In 1979, Ridley Scott‘s movie Alien left a lasting impact on horror and sci-fi fans alike. However, behind the scenes, Scott faced his own apprehensions. Recently, in an interview with GQ, Scott reminisced about his career milestones, such as landing the job for Alien and the creative process during filming. He confessed that he was initially worried about whether the movie would have enough frightening moments and eerie hallway incidents. To alleviate these concerns, Scott decided to introduce an additional chilling factor – betrayal among the crew, embodied by Ash, the android science officer, played by Ian Holm.
In those days, we didn’t use digital effects, as Scott pointed out. Instead, sets had to be meticulously painted and they needed to find a tall, thin actor to wear a rubber suit. This meant they could only shoot small amounts and reveal very little because it wouldn’t look convincing. By keeping things subtle and minimal, the effect was more powerful. The creature in question was one-of-a-kind, and it required audience belief. No matter how talented the actors were – they were exceptional – without that creature, the production wouldn’t have been the same.
Despite his apprehensions about potential repetitiveness from the xenomorph threat given its limited screen time, Scott decided to emphasize a significant conflict among the crew members instead. This clash served to expose Ash as an android, revealing that he was pre-programmed to prioritize the employer’s interests over the lives of the crew members.
He expressed concern that our supply of frightening elements in the hallway might deplete, prompting a surprise appearance of something new. In this scenario, Ash would voice objections before suffering a mishap as an artificial intelligence. Then, Yaphet Kotto had to intervene using a fire extinguisher, likely causing severe injury, hence we now see wires, metal, and organic parts – indicating he is an AI.
In my perspective as a movie connoisseur, I found it intriguing how Ridley cleverly tapped into our collective fears by drawing parallels between Ash and the AI character HAL from “2001: A Space Odyssey”. The genius move here was to camouflage the android within the human characters, only to later reveal him as the embodiment of ruthless corporate ambition.
He mentioned that Stanley Kubrick was the first to create HAL, which at the time was an unknown concept – a computer. The corporation that HAL represented valued the mission’s success over the crew, and this idea was adapted into Ash, who embodied the ‘company man.’ Yet, if you’re creating a ‘company man,’ you wouldn’t want a black box. Instead, you’d prefer someone who interacts, socializes, drinks coffee, and engages with people. They would appear more human than actually being so.
In that interview, Scott reminisced about his previous projects, particularly the recently released film “Gladiator II”. Interestingly, he didn’t delve into any of the other Alien movies or discuss future installments. Although the following three sequels were crafted by different authors and filmmakers, Scott revisited this series in 2012 with the prequel “Prometheus”, and again in 2017 with “Alien: Covenant”, a sequel to “Prometheus” that predates the original Alien. Scott has expressed his intention to direct another film within this franchise, but since 2020, he’s hinted that it won’t be a straight continuation of “Covenant”.
At the moment, you can catch the original ‘Alien’ on Peacock, but it’ll only be available until the end of January. If you miss that window, don’t worry! You can still rent or buy it digitally on PVOD platforms. Speaking of the franchise, the latest addition, ‘Alien: Resurrection’, is currently streaming on Hulu. Excitingly, a new spinoff series titled ‘Alien: Earth’ is set to premiere this summer on Hulu as well.
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2025-01-16 18:39