It’s Liam Hemsworth now leading a team of young pilots in fighting aliens in Independence Day: Resurgence directed by Roland Emmerich with an all-star cast including Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Sela Ward, Maika Monroe, Jessie Usher and Angelababy.
The aliens are back with a vengeance in Independence Day: Resurgence, which represents director Roland Emmerich’s huge return to the genre that made him famous. The 1996 original shot into the public imagination with its vistas of destruction, its memorable characters and huge impact on both science fiction and disaster movies. With giant alien spaceships unleashing incredibly devastating power upon the world, it took brain, brawn and heroics to figure out a way to fight back.
Now, 20 years later, humanity has united to rebuild the world’s major cities, while salvaged alien technology has been utilized to work on solving many big problems such as climate change. But the lingering threat of the extra-terrestrials’ return still hangs over our heads and the Earth Space Defense program has formed to be ready for when that day comes. Ominously, it appears that our greatest enemy is indeed back.
Demonstrating versatility and skill in a range of performances, Hemsworth has proven to be one of the most sought-after actors of his generation. In Independence Day: Resurgence, Hemsworth plays Jake Morrison, a hotshot fighter pilot whose family was killed in the original alien attack chronicled in Emmerich’s groundbreaking 1996 sci-fi thriller. Growing up an orphan, Jake joined the military, and quickly showed an aptitude for daring flight missions.
Hemsworth particularly enjoyed exploring the character’s motivations to be at the frontlines of this new battle against the Aliens.
“Jake’s parents were killed during the War of 1996, so he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder in this fight.” The chip on Jake’s shoulder impacts his behavior with authority. Hemsworth elaborates, “Jake can be a little outspoken, because he’s always been the underdog who had to fight for every scrap. As a result of growing up as an orphan, Jake became resentful and jealous of other people’s positions.”
Jake’s candor as well as his fearlessness and occasional disregard for authority land him into hot water. He gets his wings clipped and is relegated to piloting a Moon Tug, which is more or less like working a giant forklift or tug boat, transporting weapons to the military’s moon defense base.
The outpost is a first-response center in the event of another Alien attack. “The Moon Tug is a lot slower than the jets Jake is used to flying, and basically his day consists of moving heavy parts around from point A to B, on the moon,” says Hemsworth. “It’s not the most exciting job for Jake, who knows he belongs in a fighter jet. And he will end up in a fighter jet.”
Hemsworth says he jumped at the chance to be a part of “Independence Day: Resurgence,” because the first film is one of his all-time favorites, although he was only six years old when it was released. “Battling an Alien invasion fleet in this film was a dream come true for me,” says the actor.
Independence Day: Resurgence opens today in cinemas nationwide (2D, 3D, and IMAX) from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.