Independence Day: Resurgence Told To Leave Indian Landmarks Alone

“They like to get the landmarks,” quips Jeff Goldblum’s MIT computer boffin David Levinson in ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’.

They do indeed, Dave, except perhaps the ones in India.

According to reports, 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the tourist attraction-smashing sequel, were warned against such willy-nilly destruction in the sub-continent for fear of alienating an entire nation.

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The Mumbai Mirror reports that there were plans to destroy the Gateway of India in Mumbai, but they were soon sidelined.

A source told the paper: “Well, Indians are too touchy. Keeping the sensitivities of all the religious groups and other activists in mind, the makers were asked not to shoot in India or portray any prominent monuments being damaged.”

The Indian arm of the Huffington Post reports that Fox Star Studios, the Indian subsidiary of 20th Century Fox, confirmed the news.

It’s not the first time it’s happened either.

After a request from the Central Board of Film Certification in India, a scene from the Adam Sandler movie 'Pixels’, in which the Taj Mahal is destroyed, was removed from the Indian version of the film last year.

And while the majestic Gateway of India survived the onslaught of the alien force in 'ID:R’, other monuments were less fortunate.

In a new twist on director Roland Emmerich’s appetite for destruction, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa tower, the world’s tallest building, is used as a blunt instrument to smash the London Eye to bits.

Indeed, Goldblum has revealed that he actually ad-libbed the line about the aliens enjoying the destruction of landmarks.

“I did ad-lib that!,” he told the audience at the CinemaCon convention.

“They took us through, me and Liam [Hemsworth], we’re in a two-shot there, and in a Tug, and there was blue screen. And they said, ‘Here’s what they’re going to be doing,’ As you know now, it’s going to be one of the spectacles of this movie, because of the gravity, they’re sending rays down and the gravity lifts cities up off their foundations and then they fall on other cities.

“London falls on Dubai. So we’re making our way though, and somebody was going, ‘You’re now passing the London Eye! It’s falling down!’ And they said, ‘Just keep ad-libbing stuff!'”

‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ is out today.

Image credits: Rex Features/Sony/Fox