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| Creating a movie legend- ALIEN: Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, alongside director Sir Ridley Scott. Images: Robert Penn for FOX. |
ALIEN VAULT: THE DEFINTIVE STORY OF THE MAKING OF THE FILM
Written by Ian Nathan
Published in the UK by AURUM PRESS
Reviewed by Scott Weller
In space no one can hear you scream...
Eight words from an advertising marketing campaign that actually lived up to the hype generated way back in 1979, and which still resonates with expectations of menacing terror and danger even now, thirty-two years on. Yes, we’re talking about the original ALIEN, which still remains the seminal king of all-time great sci-fi horror movies, and the film that put British feature director Ridley Scott on the map in Hollywood as a visualist with talent, style and a refreshingly blunt no bullshit attitude.
Now, with the celebratory new book ALIEN VAULT: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF THE MAKING OF THE FILM, published in the UK by AURUM PRESS, ex-EMPIRE film magazine Executive Editor (and huge ALIEN legacy fan) Ian Nathan bravely carries notes and tape recorder under one arm and a flame thrower under the other as he re-enters the terrifying, claustrophobic world of the deep space commercial towing vessel Nostromo –a realm within which we are well and truly taken out of our comfort zone!- and follows the ships fated seven member crew (and one cat!) as they take on a deadly alien life form: soon shockingly regarded as the most perfect natural killing machine ever devised...
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| Ash (Ian Holm), Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) and Kane (John Hurt) make a planetary analysis in a scene cut from the film... |
Having devoured the film in constant viewings since its early days bootleg release on primitive hokey VHS tapes (the author not being old enough at the tie to see it in its original theatrical run-which, when witnessed, apparently had people running down cinemas aisles and puking in the toilets!), as well as making good use of varying source materials in books, online and from television, Nathan covers all facets of the classic, almost timeless film’s story and its behind the scenes making, which are divided into five specific key sections, alongside his own unique and engaging perspective on what makes the original ALIEN such a distinctly one of a kind movie classic that has often been imitated but simply never bettered!
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| Sex symbol and movie heroine: Sigourney Weaver as Warrant Officer Ripley. |
From these sections we comfortably- or should that be uncomfortably? - experience its genesis and story outlining, the Nostromo and the shocking events that take place within it, the creature/s of the title, the premiere appearance of the iconic Ripley, and her significant casting with Sigourney Weaver-how she got the role and subsequently made it uniquely her own throughout not only this but three further sequels-a true screen heroine for our times, to finally talking about the films evolution and it's cultural impact and legacy worldwide with audiences, and the cast (specially cast as a unique ensemble by Scott) and crew that made it, none of whom would ever forget its classic scenes and the overall visceral impact...
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| The now infamous "Chest Burster" scene... |
Significantly, it opens with a flashback to the famous chestburster sequence- an original, unexpected and terrifying concept/screen moment that made the film so unique of the most violent and scary kind (especially the ultimate nightmare for men in a movie already hip deep in sexual referencing) and proved to be the grand selling point that would get it green-lit for production. Conceived in the early seventies by struggling writer/film-maker Dan O’Bannon (and helped along by his good friend and collaborator Ronald Shushett), where it was originally known in its incubus days as Memory, then becoming the more B-movie-esque Starbeast, from what could have been an enjoyable low budget monster movie (the kind of Roger Corman style we all love to see), ALIEN went on to become a big budget project that acquired the kind of rare pooling of talents which you see rarely see in film-making even today, and which saw it become something more sophisticated and audience affecting.
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| Inside the derelict-a brilliant piece of production design- Kane (John Hurt) discovers the alien pods. |
And it was all thanks to George Lucas and STAR WARS, whose rippling effects both as a movie and the way it was made, would ultimately enhance and steer ALIEN along to its final genesis as that film’s very antithesis: a truly adult sci-fi film nightmare in comparison to STAR WARS, which had been the ultimate space fantasy for the young and old of heart. ALIEN was more likely to give heart attacks to both audience sections! Scott’s overall attempts and goals to intelligently and stylishly subverse and twist the sci-fi/horror genres in many ways, as well as borrowing aspects from the uneasy slaughterhouse feel/atmosphere of the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, certainly came to successful fruition!
Seeing STAR WARS in the US in its opening week in May 1977, Scott, already a successful commercials director and now rising star in the UK directing world, had been blown by the fantasy film and was determined to do something as unique and successful in that type of genre as soon as possible. The script for ALIEN soon found its way onto his lap and it was with juggernaut style speed that he took the project on and saw its great possibilities as a serious big budget horror movie. As a benefit to STAR WARS, the long term effects and more sophisticated tone of Scott’s film may even have subconsciously rubbed off on the ultimate filming magic/editing being achieved at the same time with the STAR WARS sequel, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, then filming at ELSTREE STUDIOS, London for release in 1980 as ALIEN was about to hit 1979 cinema screens, and having shared certain behind the scenes personnel (including British effects masterminds Brian Johnson and Nick Allder), too. Following on from ALIEN, its interesting to note that EMPIRE would go on to be generally regarded as the most adult and gritty in tone film of the classic Original Trilogy: the fairy tale gone dark and somber…
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| The weird and wonderful "Space Jockey" being built at Shepperton Studios in England. |
STAR WARS space opus additionally set new standards in production design with its “used universe feel”, the same method which Scott adopts and builds for his futuristic reality on film, taking it up a notch and creating a plausible and believable future timescale from Lucas’s movie, using some of the “Galaxy Far, Far Away”s best visualists from the UK and US to help him in the realization, including Lucas’s OSCAR winning Production Design/Set Decorator Roger Christian and Costume Designer John Mollo (even Dan O’Bannon himself, needing funds to survive, had previously done animation work for STAR WARS!), alongside the invigorating fresh blood and unusually dynamic work of French artist/genius genius Moebius, hired by an impressed Scott because of his adult sci-fi art credentials for the popular French HEAVY METAL comic book.
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| Keeping it light after filming a tense moment: Sigourney Weaver and Ian Holm. |
Filmed in England (again like STAR WARS (backed for production by the wise ex-FOX Studio chief Alan Ladd Jr., who saw the same potential in the sci-fi project as that other Lucas smash hit he also activated several years before)) at SHEPPERTON STUDIOS, and away from the media and bright lights of Hollywood, here was a money saving creative move that actually helped give the top secret project even more of a distinctive kind of mystery edge and atmosphere complimenting the actual finished film- that something very special was being concocted on the closed soundstages- which ultimately contributed to the great surprises and popular critical success it would achieve when released in movie theatres a year later. The book also reveals how Ridley Scott used all the tricks of his collected craft available to him to create the ultimate haunted house suspense movie, building those claustrophobic sets and generating tension on and off set as a deliberate antagonist so as to annoy and frustrate the actors at the same time as building their characterizations and blunt edged relationships, which he could then stretch as he saw fit in his skillful directing and editing process. In his developing and setting of that uneasy world, the director would also prove to be a total perfectionist, where, under his thumb, second best was not an option! To Scott’s credit there are times watching the film when it feels like you're actually truly in the thick of the danger and terror alongside the Nostromo crew: surely the ultimate accolade you could give to this maker of cinematic dreams and nightmares. Put it all together with one of film composer Jerry Goldsmith’s prime best creepy scores, and you’ve got a nightmare for all seasons capable of giving even Sigmund Freud the willies!
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| In a scene cut from the movie, the Alien lifts the injured Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) into the air with it. |
And beyond the atmosphere, there’s the pure terror of the creature itself: it’s organic and mechanical evolution against the outmatched space trucker humans (seven of the best cast UK/US actors you could ever hope to have sign on for a movie) which it encounters, and the strange but decidedly artistic world and endeavours of Swiss artist H.R. Giger that bought it to life in all its provocatively eerie sexually charged/animalistic life. Truly living up to its later description as the most perfect, uninhibited and instinctive killing machine ever devised, determined to survive and continue its life-cycle at all costs, and a being which, with its slimily and revolting set of double gnashers, strikes with the equally unexpected, sudden ferocity of an uncoiled snake! This truly was an alien creature for audiences to be shaking from experiencing: filmed for the majority of its time in weird and wonderful angles where, until the movie’s finale, you never quite saw what its entire body shape looked like. In overall terms of both design and practical realization, this first look at the creature has never been bettered or equaled before or since.
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| A fun behind the scenes image from the new book showing Ridley Scott, Sigourney Weaver and Alien friend taking a breather between filming. |
As the film enters its final half, and the flawed and imperfect Humans are slowly and mercilessly removed, only one member of the Nostromo crew ultimately has the luck and the courage to survive their encounter with the beast from the stars, and in the process goes onto become one of the silver screen’s greatest landmark modern film female characters: Warrant Officer Ripley, as brilliantly portrayed by then relative newcomer actress Sigourney Weaver, who imbues the part with an ambitious, efficient but also with a spiky and spunky attitude-someone who we should hate but don’t. As the terror escalates and the tension mounts, we soon relate to Ripley and feel for the character and what she goes through, cheering her on through her bravery against the creature, whom she later has a kind of symbiotic rapport with in subsequent sequels, right up to that last stand against it on the escape shuttle. This was a hero in the making and a sexy and intelligent film star/actress who had made her first indelible mark with worldwide audiences…
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| Ridley Scott adds some goo to the damaged robot version of Ash, as played by Ian Holm. |
Following us along this final stage of the cinematic adrenaline ride of woman versus monster, there's also great rare photos of the cast and crew (and on-set Polaroids), reproductions of key and rare publicity materials/production art/storyboards and the other creatures that are part of the ALIEN history and life cycle, classic filming anecdotes, a look at deleted and partially completed scenes, fascinating ideas and concepts that never made the final film and lots of rarely known production facts, of which certain myths are also explored and debunked with all the shocking ferocity of the Chest Burster!! And lets not looks at the other ALIEN spin offs that followed, too-in movies, books and merchandise- for good and bad.
A smaller vault project than the kinds of things seen with STAR WARS, STAR TREK and MARVEL COMICS from other publishers, less is ultimately, more with the ALIEN VAULT, which nonetheless has some terrific enclosure sections, including rare “Ridleygram” storyboards, Japanese Poster Art, and Giger conceptual pieces that will have die-hard fans thirsty to get their hands, or face huggers, on…
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| The Alien (Bolaji Badejo), with its original skull-face, gets some on-set help from one of the films wardrobe assistants. |
Apart from a couple of notable exceptions- no mention of STAR WARS Sound guru Ben Burtt’s used and unused sound effects contributions for the film, nor a look at the sneak peek held at PINEWOOD for American Air Force base personnel and families in 1979, which included among its guests STAR WARS Producer Gary Kurtz and director Richard Donner (and resulted in eleven minutes of the film being cut in later editing), this well designed and printed book pretty much lives up to it’s sub-title blurb as “The definitive story of the making of the film” and, as well as acting as a very fine companion to the prior classic 1979 related books ALIEN: THE ILLUSTRATED STORY and THE BOOK OF ALIEN, the ALIEN VAULT proves an equally worthy testament to the classic films talented creators, realized with publishing enthusiasm by the author and AURUM PRESS.
As Ridley Scott’s new Prometheus saga, also filmed under top secret circumstances, arrives in cinemas very soon, promising to be that rare thing: a unique new sci-fi experience whose origins emerges from the groundwork of the classic ALIEN, the ALIEN VAULT is a much welcome primer taking us to a terrifying realm of the future that will decidedly have important links in that universe’s soon to be discovered past, and acting as a fascinating and nostalgic look back at the awesome horror and imagination that emerged then, and which will surely return in an even bigger way, to cinema screens next year…
AFICIONADO RATING: A must have book, not only for film buffs, but, more importantly, ALIEN fans. 9 out of 10
Get hold of the ALIEN VAULT here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alien-Vault-Definitive-Story-Behind/dp/1845136675/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317488632&sr=8-1
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