"The Day the Earth Stood Still" is a 2008 American science fiction film serving as a loose adaptation of the 1951 film of the same name (which itself was based on the 1940 short story "Farewell to the Master"). Directed by Scott Derrickson from a screenplay by David Scarpa, it stars Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, an alien sent to try and change human behavior in an effort to save Earth from environmental degradation; this version replaces the Cold War-era theme of nuclear warfare with the contemporary issue of negative human impact on the environment. The film co-stars Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith, John Cleese, Jon Hamm, and Kathy Bates.

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" was originally scheduled for release on May 9, 2008, but was released on a roll-out schedule beginning December 12, 2008, screening in both conventional and IMAX theaters. The critical reviews were heavily mixed, with Rotten Tomatoes calling the film "heavy on special effects, but without a coherent story at its base". In its opening week, the film took the top spot at the U.S. box office and went on to gross over $233 million worldwide.

Cast

• Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, an alien messenger in human form. Reeves dislikes remakes but was impressed by the script, which he deemed a reimagining. He enjoyed the original film as a child and became fonder of it as an adult when he understood how relevant it was. Reeves acknowledged his Klaatu is "inverted" from the original, starting "sinister and tough" but becoming "more human", whereas the original was "more human than human" before revealing his "big stick" in his ending speech. He compared the remake's Klaatu to the wrathful God who floods the world in the Old Testament, but is gentle and forgiving by the time of the New Testament. He spent many weeks revising the script, trying to make Klaatu's transition from alien in human form to one who appreciates their emotions and beliefs subtle and nuanced. Derrickson, the director, said that although Reeves would not use actions "that are highly unusual or highly quirky," he nevertheless "keeps you aware of the fact that this being you're walking through this movie with is not a human being". At Reeves' insistence, the line "Klaatu barada nikto" was added to the script after initially being omitted. The line was recorded many times, and it was decided to combine two recordings: one where Reeves said it normally and a reversed version where he said the line backward, creating an "alien" effect.
• Jennifer Connelly as Helen Benson, an astrobiologist at Princeton University, who is recruited by the government to study Klaatu. Connelly was Derrickson's first choice for the part. She is a fan of the original film and felt Patricia Neal's original portrayal of Helen was "fabulous," but trusted the filmmakers with their reinterpretation of the story and of Helen, who was a secretary in the original. Connelly emphasized that Helen is amazed when she meets Klaatu, as she never believed she would encounter a sentient alien like him after speculating on extraterrestrial life for so long. Connelly was dedicated to understanding her scientific jargon, with Seth Shostak stating she did "everything short of writing a NASA grant application."
• Jaden Smith as Jacob Benson, Helen's eight-year old stepson. Jacob replaces the character of Bobby (Billy Gray) in the original, and his relationship with Helen was written as a microcosm of how Klaatu comes to see humanity—the alien sees their cold and distant relationship as normal human behavior, and their reconciliation forces him to change his mind. Smith said he found Jacob difficult to play because he felt the character "opposite" to his personality. Smith had met Reeves before on the set of the Matrix sequels, which featured his mother, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
• John Cleese as Professor Karl Barnhardt, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, who specializes in the evolutionary basis of altruism. Helen takes Klaatu to him to further change his mind. The role was the most difficult to cast, and eventually the filmmakers decided to approach Cleese, noting "Who would you rather make the argument [to Klaatu] for mankind than John Cleese?" Stoff, a producer, had met Cleese a few times beforehand and had noted his intellect. The actor was surprised the filmmakers were interested in him, and decided playing a dramatic role would be easier than to play a comedic one at his age. He was often reminded to speed up his dialogue so that Reeves would not appear in synchronicity with normal human speech patterns. Cleese said he is not interested in extraterrestrial life because he often philosophizes about the purpose of life and why humans are distracted by trivial matters. Cleese spoke about portraying abilities outside his own experience in the scene in which Klaatu corrects a complex mathematical formula Barnhardt has written on a blackboard: "The trouble is, I had to be able to write the equation, because Barnhardt has been working on it for 60 years. I learned to carefully copy things down that mean nothing to me at all. In A Fish Called Wanda, I spoke a lot of Russian without having any idea what it means."The crew enjoyed working with Cleese and were sad when he finished filming his part.
• Jon Hamm as Michael Granier, a NASA official, who recruits Helen into his scientific team investigating Klaatu. Granier is fascinated by Klaatu, but is torn between his official obligation to detain the alien and protect his country. Hamm acknowledged science fiction was a niche genre when the original film was made, and that it used science fiction to make topical issues more approachable. Hamm had the same feelings for this remake. Originally, Hamm's character was French and named Michel. Although he is interested in math and science, Hamm found his technical dialogue difficult and had to film his lines repeatedly.
• Kathy Bates as Regina Jackson, the United States Secretary of Defense. Bates had only two weeks to film her scenes, so she often requested Derrickson act out her lines so she would directly understand his aims for her dialogue, rather than interpret vague directions.
• Kyle Chandler as John Driscoll
• Robert Knepper as Colonel Addelman
• James Hong as Mr. Wu
• John Rothman as Dr. Myron
• Brandon T. Jackson as Target Tech

Thanks to Wikipedia for the full write-up at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still_(2008_film)

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