this science-fiction view of the future was invented - the current idea of the future," said Laughlin. "America thought it had conquered the world. The Germans were no longer anything to worry about. The Japanese had been defeated. The only thing that sent a possible tingle through your spine was an invasion from outer space." To help produce the film, Laughlin brought in his friend Walter Coblenz, who had been the assistant director on the Laughlin-produced film Two-Lane Blacktop. They shopped the script for Strange Invaders around Hollywood. Financing Laughlin's previous film, Strange Behavior, had been released by a small distributor and this time around he wanted his film to be handled by a major. Orion Pictures liked the script and was looking for a good film at a modest price with mainstream appeal. Orion provided half of the film's $5.5 million budget with England's EMI Films coming up with the rest. Orion received distribution rights for North America while EMI handled the rest of the world. As part of the financing deal, Orion and EMI demanded several script changes, which Condon and Laughlin found difficult, because they had to try to explain their ideas verbally. The financial backers influence reduced the film's scope. For example, in the original script, the American government was a much bigger threat, with a big sequence taking place at an Air Force base. These changes bothered Laughlin, because they resulted in a lack of a well-defined middle section in the script. Orion and EMI also influenced the casting process and approved every choice Laughlin made. The original script was written with Michael Murphy in mind — he had been in Strange Behavior — but EMI refused to allow him to be cast much to the director's confusion "because there didn't seem to be a good reason for his rejection. I guess it was a matter of personal taste". Orion and EMI suggested Mel Gibson and Powers Boothe instead but Laughlin's choice was Paul Le Mat, because he had not played that kind of role before and had a "Joel McCrea quality" that he was seeking. For the role of Betty, Laughlin wanted an actress from New York and not someone from California playing a New Yorker. Condon was a big fan of Brian De Palma's films and Nancy Allen who appeared in several of them. Louise Fletcher's government agent was originally written as a