Ridley Scott Worldwide Box Office: $104,931,801 Million
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ALIEN Release date: 6 September 1979 (UK) Running time: 117 mins Director: Ridley Scott Worldwide box office: $104,931,801 million PRINCIPAL CAST AND CREW CAST IN CREDITS ORDER PRODUCERS Gordon Carroll Tom Skerritt ............... Dallas David Giler Walter Hill Sigourney Weaver ...... Ripley WRITERS Veronica Cartwright . .. Lambert Dan O’Bannon Ronald Shusett Harry Dean Stanton .... Brett CINEMATOGRAPHY John Hurt .................... Kane Derek Vanlint EDITING Ian Holm ...................... Ash David Crowther (Director’s Cut) Yaphet Kotto ............... Parker Terry Rawlings Bolaji Badejo ............... Alien Peter Weatherley PRODUCTION DESIGN Helen Horton ............... Mother (voice) Michael Seymour Dallas Ripley Lambert Brett Tom Skerritt Sigourney Weaver Veronica Cartwright Harry Dean Stanton Kane Ash Parker Alien John Hurt Ian Holm Yaphet Kotto Bolaji Badejo 4 THE MAKING OF ALIEN ALIEN In testament to Ridley Scott’s original vision, Alien is thought of not only as one of the greatest sci-fi epics ever made, but also as a seminal horror classic… idley Scott always intended to make Alien as a horror film. Despite this, the director has readily Racknowledged the influence of such popular science-fiction movies as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and, in particular, Star Wars (1977). “That was the fairy story,” said Scott of George Lucas’ box-office phenomenon. “I was gonna do the Texas Chain Saw Massacre of science fiction.” What emerged in Alien was the perfect hybrid of two genres, an unholy union that was summed up in the chilling tagline… In space no one can hear you scream. 5 THE MAKING OF ALIEN STORY ORIGINS Like the alien itself, Scott’s monster hit started out small. Dan O’Bannon, the writer of the film, made his first foray into sci-fi with the micro-budget satire Dark Star (1974), which was also about an alien running amok on a spaceship. “I decided to re-do Dark Star as a horror instead of a comedy,” recalls O’Bannon, “and that was the germ of Alien.” Together with co- author Ronald Shusett, O’Bannon pitched his movie to producers Dozens of illustrations were produced by concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss for the Nostromo as “Jaws in space...” interior, including the one above, which shows a possible design for the spacecraft’s cockpit. picture,” said producer Gordon his crew had to do now was bring the Carroll, though many of the big-name grand and terrifying imaginings directors that he asked to take on of Alien to life. what was, essentially, a ‘creature feature’ didn’t share his view. It RIDLEY’S VISION wasn’t until the name Ridley Scott At first, just two concept artists were was suggested that the production employed to work on the film: Chris process began to take off. Foss, a British-born illustrator strongly Although he wasn’t well known, influenced by the decaying industrial Director Ridley Scott flew to Zurich to meet artist and had previously directed only landscape of his youth, and the H.R. Giger to talk about designs for the alien. one feature-length film, Scott was French comic-book artist Jean Giraud Photo © 1978 Mia Bonzanigo Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum, Gruyeres, someone that 20th Century Fox (also known as ‘Moebius’). They were Switzerland believed could give their film soon joined by American Ron Cobb GREAT ASPIRATIONS a unique look and the commitment it and together began toiling away Early drafts of the script were called needed. As soon as he showed them on endless design drawings. Star Beast, but the writers soon hit his amazingly detailed storyboards Each of the artists was on the elegantly minimalist title the studio executives became encouraged to focus that would set the tone of the film convinced that Scott was their man, on a different aspect – and raise Alien out of B-movie and Fox immediately doubled the of design, with territory into a different class. “I was film’s budget to $8.4 million. With the Foss working on convinced that this wasn’t a small money in place, all the director and the exterior of the GREAT SCOTT! Odd as it may now seem, British director Ridley remembers, “blew me away”. Scott wasn’t the first choice to direct Alien. 20th Within hours of reading it he Century Fox had insisted on Walter Hill, but Hill was on a plane to the U.S. to make passed on the opportunity. the deal! After the success of Alien, Scott graduated from the Royal College of Art Scott went on to direct another landmark in 1963. He worked as a trainee set designer at sci-fi film: Blade Runner (1982). the BBC before forming his own company. His In 1995, he and his brother Tony – work in advertising led to his first big-screen also a director – formed the production outing, The Duellists (1977), which won the company Scott Free. The pair then Best Debut Film award at Cannes. bought a stake in Shepperton, the studio When the Alien script landed on Scott’s at which Alien had been filmed nearly desk he had just seen Star Wars, which he 30 years previously… 6 THE MAKING OF ALIEN Nostromo and Cobb on the heavily to Zurich to meet him. Before long, FACTS AND FIGURES: ALIEN engineered interior of the ship. Giger had joined the production team The stricken alien spacecraft – and and was given free reign to create a OSCAR-WINNING CREATURES the beast itself – became the design sci-fi monster unlike any seen before. Carlo Rambaldi, who won an Academy Award domain of H.R. Giger. Both O’Bannon for his work on Alien after building the creature’s and Scott had become so bewitched FINDING THE CREW mechanical head, went on to win another Oscar for making an entirely different kind of alien in by the nightmarish visions of ‘psycho- With the Nostromo itself taking shape Steven Spielberg’s ET: The Extra-Terrestrial. sexuality’ on display in the Swiss on the drawing boards – and then, surrealist’s work that the director flew gradually, on the huge soundstages HOT SUITS of Shepperton Studios in England – The spacesuits worn by John Hurt, Tom Skerritt Scott began his search for the ship’s and Veronica Cartwright were incredibly bulky crew. The script had been written so and let very little air in. With temperatures rising that any of the ship’s seven-strong to 100˚F under the hot studio lights, the actors team could be played by either a kept passing out – so an oxygen supply had to be man or a woman. In a bold move, Fox kept on standby to help them recover. decided that the lead, Ripley, should be female. “I thought it was no contest,” Scott recalls. “Why not?” Auditions for Alien were held in both America and England, and Scott soon found his Ripley in the form of a little-known off-Broadway actress called Sigourney Weaver. With the lead in place, Scott filled out the rest of the cast with a combination of British and American actors, as befits GARGANTUAN LEG an international space expedition. A 45-feet tall landing leg of the Nostromo was Among them were two English actors built on the set of the planet to show the scale with impressive theatre credentials of the ship. Even then, Ridley Scott felt it was – John Hurt as Kane and Ian Holm not big enough, so for some long-shots he had smaller spacesuits made up for his and as Ash. “Ian I thought was going cinematographer Derek Vanlint’s children, to be a lovey…” remembers Scott. making the landing leg appear larger. “Oddly enough he was the easiest of them all!” SCAREDY CAT The ginger cat, Jones, was played by not one, BUILDING TENSION but four ginger cats. The ‘hissing cat’ scene was The intense 12-week shoot began made possible by suddenly revealing an Alsatian at Shepperton on 5 July 1978, dog from behind a large board. with more than 200 craftsmen and labourers working on the massive and complex sets. “It got tense in those corridors,” recalls Scott, who found himself under pressure from nervous studio executives, who were anxious over the amount of time Ellen Ripley the director seemed to be taking in (Sigourney setting up each shot. Weaver) is often Many of the actors were also thought of as feeling uneasy at having to work COMIC BOOK INFLUENCE the first female in such tough and claustrophobic Legendary French comic-book artist, Jean action heroine. conditions. But, unpopular as it may ‘Moebius’ Giraud, designed the crew’s casual have made him at the time, Scott felt wardrobe and the spacesuits worn on the planet. this atmosphere ultimately helped 7 THE MAKING OF ALIEN his cast to craft a set of realistically paranoid performances. “I didn’t want to sit there and have a heart to heart,” he explains. “I wanted them to be insecure and afraid, and that’s why I didn’t show them the alien.” Scott did indeed hold back on showing Giger’s monster to the actors for as long as was practically possible. But it wouldn’t be long before the alien was revealed to the world in all its horrifying glory. ALIEN UNLEASHED Alien first opened in the U.S. on 25 May, 1979, though without an A huge prop of the petrified alien pilot, based on Giger’s design, was built for the film and later placed official U.S. premier. This didn’t in the lobby of a cinema where someone tried to set fire to it, believing it to be the work of the devil. stop legions of fans besieging the Pilot in Cockpit, © 1978 H.