to new faces joining the fight, it’s always cool to learn a little more about the work that went into bringing a movie like this to the big screen. It’s especially fun when that movie includes big, weird alien elements.
I think I enjoyed the closer looks at those squidy-lookin’ outer space baddies we didn’t get to see much of in the first film most, and in The Art & Making of Independence Day: Resurgence takes out the microscope. From what looks like incredibly early charcoal sketchings to more modern colorless 3D computer models, I dug everything behind-the-scenes Titan compiled into the book. Here’s a little sneak peek:
And here are a few of the alien elements (ships mostly) I liked that were scattered throughout the book:
There are parts of the book deeper in its pages that go into spoiler territory, so I chose not to get into any of that (even though there were a handful of good-looking conceptual images I wanted to share). Overall, there’s an A-to-Z plotting of the movie through the art book, and again its mostly those alien designs and otherworldly insights that make this one worth adding to your shelf. If anything, The Art & Making of Independence Day: Resurgence lets you really take your time with the world Emmerich wowed us with twenty years ago and tries to re-wow us with now. Oh, and there’s the Goldblum. He’s always a good time, in movie or book form.
