Movies Ridley Scott on Alien 40 years later: "You don't show the monster too many times." Will direct upcoming prequel

[fuckle85]

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/alien-40-anniverary-ridley-scott-1203223989/

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It’s difficult to imagine Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror classic “Alien” without the clear-minded, strong presence of Tom Skerritt as Dallas, the captain of the ill-fated Nostromo.

But originally, the actor turned down “Alien,” which celebrates its 40th anniversary on May 25, though he thought Dan O’Bannon’s script read well. “There was nobody involved at the time apparently,” said Skerritt. “I read it and thought, ‘it’s solid. It’s not a great script but it’s solid enough I can see it. But it was a $2 million budget! I thought, okay at 2 million bucks this might be an Ed Wood movie.”

 

As fate would have it, he went to see 1977’s “The Duelists,” for which Ridley Scott unanimously received the award for best first work at the Cannes Film Festival. “I was just blown over by ‘The Duelists,’” noted Skerritt.

 

“I thought, this is a masterpiece. It’s a painting. I thought I wanted to remember who this this guy is. Then I got a call from one of the producers of ‘Alien,’ Gordon Carroll, and he said “They’ve kicked up the budget and a guy named Ridley Scott is doing it. I said, ‘I’m sold.’ All I needed to know was Ridley was going to do this and he would make magic out of it.”

 

Scott wasn’t the first choice of the producers, which also include David Giler and Walter Hill, to make magic out of O’Bannon’s script — Ronald Shusett co-wrote the original story with O’Bannon.

 

“I was the fourth choice,” noted Scott, adding that Robert Altman had been offered the movie before him. “You don’t offer Bob ‘Alien,” he explained. “It’s not his thing, you know?”

 

Someone, he said, recommended the producers see “The Duelists.” Scott acknowledged he didn’t know how they connected a 19th century period drama to a sci-fi thriller about an alien creature running amok and killing off the members of a spaceship.

 

“They sent me a script and I read it,” said Scott. “I loved it. I was in Hollywood within 32 hours. Once I was there, they said ‘Look, the budget is hovering just under $4 million.’ I did ‘The Duelists” for $850,000, so the figures sounded right to me. I said, ‘Well, what I will do first is go back [to London], look at this carefully to see if there’s anything I need to adjust.”’

 

It took Scott three weeks to storyboard the film. “I was drawing all day. Then I flew back to L.A. with the boards, and they suddenly saw they had a different kind of movie. The boards told them that. So, that’s the power of being able to visualize. It went up to $8.2, I think. Then we went to $8.6 by the time we finished.”

 

Besides Skerritt, the cast includes Sigourney Weaver in her featured role debut as Ripley, the warrant officer who goes mano-a-monster with the alien; Veronica Cartwright, as the emotional navigator Lambert; the iconic Harry Dean Stanton as the engineering tech Brett; John Hurt as executive officer Kane; Ian Holm as Ash, the science officer who actually is an android; and Yaphet Kotto as chief engineer Parker.

 

“Alien” made $105 million worldwide back in 1979 — the adjusted gross is $283.5 million — and spawned three sequels, two crossovers with the “Predator” franchise, and two prequels, 2012’s “Prometheus” and 2017’s “Alien: Covenant,” both directed by Scott. A third prequel, which he will direct, is in the script phase.

 

The tagline for “Alien” was “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Ironically, audiences couldn’t stop screaming. As soon as the baby alien lifeform bursts from Kane’s stomach in a shower of gore, “Alien” is a non-stop thrill ride.

 

“Nobody had ever done anything like that,” offered Cartwright.

 

Scott also followed the rule that the best horror and sci-fi films adhere to: Never reveal too much.

 

“You don’t show the monster too many times because you’ll get used to him and you never want to get used to him — ever. That’s always been my thesis. The best screening room in the world is the space between your ears, which is your brain. So, it’s learning to tap into the human brain to show just so much. Let the brain do a lot of the work. That’s where you start to tap into people’s anxieties.”

 

Michael Seymour’s Oscar-nominated production design added to the anxiety. “The Nostromo was one giant set on a stage at [Shepperton], all built together so that they could do those kinds of shots,” said screenwriter Scott Essman. “Where you’re going from room to room and you’re going down hallways and it’s underlit. It’s very suspenseful and you don’t know where the creature is from one moment to the next.”

 

Essman noted that “Alien” was one of the creepiest films ever made in terms of its distinctive look. “The cinematography, the lighting and mood and how Scott moves the camera around the ship is really haunting.”

 

“Additionally, H.R. Giger’s creature designs were deeply disturbing, decidedly erotic, and wholly unique in a genre film,” said Essman.

“Everything was very claustrophobic,” added Cartwright. “We had tons of smoke. It was so filthy.”

 

“Alien” was produced before CGI, so all of the creature effects were done practically on the set, including the terrifying, bloody “birth” of the alien baby.

 

Hurt, said Skerritt, was “laying down on a platform beneath the table and the t-shirt he’s got on has been sliced enough so that it will be pushing up through that t-shirt.”

While Hurt and the effects were being set up, the cast were in their dressing room for hours waiting.

 

“They had filled the chest with offal [and fake blood] and we retched as we walked in,” said Cartwright. “The whole place was wrapped in plastic. Everybody was in raincoats. We were like okay, what’s happening? They said I would get a little blood on me; little did I know I would be leaning directly into a blood jet. I got blasted in the face and then that ‘Oh god,’ came out. Those were all our first reactions in literally one take.”

 

“Alien” went on to win the Oscar for best visual effects.

 

Speaking of Hurt, actor Jon Finch (“Frenzy,” “Macbeth”) was originally cast as the doomed Kane, but an illness on set caused him to drop out, says Scott.

 

“I always operate on my films, so there’s only one camera,” said Scott. “So, I’m on camera, doing my first shot, first take, and I notice Jon has gone yellow. So, I walk over to him and he said, ‘I feel terrible. I’m a diabetic.’ I said, we better get you out of here. You need some insulin.”

 

They got him into an ambulance “and I never saw him again,” Scott said. He would eventually cast Finch in his 2005 epic, “Kingdom of Heaven.”

 

Later, Scott went to see Hurt, who had been in strong contention for the role. Over drinks at Hurt’s cottage, Scott offered him the job. “We had him in the office the next day, got him measured. I was shooting by just shortly after lunch.”

 

Cartwright say Scott worked in a “really interesting way. He hardly ever talked to us. He was a workaholic. He could go for hours and hours and not sleep. He had such a vision of what it as going to be like.”

 

As to why “Alien” quickly entered the pop culture landscape and still endures four decades later, Scott said, “I think ‘Alien’ captured our most primordial fears. It’s particularly special because it’s not gilded with any characterization other than what you see is what you get — minute by minute with these people. That’s really why a lot of people were scared to death. It’s because they are living in it, minute by minute, and eventually, second by second.”

 

 

[Greatoneshere]

I'm not sure a third prequel will actually happen, but there's a lot I liked in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant (despite the issue both films have). Let Scott keep making existential dread weird as shit sci-fi blockbusters where children of humanity play flutes and shit. 

[Mercury33]

I loved Prometheus despite its flaws but hated Alien: Covenant.  Not at all the story I wanted.  Give me the story of when they reached the homeworld god damnit!

[TwinIon]

5 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

I loved Prometheus despite its flaws but hated Alien: Covenant.  Not at all the story I wanted.  Give me the story of when they reached the homeworld god damnit!

I was in the opposite camp. I really disliked Prometheus, but I quite enjoyed Covenant.

 

 

At this point, I guess I'm rooting to see Scott end the prequel trilogy.

 

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, Mercury33 said:

I loved Prometheus despite its flaws but hated Alien: Covenant.  Not at all the story I wanted.  Give me the story of when they reached the homeworld god damnit!

 

1 hour ago, TwinIon said:

I was in the opposite camp. I really disliked Prometheus, but I quite enjoyed Covenant.

 

 

At this point, I guess I'm rooting to see Scott end the prequel trilogy.

 

 

I thought BOTH were shit  Prometheus is REALLY disappointing when you read the original script before Lindelof got his hands on it. All of the silly shit that folks called Prometheus out for... the dumb decisions that characters made and other things... just weren't in that script. Covenant was an inferior version of a movie we've seen before. Rather than retreading the original film or making a movie about characters nobody really cared about (The Engineers) show what happens if a Xenomorph reaches Earth. The worst case scenario... all out war with the Xenos on an over populated future Earth. 

 

I swear the Dark Horse comics that came out in the 80's for Terminator, Alien and Predator showed what proper sequels for these franchise could and should be. SOME of those ideas made their ways into the film series but in much watered down forms. All of these series suffere from the same thing, rather than evolving the franchises, they just retread them.

[TwinIon]

6 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

I thought BOTH were shit  Prometheus is REALLY disappointing when you read the original script before Lindelof got his hands on it. All of the silly shit that folks called Prometheus out for... the dumb decisions that characters made and other things... just weren't in that script. Covenant was an inferior version of a movie we've seen before. Rather than retreading the original film or making a movie about characters nobody really cared about (The Engineers) show what happens if a Xenomorph reaches Earth. The worst case scenario... all out war with the Xenos on an over populated future Earth. 

 

I swear the Dark Horse comics that came out in the 80's for Terminator, Alien and Predator showed what proper sequels for these franchise could and should be. SOME of those ideas made their ways into the film series but in much watered down forms. All of these series suffere from the same thing, rather than evolving the franchises, they just retread them.

That's an interesting idea, but it's also the setup for a very different film than the Alien movies have typically been. If Scott isn't getting money to make these movies, I doubt he's getting it to do a film that would require significantly more funding.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

There was about 1/3 of Prometheus that was left on the cutting room floor that the film sorely needed.

[Greatoneshere]

44 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said:

There was about 1/3 of Prometheus that was left on the cutting room floor that the film sorely needed.

 

While I would have loved the 37 minutes of deleted scenes (which I've seen on the bluray) to have been in the film, 95% of the footage would not have helped with the issues most people had with the film (I would have liked this footage in there anyway, as I said) unless you are aware of there being even more footage on the cutting room floor?

 

It doesn't matter because one of the biggest problems people had with the film (and some are legitimate, like stupid scientists, weird editing and scene transitions in the last third, etc.) was the lack of answers - the Engineers don't even speak to us. Well, they are our gods, and gods are typically implacable and so, our search for answers remains frustrated, as it always has been. Sure, I wish there was more answers, etc. too but it's an interesting portrayal of our creator(s). For whatever reason(s), that Engineer wakes up after 2,000 years of hyper-sleep, sees us, says nothing, and proceeds to do everything he can to murder every single one of us in the film and then get the fuck out of there immediately. Think of what that kind of reaction implies in that context. 

 

Given the Trump era, I see his reaction as quite understandable.   Especially if we are the product of some rogue Engineer religious sect (as implied at the beginning of the film) that would not have been approved or legal to do on their own homeworld using that black goo stuff (a problem I do have with the film is the inconsistency in what that shit does) and then this Engineer sees us and what does he think? We're the virus, we're the biological weapon (The Matrix also posited this more overtly about humans). We're to be exterminated (or so is the implication, maybe). In response, our own creations kill our creators for us in revenge (Alient: Covenant), as children begot of humanity very likely would. I dunno, it can be interesting to think about. You have to remember, these are very existentially dark films: the ending of Alien: Covenant is pretty much sheer cruelty. Ridley Scott is near the end of his life and he lost one brother when he was a young man and his other brother very publicly committed suicide only just a few years ago, and Ridley dedicated his darkest existential nihilistic film, The Counselor, to his memory. I mean, I think Ridley has some thoughts on some things in terms of death and beyond.

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, TwinIon said:

That's an interesting idea, but it's also the setup for a very different film than the Alien movies have typically been. 

 

How so? Alien was a single Xenomorph against and ill prepared crew. Aliens was a war movie with a group of marines vs a whole colony full of Xenomorphs... and they were still unprepared despite their superior tech and tactics. It was the main fear of BOTH Alien and Aliens... what would happen if a Xenomorph made its way to a REALLY populated environment. Show THAT. Every sequel after aliens went backwards in my opinion and instead of pushing the story and narrative forward, they kept trying to recreate the first movie. Which made the whole franchise stale.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

@Greatoneshere - there is a jarring tonal shift in the last 1/3 of the film (after she gives birth) that I can only assume was due to the necessary "connective tissue" that would have eased the transition being cut for "reasons".

[Greatoneshere]

6 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said:

@Greatoneshere - there is a jarring tonal shift in the last 1/3 of the film (after she gives birth) that I can only assume was due to the necessary "connective tissue" that would have eased the transition being cut for "reasons".

 

That could be true but if so the deleted scenes don't hint at anything. I actually believe the film's weird tonal shift begins after Vickers burns Holloway to death with a flamethrower. After that the movie starts jumping around and scene interactions begin to make less sense until they get to the Engineer ship and wake up the Engineer. It becomes the horror thriller slasher Alien movie the original one was, this time with the Engineer in place of the xenomorph and the movie settles back down a bit but I agree with you that it gets weird at that point.

[Mercury33]

1 hour ago, SFLUFAN said:

There was about 1/3 of Prometheus that was left on the cutting room floor that the film sorely needed.

 

Which can be said for a lot of his movies lol.  You'd think by now they'd learn to just let him release the cut of the film he wants to.

[Bloodporne]

1 hour ago, skillzdadirecta said:

 

 

I thought BOTH were shit  

All I could think reading this thread title was "Please, just fucking step away already..."

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

I actually believe the film's weird tonal shift begins after Vickers burns Holloway to death with a flamethrower. After that the movie starts jumping around and scene interactions begin to make less sense until they get to the Engineer ship and wake up the Engineer.

Upon reflection, that's exactly the part where things start to get incredibly disjointed and what seems like whole chunks of significant transitions are missing.

[Greatoneshere]

1 minute ago, SFLUFAN said:

Upon reflection, that's exactly the part where things start to get incredibly disjointed and what seems like whole chunks of significant transitions are missing.

 

Yeah, there's a super weird fade to white and then Shaw is suddenly on a medical table with David hovering over her. Like how did she get there? Where do the crew go while David is doing this to her? It gets weirder from there sure. 

[skillzdadirecta]

The problem with Prometheus wasn't the edit. It was the script. Lindelof belives "less is more" but he often confuses  that with being completely obtuse. The original script written by Jeff Speights has very few of these "problems" Lindelof cut a lot of stuff on the page before they even started shooting.

[Keyser_Soze]

I liked the first half of Covenant but then when they got to the planet it fell back to the Prometheus story, which isn't particularly interesting or good and people get dumb.