10 Fun Facts About Alien (1979) That Will Make You Scream

moviemarauder (43)in #movies • 7 years ago (edited)

Hi movie marauders! Alien came out May 25, 1979, and had only an $11 million budget. It got a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, and is a classic film (it is featured in The Great Movie Ride at Disney). Alien stars Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, who ends up being the last survivor on the cargo ship Nostromo (in the year 2122). The Alien franchise has 6 movies (Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant). Prometheus and Alien: Covenant are prequels. Let's take a look at some fun facts about the movie that started it all, Alien!!

1. Director Ridley Scott told Yaphet Kotto (who plays Parker) to annoy Sigourney Weaver (who plays Ripley) off-camera so there would be real tension between them (Kotto was upset about doing it because he likes Sigourney Weaver).

2. The internal organs of the facehugger that Ash examines is made using 4 oysters, a sheep kidney, and fresh shellfish.

3. In order for Jones the Cat to react to the Alien descending, a German Shepard was placed in front of him behind a screen. They then removed the screen to make the cat hiss instead of advancing.

4. The original concept art of the Alien by H.R. Giger had eyes. He wanted the Alien in the movie to have no eyes, so it would look emotionless and cold.

5. Writer Dan O'Bannon needed a reason for the Nostromo crew to not just shoot the Alien. Concept artist Ron Cobb came up with the idea that the Alien would bleed out acid.

6. Director Ridley Scott filmed the Alien in mainly close ups so no one would get the idea that the Alien is just a man in a rubber suit (Bolaji Badejo plays the Alien, and is 7'1").

7. Copywriter Barbara Gips came up with the famous tagline, "in space, no one can hear you scream."

8. The Xenomorph (the Alien) came into the movie an hour in and got 4 minutes of screen time.

9. Writer Dan O'Bannon originally titled Alien "Star Beast," but wasn't satisfied with it. He changed it to Alien after realizing the word came up a lot in the script, Alien is both a noun and an adjective, and no one had used the title Alien before.

10. When Kane's chest bursts, Veronica Cartwright (who plays Lambert) genuinely screamed when blood spewed on her because the cast didn't know how much blood there was going to be and where the blood would spew out.