Aliens invading this planet and wreaking havoc on earthlings has been fodder for science fiction films for decades. Manhattan Beach screenwriter Chris Bertolini thought of an idea in early 2007 for a television series with a slight twist on the popular genre. Bertolini’s series focused on soldiers battling murderous space creatures, more “Black Hawk Down” then “Independence Day.”
That germ on an idea evolved into the movie “Battle: Los Angeles,” which easily led the box office in its opening weekend with $35.6 million in ticket sales. After years of sightings all over the world, a global invasion occurs when alien forces, city by city, take over the world. Marine staff sergeant (Aaron Eckhart) and his platoon must defend Los Angeles to the bitter end to help save mankind.
“I wanted it to be all from the point of view of these guys,” Bertolini said. “That angle felt like a fresh take on it because in a sense we weren’t just doing an alien invasion movie, we’re sort of doing a classic war movie and trying to put the viewer in the midst of the fog of war. The fun twist is that it happened to be against aliens. The ‘Black Hawk Down’ model was one that was touted a lot.”
Bertolini has worked in Hollywood for more than 18 years. His previous credits include a screenplay for 1999’s “The General’s Daughter,” a West Point murder mystery that starred John Travolta, in which he co-wrote. While he worked solidly for years, Bertolini felt the effects of the Writers Guild of America strike that occurred from November 2007 to February 2008. When he didn’t see a job on the horizon, he started working on a script inspired by the 1960s World War II “Combat” television drama that starred Vic Morrow.
With lightning speed by Hollywood standards, the script for “Battle: Los Angeles” sold in 2008, and by September 2009, filming started.
“It felt like a movie that could be made for a price,” Bertolini said. “I’m staggered by the movies that are made for $125 to $150 million. Those are starting to become somewhat routine. Our budget wound up around $75 million, which feels like a very doable number nowadays.”
The screenplay, which two to three months to write, went through a number of rewrites before filming started. The director, studio and producers encouraged Bertolini to be on set to help with any last-minute script changes. He estimated he was on set for more than 75 percent of the shoot.
“There wasn’t really a huge amount that I had to do when I was there, but I wanted to be there,” Bertolini said. “They wanted me there in case anything came up, but I think they also felt like I worked really hard and it had been an original idea. I think they were very generous in terms of going, ‘Stay as long as you want. We need you there.’ Some of the stuff felt to me a little bit like I could have been home and they could have called me up and said ‘Hey, we’re thinking of a new little scene like this.’ It was really nice to be around to see things getting shot, to interact with the actors. Sometimes they have questions. It was a big production, so every once in a while someone would come to me.”
Besides Eckhart, the veteran cast of “Battle: Los Angeles” includes Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan and Michael Pena, as well as a core of young actors. Bertolini said he was impressed with the commitment of the ego-less cast, which did Marine boot camp to prepare for the physically demanding roles.
“I used to bust their chops a bit,” said Bertolini of the young actors. “I’d say, ‘You’re so lucky. This is what you dream about as a kid, right?’ When you’re playing in the backyard. You have your toy guns and you’re running around and you’re shooting aliens or whatever. I’d see these guys sometimes in their full Marine uniforms, holding their M16s with their helmets and radios, and running around in this phenomenal set that was built. At one point we closed down a freeway for a month. I thought, ‘That’s the life.’”
Bertolini was born in Teaneck, N.J., but his Hollywood life began after attending UCLA as a theater major. He started out as an actor, but was soon drawn to directing. He didn’t think of himself as a writer until he tackled an “ultra low budget” movie after graduating. His daughter was born when he was 25 years old and then his son came along nearly two years later. Bertolini continued writing, something he could do with two small children around. Through rejections and success, Bertolini said “General’s Daughter,” which was based on a Nelson DeMille, was a culmination of years of effort.
“You never know when the next lean period is going to come,” he said. “You also have to emotionally gear yourself for the ups and downs of your career.”
With the early success of “Battle: Los Angeles,” Bertolini is already thinking of a sequel where there is a “much bigger fight ahead.”
“The World War II model does hold a lot of significance to me in that this could be the Battle of the Bulge,” he said. “It doesn’t mean there isn’t a hundred other stories about World War II that couldn’t be told. This is just one of them. To me the exciting thing was what if this was a 10-year war, or a 50-year war, or a 100-year war? What are all of the stories that could be told over the course of that time and the exciting and fun part of imagining what would our world be like a year down the line.”
