Cinemacon 2016: Interviews with Jeff Goldblum, Vivica A. Fox & more from IDR

April 17th 2016, 3:54pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

As someone who grew up with the first INDEPENDENCE DAY, seeing it multiple times in theaters twenty years ago, it was an exciting prospect to get to meet and talk with some of the original stars (and new ones) that were returning for the long-awaited sequel, INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE. While these overdue sequels don't always fare so well (see: DUMB & DUMBER TO, ZOOLANDER 2), my faith in diretor Roland Emmerich to deliver, particularly in this genre, is high. Beyond that, you have the heart (and brains) of the franchise, Jeff Goldblum, returning to fight a bigger and badder threat with bigger and badder hardware. Goldblum is always such a strange, awesome, enigmatic, and enthralling presence and meeting him in person was all that and more.

I sat down with Goldblum and Brent Spiner to talk about the new film, but before I even knew we were rolling the conversation just kicked off (fortunately my camera person was recording), which included a history lesson on JoBlo that led into a discussion about Godard, Hitchcock, and Wes Anderson. Check out the warm up chat below…

But, we did find some time to talk IDR, with Spiner explaining just how his character returns in the sequel when he was basically pronounced dead in the first film. Goldblum gives us an update on what his character has been up to and I had to ask if he'd be using a computer virus to take out the alien threat again. He also expresses interest in playing the live-action JoBlo. Hey, he's hired.

Next up, I talked to the lovely, talented, and super friendly ~~Vernita Green~~ Vivica A. Fox and the new (movie) Madame President, Sela Ward. Fox talked about where we find her character in the sequel, how she's dealing with the loss of Will Smith's character, and the relationship between her and Jessie Usher, who plays her son. I asked Ward if she'd be delivering a presidential speech akin to the now-classic version delivered by Bill Pullman in the first film as well as what it's like working on an epic Emmerich flick.

Lastly, I talked to the "new blood" of the series, Jessie Usher and Maika Monroe, who play the offspring of charcters from the original film (Usher is the adopted son of Will Smith's character, while Monroe is the daughter of Bill Pullman's). Usher talked about the pressure of carrying on the legacy of Smith's character and his relationship with Vivica A. Fox as his mother, while Monroe talked about what's going on with her dad and assures us that she'll be getting in on the alien ass-kicking action at some point in the film.