In space no-one can hear you scream.After working on Dark Star in 1974, writer Dan O'Bannon wanted to recycle the idea of an alien hunting a spaceship's crew, for a more straightforward sci-fi horror. His first script, Memory, formed the basis for a collaboration with fellow writer Ronald Shusett -- although O'Bannon's time was interrupted by his work trying to adapt Frank Herbert's novel Dune.
It was while working on Dune that O'Bannon met designers H.R Giger, Chris Foss and Moebius, but when Dune fell through he returned home broke. O'Bannon moved in with Shusett, who suggested they combine elements of O'Bannon's early script for Gremlins (later to become a 1984 hit film), with the creature somehow stowing away on board the spaceship.
Later, Ron Cobb, a designer who had worked on Dark Star, suggested giving the creature acid for blood -- so they couldn't just shoot it. O'Bannon and Shusett set to work and drafted Star Beast,a cheesy title they both hated, so O'Bannon decided to use a term that seemed to appear constantly throughout the script: Alien.
This first draft of Alien contains many similarities to the finished film, but the Nostromo spaceship is described as being much smaller (and known as the Snark), has an all-male crew, and the inside of the alien spaceship itself contains a weird pyramid with breathable oxygen inside. The script also didn't feature an impregnation of a crew member until the mid-way point, after a long build-up, and the final scene included a shot of an alien egg attached to the escape shuttle. Indeed, the egg set-up for a sequel was only cut from the script a year before the film's release date.
With the script finished, the writers began trying to sell it around town, with Roger Corman coming very close to buying it. But eventually Alien sold to Brandywine -- a production company run by Walter Hill, David Giler and Gordon Carroll -- who has a deal with 20th Century Fox. Brandywine promoted the script to Fox, where a reader summarized the script with the phrase: "It's like Jaws, but in space."
The tagline generated a last-minute rewrite to make Alien more action-packed -- the changes including the now integral character of robot Ash, almost completely new dialogue and a theme of motherhood. However, Fox stalled on beginning production on Alien, as such films were a rarity in Hollywood and it wasn't expected to be a success. But, after Star Wars demolished the box-office in 1977, Alien was fast-tracked into production with a $8 million budget...
British director Ridley Scott came aboard, with the productions set up at Shepperton Studios in England. O'Bannon's Dune contact, H.R Giger, was shipped over from Zurich to create the overall look of the alien creature and architecture, while Ron Cobb from Dark Star became a resident artist on the film.
It was Giger's work that would have the biggest impact on Alien. His dark, sinister, frighteningly sexual designs were startling creations, and represented an entirely different approach to showing an alien creature on film.Scott assembled an eclectic cast for the film: Tom Skerritt as Captain Dallas, Veronica Cartwright as Lambert, Harry Dean Stanton as Brett, Ian Holm as android Ash, John Hurt as Kane (who would star in the infamous "chestburster" sequence, where the alien is "born" from inside Kane's stomach), Yaphet Cotto as Parker and, of course, Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley -- the eventual heroine.
These days it's difficult to appreciate, but there weren't many leading female action stars at the time, and Ripley is never treated as the main character in Alien -- which makes her eventual heroism far more unpredicted and powerful as a result...
Alien was released on 25 May 1979, to universal acclaim. It terrified a generation and its influence it still felt today, with most dystopian science-fiction films borrowing from it. Film historians also point to Alien as launching the so-called "body horror" sub-genre of horror, and for twisting sci-fi movies away from the clean, polished Star Trek style into something more believable and atmospheric. It won the 1979 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and received a nomination for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration.
A similarly influential sequel, Aliens, was produced in 1986 -- with director James Cameron retooling the film as a horror/sci-fi action film, with Sigourney Weaver now the undoubted star. In 1993, Alien3 disappointed the fan-base with a weak, depressing sequel, hamstrung by a difficult shoot, although it has since found some respect following a slightly improved Director's Cut from director David Fincher. A fourth movie, Alien: Resurrection, continued the saga, but it was widely panned and is generally hated by fans. Rumours of a fifth film, to complete the saga, often surface on the internet... but nothing ever comes of them.
The iconic H.R Giger-designed creatures themselves recently co-starred in Alien Vs Predator, to box-office success but fan disdain. A sequel is due for release soon, entitled Alien Vs Predator: Requiem.
Trivia1. For some shots of the Nostromo crew outside their ship, children were used -- to make the ship seem much bigger than it was!
2. The 2003 Director's Cut of Alien restored many scenes; most notably a "cocoon scene" that reveals the fate of the captured Nostromo crew.
3. Alien was the first R-rate film to have its own toy line for kids: a jigsaw, board game, storybook and an 18-inch Alien figure. All of which are highly collectible today.
4. Nostromo is a title of a Joseph Conrad book. The shuttle Ripley escapes on is called Narcissus; another Conrad reference.
5. 130 alien eggs were created for the chamber scene.
6. To get Jones the cat to hiss and look frightened, a German shepherd dog was obscured behind a screen -- which was then lifted at the right moment.
7. There is no dialogue for the first 6 minutes
8. Tendons in the jaws of the Alien were created using shredded condoms!
Links
Alien Legacy
Alien: Director's Cut - Ridley Scott interview
H.R Giger Official Site
