WTF Happened to Deep Impact?

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]Today's film arrived onto Earth that it was about to destroy during the disaster film heyday of the late '9s, which meant it would have to compete with major classics of the subgenre still fresh in the minds of audiences everywhere.

[00:00:25]As if that weren't daunting enough for a film hoping to become The Thinking Man's End of the World epic, the movie would also contend with the loss of a major Hollywood director and the special effects complexities of breaking off a massive chunk of Earth.

[00:00:42]But worst of all, a major Hollywood studio would allegedly not only end up stealing their idea, but fast-tracking their version to release that same summer with double the budget.

[00:00:56]It's the movie that tried to differentiate itself from the spicy spectacle of its brethren by leaning into real life science and emotion. But would it succeed? Well, friends, you know what this is? And this is what the [ __ ] happened to Armag I mean Deep Impact.

[00:01:13]>> The comets are still headed for Earth and there's nothing we can do to stop them. The story begins as far back as the late 1970s when producers David Brown and Richard Sanic were looking to update the 1951 disaster film When Worlds Collide.

[00:01:29]>> When Worlds Collide >> about a rogue star threatening to destroy Earth, >> the Ar took the project to the one and only Jaws director Steven Spielberg, who was interested but wrapped up in creating his own disaster piece, an adaptation of Arthur C. Clark's novel, The Hammer of God, a story where an asteroid is found to be on course to collide with Earth, and thus they have to try deflecting it with fusion thermal rockets.

[00:01:59]Eventually, they decided to merge the two stories into one grand idea. Jacob's ladder writer, Bruce Joel Rubin, went to work on a script that was later revised by the player writer, Michael Tolken.

[00:02:10]>> Can we talk about something other than Hollywood for a change? And by the end of it, the story took on enough of an identity of its own that neither of the two previous inspirations would receive credit. This royally pissed off Clark.

[00:02:23]>> NO. GOD, PLEASE NO. NO.

[00:02:25]>> WHO later gave a scathing review of the film.

[00:02:34]While The Hammer of God evokes thoughts of Thor and Led Zeppelin because of its badass title, that too was left behind for the disaster film that they would now call Deep Impact, which kind of sounds like a porno.

[00:02:51]>> That's what she said.

[00:02:54]>> And the production knew it. In fact, they held a competition with the good folks at ILM Effects for someone to come up with a better title. But as you all know, no one did. Yes. Very sad. Anyway, meanwhile, Disney was able to come out with a title for their summer blockbuster of the year without evoking a single giggity.

[00:03:12]>> Oh, giggity giggity giggity.

[00:03:14]>> Armageddon.

[00:03:18]A disaster flick about an asteroid on a collision course for Earth. Wait, sound familiar?

[00:03:26]Deep Impact writer Bruce Joel Rubin claims that he happened to be telling some Disney executives about Deep Impact during a meeting about something else entirely when he noticed one of them suspiciously taking notes.

[00:03:40]>> Shortly afterward, Armageddon was announced.

[00:03:43]>> Coincidence? I think not.

[00:03:45]>> Basically, the great Bill Paxton says it best.

[00:03:48]>> Stole my design, you son OF A [ __ ] THE website Movie Phone even claims Ba snuck into Paramount Studios as they edited Deep Impact, stealing dailies from the set to compare to his own.

[00:03:59]>> She doesn't even go here.

[00:04:02]>> Like it or not, the two films would be forever linked. Spielberg had plans to direct Deep Impact himself, but likely because the studio was being forced to compete with Disney's timeline, he had to pass the baton as he completed work on Amastad.

[00:04:17]and give us free.

[00:04:21]>> The director would instead be er's Mimi Leader, who says during the DVD commentary that she was offered the job out of nowhere while in the editing room of her previous feature, The Peacemaker.

[00:04:32]No, not the John Cena one.

[00:04:34]>> What superhero are you?

[00:04:35]>> Peacemaker.

[00:04:36]>> Leader's contribution to the film was significant. She brought a human first approach and saw the project as a drama that happened to feature massive special effects and not the other way around.

[00:04:51]The exact way you could explain the differences between Deep Impact and the super entertaining Armageddon.

[00:04:58]Some would say one is boring and the other is fun.

[00:05:02]>> Somebody dial 911. while others could say one is silly as [ __ ] and the other is far more realistic and thoughtful.

[00:05:10]>> Well, you know why? Cuz this is New York City. Anything could have happened.

[00:05:13]>> I think all audience members win when you consider we received two very different films despite the very similar subject matter.

[00:05:21]>> Everybody hang on. This could get a little rough.

[00:05:23]>> Leader brought with her color of night and the Peacemaker cinematographer Dietrich Lman who sadly became ill with leukemia and was unable to finish the entire production. Contact cinematographer Don Burgess stepped in to help the crew when needed as Lman unfortunately passed away in November of 1997.

[00:05:42]It's been a pleasure serving with you, Commander. The honor's all mine, Andy.

[00:05:48]A Thinking Man's disaster flick would require an earnest cast, and a huge one at that. Morgan Freeman would impressively play the president, tasked with the unfortunate job of explaining to the press on multiple occasions that they were all going to die. This comet is larger than Mount Everest.

[00:06:06]It weighs 500 billion tons.

[00:06:10]>> At one point, the actor weirdly requested that he wear a single earring as president. The request was denied, but you do see old detective Somerset rocking a nice arm tat at home in one scene.

[00:06:25]Robert Dval would give an impressive and heartfelt performance as usual as the leader of the space mission to divert the comet from Earth's path.

[00:06:33]>> So if we fire it up, we beat the comet back to Earth, but we may end up glowing in the dark.

[00:06:40]>> Tailion plays the news reporter who courageously broke the story while attempting to uncover a far simpler infidelity scandal in the White House.

[00:06:48]Treasury Alan Writtenhouse resigns because of a mistress named Ellie.

[00:06:52]Biggest story in history. What an ego.

[00:06:56]>> She was far better in the role than the nomination she received for worst supporting actress by the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards.

[00:07:06]The supporting cast of Deep Impact is so stacked that it features talented actors like Blair Underwood, John Favro, James Cromwell, Vanessa Redgrave, Elijah Wood, and a handful of others in impactful roles with all by little screen time.

[00:07:21]>> I think it's really neat. Nobody on our block discovered the world is going to end this. The roles cover every aspect of a fictional earth ending event, jumping from the government to the astronauts to the human threads left on the ground awaiting their possible end.

[00:07:36]>> It's my problem. We're doomed.

[00:07:38]>> While Leader originally wanted the film to be even more widespanning and cover other count's perspectives, the budget nor the schedule would allow it. Many scenes featuring extended screen time for these supporting actors would end up being cut from the film to save running time when all was said and done.

[00:07:56]>> Hi, you're not watching TV.

[00:08:01]>> They just keep saying the same thing.

[00:08:03]>> Deep Impact might be a little more emo than its peers, exploring the themes of family, sacrifice, and acceptance, but they still have to blowit up.

[00:08:16]Enter the talents of special effects stalwarts industrial light and magic to create the impressive destruction sequences. ILM combines small physical models, real water and smoke effects, early CGI, and editing tricks to make the moments of pure destruction seem as real as humanly possible. For the awe inspiring and to be honest, [ __ ] nightmareinducing tidal wave sequence.

[00:08:39]They use special software to simulate how water moves, telling it to create millions of tiny water particles, and shaping them into the giant wave. They added real footage of splashing water, mini buildings, digital humans, and blended it all together. Then they digitally added extra debris, buildings, and fire. For the scenes in space, they created small physical spaceship models and filmed against blue screens, adding the planets and stars in post-production.

[00:09:10]The fact that they didn't fully rely on computers and incorporated model work and practicality alongside digital is a big reason why the effects still hold up all these years later. All this despite the fact that they were in the early days of CG, water, and up against a tight shooting schedule.

[00:09:33]For the scenes of the comet, they used a lot of blue screens to accompany the practical surface. The crew would use wiring harnesses to not only simulate the situational gravity, or lack thereof, but to move about the set as the faux rocky terrain was difficult to navigate on foot. While several shots in the film feature CGI people and crowds, the traffic jam that takes place in Virginia is 100% practical and features a metric [ __ ] ton of extras alongside 1,800 vehicles, mostly provided by volunteers in the Manassus, Virginia area.

[00:10:12]Spielberg would remain in the role of executive producer and actually came in towards the end of filming and requested six or 12 additional shots and moments with more explanation to clear up some possibly confusing story points for the audience. And they shot him because when Spielberg talks, you listen. What I have to do to make people listen to me. Another major element that sets Deep Impact apart from its brethren is its attention to scientific detail. A large team of science specialists and smart folks that included astronomers, astronauts, and NASA employees were assembled at the start of production to help keep things as realistic as possible story-wise.

[00:10:56]Well, they're not scared of dying.

[00:10:58]They're just scared of looking bad on TV.

[00:11:01]A Washington Post column that featured asteroid expert Clark Chapman saying Deep Impact featured a fairly good scientific representation of the situation.

[00:11:16]Visual effects supervisor Scott Ferrar says that he was contacted by people from all over the world. Impressed with the shockingly accurate informational aspects of the film, Leader handled the huge undertaking of Deep Impact by separating it into different parts.

[00:11:32]There were the talking and exposition scenes amongst the characters.

[00:11:37]>> Well, I always thought the truth was in the nation's best interest, >> the government moments featuring the president and press.

[00:11:44]>> Life will go on.

[00:11:48]We will prevail. and of course the special effects portions of the movie.

[00:11:57]Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin was given access to highly classified federal areas such as the White House situation room in his research and gives credit to the influence of executive producer Steven Spielberg for the access. The meeting between President Morgan Freeman and Taleone even takes place in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in LA where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated.

[00:12:21]>> Tom Bennett, I understand you've come to some information.

[00:12:24]>> Despite all of this, Deep Impact lives somewhat in the shadow of Armageddon and Michael Ba's holy [ __ ] hold my beer and fireworks type of film making. And who can compete with Aerosmith and Ben Affleck doing tummy animal cracker puppetry on Liv Tyler's stomach?

[00:12:40]>> I got like little Animal Cracker Discovery Channel thing happening right here. There was no Barbenheimer situation between the two films releasing in the summer of 1998. These were pure rivals trying to prove themselves in the golden era of destruction.

[00:12:59]Held just two years previous featured films like Twister, Independence Day, and Dante's Peak.

[00:13:10]Tommy Lee Jones was fighting volcanoes in the middle of the city. We were obsessed with our own demise, and it was awesome.

[00:13:18]>> The other way, >> I'll ask you when we get out of there.

[00:13:21]>> Deep Impact's only hope to stand out from the pack was to portray itself as the tender version of the madness, complete with a James score that captures the human spirit and sadness of an extinction level event. If >> the world does go on, it will not go on for everyone. Deep Impact's comet was able to land before Armageddon's asteroid with a May 8th release.

[00:13:46]While BA film was unleashed less than a month later on June 1st of 1998.

[00:13:50]>> How you feeling?

[00:13:52]>> Uh, good. You know, I mean, considering I've never been this scared in my entire life. Deep Impact and its budget of around $75 to $80 million rad in $41 million on its opening weekend on its way to just under 350 million worldwide.

[00:14:10]>> Not bad. Not bad.

[00:14:12]>> A massive success that left director Mimi Leer disappointed in the way the press attempted to pit the two films against each other.

[00:14:19]>> Don't make me your competition.

[00:14:21]>> She responded saying that both films had their own value and both films succeeded on a massive scale. Blow the bomb, Harry. We're with you.

[00:14:29]>> And she was right, as Armageddon and its $140 million budget also wre havoc on its way to over $550 million worldwide.

[00:14:44]Critical reaction for Deep Impact was mixed, and that makes sense. While it pleased those looking for more human drama, it disappointed others who felt as though it was too bogged down in emotion and science to truly get down with the sickness in the way the audiences were accustomed to.

[00:15:00]>> Yeah, Mr. White.

[00:15:02]>> Yes, science.

[00:15:04]>> I also think Deep Impact forced us to look at some pretty dark aspects of our possible destruction in uncomfortable ways.

[00:15:11]>> This is fine. It's weird to hear that hopeful Amlin type movie score as an aranged father and daughter embrace on a beach while the sky turns red and a horrific title wave engulfs them and countless others.

[00:15:25]It's both hopeful and dark. But hey, Earth survived and we all got to learn just what the happened to Deep Impact.

[00:15:36]And heroes die, but they are remembered.

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