Director Peter Berg Talks BATTLESHIP, Alien Designs, LONE SURVIVOR, and Protecting Rihanna from Being Eaten by a Shark

Opening this Friday is director Peter Berg’s adaptation of the board game Battleship.  The action-adventure pic takes place on the seas and centers on a group of Naval officers who must fight to keep an alien force from destroying our world.  Taylor Kitsch leads a cast that includes Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, and Liam Neeson.

Our partners at Omelete recently got the chance to speak with Berg about the film, and the director talked about how the project was actually his idea in the first place, how he drew from a lifetime of being a history buff to develop the film, what approach he took to the alien designs, his next film Lone Survivor (also starring Kitsch), and he revealed that his biggest challenge in making the pic was keeping Rihanna from being eaten by a shark.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.

Here’s a time index for the interview:

• :12 How the project came about.  Berg says it was his idea to do a Battleship movie.
• :41 Talks about being a history buff.  Tells a story about his dad dragging him to museums when he was a kid.
• 1:44 Talks about the inclusion of Pearl Harbor in the film and why he chose to use a Japanese ship in the film.
• 2:55 Portraying the people on the new battleships as techies.
• 4:09 The alien designs.  Says he always wanted to do an alien movie and wanted the aliens to be somewhat human.
• 4:46 Talks about his next film, Lone Survivor.
• 5:13 Says his biggest challenge in making Battleship was making sure that Rihanna wasn’t eaten by a shark.

Here’s the official synopsis for Battleship:

Peter Berg (Hancock) produces and directs Battleship, an epic-scaled action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. Inspired by Hasbro’s classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, a physical therapist and Hopper’s fiancee; Alexander Skarsgard as Hopper’s older brother, Stone, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson; Rihanna as Petty Officer Raikes, Hopper’s crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone’s superior (and Sam’s father), Admiral Shane.