Director of 'Independence Day' has a plan for when aliens really arrive: Hide - CNET

"Independence Day" director Roland Emmerich hopes our civilization won't take any cues from his films when extraterrestrial life makes contact.

"Talk, and don't shoot," he advised in an interview. "And I hope [aliens] will not mind that I portray them badly. Otherwise I have to hide."

Emmerich, whose "Independence Day: Resurgence" hits theaters Thursday, has enjoyed plenty of time to mull over the possibility of a close encounter of the third kind. Twenty years have passed since his 1996 blockbuster "Independence Day" wowed popco-gobbling movie-goers by pushing special effects to their limits, as the flick annihilated landmarks like the White House and the Empire State Building in a 4-minute spectacle of destruction.