August 2025

A Hostile Takeover in War of the Worlds

This in-depth look at the making of War of the Worlds first appeared in American Cinematographer's July 2005 issue. For full access to our archive, which includes more than 105 years of essential motion-picture production coverage, become a subscriber today. Steven Spielberg’s films have often portrayed extraterrestrial life in an optimistic, positive way, but his new film War of the Worlds, based on H.G. Wells’ sci-fi chiller about an alien invasion, takes a distinctly darker view. As director of photography Janusz Kaminski, ASC attests, Spielberg wanted to amplify the horror of the story by grounding the film in the perspective of its flawed, very human central characters. “Steven puts human emotions into this film — a story that people...more