77 Alien (1979)
Description
This article is from the Movie Trivia, by Murray Chapman muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au with numerous contributions by others.
77 Alien (1979)
- Originally to be directed by 'Water Hill' (qv), but he pulled out and gave
the job to 'Ridley Scott' (qv).
- The alien's habit of laying eggs in the stomach (which then burst out) is
similar to the life-cycle of the tsetse fly.
- The entire plot is identical to the science fiction story ``Voyage of the
Space Beagle'', by 'A. E. Van Vogt' (qv).
- Much of the dialog was ad-libbed.
- An early draft of the script had a male Ripley.
- 'Veronica Cartwright' (qv) was originally to play Ripley, but producers
opted for 'Sigourney Weaver' (qv).
- In the scene where Dallas, Kane and Lambert are leaving the ship, the actual
actors walking past the Nostromo's landing struts are 3 children (two of
whom were Scott's dressed in scaled down spacesuits. This has the effect of
making the ship look bigger.
- A sex scene between Dallas and Ripley was in the script, however was not
filmed.
- The front (face) part of the alien costume's head is made from a real human
skull.
- The rumour that only 'John Hurt' (qv) and the crew knew exactly what
was going to happen during the stomach-bursting scene is false.
- ``Nostromo'' is the title of a 'Joseph Conrad' (qv) book. The shuttle that
Ripley escapes on is called the ``Narcissus'', a reference to another
Conrad book. See also "Aliens (1986)" (qv).
- Apparently, in the final scene with Ripley and the Alien, the sounds of
people having sex can be heard.
- Conceptual artist H. R. Geiger's designs were changed several times, becuase
of their blatant sexuality: the top of the eggs resembled a vagina too
closely.
- Extra scenes filmed but not included, due to pacing problems:
- Ripley finds Parker and Brett cocooned. Brett is covered in ``maggots'',
and begs Ripley to kill him. She does so with a flame thrower.
- Ripley and Lambert discuss whether Ash has sex or not
- Alternative death scene for Brett: Ripley and Parker come across an alive
Brett being lifted from the ground
- Ripley finds cocoons (one of which is Dallas) and destroys them with a
flame thrower.
These extra scenes were not restored to the re-released version, probably
for this reason, but possibly because it would conflict with the
subsequently released "Aliens (1986)" (qv)' view of the alien's life-cycle.
- Scott is reportedly quoted as saying that originally he wanted a much
darker ending. He planned on having the alien bite off Ripley's head in
the escape shuttle, sit in her chair, and then start speaking with her
voice in a message to Earth. Apparently, 20th Century Fox wasn't too
pleased with such a dark ending.
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