Original subtitles

[Music]

suddenly to be scared as being part of

human nature simply by the beginning but

alien says about us now are those fears

that we have it's amazing experience

that show up in her dreaming the

nightmare I think he took a lot of

techniques from Alfred Hitchcock in the

sense that you don't really see

everything the imagination is used and I

think that's what made it so terrifying

I think once you make a movie you better

keep that pressure on all the way

through on anything

actually the God knows on a thriller or

God Moses a marathon of tension

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

I've gone to films my whole life since I

was a kid I mean I loved movies and

intuitive way I know that it was the

thing I wanted to do more than anything

but the raising I had my background

didn't suggest that that was a practical

thing to do for a living

I was a theater arts major in college I

wasn't a film major at UCLA and I did

love theater but I realized after a

while of producing a couple of plays

that I had to stay in New York because

that's where the investors are and I

hated the weather so much the closest

thing the theater was film and I grew up

in LA so I decided the hell with that

I'm living that breathing cold I'll go

into film I applied to USC

NYU UCLA NYU UCLA blew me off

USC accepted so I came out there and I

was a student in the USC department of

cinema met up with John Carpenter John

Carpenter started to do this master's

thesis film science fiction movie I got

involved in it and it grew out of hand

it finally got too big for a student

movie and so in the end we ended up

finding a way to put it into theaters

and instead of the the most impressive

student film ever made we had the least

impressive professional film ever made a

lot of things bothered me about Dark

Star we had a nail in it which was a

beach ball it was our second try on that

alien I went away from Dark Star really

wanting to do an alien that looked real

a couple years down the line I decided

to do Dark Star as a horror movie

instead of a comedy and that was the

germ of alien we got to talking I

realized that Dan was a cinema student

at USC and it was in the process of

making a kind of a spoof on 2001 a small

film called Dark Star and and he was

surprised to find that that was my

secret love was this film and in

particularly fantastic cinema always

attracted me so basically I helped out

on Dark Star I had heard about Dark Star

and somebody was talking about these two

brilliant young guys and sci-fi was my

love really I like I also like suspense

but I went to see Dark Star and I and I

spoke to carpenter on the phone and I

spoke to Dan on the phone but it seemed

to me I just had a more rapport with Dan

just for the phone conversations and I

told him I had the rights to the what

would became Total Recall which was the

original story but Phil dick was called

weak remembered for you wholesale so he

knew the story said I love that yeah so

you got the right side I said yeah he

said okay and I got something like I got

to discuss with you that I had been

working on about a year and I need to

make a breakthrough it maybe you're the

guy that can make me have it happen and

that turned out to be alien

I had this opening I didn't know where

it was going to go I knew I wanted to do

a scary movie on a spaceship with a

small number of astronauts like I say

Dark Star is a horror movie instead of a

comedy and I had this creepy opening and

which astronauts awakened to find that

their voyage home has been interrupted

they're receiving a signal from this

mysterious planetoid and alien language

they go down to investigate they get

stalled down there their ship breaks

down Zagat 29 pages written but I don't

know you I can't trust you to leave the

house with this the story I of course

know you have nothing written the story

said no I just got the rights to the

story I hadn't yet tried to write it yet

and he said okay will you sit here and

just read this this is what I got I'm

stuck on it frankly but read this so I

sat there and I read it and it was very

close to what we ended up with on the

screen those first 29 pages the threat

at the center of the story

whatever this monster or thing or danger

was going to be it was not at all clear

to me at this point the first act is

fantastic

I said I'll you know possibly maybe I

can help you with and so can I help you

in Toth recall so we decided however do

we tackle alien first because Total

Recall would be way more expensive

because at that time we envisioned alien

could be a Roger Corman

just in one location you know several

different rooms in an old warehouse a

Chilean Vil member named Alejandro

Jodorowsky telephoned me from Paris

Paris France

Paris Texas now Paris France he had made

an art film called El Topo which was

very well received and this man over

this transatlantic phone line claimed

that he had the backing and the rights

to make a feature film of dune and he

loved Dan's work that he did on

designing special effects for Dark Star

and he knew he had to do it at a budget

with some creative people so he hired

Dan to work on it helped him with a

storyline and also with his special

effects and Dan went off within a few

weeks he went off to Paris and France

and places and was working on the dune

project there for six months and I

wasn't the only person there he had gone

to England and he had plucked up a an

artist who did covers for science

fiction books named Christopher Foss and

for the first time I saw somebody whose

stuff I liked as much as Ron cop stuff

he had another artist he wanted me to

meet the attendants guys work in a show

that was in Paris at the time took me

over to to one of the really fancy

hotels in Paris not the one I was

staying in where this artist named

hunter Rudy Peter was staying while his

show was on display in Paris Iger brings

out this little tin foot said would you

like some opium I said why did you take

that I said I am afraid that my visions

said it's only your mind they said that

is what I'm afraid of

he brings out a book art book his

paintings in it I started looking at

this and he and on our hundred go into a

big discussion about dune I started

looking at these paintings and it took a

minute for it to register what I was

seeing but time what I was seeing seem

to be very disturbing oft Stoll story of

that was down of course working on the

Jodorowsky June in Paris for a year or

two and it all collapse and he went you

know he went home with no money and

whatever it is and slept on raunchy sets

couch and I was in desperation the only

thing I could think to do I had to sell

a script so he said now light up the

board run I've got this first act and

you like it and he says I know I know

you have a good mind from these just

weeks and weeks I've worked with you

before I left and and we and what I saw

you didn't Total Recall which you did

the short story as far as you got it I

know you can make the breakthrough for

me

well star beast is one of those titles

that you you know you think of and then

you you know you throw them away I was

running through titles and they all

stank and like any of them one morning

at 3 o'clock

Ronnie's apartment I'm typing away

writing dialogue and the characters are

saying the alien this and the alien that

suddenly that word alien just came up

out of the typewriter at me I said alien

it's a noun and it's an adjective

this is yes that's it I have the title

it's simple it's one word and no one's

ever used it and and never change from

that moment on no one ever tried title

stuck and that was amazing to us even

that just that aspect it I went back to

storage got my typewriter out took it

over to Ronnie since that's living room

and wrote it up over the days and nights

in the next three months

Ron keeping me alive by feeding me hot

dogs dan said somehow the monster has to

get on board the ship in a way that

amazed everybody and so I wake up in the

middle of night and I said Dan I have an

idea and he said what and I said

the monster screws one of the people he

says what are you talking about

I said he jumps in his face plants a

tube down him inserts his seed in him

and later comes bursting out of his

stomach and then goes oh my god it's the

most amazing thing I've ever heard

nobody's ever seen like that and we just

sat up all night and we wrote and in

three weeks we had what would I would

say which is 85% of the plot the

structure we didn't write the screenplay

right there of what you saw became

mailing 85% on whether they drew from

other moves they probably did like

everybody they drew consciously or self

constantly from things like their Patera

from beyond space but they actually the

ingredient of this thing being incubated

in human being made the whole damn thing

stand out

Reilly wanted to be on board was I

written a thing he saw it as a ax you

know

another viable thing he wanted to be

involved with so we we made ourselves a

little deal he would be on board as

producer and we started trotting it

around and showing it to various you

know producing entities and we got

pretty close to deals in a couple of

time that a couple of times but they

fell through well essentially because

the people on the other end we were

demanding too much you know they were

trying to screw us so we went to Roger

Corman's company but then I think we're

dealing with Bob Rimi later became head

of Universal crimes out of town and he

said yes so right that looks like a

pretty amazing success story he loved at

Dan's movie was good even though it

didn't make money he knew that I

co-wrote this with Dan though I'd never

made anything movie in my life as I took

my name off the other and we were going

to make a deal but we didn't get to

signing the papers or alien would have

been made as a low-budget Corman movie a

friend of ours named Mark Haggard ended

up with a copy of it in his hands he

used to be an independent writer

director Mark said can I read this great

script they're all talking about you had

and Dan said sure so you know we gave

them the script you know I just said

let's just wait a few days and then

we'll we'll close our deal with Corman

well he calls us of course the same

night it's great it's not but I can get

the money I gave them immediately so we

looked at each other and we said okay

well look we can't wait we don't want to

blow the deal with Corman

uh it's got to be a limited time see two

weeks give me two weeks

mark Haggard new Walter Hill a director

of tough-guy movies gave it to Walter

Hill Walter Hill showed it to his

partner David Guyler and then they

showed it to their third partner Jordan

Carroll the three of them had just

formed a new production company called

Brandywine films we had offices at the

then golden studios now Warner Hollywood

and Walters office was on the first

floor ground floor and after lunch one

day he was sitting in his chair

ruminating and with the window open and

a friend of his was walking down the

alleyway and he stopped and said Walter

Scott handed in the script to the window

and and he read it and he said we may be

out of my mind he said I because he's

just but I mean the script is terrible

but it has one great scene in it and

read it tell me what you think I read it

I thought it was absolutely terrible

and I call her up and I said well you

are nuts this is crazy kind of the big

scene I see yeah anything jumps out it's

on his faces that's not as you look I'm

already on page 90 I said he should keep

reading and I came to the chest burster

and I called him back and said well I

see what you mean they brought it to me

I thought it was interesting a nice

horror picture it's outer space I mean

what could sound better and

they then completely rewrote the script

from top to bottom what I didn't

understand when we made the deal was

Brandywine Guyler and Hill was a gallery

he'll wanted more than to produce this

film they I didn't figured this out into

in fact after a principal photography

but they targeted my script since they

decided they wanted all the credit for

the screenplay and they didn't want me

to have any right from the beginning

David Walter took up I did several

drives and and it was the whole

character of the film not the spine of

it in terms of story even though that

was changed quite a bit but the whole

character of the film changed from

Walter and David took it over as Walter

himself said and one of his speeches he

gave us during pre-production he said he

said the greatest thing I have to bring

to this project is I don't know anything

about science fiction and I don't like

it and that was certainly reflected in

the various drafts as they did they took

several cracks at drafts and they from

all consensuses they were getting worse

not better because that wasn't their

Forte

they did recognize it was great but they

weren't good at making it better or in

fact they're not making it even worse

degree I'm going to modify that with one

exception they made a huge contribution

but in many drafts they did most people

felt it was losing its but that happens

sometimes because you take a shot and

then you sometimes come back to what

attracted you in the first place and

they did radically they did eight

different drafts for some reason I

couldn't figure out Walter Hill

immediately started doing a rewrites of

my script I remember walking into

Gordon Carroll's office and seeing a

script on the desk and lifting up the

page and it said alien by Walter Hill

Gordon walks and I said Gordon what's

this

Gordon looked very embarrassed he said

oh you're not supposed to see that but

they concluded one thing which is one of

the best things in a movie and I will

return we be thankful them not only for

starting the ball for financing but to

contributing this to the movie what they

invented was the robot that was not in

the movie when the robots ashes a row

but his head comes off that whole idea

and scenario was theirs we rewrote it

top to bottom I mean all the dialogue

all the characters the whole sense of

truck drivers in space the whole you

know plot with the robot the whole was

being home with all the rest that's

that's that's all in the new script the

only thing I could see he was doing was

just stirring around the elements first

thing he did was change the names of all

the characters one early discussion

Walter walks into the offices are at

20th Century Fox's he said he said I

hate all those names in your script he

hates all the names when how do you hate

a name oh I hate all those names he

changed them all Kurt he didn't hate him

at all but he had the naive idea that

he'd changed all of the characters names

this would would count somehow as being

a substantial rewrite of the material

with a story that is often told as this

kind of story is you have to do it in a

special way in order for it to be

special I mean this was was our argument

with we're you know about the movie in

general with with Fox all the time and I

think they agreed which was that you had

to treat this kind of be monster movie

as though it were in a movie that script

did not excite Fox enough for them to

say we want to go ahead and we want to

make it

you must be remembered that this was pre

Star Wars and we were confident although

he had other places we could set the

film up we were confident that Fox would

ultimately with another rewrite and

whatever would ultimately do it we

certainly hope so

and when Star Wars came out and was

extraordinary at that it was and

suddenly science fiction became the hot

chiara I don't know that there was

consensus one way or the other about

science fiction I mean since I was

responsible party for making Star Wars

and it was such a hit concerns about

science fiction went away very quickly

they wanted to follow through on Star

Wars and they wanted to follow through

fast and the only spaceship strip they

had sitting on their desk sale yet so

they green-lighted Wham

[Music]

I was using dune as my model of how to

design a science fiction movie the idea

of getting great artists together in a

room and having them all work now we

were doing that on a Liana weighs me in

charge instead of Jodorowsky and we had

the walls full of these dazzling designs

for everything in the movie he had a

kind of a wish list of people he wanted

to work on this film

one was haunt through deed eager myself

and Chris Foss the British science

fiction illustrator anyone that he just

he always had this dream project that

all three of us would work on this one

film and he he got he got his way and

even before there was a director Chris

and I had a series of little little art

department above an old soundstage when

Fox for a long long time drawing and

drawing and and meeting directors as it

would come in and look at the drawings

and try to find out who was going to do

what when and where and if it would ever

go and Iran is a political cartoonist

from the Los Angeles Free Press

everybody who loved his cartoons and I

had the gall to actually call him on the

phone and go visit him his apartment in

Westwood and became friends that way and

I discovered something at that time was

not known about him that he did science

fictional paintings and they were

incredible then came to me was strictly

the original script that he and Ron she

said had written for alien and had me

read it and uh and was quite amazing

that was quite and and and he wondered

if I could help him visual do some

visualizations a series of paintings

that he could send around with the

script and I did I did

Oh quite a few and but we were still

groping as to what the thing should look

like but I was very very interested in

astronautics space flight and aerospace

design and ideas of the future and also

science fiction as a kind of future

mythology so all this just clicked with

me and I was very very excited about it

we all contributed all kinds of things

for the different verb

of the script and that was Chris Foss

just turned out tons and tons of

exterior drawings of what the ship

should look like and we kind of differed

in that he he was very metaphorical and

and sort of fantastic and I was very

interested in tapping the idea of what

things could look like if they were

drawn from a more realistic

consideration of what a spaceship should

be without going NASA create the sense

of confined space spaces that a premium

inside that the idea that it was with

all the pressure doors that it was

pressurized all those things I thought

would contribute to the tension of the

film and they weren't particularly there

in the in a lot of the early versions

and visions of what it should look like

so I had to do a lot of persuading Ron

Cobb was going to do the monster he had

some dry as long as that's how it runs

real talented guy and ended up doing a

lot of this the ship but as must it was

not - he kind of designed the sort of

spaceship interiors and thing I think

the sort of Austria and a narcissus he

did those kind of designs because he had

I mean he's rather like Syd Mead was - -

Blade Runner he just had that expert

they were founded in logic you know in

reality this guy thinks like something's

engineered he's got a mind that he

designed something that really seems

like it'll work of functioning Lalli so

believable he can make him so accurate I

was more concerned with the Nostromo

because I knew that was going to be my

ultimate contribution would be to bring

the Nostromo to life when finally we

would get Gieger on board and not just

having email things in he would be

involved with the alien planets and we

all knew that that's what dan wanted you

know Chris bas was to sort of take care

of the exterior of the ship and I was

going to do the interior sets there

would be a production designer but but

Dan wanted all our inputs to be very

very much noted I used to be very into

the methyl how long the heavy metal

comics from from

and all the Mobius and people like that

and I think I've managed to infect

Ridley with that enthusiasm etc he could

treat sci-fi in the same way that he

treated history you know like the

duelists he before that he was he was

the sort of um he was the expert at

everything he just he put a different

slant on on shooting historical things

he just because it was a I guess it was

his eye for detail railing I was steeped

in heavy metal comics of those in a

particular time like Metal Hurlant and

and you know a lot of Mobius stuff

actually and I was very impressed by

that not just at that and does this kind

of wonder how do I apply this to movies

you know how do I apply this kind of

really fresh and beautiful visual

thinking to film and here it was you

need a hook understanding something and

my hook was my boards I drew the boards

through the corridors drew the space

suits when you're drawing boards and

corridors and spaces

you're also sucking yourself into the

story because I'm literally doing it you

know chapter-by-chapter

scene by saying you get ideas as you're

drawing them and the ideas fall into

place not just as ideas but there's

technically logical possibilities and

when that first idea comes I tend to go

with it and follow it

when I read alien initially I wasn't

drawn to the project really wasn't

attached it was mine Stan was going to

be a two or three million dollar budget

and I thought well you're not going to

make it effective so for that and you

know it's a nice piece of material has

potential but you're not giving it that

potential and that I thought was that

and about a month later got a call from

England one of the producers at the time

and told me that Ridley was going to be

directing it and that there was a budget

that would realize the potential and

then it became something else it became

working with really scared learning

about filmmaking what Ridley's vision as

far as the axes are concerned was he

wanted it very much to be not at any

time or any world so it was important

there was a mixture of nationalities I

cannot remember if yeah that kowtows

character was written as such but he was

obviously perfect for that part because

he so did a wonderful actor when I first

went Ridley first meeting we had I said

I don't like science fiction films or

monster pictures I opened with that

which is obviously a good opening and he

said well actually I don't either but I

think I can make something in this one

the casting of John Hurt I think it's

his name that it there was another actor

originally playing that part

John Finch who became ill and we had to

recast probably identified at that

moment very strongly by playing Macbeth

for Polanski

I'd been impressed by the Lansky's work

anyway but detective also by Finch and

so he said yeah sure I'd love to do this

he came on board the first day first

shot he starts to look as yellow as this

pencil and I thought what's wrong and we

did a couple of takes and he seemed an

absolute lackluster no energy he's

sagging a ceiling

cut and I've got up one of them so

what's up your right said no I'm

terrible

so if you look terrible so how do I look

I said terrible and we had to lift him

out of his seat and he was carried away

and it turns out that he was a diabetic

I was had being asked if I'd like to do

a lien but I had already committed in

South African film so that was dropped

and the actor that was going to play

cane later for one reason or another had

to drop out that night so we had a quick

regroup in the office and that night I

drove to Hampstead village and that was

John Hurt then they heard that I was

then free so Ridley Scott came to me and

we talked to gong midnight say on the

monday prepared him of course

what is what it was and he said so when

do I start the cert or a morning and on

the Tuesday morning I was on the set at

7:30 so it was not a usual film for me

the script didn't arrive and I didn't

Mull it over and I didn't decide this

that and the other I had a long pitch

from Ridley and a very interesting one

too and I by the end of it I said okay

really uh be better so in the car around

now to take up studio

I think license acting and everything is

so full of those things what if it

hadn't happened like nobody knows if I

think John Hurt would probably still

have exactly the same career because he

done he's done so much varied and

wonderful work that really brings us to

Ian Holm who I think it's the most

wonderful action hadn't done anything

like that at all before and literally

was really thrilled that he wanted to do

it

and in those days he done very little

film he's done a bit of television but

he was a really very much a theatre

staff

casting was extensive and even though

it's only for seven people the end of

the day I think is pretty definitive

caster the casting is enormous Lee

important to the whole making of the

film to the directors concept of the

film because it does so much work for

the director just innately in who you

cast

gives the director so much to work with

or not if it's not properly cast so it

is an extrordinary

is sort of subtle skill it's difficult

to explain but people know about

filmmaking understand it and audiences

who don't know about it appreciates it

without always understanding what

they're appreciative

[Music]

everything was so claustrophobic on that

set I mean that is one of those sets

where you walked in and there's the

engine room well that's fine but

connected to that is the corridor

connected to that was the cafeteria

connected to that was the hospital

it was all connected the ship so once

you were on you were on you had to go

through everything in order to get off

so you could actually walk around the

set and come out in different places and

they believe it

and that's in a way how riddley lighted

and shot it and you couldn't see out so

you didn't know where you were and it

was almost like shooting on location and

that really did contribute to the

claustrophobia and the realism I know it

really affected the actress because they

no matter where they look they saw

Nostromo you know long hauls and

everything they never would live with

practical lighting you know all inside

because I was mostly off-off-broadway

actor to be in this set there were these

beautiful majestic sets where you could

roam freely and see the whole world of

the film

I think when you're dealing with

confined space is one of them very much

used aspects of the thriller as well

it's the very center of the pieces like

weak low and so you know it's there is

no escape that is one of the bases of

the real tension of the film there's a

low key subject of every type areas

quite difficult to light in places so

unless you were going to swamped

something with front light then it was a

bit complex especially as so much of the

movie was shot and held with Ridley

though he did some form of blocking it

didn't mean to say it was particularly

where it was going to end up he also

storyboards everything he does small

sketches of brilliant you know you get

the lighter shade the whole group

caboodle that so there was his choice of

lenses it was his choice of wear around

that he was going with that particular

camera

I suppose my effort was more in towards

that I covered most of it with a second

camera

tended to do the tighter shots when his

camera wasn't in my shot really was

really subjective he was operating a

camera so I don't think he could really

pull back we since read at the top that

he wasn't able to pull back and be

objective and come to us and talk to us

about specific so being with an

extraordinary group of actors allowed

him to do what he was doing in terms of

just composing this magnificent looking

film looking through the camera he did

something no direct has ever done before

or since he had about five or six pages

of each character and this is actors

work usually but he had my back the

whole background how many missions I'd

flown my mother and father my family had

my whole history written out on

thankfully this is one of the things

about Dallas of care again for the other

characters too there was no history was

hard to really it was about the alien

its face it wasn't about these character

building any one of these individuals

there was something we had to realize as

we went along

I think we all discuss the bonus

situation right right not we think we

deserve full shares right well we were

doing the breakfast scene and it was a

very low energy I remember and I could

tell that really wasn't pleased but he

was again behind the camera and as we

walked away from the master with the

group of all of us Ridley suddenly

turned to me and he grabbed my and he

said look I want to give you your

motivation to pick up your [ __ ]

teacup and I went and I burst into tears

and I ran off um and he caught up with

me he said oh I'm so sorry I'm really

sorry he said it's what I wanted to say

to John I couldn't say to him so I said

to you it was his second film and and my

first film and he always said you know

is trial by fire for us over the years

I've learned to communicate differently

with actors on different subjects

sometimes it's best to say nothing and

let them evolve right and then instruct

it was interesting we'd find ourselves

going off and having lunch together and

going down to the pub and talking and it

actually became like these you know

seven people on the ship it was it was

kind of interesting and you sort of

developed your own little character from

that well you know I was from the

theatre and I didn't realize that some

actors really loved to improvise and

yeah it was certainly one of those and

and Ridley at that point I he was

operating and I'm not sure how

comfortable he felt with our little

group and I remembered that one of the

scenes where there was a lot of

improvisation was seen which he used to

film the rehearsals so we never had

rehearsals and everyone just sort of

went for it which was actually a great

learning experience but that's

and it helps the film because I think we

were on edge and we we were sort of you

know into a survival mode

so I think it works very well but at the

time it was hard for me because I came

from such a different discipline where

you are very faithful to the words of

the writer well yeah if it's a big guy

I'm quite formidable and I think he

tried to corner Ridley was a running

joke where Ridley used to come up to us

and say which stories yeah fates

standing by this morning you know so

that he could go into onto the set fire

another door where yep it wasn't there

waiting to corner him yeah it was always

always evolving and in god bless him

driving me crazy come to me with

millions of ideas in a daily basis

saying even to become the day he would

die saying you know I'm not going to die

today I'm going to kill this son of a

[ __ ] you know and I think there was

there a genuine tension between finally

enough tension in the film between the

the blow Dex guys between yeah yeah it

and and Harry Dean Stanton was sort of

reflected to a degree actually in

reality because I think Sigourney found

it quite lonely being that the heroine

amongst all these kind of tough guys and

it's some certain parts of that

atmosphere I think carried on a bit will

you get off my back please

Sigourney had certain nervousness

because Ridley wasn't inviting her at

all to rushes and it was nearly moving

for her so she wasn't quite sure how she

was coming over

Sigourney was the new kid on the block

and they all felt that she wasn't really

doing that good a job in the scenes with

her and they were grumbling among each

other and felt that it might hurt the

success of the film and she and Yaphet

especially would argue a lot in between

scenes but that manifested itself in the

movie that was very convincing I'm

thinking two things fast

unless somebody can come up with a

better idea we're going to proceed with

Dallas's plan started that being very

emotional in all of this stuff because

of Dallas dying and he just kept pushing

her and pushing in kind of the Offit and

he goes alright what do we do now and

she and then there's the st. in and she

says I'm the captain is shipment hey hey

look Tony goes gotta be kidding I'm not

going to fire in stores until nothing

like idea now that's what I'm talking

about Parker if you will listen I'm

listening on it quite well the third

time you comes and he goes you're the

captain of the ship I'm 200 250 pounds

black as can be I have a [ __ ]

following [ __ ] so if you're the captain

of this ship you better [ __ ] tell me

I am well off he goes again Shh this

time he comes on and I'm sure that

Ridley was egging her up because she had

to be really really strong and so now

this time he comes into the thing and

she goes I'm the captain of this ship

and he says okay listen to me we break

quarantine we could old dog hop jump in

the goddamn hatch we have to get him

inside there is a scene in the UM the

hallway when she won't loaded on to the

ship after this whole treading along

with the bloodsucker on John's face and

we come in and then she starts getting

upset and saying you know we shouldn't

be there and then I slugger

well um every time I went to hit her she

was done duck the hit and so really came

over and he said to me get her this time

so I thought well what am I supposed to

do I went like this she ducked and I

came back and hit her that way she went

right into it I didn't mean to hurt her

she literally went right into it

and she burst out crying and that's what

pissed her off because she said that

Ripley wouldn't cry so it wasn't too

happy about that and she didn't feel

that it was necessary to do that

but I guess readily felt that it was

necessary to do that

ash was the real masterstroke I think in

that he was completely that was a

one-off wasn't it that's the first time

you know you have corporate paranoia

right that in there you've got a

corporate a suit on the ship differences

the suit as a robot as a humanoid

so when ash suddenly became Takuya he

goes peculiar on sigani and well he said

I can explain everything when he's over

her shoulder only mothers and she

suddenly a spook by him and reality's

not what he seems to be many ghosts

range from using sweat the milk here and

then he has to go go at it and I was

thought that was interesting that do

humanoids have sexual urges

you know what be nice is that this is

the closest year it gets to sexual

relationship then they come in and knock

his head off then you go from - to a

very small person underneath running

around with you watch it carefully

rather dodgy arms okay that's a dodgy

moment but it's taken up by the shock

the slack is taken up by the shock of

Jesus the robot then getting bashed and

bashed by effort then you've got Ian

with his head stuck to the table lying

in a sea of milk and caviar pasta and

glass marbles on glass marbles are a

funny like memory clear glass marbles

and poor Ian had - every time I do a

take I'd give him he hated milk as well

I've given little bit of milks as you

worry oh and then he started talk - boo

boo and then that we then drizzled it up

afterwards give it a little bit of

effervescence on sound all the

priorities rescinded and then

incineration then it becomes really

scary because he says that's a great

speech that speech came later which sure

I think Helen gana had to write we had

to write that Ash is saying is not as

indestructible

you know life everything yeah the heads

like like that and then you cut any lip

but I thought the the head was a good

was very beautifully articulated but I

think something went and wrong in the

drying process I think you know they've

changed the level and quality of lay

Texas today but in those days it shrunk

and he said it's shrunk so because he

took a head cast how can I not look like

in he said it shrank I said ah God gonna

come back and redo it no we couldn't so

we had to get on with it there was no

coming back on that kind of budget you

got to keep going

at the end of the first week of shooting

I asked to look at some dailies and

Gordon Carroll said you're not allowed

to come to dailies as I really mean he

said those are privileged

I said Gordon I said surely if anyone

has a right to look at dailies it's me

let's picture garden said sue me right

garden did a much simpler thing in

psyllium I went up in the projection

booth with projectionists

I stood and I looked and I looked and I

saw it and I was impressed I was pleased

I said oh yeah I said that looks good

and for the first time I began to see

the value of getting a director whose

focus was so strongly on the

photographic look of a film I think

pretty soon we all knew you only got to

see the Dale is it such a then know that

something you know quite special is

happening

morning captain

[Music]

because I did some drawing so really

scope I like to have the exterior

landscape space chalky the exile or

exterior interiors all the alien

surroundings and that was what I happy

to do that because I could I was not so

limited they had not money to do it like

I designed it you know the whole thing

looks a little bit like Art Nouveau it

was not organic enough organic like it

looks it looked like handmade from

artists the X the X have been very good

they look real organic

yeah the X and the area where the XF

being and also the stables they have

been very good because this was planned

to go in the Exile oh there was a round

like Astro and it was very nice

I thought bones yet they are dried and

old but they brought is fresh from the

slaughterhouse and there was a smell

horrible

because the inside of the bones has been

that was just fresh and we had a big box

full of bones and there was such a such

a smell that we even myself every see

that please go away with this

I only use dried bones old went together

with plasticine to do it the scale was

not wrong it was too big we couldn't

find jokes and thing of this size so

that didn't work very well so really

always used smoke everything dark and

smoke and that makes the thing much

better than it is I want to have a

landscape who is very much organic

like and I would like to have old motors

from from motorcycle or things like that

big things to make a wonderful landscape

but there was no no time and no money

for this a real mixed up real real

biomechanical landscape that would be

good

diggers sets were so erotic and I mean

it's big vaginas and penises and I mean

it's like you know if the whole thing is

like you're going inside of some sort of

womb or whatever I mean it's sort of

visceral and all of those things and I

think all those elements came into it

and and that's what makes it really work

on his so-called space jockey which

Gieger by the way designed that whole

set the alien and he hand brushed the

alien airbrushed it himself and got on a

scaffold and airbrushed the whole set so

would look at that eerie texture and but

the thing was this they didn't want to

give us it was too expensive his set

didn't want to give it to us they said

well look you're only in here one time

it's different if you keep using this

set this is massively expensive this

whole big creature in this big back wall

there's a no we can't give you this it's

absolutely too expensive I think was

like four or five hundred thousand

dollars he said this is not your main

set you're just going to have to walk by

and see a skeletal imprint in the mud of

this 15-foot creature and then you'll

walk into this strange-looking building

it doesn't have to have these immense

walls it'll be a bunker or something

that's weird Leeds constructed at angles

and that's it we can do that cheaper and

that's where we got to stop you some of

these things you're just going wild but

the space chuck that was one of those

things I said look I can't cheat this

you know it's going to be real it's kind

of the cockpit or the driving deck of

whatever this craft was and and Giga had

done this drawing which I loved and I

said just go do it Ridley and I kept at

least look we need this because this is

our sessile B DeMille shot you've got to

have this so that when they see this

they know it's just not a little like we

were going to do a Roger Corman movie

you kind of have the people walking in

not miniatures

camera pulled back and they're on this

thing and it's the most amazing set

you've ever seen your jaw drops and you

know you're watching an a-level movie

really sort of us you know loves having

says you know so we were gone discussing

ideas of settings and things like and so

he would he would want something more so

I would get designed by storerooms and

other pieces of action and I kept

building says and the guy from Fox it

was kind of very concerned about fact we

were running over she edged up I liked

always was doing his best to stop that

happening so he would find out where I

was better than have them pulled down so

we never got to shoot them

I've happened on two or three occasions

this is set which I think was an Air

shark set or something and there was

this continuous castle was Ridley saying

I want that set I want to shoot on that

set when Peter bill would go round

knowing exactly what Brickley was like

he discovered over that over the weeks

of shooting and he would go he would

actually do a sort of like a martyr

round of the studio and looking all the

stages to make sure that all the steps

that were being built there was nothing

that was being built without his

approval and I think remember he it was

this tussle of him saying that is not

going to be built we're cancelling that

set and really saying no build it build

it I mean you know it's one of those

things that we could have gone on and on

and on you know I mean to build other

things and big I think it's more

spaceship and more hidden crannies I

mean there's old sequences which would

cut out the sequence where initially the

alien creature gets Skerritt being the

captain and then he cocoons him you

stuck a wall in one of the storerooms

and he's become sort of food for the

alien creature and he's just glued to

the war there's no way she can rescue

him so she burns him

walking on those sets walking on those

stages and seeing the richness of design

and texture it began to get to you

literally physically and then of course

when we started to shoot and really pump

the smoke in there you were now in in

ghostly surroundings what one realized

is that we were doing that really was

bringing this picture to the highest

possible creative level design level

acting lighting life

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

even very strange-looking dressed all in

black

you know this Swiss accent and when we

were looking at his work before we met

him we weren't really sure we wanted to

be kind of disturbed about you really

going to be here yeah I like if they are

this

yes that's good I hate this day if they

don't look at the Doris Day I have

people they like my stuff or others they

hated this is a wonderful artist I think

there was a great move having M design

design the whole time

he was so strange most people it kept

them the creeps a they wanted his office

way across the room the other because he

was so he was like Dracula he was only a

Peter Lorre or something he was always

dressed in black he had very soft boys

but there was always these horrible

stories we heard that he had the

skeleton from his fiancee we committed

suicide and people who were gave him the

creeps I got along with him great Dan

and I and Ridley got long superbee

everyone else sort of thought he was old

so weird that they didn't work with him

too much and as a result that was good

it was great for dan and I because we

got so much input getting along with him

so well people would kind of shy away

from names Ava's obsessed in his work at

bones and of all kinds all over the

place the life Earth's mean if you have

too much Sun you like then just to be in

the shadow and I like always to be in

the shadow in the dark

I like to a lot I had a perfect of Mia

and they both dressed in black he was

very pale skinned as well and he was

sort of fun you're so spooky in a way

but I but I also kind of lightened and

there was a sweets item he called his

mother over you know it when smothered

had hip replacements and so he would

take care of him I remember having

dinner at one evening with him and his

mother and via the Giga was I mean we

did we spend long time together was the

exilim designed and obviously made and

there'd be the way up they were with the

aperture at the top with a hydraulic

opening which would open looking very

threatening with Jimmie shields great

sounds on it

I still want a great chance out there

opens and you hear that visceral viscera

and the strengthened notes strong the

detail that he looks at later will be

shot a gray when the film is finished so

we ship one of those eggs out to Bray

and to make it really strength as if you

watch carefully then the fluid on it is

going upwards so then you flip that over

and I was freaked about when I saw that

dripping upwards and then inside it was

semi-transparent like a large piece of

jelly and all it was was a fiberglass

with mostly glass than fiber in it was

nearly transparent and I needed to

demand when we were in Brazil and

breaking we've got if dead so I've

sticks in poking of terrible so we

worked out a method of as it was about

to open it kind of went from like that

less a little bit and then I think he

looks at it again and inside

he's on my hands with two rubber gloves

on washing up cloths and all I'm doing

is going from like and so that's that

was how that was done

[Music]

and of course after that he comes in

looks into thee the aperture opens he

backs off we say don't go there he goes

there looks in and what he's staring at

is what they call nothing less which is

fundamentally cow's stomach at LaCie

fleshy stuff is a we called tripe and so

I got buckets of this in white plastic

bucket and I have to put on a white coat

and gloves in the handling this doesn't

I just dressed it on it and then I

couldn't find a whiplash effect or

anything that you may like a hose that

is delicate enough so I've seen this in

testing ships and tested ships and

testing which is actually beautiful

it's gossamer gossamer got little lines

in it well it was he in fragments

because all he do is cover the bits and

then so it's not enough to have him look

and it explodes you need every moments

of it and slow down so we slowed it down

because it was really fast he turned an

airline on it goes wash it happens in

less than a second but was I we stretch

that there maybe one and a half seconds

maybe and then he hits him as he goes

back I've already gone attached to his

face so you need that bridge between him

coming in to look him looking in what he

sees this is like that explosion up into

the camera and cut where I've got this

attached to his face as he falls

backwards

the face Hawker that was my first thing

I did for Dan O'Banion when he sent me I

think about thousand dollars to do some

paintings for alien and he gaves me

explanation and drawings and he said

that he's jumping on a big egg this egg

is about that so and I thought that must

be a quite a big monster so I did an

enormous face Hawk again and he was

jumping I thought he could jump when his

tail is like his curved like a spring

Stabler with a check in the box later on

he said I should do it smaller so I

think something with human hands is

always carry where it's carry so I I had

the thing of the long fingers what is

the most important part on the face

Hawker and then it's part there's a

little sexual like yeah and the tube for

that this piece has to to put in this in

the mouth and then later I had these

hangs in front and penned an Albanian I

draw them sighs sighs woods that was

better

I thought you can't beat this the real

things always better so then I had

orders coming from a very good

fishmongers in Shepparton village you

had oysters clams and other parts of

fish a little bit of sturgeon a little

bit of caviar I got him to make a cup of

with a container of in rubber which is

the face I covered the tear the stinger

the like ray manta ray tail and the

hands that was all articulated inside

this was just receptacle and I just put

in you know with a pair tweezers put in

for oysters one two three four and put

in large kidney and put in a salsa salsa

and that way you got he can't do better

than that so you then conquered it with

his it isn't his you know instrument and

the legs moving it gives you shock the

chest burster that was a very very heavy

scene I think the strongest thing in the

whole film the idea came from a painting

from from bacon Francis Bacon Ridley

Scott told me that this painting of 46

it's just a crucification and one of the

member is has just a piece and red flesh

and he likes to have two chest bursts

like that and that its own design they

look like chicken something like like

chicken without feathers but it was not

happy with and then build up the thing

and it looked like a small dinosaur and

that was awful I said cut their legs and

so finally we only had the head and the

tail and that was enough what I liked

about the film is that it was a very

logical film in many ways with a with a

thriller format and I thought that was

an excellent blend

but it was a perfect perfectly

reasonable it seemed to me that

something you should that that some

organism should incubate within the

warmth of another of another being you

know in that way I feel the strongest

thing is always if it happened in your

body or in someone's body that's

enormous a worm a worm in some yeah

vermin in a in a living body oh that's

just under the skin and you see how it

moves oh yeah I hate worms and snakes

and things like that I it's awful

we started off with the idea that the

monster would there be no scales no

fangs no claws you know it's going to be

something completely different to me

come once we've seen the head

the gigger head the candy alien we were

great shape on that and Rambaldi

actually built a separate head with 900

moving parts they are also two cubes

from an old rolls-royce from they are

from vertebrae's from snakes and was a

mixture from everything together

it was built up together with plasticine

that doesn't shrink much and so it holds

you can put things together normally

it's not possibly the creature design

was one of those things that just kept

on loom in the end that became I think

one of my sort of major sort of tasks

was to you know find people or to help

find people and I found Roger Dickian

who designed the face hugger chest

burster and all those smaller things he

wanted very much to design the creature

but and there were several sort of

attempts at that but until Gordon

Carroll the one of the three producers

but the main producer on the movie

bought in Carlo Rambaldi done Close

Encounters they brought him in to

actually put gigas designs into practice

I think we had one or two attempts at

tails and heads from various people at

Shepperton know where we had this

elaborate mechanical tail but that never

ever really quite worked so there were

several attempts before Rambaldi was

bought on quite a lot of you know over

the budget unfortunately to do it but my

god it did work from then on

[Music]

because the gigger is the outer number

one the creation of aging I don't

suggest anything about Buddha five

something decorative day the detail of

the devayne of the muscle of the face no

no in this case and on the Creator is

giggle when the alien the actual alien

creature which had been designed by Giga

and manufactured by Carlo Rambaldi and

his team arrived really had a few

problems with that he the mechanism the

dual mechanism actually had visible

Springs and things which were sticking

out and the head was wider than really

wanted it is paint

I think was too long the face must

reduce and too many too many detail we

conserve a lot of detail but I think

twenty percent of detail the movement no

need

Moodie five little the mechanism of the

mouth novice very complicated tribal

meant one cable for more open the mouth

second cable the tongue coming out from

the mouth and another cable for opened a

small mouth of the tongue is a general

making mechanical system for the tongue

it is drawing and the tongue then open

the mouth the tongue slide because it's

impossible clear diet or we use this

isthis mechanical system just for

control this movement but after this

mechanism vast reduce must be used very

being the actor is inside because this

is exactly position of the head of the

earth

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

well it's gonna be a gun suit

you know and don't get technology today

easy first we try to do invent something

so Ridley asked for some people from the

circus and they tried to do the walk in

a specific way he wants to put two or

three people together bent them together

and and to put something over and it was

always a little ridiculous the whole

thing and it wasn't scary and so we

decide I think it's the scariest thing

is to be very close to a human being in

those days I couldn't even get latex

thin enough that wouldn't break you know

quickly and it would also take

sculptural elements of sinew and because

gotta lay the sinews into the rubber

suit so something the rubber suit isn't

like should be as thin as a

contraceptive and as strong as my lon

right then I can crush this person to

suit and have all kinds of things built

and stitched into it I need someone

extraordinarily thin because whatever

you did there's a Sun and a pretty thin

we put him in he cannot write funny of

that weak on the cutting dress had been

standing in a pub and stared at this guy

who looked like probably close to 17

right and very slender very thin kind of

elegance and his name was Balaji so the

guy got over to him in the pub said you

know you know they all like to be in

movies and the guy had a kind of North

London accent and he was a graphic

designer

so he turned up with great vegged amuse

and curious and he was then in touching

some of the next tendons and so he did

all the stuff we had to like coming up

the war in the shuttle at the end in the

corridor con another corner whence

agonies trying to get out with a cat

when he approaches Veronica Cartwright

with his tail and we get this

of something really hideous because he

hear her off-camera they built the suit

to him which was I was just unbelievable

I mean his hands when were below his

kneecaps when he would just stand

normally so they just literally put

gloves on him with elongated hands and

they put that head on him and they sent

him to Taichi and to mine classes so

that he could learn to slow down and

manipulate you know roll up and he when

he first gets me he's in the down

position and he comes up and rolls out

and oh he was just so creepy

I also keep it really tight and only see

the bits you want to say because this is

always stronger than anything else so if

you think you've seen something and so

is going to be probably more horrific

and horrifying I asked to read why you

shooting very little out of alien

everyda said Carol the audience of

terror they don't see nothing and see

the dark area because expecting the demo

step possible here possible here it is

maximum the level of the day the

suspense say no no it's cool the isit is

little Carol required your movie your

monster I people so but very little

actually we see we see quite a lot on

taste and you certainly get a good ol

look at chestburster

you know a terrific look in the air you

get a great look at me um the other

elements in the evolutions and darting

to get enough hunting you get a great

look at the head which is beautiful how

he didn't start the things hanging there

now that was a gymnast they got and put

in that suit and he was up curled up in

the change the amazing thing was if it

was they when they shot up you couldn't

even tell that he was up there the way

he uncoiled and came down and then put

his arms out and I mean it did it look

like you know that crucifix them Christ

is ascending I'm going to take your life

now it was like very bizarre and very

sort of Gothic which goes a lot with

what the whole season gothic things

poor guy couldn't sit down you know so

they made a special swing for him tom

skerritt said to me this guy can't walk

around like this this is ridiculous do

something for this purpose they hadn't

even thought of how he was going to sit

down because you have that kale in that

rubber suit I mean that poor thing was

in that suit all day long I came to work

one day right at the Bret lunch break so

the big doors are open and out of the

soundstage came the crew and the alien

monster still in the suit but with the

head off thin as a nail and he's walking

with the Wardrobe lady who's 5 feet and

they're talking politics with a very

intense conversation as I've walking off

to lunch

and he's got these tennis shoes on that

a bright blue Adidas and the tail is

being carried by another wardrobe guy he

was a rather flamboyant guy who had this

white Ascot blowing in the wind it

wasn't one of those I wish I could have

photographed a lot

we used to have a dresser his name was

mother we called her mother and he was

in charge of doing the alien of course

there was always supposed to be a lot of

slime and stuff on him KY jelly was very

much in fashion at the time and I think

that was put on everything that moved

that in front of the camera on the alien

on stripping from everywhere I have

never seen bigger tubes of KY jelly on

they were like gigantic sizes and then

he should have mother going I'll do it

and he would come running out of this

usually supers of KY and start caressing

this poor aliens ass rubbing it and

making it glisten and I thought it was

hysterical we did have some good times

[Music]

[Music]

I was a sound editor for 17 years and

the last film that I did it sounded was

the duelists so that's where I met

really and we got on extremely well I

thought and I got a call from his office

to find out if I would be free to do the

sound on a new film he's gonna do called

alien so I phoned back and said thank

you very much

but I cut it but I'm not going to do the

sound so he phoned up and he said well

you better come with me the producers of

this film so I did and I met David

geyser and Gordon Cowell and after

spending half an hour with them and

Ridley and stuff I said well can I do

the film or not I said of course which I

tell you was one of the great thrills of

my life because it was going to be a

fantastic film you knew reading the

script was going to be interesting and

to work with Ridley who I admire from

the duelists I did know him apart from

now I knew II did commercials and did

different plastic commercials but Julis

was wonderful and I felt Willy what he

made that look like was he going to make

a science fiction movie

[Music]

anything was in a trailer in EMI and

then finding it break the editing

process on this + mix set music and

mixes as Jerry Goldsmith's score I think

probably was maybe 20 weeks now I can

post them 12 to 16 weeks but I think

it's partly you know the avid is faster

don't forget in those days are using

Hollywood movie Allah and CEM right

Osteen back I used to like they star

like have hands-on and Terry Rawlins

would go on

you have the films brought from the

shove you right on the Hollywood movie

choose a moment then cut it in put it on

the steam back then check it and then

there do it again now it's like press

pardon the bangbang when I read it I

thought myself this is going to be one

of the scariest things if we can get it

right and I think the way we did get it

right is by keeping it slow vanilla

which is a completely different than

what they do today and I think the

slowness of it made the moments that you

wanted people to be sort of scared then

we could go as fast as we like because

you sucked people into a corner and then

attack them sensible and I think that's

how it worked I mean I like to go on the

set as much as I can in the moments I

could get away from the cutting room

because I like to be there to hear what

he's talking to the actors about and

then I can talk to myself about what

does he want out of this scene and he

would tell me what his plan is a why

shooting a certain way I just couldn't

get over the look of it you know the

sets were fantastic the lighting was

great and performances and it was just

like I think I said once before working

with him I did Legend and Blade Runner

with him and it was like when you get

his rushes he's like walking through an

art gallery everything is great you want

to dwell on everything so it's deciding

what are you going to use out of all

this material because it looks fantastic

you know what you've got to achieve from

it but how you achieve it

after all these is very difficult to

sort of pin down I did that because of

this or because of that the thanks I got

when it flies out of the egg well I have

various angles on the stuff coming out

including it and what you try to do is

to get it like trying to get it to

unwind come out like it's unwinding so

you'd use a few frames of this and a

couple of friends of that and few

friends so that you had this thing well

when you look at that first cut up the

film like alien you've really got to use

your imagination because there's no

sound for one thing lots of those scenes

were shot with all these noisy machines

or effects working on the stages so used

to run all these things silent you sit

there and look at him creeping around in

the rain room silent and it's boring

till you've got to imagine what it's

going to be like with all this jingling

chains and the frame sounds like all

those things creeping around corridors

with nothing happening but when you've

got the music affects everything so you

that was one of the things you had to

sort of combat okay put that on the

screen for me

get closer it was three hours and twelve

minutes the first cut of it and I knew

it was going to be great but oh no I

just hope that people don't get carried

away with potentials because I remember

Ridley's words I want this to be

unpretentious so I had no input other

than to beg them to say please cut an

hour out no matter what you think it has

to be close to a two hour movie that you

think you're losing because everything's

there you'll have to cut out any big

moments it shouldn't move this slowly

and they said don't worry we know we

know we know we know we can nobody wants

to lose an extra screening and we'll get

at that and the next time I saw it was a

perfect length it was two-hour movie

boots length wasn't issue and we had

obviously shot the sequence where Dallas

is found in the ship as an egg still

alive when she torches him and I know

that we I seem to remember we had to

take about 11 minutes out the movie and

finally something that it in furnished

that scene never ever really worked

quite as well as it should be because it

just didn't really look realistic enough

him in the egg I didn't think they were

going to be able to use it because of

the II when I read in the script it was

sort of it slowed the pace of the exit

at the end of the picture it had to

picture how to have that piece there

trying to get the hell out of there

we're all ruling flooring it out of

there and for her to slow up and have a

conversation with Dallas was not

appropriate the last 17 minutes of film

is Sigourney with no dialogue

and we are wrecking around those

corridors

I remember when I first saw alien I was

sitting the projection all by myself

and of course everything was much over

length I remember to this day that the

ones seeing where he was looking for his

cat and it was in this dark chamber and

the ship and then I remember this

changing down water dripping and he

hadn't cut it and went on and on and I

was absolutely terrified yeah I just

kept saying it's just a movie it's just

a movie and it really scared the [ __ ]

out of me it's pretty honest I mean I

was terribly frightened with it and

which is good because that helps when I

have to sit down to write to music for

it because I like to go see a film

anything I'm doing I try to see it first

as an audience and reactive the audience

and try to distance myself from what I

have initially have to do Jerry

Goldsmith's chorus on one of my

favourite schools seriously threatening

but beautiful and I mean has Beauty

darkness and

seems to plan a DNA of some distant

Society which you'd have to call it you

know that space jockey would be from

somewhere and they would have some kind

of order social order or disorder I

always think of spaces being the great

unknown in India not as terrifying but

questioning and it's sort of an air of

romance about it and that's like doing

Star Trek because it's very romantic and

it paints space that way serve all the

weird things and all that and I guess I

approached alien that way there was this

air of mystery but there was sort of a

beauty to it and the unknown I thought

well let me play the whole opening very

romantically and very lyrically and then

what the shot come as the story evolves

not in other words don't give it away in

the main title so I wrote this very nice

main title it was this sort of this

mystery but it was a lyrical mystery

[Music]

I didn't go over too well and really I

had major disagreements over that so

then I subsequently wrote a new main

title which was the obvious thing weird

and strange and which everybody loved

and I didn't love and it's variants and

consequently I kept getting kudos four

years after I'm the main title I wrote

for alien which was not exactly my

choice and the original one I wrote took

me like a day to write it and we also

had one for about five minutes to write

let me just say to start with I think

the man is a genius I think he's done

the greatest scores I admire but I also

feel he's very stubborn like I am myself

I think and when it came to alien I

tempt the film myself with as much Jerry

Goldsmith music as I could because I

knew I was going to do the film he's an

absolute master of like doing a you know

a rough temporary soundtrack at search

or you know just he's just got this

great eye and ear and he says I know

what piece of music you know will be

great in there and so he always put the

most thing which is a real problem

sometimes because you know you put you

have this free range of you can choose

any we want and whenever I do these

temps myself I obviously know by that

time who's going to be the composer and

I bend over backwards to find stuff at

they're done in various other films to

see if I can make it work obviously you

can't always make it work so you have to

use material from other sources but I

just think it's invaluable and I must

say at times there's areas you can get

to work better than they do later and

that's not degrading anything composers

do but I don't think anybody is closer

to the film than the director on the

editor will ever be I mean we live with

this it's ours and the thing is when

you're trying to create a temp score and

if you're interested in music which I

love it's a cover mine then you know the

mood you want to create you know what

you want to try and say musically and I

don't think you should try and influence

the composers

you must but if you get a mood correct

that's the mood I feel they should go

with they can change the theme change

the orchestration but keep in mind the

mood that we created I remember when the

pods open you know the hypersleep they

did eventually tempt racket and in that

particular scene the attempt tracked it

with a piece of music I'd waited for

Freud and everyone thought that oh look

how wonderful that music works I said it

stinks it's all wrong I mean hit me it

was of a little lullaby die and written

for Freud so I wrote a piece I wrote I

wrote a piece for that it was very

impressionist peaking very mysterious

but pretty bit mysterious and after I

worked brilliantly

[Music]

came out with the Freud music in it

County where they I got this more

letters saying sorry repeat yourself a

they had bought the music from Freud

included in that spots with you can see

that I was sort of like going it did

opposite ends of the the pole with the

filmmakers on a picture and I don't

think he ever forgave me for using by

Howard Hanson for the end of the film

and and keeping the music he wrote for

Freud for the film though that was that

was Fox's decision you know they could

have said well using the muses written

but I do think that what we did on our

temp in those areas was better than what

he did and I'm taking nothing away from

the rest of the film because what he did

was perfect for it well you know this is

always a tricky part because you know

finally no matter how much of a deal the

composer hums for you or plays on the

piano or does anything like that you

know you don't really hear his score on

this you know recording stage really

Lucido where Houston and his score when

he when it found it was way too lush and

way to more like his patent score you

know and which was not really what

anybody could if they wanted he wanted

it more auditing and weird strange

and it wasn't really any of that so

actually what happened was we bought a

couple of the Goldsmith's pieces that we

had in the temple and then in the in the

dub and the mix you know we really

played down a lot of this stuff played

up some weird sounds we had and all the

rest of that stuff was this really

really a time when I say us here I

really mean really and you know and he

did an amazing job in the dub but mr.

goldsmith was quite unhappy when he saw

the movie and in fact went to the studio

he'd done a lot of movies for Fox and

you know announced that we were going to

be a disaster it was horrible we ruined

his core and we'd done all the rest of

that stuff they released it as an album

and I bought the album and there were a

couple of tracks on the album that

weren't in the movie and they were

tracks in which Goldsmith used horns to

personify the a again and it was very

effective this is creepy distant honking

that comes in that is clearly meant to

be the aliens theme and it's very

effective it's not in the movie but then

I can't really see anyplace in the movie

that you could use it without it being

intrusive

really is a brilliant filmmaker is a

brilliant visual assist a second film

and he wasn't as articulate then about

what the music should do I think he

thinks so much in visuals and music

cannot replicate the visuals that was

supposed to do and I think he was

thinking more in terms the message I was

getting for him is he wanted me to be

visual with the music I can't be visual

with the music that's not what I'm

supposed to do let the director and a

cinematographer put the visuals on the

screen let me do the emotional element

and I think that's where became a big

problem with me and for Cle had a lot of

time to do it and I went back and redid

music and somehow it all worked out

finally in the end but there was a

problem and I think I think the biggest

problem just in communication between me

and the independent and the director it

would be interesting that that film had

been made day and Gridley had now the

benefit of having made so many other

pictures and work with a lot of

different composers how he would have

approached it you know with me musically

the real challenge of composing music

for film is to write a score that works

brilliantly in the film and also has a

life of its own that stands by itself I

think maybe the great scores of the past

were greatly in the film but taken by

themselves they don't stand a little

this is a sketch that I did at the time

which was really just a doodle of the

refinery showing the the spire light

design it was just really for personal

use to get a kind of a feel of how it

would look as an overall design with the

NOS Romo right down here at the front

the domes underneath and then these

massive spired pieces going up these are

the pieces which show Ridley Scott later

knocked off with his hammer and chisel

the NOS stroma model

Wade somebody said of course I heard

somethings that quarter of a ton but if

I did that quarter of a tumbler it was

incredibly heavy it needed to be lifted

on a forklift truck so the model had a

huge metal framework built inside it and

then Australia the Nostromo was plugged

into by a forklift truck with a couple

of sort of prongs on it which actually

fitted into the side of the model and

the way they achieved the the the

Nostromo being pulled away from the

refinery was that the the arm itself

wasn't actually motorized at all it ran

freely and it was about 30 feet long was

a really massive thing again clad with

thousands and thousands in this case of

Hornby railway piers and all these

crisscross girder pieces went into model

shops about 150 of these kits and when

we told the guy what we would do with

them I don't think they believed us and

this is a shot this is achieved by

they're not the forklift truck being

covered in black velvet plugged into a

nostril and just driving away from the

refinery dragging the Nostromo with it

because as it as it pulled the Nostromo

away it dragged the arm with it so that

shop where you sit going out and coming

away it's just the forklift truck

driving away on nice smooth on a nice

smooth surface originally the Nostromo

had three huge arms which opened but

Ridley Scott came up with a side here in

an actual conversation where it would be

like a great of a giant hand push the

lost romo away so I did a very very

quick sketch of this and showed it to

him and we needed to detail it really

quickly we found that the legs of r2d2

just happen to have this really nice

shape and you can actually see them

quite clearly clad on this thing I think

we had two or three

different scales we had one that was

about four feet long and we had another

one which was 12 14 15 feet long and

that one was very heavy and it was can

to leave it out honor with a like a

forklift truck device so that on a beam

which was covered in black velvet and

because of all the dust and stuff that

was around you couldn't see any of the

mechanism because we kept it lined up so

the models in front of it and like

camera couldn't see it and that was

pretty difficult I mean that took a lot

of effort and lots of wind machines

going and plenty of NICU light which is

a insulation for roofs and things being

blown around everywhere everybody had

masks and goggles and everything else on

and here plugs and a lot and in those

days we didn't have radio communications

the way you have now with everybody has

got their own little set they can go

join in and over lots of shouting and

screaming going on thumping people on

the back okay could we do that in if we

start level or we start and they put the

light you know stick some lights on

etcetera we shoot an event he kind of

created in front of the camera and it

though there wasn't always huge logic to

it I just think the actual the landing

of the ship Matt being a huge drama is

very exciting and I think you know Jerry

Goldsmith's music and everything worked

great at that particular point

[Music]

we couldn't be burned off anything he

had a passion about and so we all got

five of the same enthusiasm it was so it

was a labor of love we did as much as we

could to increase the production values

on each of the shots and and Ridley was

the key to us doing that he pushed and

pushed and pushed us all the time this

is the sketch that I did of the

narcissist shuttlecraft the original

back section here having been built as a

set and having been done as a drawing by

Ron Cobb the conceptual artist I then

came up with this idea of what the nose

would look like and it was from this

that the final model was constructed

[Music]

and also just a very very quick sketch

showing the rear rear section this was

to enable me to work out the release

clamp and which I also built which drops

the nut the narcissus down from up from

the nostril and in releases as it did so

the word purge came up when I went to

see Blade Runner there's a shot where

the car takes off and you see a screen

and there's the clamp on from alien on

there which I'd actually designed and

purged come up and I thought that isn't

a key thing on how many people noticed

that we had a shot which required the

burial shroud where John Hurt's

character cane has died to be fired out

of the Lost Romo's hatch now many people

would think all the sort of computerized

ways of doing this but not another tool

I mentioned Nick alder there this became

the special effects director we had a

very very large section of lost romo

built about 40 feet long which was

supposed to be kind of and the underside

like a trench on the underside of NOS

trova very reminiscent of the trench in

Star Wars I'm sure there was a cross

over there and what we actually did was

I carved and again I give a very short

period of time to carve Kane's burial

shroud in wood and I made a burial

shroud about eight inches long and Nick

Halden got hold of the fisherman's

catapult for firing baits out into the

pond where you're fishing and he just

just put a flat right down at the end of

the studio and he just pulled the

catapult back and fired my little model

knee went down the trench

and because they filmed it at high speed

so they came out in slow motion and he

just did this over and over again and

what they did was because it would drop

eventually as it flew away when she's

trajectory like an arrow it would drop

down but I cut it before he did that and

I just thought that was just the most

amazing hits a super simple way to get

round a shot and just seeing him firing

this thing of the fisherman's cafetalk

he then started firing it at people

where that's another story later he

needed a shot where you saw Ripley right

at the end of the film

inside the shuttlecraft moving around so

we then had to make a foreshortened

version of the shuttle graph that had a

TV monitoring sighting and that was had

pre-recorded film of a goal not actually

Sigourney Weaver but her standing

running around inside and that was built

into the model of that I think the only

dodgy old thing was always the marriage

between matte painting and model and the

screen so it was tricky very tricky but

you know even today in CGI still seeing

a whole foot in that and I always like

to good for wherever you can build a

model then photograph it with a light

that's on the shot then graft it onto it

CGI has probably in my in my personal

opinion as a model maker its decimated

much of the model making

I don't think myself that CGI will ever

completely replace models I don't care

what anybody says

I I think you can tell there was a great

deal of fun going on some of the people

involved in the film we had Nick older

who was the special basically the

special effects director after Brian

left he's a real prankster I worked with

him on space 1999 and know what he was

like so the the relationship was

actually very good I got on very well

with the guys I'd worked with them

before with the actual crew itself it

was a very happy relationship that we

had bearing in mind we worked together

for like I said about 14 months

technology advances you can think of new

ways of doing things there were lots of

things we could have probably enhanced

the production of anyone we could have

done huge moves through the vehicles and

things which we didn't do but in actual

fact because the script was so

beautifully written and so tight and

because Ridley was really clever with

the way we didn't see alien but we sort

of saw the alien

we were just there to sort of remind

people that there was a bit of space

outside and they were billions of miles

from anywhere we didn't need to do any

more than that you know the production

values enhance what was going on in

terms of the drama but it didn't have to

be a visual effects extravaganza as such

to save a movie I mean we just enhanced

what was already there as opposed to

other movies some recently that have

come out which are visual effects Turner

forces but no story I mean the key to

this was been amazing story

[Music]

the Gloria the cinema is that it is an

audience that is seeing it and therefore

it is a collective understanding which

is quite different than watching

something on tape it has a blend of the

actual of theatre itself even though

what you're going to see is always

exactly the same it can vary from

audience to audience according to the

whatever collection of people you have

there

[Music]

[Music]

the first screening of the movie which

ran I think about four hours long from a

78 page screenplay and we're supposed to

go out to lunch afterwards I was with my

ex-wife and she was so traumatized she

couldn't leave the room for day and a

half it was more violent and more

frightening actually at the long cut

that ended up to be Brad

we never really previewed it till we

finished the film which was interesting

but we we finished it and we had a 70 ml

print and we took it to Fox and then

insisted today we arrived we just

arrived that afternoon that they wanted

to run it that night in their dubbing

theater the zanuck theater and they

invited all the science-fiction sort of

people who had come in dressed up as

most of the creatures you'd ever seen to

see the film and it ran terribly because

the sound was so bad in there and we

never could understand it because we had

a great soundtrack we've never changed

it we wanted to say Louis where the

sound wasn't quite right and it's just

it was those okay really went crazy

because he went down checked theater

before the screening and two of the

speakers were out and then he didn't

want to screen the picture and by this

time they are completely convinced that

we made a bad soundtrack in England and

the wrong thing had arrived but we were

all quite worried after once it was and

then in in Dallas next night we had to

sound absolutely right in the theater

here we must go on we arrived in this

theater which was run by these guys you

could have eaten off their floor the

theater was fantastic the sound was

great it was the most incredible preview

I've ever been in I mean people were

screaming and running out of the theater

for what I remember Ridley and

uh evil power were holding down Alan

that junior who was trying to get out of

the cinema the usher keeled over and not

with a chest burster seen strange you

know people were just too stunned at

that particular moment that they did

react this was it through the roof

pretty good this is what we knew we

really really had something factor was

it one of the ushers faded and it's

Nicole you know they were worried about

violence in the theaters and all of us

is kind of stuff said oh my god this

incident here what's happening

apprentice the usher had fainted when

that robots head came off at the

management saying you know this is

terrible we do you know people have been

sick everywhere and it's in a state we

thought this is great

first-ever stands the back of the

theater soon it was going to be low a

lot of walkouts and what it was is that

people were sitting close to the screen

or walking back to stand and watch it in

the back of the theater didn't want to

be that close to the screen you know

because it is the scary some of the most

exciting

I think moments of my life because

there's no greater buzz than being

involved in a movie and suddenly not

only was I going to the state for the

first time in my life but I was actually

being flown around with Ridley and

letting the twentieth Century Fox

exactly a jet from preview to preview we

never had a premiere for this movie and

I played for my own ticket down at

Egyptian theater to go and I stood in

line to go see this movie I mean it was

like so totally bizarre I wanted to see

it with a you know with an audience

people were getting up and leaving the

theater and going out and barfing in LA

Lobby I mean I guess it was just such a

shock to me we knew how it was made but

you know our friend on the little dolly

being squidgy dunder Neath the chair and

stuff but boy I tell you when it was cut

together really was pretty amazing

when we open the film I was staying at a

friend's house in the Hollywood Hills

they're looking down I could see the

Egyptian theater where I was and they

opened it and they run it for 48 hours

non-stop

it was just running like a loop for 48

hours there was never a moment in that

48 hours of the queue was around the

clock I got up that day I was a complete

nervous wreck I was angry I was angry at

the world I had not been shown proper

respect on this movie I wasn't even

going to go to the old thing

the hell with them I'm not going to go

to the opening of this thing then

somehow and had a bad experience I

remember the sticks out of my mind

because of darkstar he remembers coming

and thinking oh my god David and nobody

laughed and nobody responded and nobody

came and they did they didn't laugh

tainted jokes in Sweden said to me I'll

never try another company again so he

kept on feeling this fear that was gonna

fall on its face by Dark Star get a jump

mat karna is drove around streets I

drove around la crazily nowhere I just

drove hey where's man no show I'm Aldous

how bad I guess he was got drunk or

something because he almost didn't want

to come he said I can't take it I'm not

going with that at 7:55 I suddenly

turned the wheel in RAM well I drove

like a rocket into Hollywood I drove up

Knight park somewhere I got out I saw

this huge line people down the block and

around the block and I said he's after a

onion and I got and I walked the whole

like line I walked all this long I and

they were all end up seeing in my movie

now what and I sort of walked up and I

drifted up towards that opening the

entrance there of the Egyptian I got up

there and there was Ronnie she said and

a couple of people he was like a man

possessed I mean he was just like

terrified and so where you been coming

honey they took me in and we went inside

I floated in and the theater it was

every seat was floating out it put me

down at a seat somewhere and i sat there

I was kind of Numb I'm going to dream

the house lights went down the 20th

Century Fox law guy came up and the

whole audience cheered and he heard

these tremendous shrieks and cheers and

applause it and I've bought the third

scare hit and damn this thing behind me

and he started weeping and my eyes

flooded with tears and the tears ran

down my face and I just sat there and

watched the movie I said Dan I damn it

and he says I can't believe it it's real

that's real you know he was just got

crying through the hears everybody sees

this guy behind me cry limp as a rag and

I had expected there of course to be

moments where they would scream at the

shock and I'd expected a lot of nervous

muttering and tittering all that stuff

when what happened at all the audience

set in absolute silence unmoving just

staring at that screen like all of us we

can't be objective about our own work

even when he went to the previews he

just wasn't treat that oh maybe it's

just those audiences or they're prone to

love it and nobody else is going to like

it not maybe not the masses aren't the

science fiction lovers but you could

tell that that crowd they went wild and

they were just standing and cheering at

the end of the movie I saw at the

Egyptian

first time I saw it in its entirety a

lot would come up I was standing in

front they walked out on the movie I

thought cool can't be that bad right

so going man watch the movie and I'm

claimed excited by what I can

I thought of pacing cutting that's

brilliant and then we win Sigourney goes

back to pick up my cat I had it's

wonderful african-american voice Shanna

leave that [ __ ] guy and at that stage

I knew Ridley a guy here and then I had

that whole the space jockey in front

I understand somebody tried to set fire

to it or something so I thought it was

the work of the devil

great by then we had already had the

night before I've been to the Academy

and that's a tougher audience because

they're filmmakers it takes a lot to

impress them but when I that went so

amazingly but sitting behind me was Jack

Nicholson Warren Beatty and they kept

screaming like two little boys every

scare and they came up to Dan Leiter to

all it's amazing guys in with them the

gods were bidding Jack Nicholson you

know and they scared the [ __ ] out of us

so we were just beaming and that that's

a tougher audience it was so new in its

concept of horror I think it was more of

a thriller

because problem those were the odds hard

moments that things happen it was a

thriller when's he going to happen next

[Music]

my reaction was right with them I was a

wave we were like a tidal wave bill

building up and crashing on the shore

with apprehension I do remember a story

that really told me about meeting with

some theater honors one eye after the

picture had been released and one guy

came up to his idea you know that at

once seen where that thing comes out of

the stomach

I tell you really messed up our

bathrooms and I'm take great deal pride

in our bathrooms but we took care of

that took care that that he says well

how did you take care of that

or we just do cut it out of the picture

there could bathrooms and fine after

there I've often wondered in Hailey and

how many eyes closed at the moment that

I gave birth as I'd like to put it but

tan and I'm sure that it's over 50% and

the first time seeing it and I'm sure

that some people that took four times

before they actually saw it women of a

certain age probably childbearing and

upwards age or certainly women in their

thirties and forties for some

extraordinary psychological reason were

very very put off by the the

chestburster by the birth scene I think

they found it you know deeply Freudian

ly disturbing and I think that stopped

it actually being an even bigger hit the

chest bursting scene certainly worked

and it was and you just hear this dead

silence from the artist he couldn't

believe what he was seeing you know I

didn't realize you know how how

effective it was on an audience you know

and people still people won't won't you

know we've heard so much about they

won't even see it they're terrified to

see it and people have seen it regret it

you know and others just can't get

enough they were so terrified I mean

even I was terrified because they'd

added it has the most amazing sound and

between the water and the steam and the

smoke and our performances and the music

you're terrified the entire time I think

I watched it through my cable net

sweater

like that because once you added all

that I wasn't and I was in Ripley you

know who doesn't get afraid

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they were terrified they'd never seen a

movie like this it just came out them

relentless claustrophobia and the power

of this movie is any horror film you get

inside the psychology of fear which

those are inherent certain amount of

things that are in people things growing

inside you and the way that robots are

are as humans and you're not quite sure

who is who and the claustrophobia of a

setting where you're enclosed and can't

get out of I went to seeing it

imprisonment in a huge cinema and I was

terrified I can't remember the audience

reaction because I can only remember my

own and I screamed and I I was

absolutely and I knew of course I knew

the scripts I knew that the creature was

going to burst forth but it made no

difference I was petrified people were

so into it it was the first time we'd

shown space to be a real place

you know filthy greasy grimy with real

people in it you know certainly the

opposite of 2001 which is movie I've

always found it hard to sit through

frankly because it's so sterile and

still and this was you know and it was I

have to say so much of Ridley in it his

no [ __ ] kind of approach exciting

opening had broke all the house records

it was a very good ad campaign I thought

simple and but creepy at the same time I

think the team of thought would

peoplefox at that point in time none of

which are there anymore I really got

behind the picture and sold as hard as I

could

believed in it very strongly the

graphics we brought in were two great

guys as Steve frankfurter was you know

pretty formidable advertising man and

Richard Greenberg who came in with first

of all coming in to poster work and then

they came up with a great log line you

know in space no one can hear you scream

and then the

paag Rafi wide space to the top of that

look great and then they readapted that

to go in the film's the opening title

sequence was a kind of form of

paralytics really or a read out you know

what it is thence graduates buzzing

alien fulfilled a genre and therefore

thereby put a cap on alien to me is very

special it's not just because I worked

on it I think Ridley did such an amazing

job on it and I think it's got a

mythology to it until they start making

feature movies in IMAX or in or in

virtual reality I don't think it's going

to be possible to do anything it's that

novel in the scary sci-fi monster vein

the thing that made aliens scary was the

fact that you weren't quite sure what

you're receiving so the audience could

participate it was quite a milestone it

was sort of like Howard Hawks the thing

which is the first really the first film

I can remember where where they used a

science fiction element as an element of

heart to really frighten you and this

was the next ultimate step the alien is

frightening in a context much larger

than outer space science fiction beings

its fearsome in the way of child's

nightmares is frightening it's becoming

more difficult to fighting people trying

to keep on a nice level on the

entertaining level on a rollercoaster

ride I think it's really one number the

science-fiction be between Blade Runner

and less I fit I thought I hit space in

the urban side of the world and sci-fi

and so in a funny car way is good

because I'll only do another science

fiction if I've got a really good script

so it really finally it's about the

story it's almost worth the trappings

the dressing is not insignificant its

importance and art form in itself but

it's it's not parented Riddler's alien

is actually of a different song from the

how come on but it is a realistic

approach as I say a logical approach

using the Thrilla format which I think

was terrifically successful and I think

you can follow that whole the whole

possibility is that particularly is it

more and more we know about a universe

and so on the more possibilities it

becomes all the time it's not going to

get unfashionable the other aliens I

would put into a different genre and so

that there are more action-adventure

comes it's one of the great franchises

that we have in today's cinema and I

think it would be not very hard and not

very difficult to turn it back into

where it came from I would go back to

the roots of where the first one was

which is the scary monster in the dark

that is it going to jump out on you is

it going to get you I would have gone

before but that's what I find

interesting I want to know who that

space drop is you know what are the

aliens doing in the silo

are they armaments are they shipping

them somewhere all that and I think that

for me is fascinating I mean that's what

we are meant to do you can you know end

it and bash it on the head and bury it

but I think an easy just as easily

invent the end of one the beginning one

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you

- can you see this

I've never seen anything like it

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you