"Alien" Crew Reminisce on Film's Impact

Twenty-four years ago - two years after they unveiled the family-friendly space swashbuckler "Star Wars", 20th Century Fox unleashed "Alien" on moviegoers - changing movies and movie audiences forever. Though Ridley Scott knew the movie would work, neither he nor anyone else involved in the movie's production could predict how much impact their creation would have on horror, sci-fi, and film in general. In interviews with the Newhouse News, the cast talks about making "Alien" and how it affected them.

"I loved the script, but on one level it was a B-movie," said Scott. "It was seven little Indians in the old dark house with a monster. The monster has to be great, otherwise you haven't got a good film. We got a great monster and I never questioned anything else."

Yaphet Kotto (who plays Parker in the movie) credits the movie's appeal to audience empathy. "We will always be able to identify with the working class, no matter what's happening," said Kotto. "We really cannot identify with 'Star Wars' or 'Star Trek.' With `Alien,' these are blue-collar people. It gives us an idea of what happens after 'Star Wars,' when space travel becomes like doing a job on a fishing boat."

The infamous John Hurt chest-burster scene was done in one take, with no advance instruction to the other actors as to how the scene would be played out. Hurt crouched under a table, upon which a fake chest filled with sheep's intestines and fake blood pumps was mounted.

"I thought they'd do special effects later on," said Kotto. "I had no idea what was going to happen. We were laughing and joking and then (Hurt) falls over to the side. As he's screaming and moaning we hear a thump and the top of his chest pops up at us and then the head came bursting out with blood. The camera was never able to pick up the aftermath of the blood and yuk and gook they put in that thing."

"It caught their attention immediately," said "Alien" screenwriter Dan O'Bannon. "Imagine, the film starts and someone is bringing a handful of popcorn to his mouth. When the end came up, that same handful of popcorn was still there, halfway to the mouth."

Source: Newhouse News