20 Things You Didn't Know About War Of The Worlds

20. J.J. Abrams Was Originally Asked To Write The Script

Though the movie's screenplay was eventually written by Josh Friedman and later punched-up by regular blockbuster scribe David Koepp, when Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise were first putting the project together, they actually invited none other than J.J. Abrams to take a crack at penning it.

However, Abrams ultimately had to turn it down as he was developing the pilot for his TV series Lost at the time, a decision which evidently paid off handsomely given the show's ultimately huge success.

That said, Abrams did collaborate with Cruise just a year later, when Abrams both co-wrote and directed Mission: Impossible III in his filmmaking debut.

All in all, everything probably worked out for the best, as interesting as it would've been to see Abrams' take on the classic material.