Evolution (film)

Evolution
Evolution film poster
Directed by	Ivan Reitman
Produced by	Joe Medjuck Ivan Reitman Daniel Goldberg
Written by	David Diamond Don Jakoby David Weissman
Starring	David Duchovny Orlando Jones Julianne Moore Seann William Scott
Music by	John Powell
Cinematography	Michael Chapman
Editing by	Wendy Greene Bricmont Sheldon Kahn
Distributed by	- USA - DreamWorks - non-USA - Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	June 8, 2001
Running time	101 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	~ US$80,000,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Evolution is a 2001 comedy sci-fi movie directed by Ivan Reitman. It is based on a story by Don Jakoby who converted it into a screenplay along with David Diamond and David Weissman. A short-lived animated series, Alienators: Evolution Continues, that was loosely based on the film was broadcast months after the movie was released.

Plot

Ira Kane and Harry Block discover an extraterrestrial organism in an asteroid that has crashed to Earth. Though initially a simple goo it rapidly evolves into a variety of creatures including primates and pterodactyl species that threaten to take over the sleepy town of Glen Canyon, Arizona.

Soon the government (and army), led by Allison Reed and Russell Woodman who are quite familiar with Ira Kane, attends the scene and attempt to control the situation. Unfortunately, the aliens mutate rapidly when set on fire and their method of destroying the alien lifeform via napalm actually boosts its growth and it comes down to Kane, Block and a few friends to save everyone.

It is discovered that selenium, an ingredient in some dandruff shampoos, is as poisonous to the alien life-forms as arsenic is to humans. This idea is brought about by performing the same translation of movements (Knight's move in chess: down two and right one) in the periodic table from nitrogen (the primary element in the alien life-form) to selenium as from carbon (the primary element in humans) to arsenic.

Cast

Kyle Gass, Sarah Silverman, Richard Moll, Tom Davis, Miriam Flynn, and John Cho have cameo appearances.

Details

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Evolution was originally written as a serious horror science fiction film, until Ivan Reitman stepped in and re-wrote much of the script.
• During the lengthy shooting in Page, Arizona, Dan Aykroyd entertained the local folk by carding guests at a bar, unofficially greeting people at Wal-Mart, and visiting locals for a cup of coffee in their homes.
• Shot in December, DreamWorks asked the locals to delay putting up their Christmas decorations. Following the shoot, DreamWorks paid the city employees overtime to light up the town in time for Christmas.
• The clumsiness in Julianne Moore's character was her idea.
• The three main characters perform a commercial for "Head & Shoulders" at the end of the movie. The idea to this came from Ivan Reitman's son.
• Ira (played by David Duchovny) makes an incredible (and ultimately, correct) leap of logic when he deduces that the element selenium might be as poisonous to the alien life-forms as arsenic is to humans. Fox Mulder, Duchovny's character on The X-Files, is notorious for arriving at similarly implausible (and usually, correct) leaps of logic (usually just in time to advance the plot prior to the commercial break).
• The placement of the element selenium in Head & Shoulders shampoo is technically correct. Head & Shoulders Intensive Treatment Shampoo actually does consist of approximately 1% selenium sulfide. However, Head & Shoulders shampoo shown in the white containers mixed with the blue ones contains 1 % zinc pyrithione and not the selenium sulfide in the blue containers.
• David Duchovny turned down a role in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones to appear in this movie.
• The three-eyed smiley face used as the logo of the film in marketing was borrowed from the comic book Transmetropolitan. Producers had to get permission from DC Comics to use it and were licensed by Smileyworld Ltd, owner of the trademark of the Smiley logo, to use it for advertising and commercial purposes.
• In the film, when the governor has a meeting for the first time in the research centre, the clock behind him shows 7:25am and when Ira (played by David Duchovny) arrives the clock shows 8:40am.
• All of the on campus, classroom, lab and professor's office scenes were filmed on location at Cal State Fullerton in California. The building used for the movie was Miles D. McCarthy Hall, which is currently home to the College of Natural Science and Mathematics.
• Has multiple scenes that echoed and had similar lines that were in Ghostbusters in which both movies were directed by Ivan Reitman.

References

See also

• Panspermia

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Evolution (film)

• Evolution at the Internet Movie Database
• Evolution at Rotten Tomatoes
• Evolution at Box Office Mojo

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