Ice Cube says 15-day COVID shoot for War of the Worlds on Prime Video

Ice Cube said his scenes for the Amazon Prime Video film War of the Worlds were shot in 15 days during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, without the director or any co-stars present, and that the movie’s unconventional production and later studio sale delayed its release. The screenlife remake, which premiered on Prime Video on July 30, uses surveillance and device footage to tell an alien invasion story centered on his character, Will Radford.

Speaking on streamer Kai Cenat’s livestream, Ice Cube described the condensed shoot and safety constraints that shaped the film’s format. "We shot it in 15 days, and it was during the pandemic," he said. "So the director wasn't in there. None of the actors was in there. This was the only way we could really shoot the movie." He added that the decision to present the story almost entirely through computer and surveillance screens was partly practical and partly thematic, saying that in a real crisis "everybody would only have their screen to look at."

According to the actor, the production’s technical demands also contributed to the long delay between shooting and release. Ice Cube said the project began under Universal and was later sold to...