Elijah Wood explains why his Armageddon compeтιтor movie is more than “a spectacle.” Released in 1998, the Bruce Willis-led science-fiction movie became a box office hit that earned $553 million worldwide and was the highest-grossing movie of the year, even outperforming Steven Spielberg’s critically acclaimed Saving Private Ryan. Directed by Michael Bay, Armageddon follows a team recruited to destroy an enormous asteroid before it can collide with Earth.

In addition to Willis, who plays oil driller Harry S. Tramper, Armageddon‘s cast includes Billy Bob Thorton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Will Patton, Steve Buscemi, William Fichtner, Owen Wilson, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Jason Isaacs. While it did not receive much critical praise, Armageddon is still considered to be one of Bay’s best movies and, beyond being a box office success, it is still fondly remembered by general audiences. In 1998, another movie with a similar premise was released, and the two stories continue to be compared.

Elijah Wood Explains The “Core Heart” Of Deep Impact

Armageddon & Deep Impact Have Similar Premises

Wood breaks down why Deep Impact is more than a disaster movie. Released in the same year as Armageddon, Deep Impact sees humanity preparing for and attempting to destroy a giant comet headed toward Earth. Wood plays high school student Leo Biederman, who is the first person to observe the comet. The similar premise and the fact that it was released only two months before Armageddon led to many comparisons. While it did not reach the box office heights of Armageddon, Deep Impact still performed well and made $349 million worldwide.

While rewatching previous movies and shows he has starred in with Vanity Fair, Wood explains how Deep Impact was really about the human response to the impending cataclysm. He discusses how his character wants to accelerate his romantic relationship and other aspects of his life due to the limited time that he and all of humanity have left. Wood also discusses how grateful he was to star in a movie that had a heartfelt story alongside its blockbuster spectacle. Check out his comments below:

The movie is about what all these characters are going to do with the time that remains, and how that reflects on who they are, the life that they’ve led so far, and what they’re going to do now that there’s only so much time left. In this case, our characters, who are maybe in love or dating, it accelerates that process for them, where they’re like, “Let’s get married. Let’s do all these things before this happens.” So they’re in this kind of really heightened, accelerated romance by virtue of the circumstances they can’t control, which I just thought was really interesting. And, you know, for two teenagers and as a teen myself, it was such an interesting opportunity to play something out like that.

I really appreciated the sort of emotional reasoning behind it rather than the film just being about a spectacle. To work on one of the two asteroid nearly hitting the planet movies that came out kind of close to each other, Deep Impact and Armageddon were kind of neck and neck. So to make this kind of big, universal kind of spectacle movie with a core heart just felt so much fun.

Our Take On Elijah Wood’s Comments

Deep Impact Has An Edge Over Armageddon

Despite how similar their premises are, Armageddon and Deep Impact are two of the best natural disaster movies of all time. Both movies provide plenty of spectacle and high stakes, but Deep Impact arguably does a better job with its characters, and they are reflective of who they have been and who they want to be in the time they have left. Wood recognizes that his movie does not lose sight of its characters despite the high level of fictional spectacle.

Source: Vanity Fair/YouTube