These behind the scenes facts about the “Alien” universe will have you wondering what’s really out there…
The Man Inside The Suit
Bolaji Badejo, who plays the alien, was a graphic artist who was discovered in a bar by one of the casting directors. He was around seven feet tall with very thin arms and beat out Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in Star Wars.
An Academy Award Game-Changer
Sigourney Weaver’s 1987 Best Actress Oscar nomination for Aliens was the first-ever for an actress playing a role in an action movie.
An IRL Marine Sergeant
Al Matthews, who plays Marine Sergeant Apone in Aliens, was in real life the first black Marine to be promoted to the rank of sergeant in the field during service in Vietnam.
The Film Schedule Depended on the Actors’ Relationships
Most films aren’t shot in sequential order. For added realism, James Cameron filmed the scene where we first meet all the marines last, even though it’s one of the earliest scenes in the film. This was so the camaraderie of the Marines was realistic because the actors had spent months filming together already.
The Film Was Originally Written With Unisex Characters
Ripley, Sigourney Weaver’s character, wasn’t even imagined as a female in the writing stages. The names of the characters were changed multiple times during revisions of the original script. All characters are referred to by their last names, and any gender-specific pronouns were taken out. Despite that, the casting directors never thought of casting a woman for the role of Ripley.
The Iconic Chest-Burster
For the chest-burster sequence, John Hurt stuck his head, shoulders, and arms through a hole in the mess table, linking up with a mechanical torso that was packed with compressed air (to create the forceful exit of the alien) and lots of animal guts. The rest of the cast were not told that real guts were being used so as to provoke genuine reactions of shock and disgust. The scene was filmed in one take with four cameras.
The Underwater Tank Was Enormous
The underwater segment was shot on a specially constructed sound stage on the Fox lot, which was converted into a permanent water-tank. It took nearly a week to completely fill it with water.
That Basketball Shot Was Real
That iconic behind-the-back shot that Ripley sank was real. Weaver practiced with a basketball coach and insisted she be allowed to try and make the shot for real during filming rather than have FX fake the shot. To everyone’s shock, she made it on the first try and broke character afterward with an exclamation of “Oh my god!” That take was left in.
The Knife Trick Scene
Bill Paxton didn’t learn that he was going to be a part of the infamous knife trick until it was time to shoot. The initial takes looked too fake, so reshoots were scheduled for the next day, and Lance Henriksen accidentally caught Paxton’s pinky while filming. Ouch! His fear onscreen was real!
The Air Duct Slide Was Actually Pretty Fun
While filming the scene with Newt in the duct, the actress kept deliberately messing up her lines so she could slide down the vent again. When James Cameron caught on, and he told her if she could get through the scene, she could play on the slide as much as she wanted.
The Giant Space Jockey Was Destroyed
The 26-foot-tall space jockey almost didn’t make it into the. film. The studio didn’t allow such huge props, but the conceptual artist promised that the one shot the jockey was in would be the “Cecil B DeMille shot,” proving that this wasn’t a low-budget B-movie. However, the prop was burned down by a stray cigarette after filming.
The Who Helped The Production Design Team
The blue laser lights that were used in the alien ship’s egg chamber in the opening of Alien were borrowed from The Who. The band was testing out the lasers for their stage show on the soundstage next door.
“Alien 3” Became “Pitch Black”
The script for a potential “Alien 3” never made it to summation, because it didn’t involve any recurring characters, except Ripley briefly. This new script eventually evolved into a new film entirely, David Twohy’s “Pitch Black.”
Sigourney Weaver Made BANK
Sigourney Weaver was paid $11 million to come back as Ripley in the sequel, which was the entire budget of Alien.
Here’s How They Made The Alien Terrifying
In the first film, the creature is never filmed directly facing the camera, due to the humanoid features of its face. Ridley Scott, determined at all costs to dispel any notion of a man in a rubber suit, filmed the beast in varying close-up angles of its ghastly profile, very rarely capturing it in its entirety.
The Power Loader Had Another Feature
While filming the power loader battle, the crew played a practical joke on Sigourney Weaver by strategically strapping a balloon connected to an air pipe to where her backside would be. When they pumped up the balloon, Weaver thought that the man operating the power loader inside it was getting aroused behind her.
The Alien Nest Was Seen Again
The alien nest was kept intact after filming so it could be reused in Tim Burton’s “Batman” as the Axis Chemicals set.
Designing the Alien Queen
James Cameron designed the Alien Queen himself, and once it was put together, it took between 14 and 16 people to operate it for shooting.
The Alien’s Acid Blood
The alien had to bleed acid because the design team needed a reason as to why the crew wouldn’t just shoot the creature with a gun and eliminate any plot of the movie.
Young Ripley Was Young Sigourney
The clone of Ripley was modeled after a real photo of a young Sigourney Weaver.
A Miscommunication Involving Three Johns
According to John Hurt’s DVD featurette, at the beginning of the casting process, he was considered for the role of Kane, but since he had already committed to another film that was set to take place in South Africa, Jon Finch got the role instead.
Michael Biehn Almost Didn’t’ Get The Part
Hicks was originally played by James Remar, but Michael Biehn replaced him a few days after principal photography began, due to “artistic differences” between Remar and director James Cameron. However, Remar still appears in the finished film. He’s wearing the same armor Biehn would wear, and is seen from behind, so it’s impossible to tell the difference between the two actors.
The Alien Queen Was Recreated Thanks to an Alien Superfan
A fan recreated the alien queen after the movie and it caught the attention of the directors and design team.
The Alien Was Always Kept Under-Wraps
To preserve the shock-value of the alien’s appearance, no production images of it were released, not even to author Alan Dean Foster when he was writing the novelization of the first film.
There Were Hundreds of Aliens in the First Film
Only six alien suits were used and they were mostly just a handful of latex appliances on black leotards. The appearance of hundreds of aliens is simply clever editing, planning, and lighting.
Weaver vs Schwarzenegger
Weaver’s contract was difficult to renew for a sequel, so Cameron, fed up with the standstill, phoned Arnold Schwarzenegger’s agent and asked if he wanted to play a new character to replace Ripley. The mix up was immediately resolved because Weaver refused to be written out.
David Fincher Was Constantly At Odds With The Studio
At one point, David Fincher was denied permission by the film’s producers to shoot a crucial scene in the prison understructure between Ripley and the alien. Against orders, Fincher grabbed Sigourney Weaver, a camera, and shot the scene anyway. This scene appears in the final cut.
The Entire Franchise Spans 257 Years
Alien Resurrection takes place in 2379, 200 years after Aliens and Alien 3, which took place in 2179, and 257 years after Alien, which was set in 2122.
James Cameron Is a Stickler For Detail
When they have landed and deployed in the troop carrier, Apone tells the Marines they have ten seconds until they arrive. If you count from there, until the first Marine jumps out of the carrier and his boots hit the ground, it really is ten seconds. As well, in both the standard and special edition versions, the fifteen-minute countdown at the end of the film is indeed fifteen minutes.
“Alien 3” Became “Prometheus”
The original director, Ridley Scott, declined to direct the third film if it wasn’t going to explore the origin of the Xenomorph species. This idea eventually transformed into the “Prometheus” film, an origin story for “Alien.”
Three Major Characters Were Killed
Michael Biehn stated in an interview that he was deeply hurt that the film opened with his character from Aliens, Corporal Duane Hicks, being killed off, after escaping with Ripley, Newt, and Bishop at the end of the previous film and did not understand why it happened this way.
The Crew Made the Alien Terrifying
Shredded condoms were used to create tendons of the beast’s ferocious jaws and KY Jelly was used to make its face extra slimy. Additionally, the inside of the alien eggs, as seen by Kane, was composed of real organic material, including cattle hearts and stomachs. The tail of the facehugger was made of sheep intestine. The internal organs of the dead facehugger on which Ash performs an autopsy were made using fresh shellfish, oysters, and a sheep kidney.
Sigourney Weaver Didn’t Want To Do a Sequel
Sigourney Weaver turned down a sequel offer several times out of fear that her character would be poorly witten and a sequel would tarnish Alien’s legacy. However, James Cameron wrote a high caliber script, and that was enough convincing.
The Studio Worked Around Cameron
James Cameron wrote the screenplay for “Alien” and then left to film “The Terminator,” and while he was gone, the studio actually waited until he could return to move forward with the project.
Han Solo Could Have Been Captain Dallas
Harrison Ford shockingly turned down the role of Captain Dallas.
Hicks’s Image in “Alien 3”
After Biehn’s character was killed off, the studio paid him a lot of money for an image of him that would show up on a computer screen sequence. Apparently, the photo paid him more than his actual role in the original “Aliens” did.
Jones Th Cat Was Inspired By a German Shepherd
In the first film, to get Jones the cat to react fearfully to the descending alien, a German shepherd was hidden behind a screen, so the cat wouldn’t see it at first. The screen was then suddenly removed to make Jones stop in his tracks, and start hissing.
The Truth Behind “Resurrection”
The original idea for the movie was for Newt (the child from Aliens) to be cloned, not Ripley. This was changed when Sigourney Weaver agreed to reprise her role for $11 million.
Color Pops
In order to heighten contrasts, cinematographer Darius Khondji added silver to the printing process. This had the result of making the dark colors richer and giving everything else a metallic tinge. He also used an electric blue tint for the underwater sequence.
David Fincher Has Disowned Alien 3
David Fincher was a first-time director when he. worked on Alien 3, and he has disowned the feature due to the impossible circumstances he worked under. Too much studio interference led to a rather horrible final product, and he walked out before the final edits started.
Rough Translation
In most foreign languages, the title of Alien translates to “death.”
“Resurrection” Inspired “Firefly”
Joss Whedon commented on his dissatisfaction with the movie. His screenplay wasn’t translated over to film the way he had hoped. Eventually, the characters of Betty and her crew became the prototypes for Whedon’s “Firefly,” which captured the tone he’d hoped for with “Alien 3.”
“Into Species”
Some of H.R. Giger’s designs for the film involved a puma-like alien with claws. The producers also instructed him to do more sexy designs, so he created a drawing of an alien, which, in close view, had the lips of a woman. One of his ideas involved the alien kissing its victims and killing them that way (an idea that was later used in the movie Species).
Ridley Scott Wasn’t The First Choice
Potential directors, who either were considered by the studio or wanted to direct the film, included Robert Aldrich, Peter Yates, Jack Clayton, Dan O’Bannon, and Walter Hill. Aldrich, in particular, came very close to being hired, but the producers ultimately decided against it after they met him in person, and it quickly became apparent that he had no real enthusiasm for the project beyond the money he would have made.
There Was Almost a Different Ripley
Ridley Scott stated that in casting the role of Ripley, it ultimately came down to Sigourney Weaver and Meryl Streep, who had, coincidentally, been schoolmates at Yale.
The Franchise Was Almost Called Star Beast”
Dan O’Bannon’s original draft title was Star Beast, but he was never happy with it. It was only after re-reading the script that he noted how many times the word “alien” appeared, and realized that it was a perfect title: it works as both a noun and an adjective, and it had never been used before.
“Resurrection” Couldn’t Find Space To Film
In 1996, there were so many big-budget films shooting in studios that “Resurrection” had a hard time getting a space. “Titanic,” “Starship Troopers, and “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” were all in production.
“Alien 3” Wasted a Ton of Money
$7 million had been spent on sets that were never used, thanks to the ever-changing script, before filming had even started. That’s $7 million in 1992 dollars; adjusted for inflation that’s over $10 million today, far more than the entire budget of most indie/medium budgeted feature films.
Veronica Cartwright Auditioned for Ripley
Veronica Cartwright only found out that she wasn’t playing the part of Ripley when she was first called in to do costume tests for Lambert.
Ripley Was Almost Cut From Alien 3
Alien 3 was almost a Hicks/Bishop film, not even featuring Ripley. William Gibson wrote a very early script treatment for the film, which was initially intended as a two-parter, to be shot back-to-back. As Sigourney Weaver’s involvement was in question, the main focus of this script was Hicks and Bishop. Many consider this to be a much superior script. The only carry-over from this original script, however, is the barcodes on the back of the convicts’ necks.
James Cameron Almost Directed “Prometheus
Before Prometheus became anything more than a basic concept for an Alien prequel film, James Cameron was approached in an effort to gauge his interest on directing such a film. However, this was also around the time that the first Alien Vs. Predator film was due to enter production. Cameron was also asked if he’d be interested in directing the latter film, but turning it down due to believing such a film being made would destroy any credibility the Xenomorph aliens had left as terrifying entities.
Charlize Theron Was Originally Going To Play Elizabeth Shaw
Charlize Theron was originally approached to play Elizabeth Shaw in “Prometheus,” but she pulled out due to a prior commitment: “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Ridley Scott really wanted her in the film, so he offered her a smaller role that ultimately suited her acting style better.
Fox Didn’t Want To Cast Naoomi Rapace
Rapace isn’t a native English speaker, and she isn’t particularly well known to Western audiences. She worked with a coach to learn English and perfect an accent, though Elizabeth Shaw’s nationality certainly wasn’t paramount to the film.
The “Deacon” Is Unrelated to the Xenomorphs
Deacon – a name he gave the alien in Prometheus due to the shape of its head resembling that of a Bishop’s hat – is not supposed to be related to the Xenomorphs at all. Obviously, the Deacon shares more than just a passing resemblance to the extremely aggressive extraterrestrials that we all know and love from the Alien films, but apparently, the entity we see slide out of the Engineer’s chest really has no genetic relation to them.Â
Androids
Sometimes, the most obvious easter eggs in films are also the most easily overlooked. Something so simple as a person’s (or in this case, synthetic’s) name can be part of a long-running tradition of how a fictional character’s name is decided. Each Android from the saga has an alphabetical name, and they go in order.
Jesus Was Originally Part of the Prometheus Plot
Prometheus did originally feature Jesus in its screenplay, but it wasn’t the biblical son of God that you know from the Bible. Presumably omitted due to continuity and pacing concerns like much of the film’s original content, Prometheus originally featured a sub-plot featuring Jesus to explain why the Engineers were so mad with the humans that they created.Â
The Plot Was Inspired By “Chariots of the Gods”
Däniken’s 1968 book hypothesizes that man was visited numerous times throughout ancient history by extraterrestrials who, being far more advanced in terms of technological achievement than us lowly humans, were regarded as gods due to their technology being interpreted as supernatural in nature.Â
NASA Helped With The Aesthetics of LV-223
Ridley Scott managed to get a plethora of satellite images from NASA while filming Prometheus to create some of the more fantastical locations seen in the film. LV-223’s aesthetic appearance in particular, was based heavily on images that NASA had taken of the surfaces of Mars.
The ‘Xenomorph’ Mural Is A Tribute To H.R. Giger
The mural in question featured many of H.R Giger’s creations while working on Alien, and not only served a narrative purpose, but a homage to the artist that helped to bring the original Alien film to life.
Goblin Sharks Are As Close As We’ll Get To Real Aliens
Goblin Sharks have the uncanny ability to protrude their upper jaws far beyond what you would normally expect to see, giving the appearance of having a mouth within a mouth. Whether or not H.R. Giger originally drew inspiration from such bizarre creatures when creating the Xenomorphs is unclear, but you’d be hard pushed not to at least suspect that the artist hadn’t at least glimpsed the creature at one point during the development process.