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

3. Special Precautions Were Taken For The Floating Bodies Scene

War of the Worlds 2005 Tom Cruise
Paramount Pictures

One of the film's most haunting and evocative images is surely that of a sea of dead bodies floating down the river while poor Rachel looks on in disbelief.

As you can probably guess, the sequence was achieved by floating mannequins down a river in Windsor, Connecticut.

This required the production to make two provisions: firstly, to hire a double for 10-year-old Dakota Fanning in order to spare her the potentially traumatic sight, and then to notify local police departments after several of the mannequins drifted off before being retrieved.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.