My Favorite Martian
Short description
Tim O'Hara is a television reporter whose career has stalled, and he sees a chance to revive it when a Martian crash-lands on Earth. Tim intends to reveal the alien's existence and claim the story of a lifetime, naming his guest Uncle Martin while the visitor takes human form. The Martian has his own priorities: his damaged ship is set to destroy itself, and a ruthless research team is hunting him, while Tim's colleague Brace and the technician Lizzie grow suspicious of the strange new arrival. To get home, Uncle Martin needs Tim's help rather than his publicity.
The film is a comedic adaptation of the 1960s television series of the same name, directed by Donald Petrie and written by Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver. It stars Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Martin and Jeff Daniels as Tim, with Elizabeth Hurley, Daryl Hannah, Wallace Shawn and Christine Ebersole. Petrie's earlier work includes Mystic Pizza, Grumpy Old Men and The Associate; after this film he made Miss Congeniality and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Released in February 1999, the film cost about 65 million dollars and took roughly 37 million dollars worldwide, so it did not recover its budget in cinemas. On IMDb it holds 5.1 out of 10 from about 15,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.7 out of 10 from around 367 votes. A critics' rating of 3.7 out of 10 from 40 reviews places it below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The exterior of Tim's house (played by Jeff Daniels), with its staircase, almost exactly replicates the corresponding sets from the original 1960s series.
- In the original series, Uncle Martin (played by Ray Walston) had three abilities – he could levitate, become invisible (with his antenna raised), and read minds (of Earthlings). In this project, Uncle Martin (played by Christopher Lloyd) can only levitate and become invisible. He has some other abilities as well, but reading the minds of Earthlings is out of the question.
- The original series did not have an episode where the character played by Christopher Lloyd returned to Mars, so the film gave him a line about arriving here in 1963 and finally returning home.
- Initially, Zoot (the living spacesuit) was a non-speaking character; he was only made a wisecracker during post-production.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
