Fan Casting

On July 2, 1996, an enormous alien mothership, that has one fourth the mass of the Moon, enters orbit around Earth, deploying assault fortress saucers, each fifteen miles wide, that take positions over some of Earth's major cities. David Levinson, an MIT-trained satellite technician, decodes a signal embedded in global satellite transmissions that he determines is a timer counting down to a coordinated attack. With the help of his former wife, White House Communications Director Constance Spano, David, and his father Julius, gain access to the Oval Office and warn President Thomas J. Whitmore that the aliens are hostile. Whitmore orders large-scale evacuations of New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., but it is too late; the timer reaches zero and the saucers activate devastating directed-energy weapons, killing millions. Whitmore, the Levinsons, and a few others narrowly escape aboard Air Force One as the capital is destroyed, along with the other locations over which the saucers are positioned. On July 3, international leaders begin ordering individual counterattacks. Their air forces attack the saucers positioned above the ruins of the cities, but the saucers are protected by force fields. Each saucer launches a swarm of attack fighters, each with its own shield as well, which wipe out the human fighter squadrons and military bases. Captain Steven Hiller, a F/A-18 jet pilot with the USMC squadron VMFA-314 based out of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, survives by luring his attacker to the enclosed spaces of the Grand Canyon and sacrificing his plane, forcing the alien to crash-land. He subdues the injured alien pilot and flags down a convoy of refugees, hitching a ride with former combat pilot Russell Casse. They transport the unconscious alien to Area 51, where Whitmore's group has landed. Through Secretary of Defense Albert Nimzicki, they learn that a faction of the government has been involved in a UFO conspiracy since 1947, when one of the invaders' attack fighters crashed in Roswell. Area 51 houses the refurbished alien fighter, and three alien corpses recovered from the crash. When eccentric scientist Dr. Brackish Okun examines the alien captured by Steven, it regains consciousness and attacks. It telepathically invades Dr. Okun's mind and uses his vocal cords to communicate with President Whitmore before launching a psychic attack against him. Whitmore sees visions of the aliens' plans: their entire civilization travels from planet to planet, exterminating all indigenous life and stripping the planet of all natural resources. After Secret Service agents and military personnel kill the alien, Whitmore reluctantly authorizes a nuclear attack; a B-2 Spirit fires a nuclear warhead tipped cruise missile at a saucer positioned above Houston, but the saucer remains intact, whilst wiping out the city. On July 4, David demonstrates that the key to defeating the aliens lies in deactivating their force fields, and devises a way to do so by uploading a computer virus into the mothership. He proposes using the refurbished alien fighter to implement the plan, which Steven volunteers to pilot. The two are able to upload the virus and deploy a nuclear weapon on board the mothership, blowing it to pieces. With military pilots in short supply, Whitmore enlists the help of volunteers with flight experience, including Russell, to fly the remaining F/A-18s at Area 51; and leads an attack on a saucer bearing down on the base. With the aliens' shields deactivated, the fighter jets are able to effectively fight back against the enemy craft, but their supply of missiles is exhausted before they can bring down the ship. As the saucer prepares to fire on the base, Russell has one last missile to spare, but when the firing control on the missile fails, he bravely rams his jet into the directed-energy weapon port, causing a chain reaction that destroys the entire ship. Human resistance forces around the world are informed of the alien ships' weak point, and successfully destroy the other saucers. As humankind is rejoicing in victory, Steven and David return to Area 51 unharmed and reunite with their families. They then accompany Whitmore and his daughter in watching the wreckage from the mothership burn up, resembling a fireworks display as it enters Earth's atmosphere.