Original subtitles

Drake, we are leaving!

In 1986,

at the legendary Pinewood Studios in Britain,

a Canadian writer-director…

helmed what he hoped would be a science fiction movie…

Ready.

…like nothing that had come before.

And action.

The director was James Cameron,

and the movie was Alien 2.

It was Aliens and not Alien 2. Noted.

Well, the battle to make Aliens…

He was undermining the director.

…had crew walking on eggshells.

We don't have Sigourney signed up.

Do we really need her? Yes.

With high expectations… This was his make-or-break film.

…and low everything else.

We used black garbage bags.

What's wrong with this picture? It'd take this madman…

He was just furious. …and his partner in crime…

She's like a quiet assassin.

…to pull it off.

But in order to get this done, the rogue captain of the ship…

They didn't follow my design exactly.

…was quick on the trigger.

Fired. Fired.

"You're fired."

Pushing his crew to breaking point.

I'd wanna go home and bang my head on a wall.

The police came.

They arrested him. Tea break.

Whether you love him…

I'm glad he is the bastard that he is.

…or think about…

Knocking him fucking flat. Boom.

…James Cameron and his crew defied the odds

to deliver one of the greatest sequels of all time.

It was very well-made.

And this is the story of how they did it.

Um, "Get away from her, you bitch."!

"I'm back. Alien."

This is the film industry. If you don't like it…

Game over! …fuck off home now.

These are The Movies That Made Us.

Let's rock!

Yeah!

Aliens is the story of Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley,

who, after sleeping in for a bit… Fifty-seven years.

…is called once again

to face her worst nightmare. No!

All right. I'm in.

Joining a motley band of…

Badasses.

…on their way to investigate the mysterious silence

of a distant human colony.

Move it out!

They find their fellow humans playing host to a young family of…

One of those things.

…who were just looking to impregnate or kill everyone.

Get away from her, you bitch!

They meet a little girl. Here!

And a big girl.

But most of them just meet their maker,

all before bedtime.

But to learn just how this mega-studio blockbuster summer hit came to be,

well, that's a different cup of tea…

…altogether. Just ask this gentleman.

I'm Roger Corman, and I make films.

But not just any films.

For decades, Roger Corman made special kinds of films.

Big on excitement, small on budget.

But he didn't do it alone.

He willingly brought in people without experience.

Meaning, they'd learn on the job,

and be wonderfully unaware of standard industry working hours.

They're working six, seven days a week.

Long hours.

And in return… He would pay very little money.

We can't offer much in payment. No need.

But he would give you a shot. A shot to be a moviemaker.

Emphasis very much on "be."

A lot of major players got their start doing B movies for Roger Corman.

It was like a school of artists all working on each other's work.

Then, on a fateful day in 1977,

Roger Corman's school of sorts

received a new applicant, named Gale Anne Hurd.

Ready?

Gale came down from my old school, Stanford,

with phenomenal recommendations.

And for Gale, the feeling was mutual.

No question. This was the best film school possible.

So, naturally at her interview…

She was a little bit nervous.

Roger said, "What do you see yourself doing five years from now?"

I said, "A producer."

To be honest, I didn't even know what a producer did.

I hadn't even thought about that. I wanted a job.

And so… He'd give you a shot.

…Roger gave Gale hers, in the form of her first assignment.

Roger Corman had seen Star Wars

and realized there was money in them there hills.

And he went and said,

"I want to make a Star Wars film…

…but on a Roger Corman budget."

But Battle Beyond the Stars was very slow to get moving.

We were falling behind.

What do you think we should do?

I said to Gale, "Go down to the studio and see what's going on."

Do you think you could show me the ropes? Ropes?

What do you do here?

As she walked in, this blonde Canadian guy said…

Maybe I could show you… the ropes.

"I'll walk you around and talk you through everything."

And she thought, "This guy's in charge. He's impressive."

But she realized he wasn't. He was just a lowly model builder.

A lowly model builder

named James Cameron.

Who, like Roger Corman, got pretty fired up

the first time he saw this whole thing.

He was just furious.

You're fortunate he doesn't blast you into pieces.

He said, "That's the film I should have been making."

That was the point where he said, "I've gotta get going."

Throwing himself full force into making a space movie,

with plenty of space on his résumé…

Corman was his way in.

And Gale was his way up, telling Roger…

"He is the guy you should look to."

I'm really honest. I call 'em as I see 'em.

So, Roger called James Cameron.

You know, he goes from being a model maker to being an art director.

Really?

Head of everything visual.

Including these walls from Galaxy of Terror,

which he made out of Styrofoam food containers.

Fascinating. And…

The wall looked great.

But the best part…

He did the whole thing for $12.

Cameron's creative use of the food containers

marked the moment his effects career hit the wall

and James Cameron, the director, emerged.

And his first movie was a sequel. Piranha II.

As he says, the greatest flying-piranha movie ever made.

Certainly one of them. And with that kind of confidence,

Cameron spread his wings and teamed up with Gale Anne Hurd to write this script…

The Terminator.

…which started doing the rounds at the studios.

I had been given the script of Terminator to read.

I thought the script was really great. And then when I met Jim,

I thought, "Okay, this is the guy."

But Larry Wilson wasn't looking for a guy to make Terminator with.

That's a different story altogether.

I'll be back.

But he was dispatched by his bosses, David Giler and Walter Hill,

to find a writer to help them with a sequel they wanted to make.

I was assigned to find a writer for the Alien sequel.

Walter Hill and David Giler were the producers

behind the Ridley Scott-directed, Sigourney Weaver-starring…

Yes.

…sci-fi hit of the '70s, Alien, no S.

And it made a pretty big imprint on the industry.

Here you had a dark, frightening way of doing science fiction.

And it just blew people's minds.

A success they were hoping to duplicate.

They already had this idea…

Ripley goes back to the planet. What?

There are Marines. Then some bullshit happens.

Bullshit!

And the rest, well, they had no idea.

So they asked James to write a treatment and outline the movie.

Cameron's challenge was how to top the first one.

Any suggestions from you or Mother? Actually, yes.

Jim himself wrote this treatment called Mother, way before Aliens.

Because he had a very strong-willed mother

who encouraged his creativity, where his father didn't as much.

So, because of his mother,

he started writing very strong female characters.

Equal to the male characters. Maybe even more equal.

And so Jim adapted Mother…

To be about two mothers defending their children.

He goes, "That'd be an intense movie." Creating the ultimate showdown.

The battle of the mothers.

And with that, Alien 2 was born.

"Not Alien 2. This is Aliens." Okay, yeah. Noted.

Which brings us to the first thing you never say to James Cameron.

It was Aliens and not Alien 2.

He would just get bent out of shape when somebody would say Alien 2.

"No, it's Aliens." All right, suit yourself.

So, James Cameron hands in the pages for Aliens, plural,

which is where his involvement may well have ended.

Because suddenly, he found himself very busy making The Terminator,

which he directed and made with his now partner.

Cameron and Hurd are joined at the hip. So, they're a force to be reckoned with.

As was The Terminator, in every conceivable way.

It ended up being an enormous success.

Got great reviews.

Which led these two producers

to not only call James back to finish the script,

but they asked him to do something else as well.

I remember he came and just bear-hugged me,

and he said, "I'm directing Alien 2."

I wouldn't say that. Okay. Sorry.

It's not Alien 2.

I'm sorry. Aliens.

So now they needed a studio

to back this James Cameron-directed Alien sequel.

And they landed here where 20th Century Fox said…

They have to have a producer.

Well, look no further.

Hurd already produced Terminator but Fox is skeptical,

and brings her in, basically, to interview as if she were fresh off the bus.

They asked me, "How can a little girl like you produce a big movie like this?"

She is quite peeved.

I didn't blink. I just said,

"Here are some references. Why don't you give them a call?"

So, Fox did and of course…

Roger Corman and other producers attest to her capabilities.

So, with these high praises, they turned off the searchlights.

Fox is satisfied and says, "Okay, you can produce."

But after hearing what else Fox had to say,

the feeling wasn't mutual.

They were close to getting the green light.

But they were missing one tiny detail.

Fox confessed to Cameron that nobody's talked to Sigourney Weaver.

What? Hang about.

Sigourney Weaver didn't know they were making a sequel?

I know nothing.

Nothing? Nothing.

Bullshit!

As in the Sigourney Weaver that starred in Alien, singular?

Yes.

Cameron was assuming Sigourney Weaver would come back as a star.

Fox, on the other hand… They're like, "Do we really need her?"

He said, "The whole movie is based around her character. Are you crazy?"

He had a picture of Weaver on his desk the entire time he was writing the script.

So, James Cameron went rogue and just sent the script to Sigourney.

I suddenly get this fat script,

and I just couldn't believe, since Ripley was on every page,

that no one had even bothered to mention it to me.

But after she read every page… I found the script so moving.

It was such a brilliant next stage for Ripley.

I thought, "Man, this is just a great fucking story."

So, it's safe to say Sigourney was interested?

Yeah. So we got a film, yeah?

No. Fox, who were very concerned about how much this is going to cost,

they just don't do anything.

Did IQs just drop sharply?

So, James and Gale… Issue an ultimatum.

"We're going to Hawaii." During which they actually get married.

They made the solemn vow…

"If you haven't hired Weaver by the time we're back…"

You can just kiss all that goodbye!

"…we're off the film."

So, having outfoxed Fox, they decided finally…

…to reach out to Sigourney Weaver.

This is the way the movie business works.

The talent is kind of an afterthought,

but also Hollywood needs us.

Ripley, we have to talk.

She said, "You got a script, a director, but you don't have me?"

I don't believe this.

Pretty funny that they'd gone to all that work and forgot the actor.

And now you want me to go back out there?

So she was able to get a really good deal.

She gets a million dollars.

All right, I'm in.

Fox realized they screwed themselves.

But that's Hollywood for you, of course.

So, with an expensive movie star

and an ambitious, expensive-looking script…

Fox thinks the movie's gonna cost something like $35 million.

An amount they had zero intention of spending.

But this was a battle that James and Gale had had before.

Battle Beyond the Stars, and that was the ultimate low-budget experience.

But this time, it wasn't a wall of takeout containers

that saved the budget.

They found another way to shave off a few pounds.

They could shoot the movie in England.

Basically, you get a financial break.

So, with slimmed-down budget in hand,

Gale marched into the offices at Fox and suggested…

"We can do it for something like 15.5 million."

And that massive $20 million discount made Fox…

Happy enough to green-light the movie.

And with that, it was all systems go.

But 15.5 million was quite a lot lower

than other effects-heavy movies of the '80s.

Got a bad feeling about this drop. So did Fox.

Rough air ahead.

Gale and Jim, they were on the hook with the studio

for any overages on that movie.

But James and Gale were ready to risk it all

as they flew, probably coach, to England.

Jim Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd go off to London.

…would be casting.

With Sigourney already signed on as Ripley, they'd need…

The team of commandos. Who travel with her.

And to find Ripley's male co-star, Corporal Hicks…

Somebody wake up Hicks.

They first interviewed the very talented James Remar.

Jim and I hit it off immediately.

So, on the strength of the interview, he hired me to play Hicks.

Well done.

Next, to lock in Hudson. Lock 'em in, Hudson.

And for that, Bill Paxton was…

Ready to get it on. Which makes sense, 'cause…

Bill Paxton was a set builder.

…Bill had worked with James and Gale

ever since their days back at Roger Corman's studio.

Bill had been working in art department for Battle Beyond the Stars.

Then, of course, he was in Terminator.

With Paxton bringing the laughs and, if needed, a nail gun,

it was time to start flexing muscles.

And for the role of Private Vasquez,

they cast Rachel McLeish,

who started throwing her weight around about the unwholesome script.

She insisted that she would not be able to swear,

and it was against her religion.

Which turned out to be an answered prayer.

Thank you, Jesus. For… who are you?

Who am I?

I'm Jenette Goldstein. And before she was Vasquez,

Jenette Goldstein was an unknown actor in London.

And when she came in to audition…

Jim and Gale really wanted the physique to be strong.

I was like, "You know, look at that."

But despite Jenette's muscles, it was James Cameron who had to flex his

to get the studio to agree.

He said, "This is who I want." So, I'm glad he is the bastard that he is.

As for Vasquez's buddy, Drake… You're just too bad.

…they tapped Mark Rolston. Me.

For Lt. Gorman, they asked… William Hope.

What's the question?

Ricco Ross was Private Frost. You know.

I think we got something here.

And Paul Reiser played Burke.

Jim wanted somebody

that you wouldn't think they're gonna turn out to be…

This rat fuck son of a bitch. …the antagonist.

Let's not make snap judgments, please.

And speaking of slimy, they went looking for a Newt.

Newt is a haunting presence throughout the movie.

I think she's very thoughtful and scared.

It's not quite as good, but…

I am Carrie Henn, and I was Newt in Aliens.

And to find this American-accented girl in Britain…

I had an idea.

Travel around the U.S. Air Force bases that are scattered all over the country.

Sarah Jackson was coming around taking Polaroid pictures of us.

There was something so undeniably right about Carrie Henn for this role.

And with that, the film was finally cast.

Well, at least…

Mostly.

Because if your movie is named Aliens,

you'd need aliens.

So, James got the guy who helped him on…

The Terminator.

Stan Winston ran an effects shop

where thirsty, talented, very inexperienced artists

could pull their socks up and get to work.

And they were about to have a lot of work to do.

I remember Stan explaining that we were going to be doing the sequel to Alien.

When we heard Aliens, we just like…

Yes, tough act to follow.

But as they wrap their heads around the script…

It's about as thick as a phone book.

Because in comparison to the single alien in Alien,

this script was by no means Alien 2.

What is this, like, 20 aliens?

Aliens, plural, would live up to its name.

And not just hiding and peaking, but crawling at you along the ceiling.

He wanted to do it without any stop-motion animation.

He wanted to do it all live.

Before they hatched their plan, they had a question.

Who's laying these eggs?

Because Cameron's script involved a brand new monster.

The egg-laying alien queen.

You go from drawings, and it looks like it's gonna work,

but how do you really know? Well, you could just build it.

We wanted to mock it up full-scale.

We did what we called the Trash Bag Queen.

Arms.

Stan Winston and the team constructed a test queen

in the parking lot at Stan's studio.

We used foam core and black garbage bags.

It was just a quick and dirty look at how you can put two stuntmen

inside a queen-sized body and have them operate arms.

Just like this. Kinda like this.

You got chest hands.

Pivot the body back and forth a little.

And as the Trash Bag Queen came to life,

they came to two conclusions.

It looks like the worst parade float ever.

But more importantly…

This is gonna work. That's a cut.

So, Stan and his young team packed up

and joined production in England at…

Pinewood Studios.

And not only did Pinewood come with a rich cinematic history…

I think a cup of tea's in order. …it came with a crew.

My name is John Richardson. I was the special effects supervisor.

They also landed top-shelf British talent like cinematographer…

Dick Bush. And…

Derek Cracknell, the country's best first AD.

And when the British crew met the James Cameron…

I didn't know who Jim Cameron was. I mean, it meant nothing.

The English crew was wondering, why isn't Ridley Scott here directing?

They thought of Alien as a British movie.

And, you know, "if anyone should be doing a sequel, it should be Ridley."

"Who are these Americans to come over here and think they know what's best?"

Well, he's actually Canadian. So, who knows what's best now?

They didn't know who Cameron was.

Or that he did this.

The Terminator.

Terminator was out in the United States, but it wasn't out in England yet.

Are you saying it's from the future?

But James Cameron knew what to do.

He scheduled a couple of showings for the crew,

so they could see that he wasn't just some schlub who'd showed up.

And when the crew showed up…

They didn't show up.

Fuck you, asshole.

And they never went to see it.

It would have been much easier if they'd seen the film

and they went, "Man, this guy is great."

They didn't wanna know about this guy.

They were kind of boycotting him already.

Clearly, there were some cultural differences.

Foremost amongst them…

You take a break for tea.

Filming with the British crew meant not only a tax break…

They had a tea break. Twice a day.

Everything stops for tea.

"It's teatime, mates."

Teatime was my most favorite time ever.

I absolutely loved it. I know not everybody did.

Yes, James Cameron didn't like tea.

"Fuck this taking-a-break-for-tea. We have a movie to make. Let's make it."

And this distaste for time-wasting

had been brewing in James Cameron since, well…

He was coming from the Roger Corman School of Filmmaking.

Where the school motto was… We're all in this together. We'll work…

Six, seven days a week.

Long hours.

You can't be dawdling around.

After work and weekends.

The British… I said, "You seen the new schedule?"

…weren't too keen on those hours.

"This is a job. Don't expect me to kill myself for you."

And it turns out, they had their own school motto.

This is the film industry.

If you don't like it,

fuck off home now.

So James Cameron called in his producer

in order to, shall we say, "Hurd" people along.

Gale Anne Hurd. Right?

Right. Yep.

Gale is like a quiet assassin.

It was her job to be the bad guy.

Also known as… "The pixie with the iron ax."

She always felt like Athena to me.

Like a four-star general, right?

Right again, which is lucky,

because Gale Anne Hurd was preparing for war with the first AD.

And Derek Cracknell was the real deal.

He was very good at his job.

And he runs a set brilliantly.

And Gale Anne Hurd… She was just married to the director.

You know, people would say, "She's married to the director,

so that's how she got the job."

"Who's really producing the movie?"

They were not respecting Gale Anne Hurd as a producer.

The British crew more or less hated her.

Why don't you put her in charge? You better start dealing with it.

She pressured them not to have teatime, to work extra hours.

She said, "If you don't shape up,

we're gonna fire the entire crew and hire a new one."

I'm sick of your bullshit.

But when she walked on the set, she meant business.

You know, all the joking about the newlywed thing stopped pretty quickly.

And so the crew came together, reluctantly, to build sets.

But it was the cast who'd already come together

to build camaraderie.

Get on and get in line! Go!

Because weeks before the first camera rolled…

James Cameron had them go through a kind of boot camp with ex-SAS guys.

One, two, three!

We had two weeks to go through training and meet each other.

As the Marines completed boot camp… I would prefer to call it rehearsal,

because we're not training to be real soldiers.

We're training to be actors that look like they hold a gun right.

And to help them hone their craft,

James Cameron encouraged just that.

Crafts.

Cameron leads them to a room where they have their armor.

"You guys are all personalizing all of your gear."

"Make them seem as individual as possible."

And that inspired me to do that lock with the hasp.

You know, I painted a red heart on it.

Hang about. That's not James Remar.

Well, more on that later, because it was time to start shooting.

The very first scene is the line of all the Marines

approaching the atmosphere processing station.

And as shooting began, Jenette took aim…

Let's rock!

…and fired her co-star.

What? No, she didn't fire Mark.

My co-star was my smart gun.

In the movie, Jenette's character wielded this futuristic weapon.

I'm strapped into this beast.

And so was Mark. It was a Steadicam harness

attached with a real anti-aircraft machine gun.

And the very first time they strapped in…

We put the guns out and the whole harness flew right off of our chests.

And Cameron just looked at it and went,

"Gaffer tape."

Every single day, Jenette and I had to be gaffer-taped into the Steadicam harness.

We were told, "Please try not to have to go to the bathroom."

A real nightmare scenario.

At night, I'd wake up thinking I had the thing on.

I would dream that I was still inside the Steadicam unit.

Like a roll of gaffer tape… We made this incredible bond.

This is why Mark and I are best friends now.

While some were joined at the hip by gaffer tape,

the Brits and the Americans were lacking any adhesion whatsoever.

After the first five days of shooting,

there's a fair amount of resentment and things are not going well.

When I'd arrived at the studio,

there would be a line of people

outside my door with complaints,

or even threatening to quit.

And as for James Cameron…

He locked horns with Dick Bush, the DP.

…who had his own thoughts on how to light the set.

In just about every instance,

Dick Bush would do the opposite of what Jim asked him to do.

Which wasn't a bright idea. No.

And also the second thing you never say to James Cameron.

That is mistake number one.

Actually, it's number two,

which is also kind of what Dick Bush found himself in.

They agreed to disagree.

Which is the British way of saying…

Gone. Or as it's called in the business:

fired.

With their lighting problem solved,

mood around Pinewood Studios was brighter.

Maybe we got them demoralized. Shh!

With help from Bill Paxton, of course.

You secure that shit, Hudson.

-He was a real connector.

He was like my big brother on set. They had a table for me with art supplies.

Don't touch that.

He would help me cut the papers and glue them.

Yeah.

Spending time especially with Paul Reiser and Bill Paxton between takes,

it didn't allow me to concentrate as much as I wanted to,

because they were two of the funniest guys you could meet.

That wasn't funny, man.

Everyone was having a high old time,

including leading actor James Remar.

I got into hash, and there was some local heroin that I decided to try.

Which was a terrible idea, because London PD found out.

Word got out because of the people I was associating with.

The police came, and it was a very, very serious thing.

They went into my hotel room and they found my drugs.

They arrested him.

I made a decision, and it was wrong.

It wasn't when you got a slap on the wrist and sent to rehab. They got rid of you.

So, for the second time on this young production…

Remar was…

"You're fired."

Jamie was out. You can count me out.

I got goose bumps talking about this, because Walter Hill gave me my career.

I didn't just screw myself, you know. I screwed other people.

Suddenly, with scenes already shot,

Aliens had to recast a lead actor.

And we just kind of went, "What?"

With the clock ticking,

James Cameron sought out classic British actor, Mr. Bean.

Now!

Not you, sweetie. ! Right.

Hang about. Michael Biehn…

Right. Right.

…who he'd worked with on…

That Terminator is out there. Yes, The Terminator.

Right. Michael was at home.

And Cameron told him… Jump on a plane. You're Hicks.

All of a sudden, there's another actor.

Michael was there within two days.

And as Corporal Hicks,

Michael Biehn picked up where James Remar left off.

Looks like love at first sight to me.

It was a shame for Jamie Remar, who was so talented, and it was such a great part.

He was so intense. It would have been a different movie.

Michael has a completely different presence,

and it was a very nice, gentler presence for Ripley.

Right. And so,

with Remar's presence no longer required, it was Michael Biehn's turn to ask…

What exactly are we dealing with here?

Despite not being too far into filming,

there were some shots with Remar that would be impossible to reproduce.

That whole set was ripped apart and struck when the shot was okayed.

So they figured, fix it in post.

Jim just cut to where he turned.

So, that's what's in the movie.

James Cameron certainly wasn't afraid to play the angles

when it came to saving money, even for the main ship, the Sulaco.

Jim said we're only gonna be shooting this on one side,

so you only need to make one side of the model.

But to help them decide just what the model would look like,

they called up Syd Mead… Yes.

…who was a legend in futuristic film art.

I'd worked on Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Then Blade Runner and Tron at the same time.

So, this juggling juggernaut of sci-fi design

got to work designing vehicles for Aliens.

I started drawing this Sulaco thing.

I designed the dropship.

But when it came to building these vehicles…

We had a very small visual effects budget.

…they needed to be a little more down-to-earth.

They didn't follow my design exactly.

Exactly. But in the movie industry,

you hand over your ideas to the director, then I'm out of it.

And the director gets into it.

Jim kinda was telling us what he wanted with the crash.

He wanted the dropship to do this and then do that and do this,

and I'm thinking, "There's no way we could do that."

It's just gonna come off its wires and do what it does."

So, Pat told James Cameron… Um…

Careful, Pat.

So, Pat told James Cameron…

"M'kay." Good boy.

Despite having no idea how they'd get it done.

No.

Until he had a bolt of inspiration…

Thunderbirds. …from this classic British puppet show.

Can you pull a few strings your end?

And it also featured…

A major crash.

After which, they modeled their own major model crash.

And as far as designs go, they found another way to save money.

Jim designed a lot of stuff of the film on his own.

Including the Power Loader, which was John Richardson's job to build.

The Power Loader was a mammoth task for us in special effects.

Like everything else, James Cameron wouldn't make it easy.

Peter, why did you move that?

Jim was a very hard taskmaster.

Put it back in. I didn't ask that to be moved.

He used to get a bit nitpicky about a screw in the boot

that you were never, ever gonna see.

Jim is a perfectionist, so hands-on.

Like that. See what I mean?

And that made the job, sometimes, a little bit harder.

Which is the British way of saying…

Made it a lot harder.

All right, now, pull it so it lands right on the lens when I say "action."

Here we go, and… action.

Guys, guys, I want you to pull it so that it looks like it's leaping.

It doesn't look like it's leaping.

I won't say there weren't days when I didn't want to bang my head on a wall.

Get some gloves. You can't pull hard without gloves.

Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd were just rubbing people the wrong way.

"You have to pull it with gloves."

You know, this is just absolute hardcore Jim.

Get some gloves and call me when you're ready for this.

And it wasn't just limited to the crew.

Morning, Marines.

I used to rehearse in my mind, taking Jim out,

actually knocking him fucking flat because of the shit he was giving me.

Stick your head out. That's when you get shot.

Boom.

But there was one group of young hatchlings

who were sheltered from the potential firing squad.

We were in our own little insulated bubble.

As Stan Winston's crew birthed alien after alien

without any tummy troubles whatsoever.

They were largely able to avoid invasion.

We can do the rehearsal. We had Stan to buffer.

You know, he kind of took the heat sometimes.

With Stan taking the heat, that let the guys focus on other jobs.

Like taking out the trash. Little higher.

Because they needed to turn…

The Trash Bag Alien Queen.

…into something a little less garbage.

We all sculpted.

I did the body. Shane did the head.

Alec Gillis did the leg.

It was an unprecedented creature effects build.

And as they slowly pieced it together,

that was also how they would shoot it.

Because when working with these giant puppets…

It becomes very difficult to get the kind of speed

that Jim Cameron wants in an action sequence.

So, by shooting at a lower frame rate,

it would look sped up when played back.

But that meant…

The actor has to slow down.

And in that case, that meant this actor.

If you want me to go slowly, I'll go slowly.

But it wasn't just this actor.

Because just across the lot at Pinewood Studios…

They were also shooting Little Shop of Horrors.

Which had its own giant toothy puppet, named Audrey II.

How am I going to keep on feeding you?

They were sometimes shooting at a low frame rate too.

So that Audrey could be puppeteered properly.

I knew what Rick was going through, and he knew what I was going through.

So, I think we had a good laugh about that.

The Keymaster and the Gatekeeper reunited once again.

But I would say Rick had a tougher job, because he was in a comedy.

I wasn't trying to play scenes with the Queen.

We weren't emoting with each other.

There was one scene, however,

that required Sigourney to emote quite explicitly.

Get away from her, you bitch!

It was the first time I'd heard her say any kind of bad word.

I was just absolutely in shock.

As soon as I said it, I was on my way to going into falsetto when I went up.

"Get away from her, you bitch." Bitch!

And I remember thinking, "Fuck."

"Why'd you go up on that line? If you're gonna sound like… go down."

"Get away from her, you bitch!"

Tell the creature, "Back off."

Anyway, Jim loved that line reading.

I don't think we did it again.

And for the Alien Queen, her time to shine had finally arrived.

And we're in an 80-by-100-foot stage.

Getting ready to shoot…

When the queen's just trying to capture Newt.

We had to smoke up that set. And like pretty much everything else…

The smoke level had to be perfect for Jim.

Which was a little easier said than done.

It's an enormous stage. It'd take minimal an hour to smoke it up.

And we'd finally gotten the smoke up, filling this entire huge studio.

And now Jim's ready to shoot.

Everybody, listen for your action from Jim.

And now it's four o'clock in the afternoon.

And the stage door just starts rolling open,

and all the smoke's going out.

And there's this one small lady

coming in with her little tea cart.

"Tea break."

Oy.

Crew would walk off the set and Jim would be like, "What the hell?"

I remember thinking he is gonna kill this woman.

But she's just a little old tea lady.

The dear woman, it was just another day for her.

Our AD should have stopped that. Wait, you don't mean…

The country's best first AD.

But Derek was trying to keep his good crew together

and Jim, I think, they came to head.

Like this. I did see that this was not going to continue.

They were gonna have to figure something out.

These issues between director and assistant director

were coming to a boil.

They weren't a match made in heaven.

Derek would call him "governor" in a really patronizing way.

He'd go, "Alright, guv'nor."

And Jim would say, "I'd rather you didn't call me governor."

And Derek would say, "Alright, guv'nor."

There was no reason for that.

That was just dumb.

I thought it was silly.

Cameron would say to Cracknell, "I want this shot set up this way."

And Cracknell would go set it up a different way, thinking it'd be better.

And he absolutely got that wrong.

And now you got to redo it, and so you're losing time.

He was undermining the director.

He probably thought that he'd be next in line to direct

if, for some reason, Jim left the show or was removed.

For all the things said about James Cameron…

He was blunt. Nitpicky.

Perfectionist. He's not physically affectionate.

Blonde Canadian guy.

…and unsaid… Boom!

…the fact remained, this was James Cameron's movie.

This was his make-or-break film.

It was his first studio film.

This was the big time, and he was gonna die getting there.

Jim and Gale had skin in the game

in terms of the movie going over.

They didn't have time to waste on all of this.

So, when they realized…

We were two or three days behind schedule.

And losing time, of course, is losing money.

Cameron decided enough was enough.

So, he fired Derek Cracknell.

But according to Derek…

"James Cameron has not earned the right to fire me."

But Derek was very wrong, and Derek was gone.

And that's when the proverbial manure hit the fan.

All of the crew had a lot of respect for Derek,

because they felt he was holding things together.

So, when James Cameron fired the first AD…

Who's firing? Goddamn it!

…it turned out to be the last straw for the crew.

It was out-and-out bare-knuckle. It was street fighting.

It was like a mutiny.

Sarge is gone! Get the fuck out of here!

The crew said, "If he leaves, we leave."

"If he goes, we all go."

Everybody walked out. The crew said, "Tools down. We're not moving."

And just like that… Production is dead in the water.

…James and Gale's movie was on the ropes. Gale Anne Hurd has gone on record

saying it was probably the most difficult moment of her whole career.

They didn't realize how loyal the English crew were to Cracknell.

There was only one person who could step in and…

Do something!

Sigourney Weaver.

Hold on, Newt.

The hero of the story is actually Sigourney Weaver.

Ripley, what the hell are you doing?

She was the star. Everybody liked her.

She'd been in the first one. She knew the British crew.

She was the only one who had the clout to figure this thing out.

And that's exactly what she intended to do.

She had a meeting with Jim and Gale.

It's easy to speak up for another actor, or to speak up for yourself.

What she did was, she spoke up for the crew.

I've always felt doing the Alien films that I am a member of the crew.

I understood where they were coming from.

I understood how frustrating that must be for Jim and Gale.

I knew we had to get over it. We had to, like, start again.

And for the infamously volatile…

Blunt. Nitpicky.

Yes. Perfectionist.

Yes, all those things. James Cameron had had enough.

"Everybody on stage. Jim will make a speech."

Which is when he showed his true colors.

"We're behind schedule. We're gonna have to compensate for this."

"We'll have to pick up our speed."

But then, James Cameron said something else.

"But we have an amazing movie here."

And he apologized to all of us.

He said it was probably his fault, pushing people too hard.

It wasn't Derek's fault.

When that happened, the crew changed completely.

Like Ripley herself, Sigourney Weaver saved the day.

And unlike the movie, her real-life crew lived

to fight another day.

The star of the movie put her neck on the line for them.

And now, they wanted this film to be a success for her.

It totally cleared the air, blew it away,

and we all kind of went,

"We're on."

And about time too, because as the end of production loomed,

they'd need all the coordination they could get.

The Power Loader versus the Queen Alien.

And the whole film rested on these metallic and alien-y shoulders.

It's the culmination. That's the moment we were coming for.

Because if they didn't shoot this right…

The movie would've been shot.

It was a daunting task.

A daunting task that kept the entire team on their toes.

On their tippy toes, really.

It's this whole sort of ballet of visual effects going on in front of you.

And like all the great ballets…

Action! It was a duet.

I had a group of my guys

powering the claws and making everything else work.

With a little help from above.

My wires that went up, Jim made them look like antennas.

And the American-made Queen?

Stan choreographed this whole team of all of us puppeteering.

Let it drop all the way to your side. This intricate dance…

One set of pulleys to move the arm and the other one to keep the head up.

…required perfect poise.

We were working her tail,

her arms, the legs, the tongue shooting at Sigourney's face.

Yelling at me, "Closer, closer, closer! No, don't hit her!"

And for the Power Loader…

We moved the arms, the legs. It worked really well.

Which is the British way of saying…

Wow! Holy smokes!

And cut!

Ten months and millions of dollars later,

James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, and the team

had finally finished production.

Right then, off to the editing room.

They had a very short post-production schedule, very short.

And an even shorter schedule for the composer, James Horner.

He came up with that famous escape theme.

Titled "Bishop's Countdown." And if you haven't heard it here,

then maybe you heard it in this trailer for Misery.

Annie, for God's sake…

Shh, darling.

Or maybe in this one.

Or in this one.

Or in this one.

But before any of those trailers hit the big screen, Aliens did.

And with Horner scoring full points,

it was time for the film to take flight.

Bill Paxton pestered the crap out of me

to come for the premiere because it was gonna be so,

"Huge, man. Mark, it's gonna be huge."

And on the night of their premiere,

they found out just how huge.

That very moment when the alien wiggles out…

Flamethrower, kill it!

…all of the suits from Fox leapt into the air.

They were screaming like little girls.

And Paxton grabbed my arm and he was like,

"Dude, this movie's gonna be great."

And it really was, because on July 18th, 1986,

Aliens debuted at number one in the box office,

grossing over $10 million in its first weekend alone.

Our next movie is named Aliens.

The movie is scary and horrifying and disgusting.

It's very well-made.

And by the end of its run,

this relatively inexpensive movie

had blown away expectations.

Earning more than…

Forty-two million in adjusted dollars.

No, no. It was a lot more than that.

Because Aliens made over $130 million.

But as impressive as those box office figures are…

So, one day, three boxes of this comes in the mail.

It's the toys. The cast of Aliens were cast in plastic.

I don't know if a lot of kids are going, "I'm back. Alien."

It's not a Christmas favorite.

Come on. Kids are "mad about you."

Even James Cameron has a figure.

You talked to the toy company guy?

Jesus, it's like The Making of The Making. You're talking to everybody. Okay.

Well, you know, almost everybody.

Anyway, after Aliens, obviously the franchise continued.

I thought you were dead. Yeah, I get that a lot.

The next movie… Is not Alien 2.

Obviously. Alien 3.

Yes, of course.

And the ones after that, immortalizing these terrifyingly unlikable creatures

on celluloid for generations.

However, in 2017,

the cast and crew of Aliens

lost one of their brothers-in-arms.

He's just one of the greatest guys,

and it was a tremendous shock.

Of all people.

We weren't expecting that.

Bill passed away from complications following surgery

at the age of 61.

He was joking about that this is pretty scary.

Everybody's scared when you go for an operation.

And he said goodbye before he was going under, and I guess...

I guess he said, "Game over, man."

Game over!

He was one of the most amazing human beings.

It is still hurtful today that he is no longer here with us.

And at his memorial, the cast and crew of Aliens

came together to remember their fallen brother.

Jim Cameron said, "I'm not a warm and fuzzy guy,

but the biggest regret of my life is that,

the night before Bill went into surgery,

I regret that I didn't tell him that I loved him."

And to this day, I think, hasn't really sunk in.

You know, if I thought of going to see everyone again,

I would have to remind myself that…

that Bill was not gonna be part of that.

In many ways, the story of Aliens

is one of lessons, and learning from them.

He apologized to all of us.

Even James Remar learned his lesson.

A year after getting fired, I got completely clean and sober,

and have been ever since.

Because when you trace the success of this movie back to its roots,

it's all about lessons and the masters who taught them.

Hard work is vitally important.

From Roger Corman,

who set James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd

on their own unstoppable trajectory.

If I hadn't gone to work for Roger Corman,

I would never have had a career as a producer.

Producing things like this.

But it's no surprise.

She was the most brilliant and creative producer.

She was wonderful.

And as for James Cameron, with the success of Aliens

which was the first of many major studio films,

this blonde Canadian

would become one of the highest-grossing directors of all time.

And he's still working hard today.

As are these guys,

who, under their mentor, created this monster

in this parking lot.

So, who brought the black plastic?

Then went on to become giants of the industry, decades later.

We started the Monster Company.

But not all four of them together.

You would think competing against your friends would be hard, but…

Action!

The competition that we feel with each other is always

a camaraderie. See?

We get together for dinner, we share war stories.

Whenever we wanna pre-test something, we say, "Let's do a garbage bag test."

And nobody except us knows what we're talking about.

Now we do, too.

And that's something we've learned.

Some others on the team…

Let's rock! …learned that life is full of surprises.

You never know where life is gonna take you.

I had no idea that, I don't know, 30, 35 years ago,

I'd be running five lingerie stores across the United States.

If it weren't for Aliens, I would still be in London.

But as it turns out, I've got beautiful kids,

a wonderful husband, and I ended up here.

The making of Aliens was more than just making a movie

and even more than making lifelong friends.

The biggest lesson we all learned

was the one we were taught by Ripley herself.

And what Sigourney Weaver's character taught us was that…

Well, Hollywood needed to change.

She was supposed to be like you or me.

She was supposed to be everyone.

And then, all hell breaks loose.

What the fuck are we gonna do now?

And she has to just go on instinct.

But as a movie character, Ripley's instincts were somewhat unique.

Back then, studios, for some reason,

preferred to keep women going in this traditional way.

Please, I need your help.

Putting women in these little outfits

and have them cling to James Bond.

We're not dead yet.

They were always so obsessed with women being sympathetic.

Yeah, a woman could do brave things.

But then she'd have to have a little bit of a cry in a corner.

You okay? No.

Boo-hoo. "Poor me" scene.

I'm a singer. I could lose my voice!

Come on, get moving! Hold on, Newt.

But what Ripley showed was just a woman getting her job done.

"Fuck this. I'm gonna just kick some ass here

until I can get out of this situation."

Come on!

And it was much more familiar

and resonant to audiences than perhaps it was to Hollywood.

But after the success of Aliens,

Hollywood took notice.

A lot of things changed after that.

The studios realized that audiences were totally

into women kicking ass and getting the job done.

Thank you for your consideration.

But the world had to change a little bit, too.

We put women in the armed forces.

Women, you know, working in these fields that were traditionally male.

So it took a while, I think, for history to catch up a little bit.

I am no man.

And, um, thank goodness it has.