Trivia for
Ghosts of Mars (2001)

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• At one point Pam Grier yells "Who goes there?". This is the title of the story that inspired John Carpenter's The Thing (1982).
  
  
• As with many John Carpenter films, references 60's British horror films - specifically Quatermass and the Pit (1967), which also featured the idea of humans being influenced by Martians and killing off everyone who is not part of the "whole".
  
  
• For the film's soundtrack, director and composer John Carpenter called upon various rock musicans to help enhance his own score. They include members of Anthrax, Steve Vai, Guns N' Roses' guitarists Buckethead and Robin Finck and Elliot Easton (formerly of The Cars).
  
  

• Courtney Love was originally hired to play for the role of Lieutenant Melanie Ballard.
  
  
• After Courtney Love dropped out, contenders for the role of Lieutenant Melanie Ballard were Michelle Yeoh, Franka Potente and Famke Janssen.
  
  
• Jason Statham was originally hired to play James "Desolation" Williams.
  
  
• Filmed entirely at night.
  
  
• Much of the location shooting was done on a gypsum mine near Albuquerque, New Mexico. The gypsum, which is almost pure white, was sprayed with a biodegradable red food dye to give the appearance of a Martian landscape.
  
  
• The strange noise heard from the point of view of those possessed by the Martian ghosts is the same noise made by the alien being trying to communicate with whales on Earth in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).
  
  
• The narrator on the trailer is Keith David.
  
  
• The character Dr. Arlene Whitlock is named after the famous Visual Effects Supervisor Albert Whitlock, who worked with John Carpenter previously on The Thing (1982).
  
  
• Natasha Henstridge replaced Courtney Love at the last minute. Love left the project after her boyfriend's ex-wife ran over her foot in her car while she was in training for the picture. Henstridge was able to join the cast just a week before production began. The actress found the experience to be very harrowing, due to the heavily physical nature of her role and the difficult working conditions.
  
  
• It was cast member Liam Waite who suggested Natasha Henstridge to take over the recently vacated lead role. Waite was Henstridge's fiancé at the time and is the father of her two sons.
  
  
• Production had to shut down for a week when Natasha Henstridge fell ill due to extreme exhaustion (she had just done two other films back-to-back before joining the production at the last moment).
  
  
• This film contains Jason Statham's first ever screen kiss.
  
  

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