Hollywood peeks behind the scenes of War of the Worlds radio show
Independent studio Echo Lake Entertainment will reveal the secrets of one of the most famous radio shows in American history. According to Deadline, the Californian film company is starting work on the We Interrupt This Program, a film about the creation of the legendary re-enactment of The War of the Worlds.In 1938, the leaders of the CBS radio network and the young actor and director Orson Welles came up with the idea to base the plot of one of the episodes of the popular anthology The Mercury Theater on the Air from the famous book by H.G. Wells about unfriendly guests from Mars. In order to maximize the effect on radio listeners, the creators of the production alternated musical inserts with fake news reports about the alien attack. Since the program was not interrupted by advertisements, many Americans believed that their country was indeed invaded by the Martians. The radio show started on October 30 at eight o'clock in the evening. A few minutes later, CBS phones began to be torn from calls with messages that a massive panic had begun in some cities in America. At 20:32, the radio network management decided to interrupt the program in order to remind listeners that all the events described were fictional. The members of the production refused to comply with this order, because according to the plot, the news reporter, played by actor Ray Collins, had to choke on gas in New York overrun by the Martians. Police and journalists soon arrived at the CBS office to try to stop the radio broadcasts.  According to Hollywood insiders, Sean Sorensen's script (The Office Experiment 2) will feature the uneasy relationship between Orson Welles and War of the Worlds producer John Houseman. Emmy nominee Bharat Nalluri (Outcasts, The Hundred) will take the director's chair. The Topic of Article: Hollywood peeks behind the scenes of War of the Worlds radio show. |
