SciFi Wire spoke with Doug Chiang, the conceptual artist on the WAR OF THE WORLDS remake, to get the lowdown on what to expect from the aliens in the flick. He seems to be dedicated to staying as true as possible to the book’s description.
“… we wanted to be faithful to it [the book], because … we think it’s best to go to the source material versus other interpretations, as great as the other interpretations may have been. It’s always nice to see where the inspiration came from.”
So how does the book describe the bastards who are trying to take our planet? A little something like this: They have two large, dark-colored eyes; a V-shaped mouth; a mass of tentacles; and oily brown skin.
Nasty, eh? Sounds like a hentai lovers dream come true. Even better, though, is the spirit Chiang is going for with the alien design: “We’re kind of trying to create fear, or an image of fear. And whatever that is to each individual person is always different, so there’s always shadow images and stuff. So in some ways we’re trying to create these creatures or these machines or whatever as sort of manifestations of what terrifies [us]. And it may not terrify everybody else. But I think we’re trying to capture that essence.”
I haven’t been a fan of this project ever since it was announced, but I have to admit this is starting to peak my interest. And I don’t mind eating crow if it comes with a serving of nasty, scary, tentacled killers.
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