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Computer:
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Nicholas cull: Every film
is a product of its time.
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And every successful
film tells you something
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about the time it was made.
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It's successful
because it resonates
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with stories and images
that people need to see
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at that particular point.
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Henry Jenkins: "Alien"
is a radical break
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with science fiction.
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This is not the
notion of the alien
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that we were building
toward in something
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like "close encounters."
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Clarke wolfe: "Star
wars" comes out,
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we have a fun space adventure.
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And then "alien" comes
out, and people embrace it.
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And then just a couple
of years later, "e.T."
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And John carpenter's
"the thing" come out,
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and audiences resoundingly
are like, no, thank you.
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We want our aliens to
be nice and squishy
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and cool and eat candy.
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I think there's a special
status that comes to some films
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that lodge in the audience's
collective imagination,
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and I think "alien" is
certainly one of those films.
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William linn: Tolkien talked
about the cauldron of stories,
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and certainly,
"alien" is an example
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of a story drawing from a
real global set of myths.
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If you look at a somatics
experiment, what you're going
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to see is sand that
vibrates in a shape,
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and the shape changes based
on the different vibrations.
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A myth is like something
that vibrated from something
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deeper that you can't see.
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You see a major
curse in the form
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of the alien, who
is very much a fury,
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responding to an imbalance.
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We're looking at a
story where there
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is a piece of material
prop that is now completely
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alive in our imaginations.
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It lives in our dreams.
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It lives in our
cultural conversation.
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It's one of the biggest
cultural dreams we've ever had.
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Diane o'bannon:
I met Dan at usc.
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He was a real standout.
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You couldn't miss him.
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He was a wild man, unbounded
by conventional reality.
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You couldn't call him an
iconoclast, because he
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didn't have icons to break.
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He could be very offensive,
and was frequently
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offensive on purpose.
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He was hot, you know,
emotionally hot, emotionally
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responsive, very angry.
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He was born and raised in rural
Missouri and had no television.
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They didn't even have a
telephone till he was 10.
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They lived in the middle
of nowhere on 24 acres.
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And yet he knew
all these things.
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They didn't even have
a library in the town.
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His mother used to send
off for boxes of books,
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and they would come,
and he would read them,
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and then they'd send them back.
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Dan was always sneaking
science fiction.
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His mother always wanted
him to read good literature.
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And his mother would
always say, you
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haven't got any of that science
fiction in your backpack,
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have you?
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You're not taking that
science fiction to school.
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His father owned a curio
shop, it was called odd acres.
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There was a sort of screwy
Louie room, you know,
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where things were
sort of off kilter,
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and everything looks
like it's leaning.
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That was growing
up in odd acres.
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One time his father
faked a ufo landing.
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And Dan helped him, and then
he had the press out there,
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you know?
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By direction of the
president of the United States,
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stay in your homes.
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I repeat, stay in your homes.
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Reporter: Because in one moment
of history-making violence,
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nature, mad, rampant, roared
its most awesome creation.
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Diane o'bannon: There's
a lot of bugs there.
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And he was always very
frightened, in a way,
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by the sudden
appearance of bugs,
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like a stick insect and
cicadas, massive invasions
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in southern Missouri, they
would have hundreds of thousands
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of them come out of the ground
and swarm over everything
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and then vanish and die.
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So these things really
gave him the creeps.
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And he wanted to creep
everybody else out too.
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But he was quite an artist.
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And when he was thinking
of his monsters,
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he would sketch them out.
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Before "alien," Dan had
written a screenplay called
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"they bite."
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It was "alien" before "alien."
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And it involved a
cicada-like creature,
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but instead of being
13 years underground,
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it was several million
years underground,
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and gradually picks off the
people in the encampment one
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by one.
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It's a version of
an alien creature
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evolving, needing an
evolution, and being
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destructive in that evolution.
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O'bannon has this
great line, says,
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"I didn't steal from anybody.
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I stole from everybody."
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And one of the places
that he happily
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admitted that he stole
from was a 1951 ec comic
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called "seeds of Jupiter."
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There's just eight pages.
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It starts on an
aircraft carrier,
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and this orb crashes onto the
aircraft carrier, breaks apart,
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small orb, and it's
got like, 50 seeds.
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And there are three
Navy guys on the ship,
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and they're
wondering what it is.
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One of them's called peach pit,
and he likes to put peach pits
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in his mouth, and
the other two guys
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sort of trick him into
putting one of these seeds
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into his mouth.
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And then they slap the guy on
the back, it's all good fun
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and he swallows.
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He gets terribly sick.
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He's dehydrated.
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It's emergency surgery.
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He's going die.
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The Navy surgeon
takes a scalpel,
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cuts open his chest,
Everybody shocked,
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and out pops this hideous,
scaly, disgusting mini octopus.
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And then it literally
scamper across the deck
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and plunges into the sea.
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And they go, well, we're
never going to see that again.
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Guaranteeing that they'll
be seeing that again.
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Tim boxell: The origin
of "death rattle" was
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in a farmhouse in Minnesota.
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The story itself is
some sort of astronaut
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coming across an object.
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It's the kind of statuary
that you might see in a temple
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in some ancient civilization.
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In the process of sending
it back, he drops it,
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he breaks it, and he
releases something
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that's about to change his
life in a very horrible way.
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He is attacked by this thing
that gets into his body.
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He is effectively raped.
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His eyes are gouged out and
something goes into his head.
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And from that point
on, he becomes
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a receptacle for something
that's taking him over.
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Something is
transforming a person
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into something very,
very different,
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very unfortunate, shall we say.
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As a healthy young kid growing
up in the midwest in the 1950s
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and '60s, there were things
going on in the world
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that didn't quite make sense.
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Television was very
safe and cleaned up,
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so I clamored for
things that I wasn't
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getting from my civilization,
from my culture.
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Dan o'bannon drew
upon his experiences
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as a person from the midwest,
reading comic books at the drug
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store, like I did, and brought
that kind of sensibility
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and that outlook on the
world to this major science
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fiction horror epic.
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The midwest may seem tranquil
and civilized and so forth,
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but the fact is, you never
know who's next door.
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You never know who's going
to roll into town, you know,
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when the wheels are
going to come off.
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It's like we're all, you
know, one cough, one kiss,
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one scratch away
from global disaster.
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Diane o'bannon: The
influence of lovecraft on Dan
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was considerable.
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The eggs lying dormant
on the planetoid
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is comparable to
the cicada's million
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year life cycle, isn't it?
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Creatures coming out of
the ground after being
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dormant for millions
of years is superbly
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lovecraftian, completely.
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I think that's a pretty
straight line between the two.
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St joshi: Lovecraft,
in his own day,
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was a pioneer of
science fiction.
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More specifically, his brand
of horror fiction, which he
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called weird fiction.
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He felt that the essence
of horror is the unknown,
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and what is most
unknown, it is what
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is out there in the
depths of space,
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and what has happened
in the far distant past.
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Many of the features
of "alien" have a lot
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to do with lovecraft's
short novel,
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"at the mountains of madness."
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This is a novel
he wrote in 1931.
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And it's something
that he'd wanted
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to write for a long
time, because he
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had been fascinated with the
antarctic since he was a boy.
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An expedition from
Massachusetts goes down there,
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and come upon fossilized
remains of alien entities, which
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this expedition
labels the old ones.
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Dallas: It's been
dead a long time.
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Fossilized.
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St joshi: In the
course of this novel,
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they become unfrozen
and come to life.
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They cannot be defined by normal
human or terrestrial biology.
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I have confirmed that
he's got an outer layer
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of protein polysaccharides.
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Has funny habit of
shedding his cells
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and replacing them
with polarized silicon.
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St joshi: In fact, the
explorers find this immense city
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that the old ones built
hundreds of millions
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of years ago in
the antarctic, full
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of very bizarre architecture.
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There are these
alien creatures that
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are virtually indestructible.
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They simply cannot die.
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00:14:33,206 --> 00:14:35,416
Ripley: How do we kill it, ash?
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00:14:35,541 --> 00:14:36,935
There's gotta be a
way of killing it.
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How?
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00:14:37,668 --> 00:14:39,545
How do we do it?
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You can't.
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Classical science
is based on the idea
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that matter is dead and inert.
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And this is true throughout
western consciousness,
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from prometheus and
pandora to Adam and Eve.
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Space is empty and quiet.
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Is it?
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That's a perspective
that we have.
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And I think "alien" is
very much the nightmare
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to that perspective.
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And you see this in the
coptic jars where they move.
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And you see this when you get
out into the depths of space
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where it's supposed
to be quiet and dead,
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and instead, you
find the boogeyman.
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St joshi: I cannot think of
a film out there that comes
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anywhere close to "alien"
capturing that overall
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00:15:13,204 --> 00:15:14,622
lovecraftian atmosphere.
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00:15:14,747 --> 00:15:17,291
That planetoid
where the ship lands
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is a prototypical
instance of what lovecraft
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called the fear of the unknown.
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It is a place completely
uncharted by human expeditions.
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No big budget studio wanted
to put a lot of money
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into making a pure
lovecraft film,
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00:15:31,264 --> 00:15:34,475
and so people like o'bannon
and John carpenter and others
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00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:36,436
had to sort of use
lovecraftian elements
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00:15:36,561 --> 00:15:39,647
covertly to infuse
lovecraftian themes
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into works that
were not explicitly
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00:15:41,816 --> 00:15:42,936
based on any of the stories.
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00:15:45,736 --> 00:15:48,614
Nicholas cull: "Alien" didn't
come out of a creative vacuum.
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00:15:48,739 --> 00:15:53,870
It drew on a whole heritage
of American science fiction.
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00:15:53,995 --> 00:15:55,580
You could make the
argument that "alien"
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00:15:55,705 --> 00:15:58,833
certainly borrows from "it,
the terror from beyond space"
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00:15:58,958 --> 00:16:01,335
from 1958.
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00:16:01,461 --> 00:16:05,840
A crew of 10 goes to Mars
to recover the lone survivor
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00:16:05,965 --> 00:16:07,842
of a previous expedition.
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00:16:07,967 --> 00:16:10,011
The rest of his crew
has been wiped out.
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00:16:10,136 --> 00:16:12,597
Edward carothers:
Today, of all my crew,
248
00:16:12,722 --> 00:16:15,349
I, colonel Edward carothers
of the United States space
249
00:16:15,475 --> 00:16:18,728
command, am the only one alive.
250
00:16:18,853 --> 00:16:20,372
Ben mankiewicz: They
obviously think he did it.
251
00:16:20,396 --> 00:16:21,939
He says, no, an alien did it.
252
00:16:22,064 --> 00:16:23,816
What are you thinking about?
253
00:16:23,941 --> 00:16:26,110
Those nine bodies
you left down there?
254
00:16:26,235 --> 00:16:28,404
Yes.
255
00:16:28,529 --> 00:16:31,115
But I didn't kill them.
256
00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,534
Spoiler, it was an alien.
257
00:16:33,659 --> 00:16:39,123
The alien stows away on
the ship and starts picking
258
00:16:39,248 --> 00:16:42,502
the crew off one by one.
259
00:16:42,627 --> 00:16:45,087
It's hiding in the air ducts.
260
00:16:45,213 --> 00:16:47,298
Bullets, grenades,
nothing stops it.
261
00:16:47,423 --> 00:16:49,133
What do we do now?
262
00:16:49,258 --> 00:16:51,058
Ben mankiewicz: And it's
killed by an airlock.
263
00:16:53,971 --> 00:16:56,432
Nicholas cull: "The
thing" from 1951
264
00:16:56,557 --> 00:16:58,851
is very present with the
idea of this creature
265
00:16:58,976 --> 00:17:01,562
that kind of
hatches, that mimics,
266
00:17:01,687 --> 00:17:05,816
that is in a
working environment.
267
00:17:05,942 --> 00:17:09,111
You can go to the 60s and look
at "planet of the vampires,"
268
00:17:09,237 --> 00:17:12,615
where they find this
giant alien corpse.
269
00:17:12,740 --> 00:17:14,617
Doesn't look like any
ship I've ever seen.
270
00:17:14,742 --> 00:17:16,827
Do you think it
belongs to the orients?
271
00:17:16,953 --> 00:17:18,329
I doubt it.
272
00:17:18,454 --> 00:17:19,473
I doubt if the orients
ever built any spaceships.
273
00:17:19,497 --> 00:17:20,581
If they...
274
00:17:20,706 --> 00:17:21,986
- we would have...
- Look, Mark.
275
00:17:25,628 --> 00:17:28,214
One of the films that "alien"
draws quite heavily from
276
00:17:28,339 --> 00:17:33,261
is a 1966 film produced by Roger
corman called "queen of blood."
277
00:17:33,386 --> 00:17:34,386
Listen.
278
00:17:39,141 --> 00:17:41,727
We've been picking up these
signals now for three days.
279
00:17:41,852 --> 00:17:45,231
Nicholas cull: An alien distress
signal is received by earth.
280
00:17:45,356 --> 00:17:48,609
Astronauts go out to find
the source of the signal.
281
00:17:48,734 --> 00:17:50,611
They land on a planetoid.
282
00:17:50,736 --> 00:17:53,072
There's this strange sandstorm.
283
00:17:53,197 --> 00:17:55,199
They go into an alien vessel.
284
00:17:55,324 --> 00:17:58,578
They find a dead alien
sitting in a chair,
285
00:17:58,703 --> 00:18:01,914
encounter an alien who they're
bringing back to earth,
286
00:18:02,039 --> 00:18:04,208
and the alien
begins individually
287
00:18:04,333 --> 00:18:07,837
attacking members of the crew.
288
00:18:07,962 --> 00:18:12,049
And at the end of the film, the
humans are left quite literally
289
00:18:12,174 --> 00:18:15,136
holding a tray of her eggs.
290
00:18:15,261 --> 00:18:19,223
Is this the beginning
of the end for humanity?
291
00:18:23,102 --> 00:18:25,104
Ian Nathan: John carpenter
roped in Dan o'bannon
292
00:18:25,229 --> 00:18:27,440
to helping him make the
student science fiction
293
00:18:27,565 --> 00:18:28,983
film called "dark star."
294
00:18:29,108 --> 00:18:31,485
And it was about the
crew of a spaceship...
295
00:18:31,611 --> 00:18:32,862
This might sound familiar...
296
00:18:32,987 --> 00:18:34,739
Who then is assailed
by an alien who
297
00:18:34,864 --> 00:18:36,657
sort of stows away on the ship.
298
00:18:36,782 --> 00:18:38,242
Diane o'bannon:
"Dark star," that's
299
00:18:38,367 --> 00:18:41,412
the comic version of "alien."
300
00:18:41,537 --> 00:18:43,056
One makes you laugh,
and the other one's
301
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,166
going to eat you alive.
302
00:18:45,291 --> 00:18:47,291
Ian Nathan: Carpenter wanted
sole directing credit,
303
00:18:47,335 --> 00:18:50,463
and o'bannon felt he'd done
enough to get cowriting credit.
304
00:18:50,588 --> 00:18:52,632
So they had this kind
of big falling out.
305
00:18:52,757 --> 00:18:54,884
And o'bannon's first
thought is that, well,
306
00:18:55,009 --> 00:18:56,636
I can go and do this on my own.
307
00:18:56,761 --> 00:19:01,307
I will write a story,
a science fiction story
308
00:19:01,432 --> 00:19:02,808
that will beat "dark star."
309
00:19:02,933 --> 00:19:04,661
Wouldn't you consider
another course of action?
310
00:19:04,685 --> 00:19:07,521
For example, just waiting around
a while so we can disarm you?
311
00:19:07,647 --> 00:19:08,773
Bomb #20: No.
312
00:19:08,898 --> 00:19:10,125
Because I'm not
going to do a comedy,
313
00:19:10,149 --> 00:19:11,543
I'm going to do it
as a horror movie.
314
00:19:11,567 --> 00:19:13,986
Computer: The ship will
automatically destruct
315
00:19:14,111 --> 00:19:19,241
in t-minus five minutes.
316
00:19:19,367 --> 00:19:22,578
You bitch!
317
00:19:22,703 --> 00:19:25,206
A lot of things bother
me about "dark star."
318
00:19:25,331 --> 00:19:29,418
We had an alien in it,
which was a beach ball.
319
00:19:29,543 --> 00:19:31,879
It was our second
try on that alien.
320
00:19:32,004 --> 00:19:35,841
I went away from "dark
star" really wanting to do
321
00:19:35,966 --> 00:19:37,843
an alien that looked real.
322
00:19:42,598 --> 00:19:45,726
Diane o'bannon: Jodorowsky saw
"dark star," which is how he
323
00:19:45,851 --> 00:19:48,270
found out about Dan o'bannon.
324
00:19:48,396 --> 00:19:52,316
Nobody in Hollywood was
impressed with jodorowsky.
325
00:19:52,441 --> 00:19:54,151
So he said, well,
to hell with you.
326
00:19:54,276 --> 00:19:59,448
So he found Dan and said,
come work on "dune" with me.
327
00:19:59,573 --> 00:20:03,786
If you want to look
to the first magic,
328
00:20:03,911 --> 00:20:08,833
I think you have to
go back to jodorowsky.
329
00:20:08,958 --> 00:20:10,501
Jodorowsky was his guru.
330
00:20:10,626 --> 00:20:11,961
He adored him.
331
00:20:12,086 --> 00:20:14,088
I've never met him
and I adore him.
332
00:20:14,213 --> 00:20:17,007
Not only is there a
synchronicity that connects
333
00:20:17,133 --> 00:20:20,678
"dune" and "alien," there's
almost an archetypal
334
00:20:20,803 --> 00:20:23,389
counterbalance between the two.
335
00:20:23,514 --> 00:20:26,934
If "dune" is the tower of
babel, "alien" is exactly what
336
00:20:27,059 --> 00:20:28,644
brings down that tower.
337
00:20:28,769 --> 00:20:31,147
In the same way that "alien"
is the response to prometheus
338
00:20:31,272 --> 00:20:33,232
trying to steal fire
from the heavens,
339
00:20:33,357 --> 00:20:36,277
the movie "alien" is also
a response, energetically,
340
00:20:36,402 --> 00:20:41,198
archetypally, to the tower of
babel project that was "dune."
341
00:20:41,323 --> 00:20:44,034
Diane o'bannon: When
"dune" collapsed in Paris,
342
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:47,872
Dan came back and actually
crashed on the couch
343
00:20:47,997 --> 00:20:51,083
in the house I was living
in with a bunch of people
344
00:20:51,208 --> 00:20:52,602
because he didn't
have anywhere to go.
345
00:20:52,626 --> 00:20:54,295
And it... he...
346
00:20:54,420 --> 00:20:56,338
He was completely at a loss.
347
00:20:56,464 --> 00:21:00,384
Eventually, he... we
said, you got to go.
348
00:21:00,509 --> 00:21:04,221
So somehow, he wound up
on Ron shusett's couch.
349
00:21:04,346 --> 00:21:08,184
I went back to storage, got
my typewriter out, took it over
350
00:21:08,309 --> 00:21:11,729
to Ronnie shusett's living room,
and over the days and nights
351
00:21:11,854 --> 00:21:15,232
of the next three
months, Ron keeping me
352
00:21:15,357 --> 00:21:17,276
alive by feeding me hot dogs.
353
00:21:17,401 --> 00:21:18,569
We were both starving.
354
00:21:18,694 --> 00:21:21,030
My wife was supporting us.
355
00:21:21,155 --> 00:21:23,574
We had two rooms,
that's all we had.
356
00:21:23,699 --> 00:21:25,177
Diane o'bannon: He
made up a board game
357
00:21:25,201 --> 00:21:28,704
called poverty, sort of
the opposite of monopoly.
358
00:21:28,829 --> 00:21:31,791
You've got to land on enough
spaces to pay the rent.
359
00:21:31,916 --> 00:21:34,877
You're out on the street if
you can't afford to stay.
360
00:21:35,002 --> 00:21:37,880
It's absolutely a scream.
361
00:21:38,005 --> 00:21:43,052
In 1971, Dan was working on
a story he called "memory."
362
00:21:43,177 --> 00:21:47,139
It's basically the first
30 pages of "alien."
363
00:21:47,264 --> 00:21:48,533
Dan o'bannon: I
had this opening.
364
00:21:48,557 --> 00:21:50,184
I didn't know where
it was gonna go.
365
00:21:50,309 --> 00:21:53,187
I wanted to do a scary movie on
a spaceship with a small number
366
00:21:53,312 --> 00:21:54,688
of astronauts.
367
00:21:54,814 --> 00:21:57,066
They're receiving a signal
in an alien language.
368
00:21:57,191 --> 00:21:58,526
They go down to investigate.
369
00:21:58,651 --> 00:22:01,195
Their ship breaks down.
370
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:02,631
Diane o'bannon: Dan
called it "memory,"
371
00:22:02,655 --> 00:22:04,990
because some influence
in the planet
372
00:22:05,115 --> 00:22:08,619
gradually made them
lose their memory.
373
00:22:08,744 --> 00:22:10,024
But that's where
this story ends.
374
00:22:13,624 --> 00:22:15,209
Ron shusett: He
says, ok, I'm going
375
00:22:15,334 --> 00:22:18,003
to give you the first act I've
got to this original horror
376
00:22:18,128 --> 00:22:19,463
movie I wrote.
377
00:22:19,588 --> 00:22:21,757
I can't get past page 29.
378
00:22:21,882 --> 00:22:23,259
Maybe you can help me do that.
379
00:22:23,384 --> 00:22:25,010
So I read it.
380
00:22:25,135 --> 00:22:28,013
29 pages was almost exactly like
you saw in the final finished
381
00:22:28,138 --> 00:22:29,640
product of the "alien" movie.
382
00:22:29,765 --> 00:22:31,851
It was fantastic.
383
00:22:31,976 --> 00:22:34,979
Dan said, there's a
key to everything.
384
00:22:35,104 --> 00:22:38,399
The key is how does
the alien get on board?
385
00:22:38,524 --> 00:22:43,028
His concept was always it
would come out of your stomach.
386
00:22:43,153 --> 00:22:45,406
Dan had a very
bad case of crohn's
387
00:22:45,531 --> 00:22:48,450
disease, which basically
appeared while he
388
00:22:48,576 --> 00:22:50,536
was filming "dark star."
389
00:22:50,661 --> 00:22:53,330
So he was, what, 24, 25?
390
00:22:53,455 --> 00:22:56,083
And it eventually killed him.
391
00:22:56,208 --> 00:22:59,503
But it was an
intestinal disorder
392
00:22:59,628 --> 00:23:02,506
that sometimes felt like it
was devouring him, I think.
393
00:23:02,631 --> 00:23:04,150
Linda and I would
sometimes have to take him
394
00:23:04,174 --> 00:23:07,011
to the emergency center
in the middle of the night
395
00:23:07,136 --> 00:23:08,679
when the pain was so great.
396
00:23:08,804 --> 00:23:11,056
And at the same time, he'd
been having conversations
397
00:23:11,181 --> 00:23:15,477
with Ron shusett about wasps
that procreate by planting
398
00:23:15,603 --> 00:23:18,147
that eggs into other insects.
399
00:23:18,272 --> 00:23:20,542
It was kind of all these things
sort of come together and were
400
00:23:20,566 --> 00:23:22,151
being sown into the script.
401
00:23:22,276 --> 00:23:24,445
Ron in a way was
really fascinated
402
00:23:24,570 --> 00:23:30,826
with the idea of human
beings being a host for...
403
00:23:30,951 --> 00:23:34,455
For an embryo, that
human beings were
404
00:23:34,580 --> 00:23:35,956
the nutrition for an embryo.
405
00:23:38,709 --> 00:23:40,562
Ron shusett: He didn't have
it in the script at all
406
00:23:40,586 --> 00:23:42,355
that it would implant
something in his stomach
407
00:23:42,379 --> 00:23:43,422
and it would grow there.
408
00:23:43,547 --> 00:23:45,174
So I went to sleep.
409
00:23:45,299 --> 00:23:47,676
And I'm aware... it
wasn't dreaming.
410
00:23:47,801 --> 00:23:49,094
It was something else.
411
00:23:49,219 --> 00:23:52,306
It was when your mind
is in the subconscious.
412
00:23:52,431 --> 00:23:55,100
I was wrestling with a
property in my sleep.
413
00:23:55,225 --> 00:23:57,037
I woke him up, I went right
into his studio and I said,
414
00:23:57,061 --> 00:23:57,645
I have it.
415
00:23:57,770 --> 00:23:58,354
I have it.
416
00:23:58,479 --> 00:23:59,188
He said, what?
417
00:23:59,313 --> 00:24:00,147
You have the answer?
418
00:24:00,272 --> 00:24:00,856
I said, I have the answer.
419
00:24:00,981 --> 00:24:01,565
The alien fucks.
420
00:24:01,690 --> 00:24:02,900
He said, what?
421
00:24:03,025 --> 00:24:04,568
What are you talking about?
422
00:24:04,693 --> 00:24:08,364
I said, jumps on his face,
it's a little creature then,
423
00:24:08,489 --> 00:24:12,409
little baby squid-like,
sticks a tube down his throat,
424
00:24:12,534 --> 00:24:15,704
starts feeding him air, but
he's implanting his seed.
425
00:24:15,829 --> 00:24:17,331
And it's going to
grow inside him
426
00:24:17,456 --> 00:24:19,576
and burst out of his chest
in the middle of the movie.
427
00:24:32,304 --> 00:24:33,744
Carl zimmer: There
are over a million
428
00:24:33,806 --> 00:24:36,475
species of parasitic wasps.
429
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:40,646
That means that of all the
animals in the animal kingdom,
430
00:24:40,771 --> 00:24:45,567
the number one form of
animal is a parasitic wasp.
431
00:24:45,693 --> 00:24:52,282
There are wasps that like to
make caterpillars their host.
432
00:24:52,408 --> 00:24:55,619
They can also release
chemicals that control
433
00:24:55,744 --> 00:24:57,579
the behavior of their host.
434
00:24:57,705 --> 00:25:00,332
And everything it
eats is going to feed
435
00:25:00,457 --> 00:25:05,129
these larvae that are growing
inside of its body cavity.
436
00:25:05,254 --> 00:25:07,589
On the outside, they
look completely normal.
437
00:25:07,715 --> 00:25:12,469
So John hurt having breakfast,
that's a caterpillar with
438
00:25:12,594 --> 00:25:14,304
wasps inside of it.
439
00:25:14,430 --> 00:25:17,558
And then once those
wasps are ready,
440
00:25:17,683 --> 00:25:20,060
they just blast their
way out of their host.
441
00:25:20,185 --> 00:25:22,688
And if that's lethal
to the host, fine.
442
00:25:22,813 --> 00:25:24,982
It doesn't matter.
443
00:25:25,107 --> 00:25:29,862
Ridley Scott liked to show film
footage of one species of wasp
444
00:25:29,987 --> 00:25:33,532
in particular to his crew,
and this is something
445
00:25:33,657 --> 00:25:35,159
known as the wood wasp.
446
00:25:35,284 --> 00:25:38,078
These wasps have to
basically find a way
447
00:25:38,203 --> 00:25:41,999
to stick their wasp bags
inside of beetle larvae that
448
00:25:42,124 --> 00:25:45,419
can be deep inside of wood.
449
00:25:45,544 --> 00:25:48,130
So there are all
these alien things
450
00:25:48,255 --> 00:25:50,090
that parasites are
doing all around us,
451
00:25:50,215 --> 00:25:53,135
and scientists are trying to
make sense of that in the way
452
00:25:53,260 --> 00:25:56,305
that the crew nostromo was
trying to make sense of it
453
00:25:56,430 --> 00:25:58,223
with the alien.
454
00:25:58,348 --> 00:25:59,475
Ripley: That's amazing.
455
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,269
What is it?
456
00:26:02,394 --> 00:26:03,645
Why, yes, it is.
457
00:26:03,771 --> 00:26:08,233
Um, I don't know yet.
458
00:26:08,358 --> 00:26:11,153
Carl zimmer: Getting
inside something else
459
00:26:11,278 --> 00:26:16,825
and feeding on it from
within is a really great way
460
00:26:16,950 --> 00:26:20,412
to survive and evolve.
461
00:26:20,537 --> 00:26:25,918
The alien is just fitting into
this fundamental basic pattern
462
00:26:26,043 --> 00:26:29,797
that you find on life, probably
the most successful way
463
00:26:29,922 --> 00:26:30,922
to be alive on earth.
464
00:26:54,446 --> 00:26:57,157
Giger really came
from Dan o'bannon.
465
00:26:57,282 --> 00:27:00,077
Dan suggested him on
a stroke of genius.
466
00:27:00,202 --> 00:27:02,329
Giger consolidates every monster
467
00:27:02,454 --> 00:27:05,874
from every mythology around the
world into a single creature.
468
00:27:05,999 --> 00:27:07,543
He embodies the mythic other.
469
00:27:07,668 --> 00:27:09,169
Diane o'bannon:
Jodorowsky rescue
470
00:27:09,294 --> 00:27:11,922
went to an opening of some
of giger's artwork in Paris
471
00:27:12,047 --> 00:27:14,424
and brought the book back.
472
00:27:14,550 --> 00:27:19,429
Dan looked at it and was just
knocked dead by the artwork.
473
00:27:19,555 --> 00:27:22,683
They were fantastic,
sexual, mechanical,
474
00:27:22,808 --> 00:27:27,563
biological amalgamation
that was completely new.
475
00:27:27,688 --> 00:27:30,065
Ron shusett: It does express
giger's own admiration
476
00:27:30,190 --> 00:27:35,362
for lovecraft as a pioneer
in envisioning creatures
477
00:27:35,487 --> 00:27:38,115
far beyond human conception.
478
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,702
Diane o'bannon: I think Dan
and giger met at the lovecraft
479
00:27:41,827 --> 00:27:47,082
level, that sort of creeping
horror and unnamed horror
480
00:27:47,207 --> 00:27:51,545
that you are free
yourself to define.
481
00:27:51,670 --> 00:27:54,673
Dan and giger both
had similar interests
482
00:27:54,798 --> 00:27:56,550
in the "necronomicon
483
00:27:56,675 --> 00:27:59,386
while giger was doing
paintings on that theme,
484
00:27:59,511 --> 00:28:02,431
Dan was also writing his
version of the "necronomicon,"
485
00:28:02,556 --> 00:28:03,432
which I still have.
486
00:28:03,557 --> 00:28:04,308
Its unpublished.
487
00:28:04,433 --> 00:28:07,603
It's a... a printed work.
488
00:28:07,728 --> 00:28:09,646
Bijan aalam: Giger was a mystic.
489
00:28:09,771 --> 00:28:13,609
He had his own mythology,
his own cosmology.
490
00:28:13,734 --> 00:28:16,987
He took like a bee
from different flowers
491
00:28:17,112 --> 00:28:23,619
to feed his own imagination
and make his own honey with it.
492
00:28:23,744 --> 00:28:27,080
He's the mythology
of the future.
493
00:28:27,206 --> 00:28:32,628
Of course, there is an
Egyptian touch to "alien."
494
00:28:32,753 --> 00:28:36,215
Hans, his favorite
culture was Egypt.
495
00:28:36,340 --> 00:28:39,092
When he was five years old,
he went with his sister
496
00:28:39,218 --> 00:28:40,802
to the museum.
497
00:28:40,928 --> 00:28:42,721
In the cellar, there
was this mummy,
498
00:28:42,846 --> 00:28:47,434
an Egyptian mummy, and hans,
he was quite afraid of it.
499
00:28:47,559 --> 00:28:49,811
He was so deeply impressed
by the black bones
500
00:28:49,937 --> 00:28:51,396
and the black skin.
501
00:28:51,521 --> 00:28:54,691
From then on, he went
almost every Sunday.
502
00:28:54,816 --> 00:28:59,363
He was absolutely
fascinated by the pyramids.
503
00:28:59,488 --> 00:29:00,989
William linn: In
early storyboards,
504
00:29:01,114 --> 00:29:04,618
you can actually see that
the derelict was a pyramid.
505
00:29:04,743 --> 00:29:08,080
And then later, Ridley
Scott envisions this kind
506
00:29:08,205 --> 00:29:12,084
of ritual area of ruins.
507
00:29:12,209 --> 00:29:14,753
This ship is an
emblem, is a remnant
508
00:29:14,878 --> 00:29:17,965
of a formerly great culture,
an ancient civilization
509
00:29:18,090 --> 00:29:20,634
that's been long lost to time.
510
00:29:20,759 --> 00:29:22,799
That tells us that we should
think of the spaceship,
511
00:29:22,886 --> 00:29:25,222
the derelict, as a temple.
512
00:29:25,347 --> 00:29:27,599
I think the derelict is a
Crescent moon, and ultimately,
513
00:29:27,724 --> 00:29:30,269
a symbol of death.
514
00:29:30,394 --> 00:29:32,074
You see crescents all
throughout the story.
515
00:29:35,399 --> 00:29:38,110
In the original
screenplay, the pods
516
00:29:38,235 --> 00:29:42,322
were in a kind of pyramid
structure called the temple.
517
00:29:42,447 --> 00:29:46,910
That was removed because
of budget considerations
518
00:29:47,035 --> 00:29:49,788
in the production.
519
00:29:49,913 --> 00:29:52,416
Carmen giger: Three stages
of the alien, you know,
520
00:29:52,541 --> 00:29:57,087
where the hole was put into a
pyramid, and on top of it all,
521
00:29:57,212 --> 00:30:00,465
is nut, the Egyptian
goddess of the night
522
00:30:00,590 --> 00:30:03,552
sky with stars in her belly.
523
00:30:03,677 --> 00:30:06,888
And I think that was
really beautiful.
524
00:30:07,014 --> 00:30:10,809
William linn: You see being
born from her the heavens.
525
00:30:10,934 --> 00:30:13,478
And in many ways,
this becomes an image
526
00:30:13,603 --> 00:30:16,189
of the alien giving
birth to this species
527
00:30:16,315 --> 00:30:18,692
that could devour the heavens.
528
00:30:18,817 --> 00:30:23,905
Nut represents the duad
itself, the realm of the dead,
529
00:30:24,031 --> 00:30:26,616
the realm of night,
the realm of the stars.
530
00:30:26,742 --> 00:30:28,368
This is where the
sun goes every night.
531
00:30:28,493 --> 00:30:31,371
This is where the soul goes
between life and death.
532
00:30:31,496 --> 00:30:34,041
We are in the aliens
domain in this whole story.
533
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:43,091
The first I saw of the "alien"
script was an early version.
534
00:30:43,216 --> 00:30:45,427
Dan o'bannon brought it to me.
535
00:30:45,552 --> 00:30:50,223
And as I recall, the original
title was "star beast."
536
00:30:50,349 --> 00:30:55,729
I liked the script, and I wanted
to make it, but I said to Dan,
537
00:30:55,854 --> 00:30:58,899
this really requires
a bigger budget
538
00:30:59,024 --> 00:31:01,276
than what I'm able to spend.
539
00:31:01,401 --> 00:31:03,987
Why don't you shop
it around and see
540
00:31:04,112 --> 00:31:06,365
if you can get a big budget.
541
00:31:06,490 --> 00:31:10,285
If you can't get the big
budget, come back to me
542
00:31:10,410 --> 00:31:13,914
and I will buy the script
and make the picture.
543
00:31:14,039 --> 00:31:15,665
Ian Nathan: And
a guy called Mark
544
00:31:15,791 --> 00:31:19,211
hager got this script into the
pile at Walter hill's office.
545
00:31:19,336 --> 00:31:22,631
And it must have been a day when
Walter hill was at a loose end.
546
00:31:22,756 --> 00:31:24,925
He happened upon "star beast."
547
00:31:25,050 --> 00:31:26,652
Now, he thought "star
beast" was one of the worst
548
00:31:26,676 --> 00:31:28,428
scripts he'd ever read.
549
00:31:28,553 --> 00:31:30,180
He just thought it was awful.
550
00:31:30,305 --> 00:31:36,978
But he stopped, page whatever,
30, whatever it was, and went,
551
00:31:37,104 --> 00:31:38,563
what the hell?
552
00:31:38,688 --> 00:31:43,568
When brandywine showed
interest and optioned "alien,"
553
00:31:43,693 --> 00:31:47,572
Dan was, of course, being a
pest and insistent that they
554
00:31:47,697 --> 00:31:50,700
use giger for the creature.
555
00:31:50,826 --> 00:31:58,458
This is the letter to geiger
from Dan dated July 1, 1977.
556
00:31:58,583 --> 00:32:01,795
"Dear giger, this week
I've moved into offices
557
00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:03,839
of brandywine
productions where we
558
00:32:03,964 --> 00:32:06,675
are beginning to make the
design decisions for our film.
559
00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,177
The producers, Gordon
carroll and David giler,
560
00:32:09,302 --> 00:32:11,221
and the director,
Walter hill, are
561
00:32:11,346 --> 00:32:13,223
as excited as I am
about the possibilities
562
00:32:13,348 --> 00:32:16,726
of your lending your unique
talents to our picture.
563
00:32:16,852 --> 00:32:19,146
Look over the enclosed
description of the designs we
564
00:32:19,271 --> 00:32:21,440
need, then let us know
how much you would
565
00:32:21,565 --> 00:32:23,650
ask for the paintings involved.
566
00:32:23,775 --> 00:32:27,487
When we agree, we send you a
check for $1,000 as an advance
567
00:32:27,612 --> 00:32:29,990
against future payments.
568
00:32:30,115 --> 00:32:34,119
Yeah, well, brandywine didn't
want to pay the $1,000,
569
00:32:34,244 --> 00:32:39,082
so Dan sent him a
personal check for $1,000.
570
00:32:39,207 --> 00:32:41,918
The face hugger,
that was my first thing
571
00:32:42,043 --> 00:32:44,629
I did for Dan o'bannon.
572
00:32:44,754 --> 00:32:48,508
He gave me explanation
and drawings,
573
00:32:48,633 --> 00:32:51,928
and he said that he's
jumping on a big egg,
574
00:32:52,053 --> 00:32:54,723
this egg is about that, so.
575
00:32:54,848 --> 00:32:57,809
And I thought that must be
quite a big monster, so I
576
00:32:57,934 --> 00:33:01,730
did an enormous facehugger.
577
00:33:01,855 --> 00:33:04,858
And then he was
jumping, I thought
578
00:33:04,983 --> 00:33:09,738
he could jump when his tail is
like, it's curved like a spring
579
00:33:09,863 --> 00:33:13,783
of the Jack in the box.
580
00:33:13,909 --> 00:33:15,303
Diane o'bannon: And
from those sketches,
581
00:33:15,327 --> 00:33:17,454
he went ahead and
did the paintings.
582
00:33:17,579 --> 00:33:21,458
And that's why the paintings
say Dan o'bannon's alien,
583
00:33:21,583 --> 00:33:23,793
because Dan paid for them.
584
00:33:23,919 --> 00:33:27,005
Fox hierarchy come in to
see some of the designs,
585
00:33:27,130 --> 00:33:28,548
and they fired him.
586
00:33:28,673 --> 00:33:30,759
Gordon carroll finally
said, this guy is just sick.
587
00:33:30,884 --> 00:33:31,885
Get him off our lot.
588
00:33:32,010 --> 00:33:33,170
Send him back to Switzerland.
589
00:33:33,261 --> 00:33:34,846
We're having none of it.
590
00:33:34,971 --> 00:33:36,890
So giger was gone.
591
00:33:37,015 --> 00:33:39,893
Fox is full speed
ahead with brandywine.
592
00:33:40,018 --> 00:33:41,996
They're in preproduction
Walter hill is going to direct
593
00:33:42,020 --> 00:33:43,647
the film, and all of
a sudden, the studio
594
00:33:43,772 --> 00:33:46,399
gets a call from Walter hill,
basically, where he says, yeah,
595
00:33:46,525 --> 00:33:47,525
I'm not going to...
596
00:33:47,609 --> 00:33:49,444
I'm not going to
make this movie.
597
00:33:49,569 --> 00:33:51,112
I never really believed in it.
598
00:33:51,238 --> 00:33:53,090
I don't think it's that great,
and I got another picture
599
00:33:53,114 --> 00:33:54,199
I'm going to do here.
600
00:33:54,324 --> 00:33:56,117
So good luck.
601
00:33:56,243 --> 00:33:57,536
I'm out.
602
00:33:57,661 --> 00:34:00,539
And that other picture
was "southern comfort."
603
00:34:00,664 --> 00:34:02,082
Not a bad movie.
604
00:34:02,207 --> 00:34:03,500
Not "alien."
605
00:34:03,625 --> 00:34:06,002
I read the script, and
I thought, well, this is
606
00:34:06,127 --> 00:34:09,422
very solid, very interesting.
607
00:34:09,548 --> 00:34:11,967
It's not really
an actor's script.
608
00:34:12,092 --> 00:34:14,177
There was no one else
attached, and they're
609
00:34:14,302 --> 00:34:18,765
asking me to get
involved in what was then
610
00:34:18,890 --> 00:34:22,352
a budgeted film for $2 million.
611
00:34:22,477 --> 00:34:26,565
$2 million sounds
like an ed wood movie.
612
00:34:26,690 --> 00:34:29,526
So I turned it down.
613
00:34:29,651 --> 00:34:33,780
Ridley and I had just
finished off the do list.
614
00:34:33,905 --> 00:34:35,407
There was this
thing between Ridley
615
00:34:35,532 --> 00:34:38,326
and I about Sci-Fi, and that
I was the Sci-Fi fanatic.
616
00:34:38,451 --> 00:34:40,662
And all the films that
I used to show him,
617
00:34:40,787 --> 00:34:44,499
he would completely
disparage and say,
618
00:34:44,624 --> 00:34:46,585
no, that's a pile of shit.
619
00:34:46,710 --> 00:34:49,004
He had the script through
the door called the "alien,"
620
00:34:49,129 --> 00:34:51,506
and I tried to say, well,
let me read it, et cetera,
621
00:34:51,631 --> 00:34:54,009
and for some reason
or other, this time,
622
00:34:54,134 --> 00:34:57,095
he said, no, no, no,
no, I'll read it first.
623
00:34:57,220 --> 00:34:58,680
And so he was in
the next door office
624
00:34:58,805 --> 00:35:02,434
where we made commercials,
and I remember him
625
00:35:02,559 --> 00:35:05,854
sitting there going, fuck me.
626
00:35:05,979 --> 00:35:07,814
Tom skerritt: I got a
call a few weeks later,
627
00:35:07,939 --> 00:35:11,109
and they said, well, the
budget's up to $10 million,
628
00:35:11,234 --> 00:35:15,030
and a director named Ridley
Scott is going to direct it.
629
00:35:15,155 --> 00:35:17,198
I said, sold.
630
00:35:17,324 --> 00:35:19,909
I got a phone call
from Ridley saying,
631
00:35:20,035 --> 00:35:22,996
get your backside down
to shepperton now.
632
00:35:23,121 --> 00:35:26,166
So I drove straight down there.
633
00:35:26,291 --> 00:35:30,420
Diane o'bannon: When brandywine
brought Ridley on was when Dan
634
00:35:30,545 --> 00:35:33,089
really got an ally
in a lot of what
635
00:35:33,214 --> 00:35:36,676
he wanted for "alien" to be.
636
00:35:36,801 --> 00:35:39,763
Very, very rare occurrence
when the writer can
637
00:35:39,888 --> 00:35:41,806
have that amount of influence.
638
00:35:41,931 --> 00:35:43,159
Ron shusett: We
thought he was gonna
639
00:35:43,183 --> 00:35:44,535
be the wrong director
for it, and he
640
00:35:44,559 --> 00:35:46,645
turned out to be the
greatest visual stylist
641
00:35:46,770 --> 00:35:48,313
since kubrick's prime.
642
00:35:48,438 --> 00:35:49,981
Ian Nathan: And he's
such a visual guy
643
00:35:50,106 --> 00:35:52,251
that the first thing he did
was kind of to break it down
644
00:35:52,275 --> 00:35:54,903
into storyboards, draws his
own storyboard, extraordinary
645
00:35:55,028 --> 00:35:57,197
artist, these fantastic images.
646
00:35:57,322 --> 00:36:00,533
But what it doesn't really have
is a clear idea of the alien.
647
00:36:00,659 --> 00:36:02,285
It's not quite there.
648
00:36:02,410 --> 00:36:04,788
O'bannon says look,
I've got this book.
649
00:36:04,913 --> 00:36:06,349
Diane o'bannon: When
Dan showed Ridley
650
00:36:06,373 --> 00:36:09,417
the "necronomicon,"
Ridley instantly said,
651
00:36:09,542 --> 00:36:11,419
yes, this is it.
652
00:36:11,544 --> 00:36:15,090
I was shown the book, necro...
653
00:36:15,215 --> 00:36:16,800
Woman: Nomicom.
654
00:36:16,925 --> 00:36:20,595
"Necronomicon," ok, in los
Angeles, in fact, by o'bannon.
655
00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:21,721
He brought it in.
656
00:36:21,846 --> 00:36:23,556
And I nearly fell off the desk.
657
00:36:23,682 --> 00:36:25,600
Said, that's it.
658
00:36:25,725 --> 00:36:27,435
And why look further?
659
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:28,978
And so that's how I saw it.
660
00:36:29,104 --> 00:36:30,605
It was as simple as that.
661
00:36:30,730 --> 00:36:33,817
I've never been so certain
about anything in my life.
662
00:36:33,942 --> 00:36:36,486
There were many
arguments at that stage.
663
00:36:36,611 --> 00:36:38,571
Fox were really quite troubled.
664
00:36:38,697 --> 00:36:43,243
But it was an early sign of how
strong Scott was on that film
665
00:36:43,368 --> 00:36:45,829
that he won so many battles.
666
00:36:45,954 --> 00:36:48,164
And the most fundamental
and important one
667
00:36:48,289 --> 00:36:51,167
was he got giger back on.
668
00:36:51,292 --> 00:36:52,752
And I just thought
it was stunning,
669
00:36:52,877 --> 00:36:55,922
and I just stuck to
my guns saying, no.
670
00:36:56,047 --> 00:36:57,507
No, that's it.
671
00:36:57,632 --> 00:36:59,801
They said, let's bring him
in and talk some concepts.
672
00:36:59,926 --> 00:37:01,052
I said, no.
673
00:37:01,177 --> 00:37:01,928
You can't do that.
674
00:37:02,053 --> 00:37:03,179
That's it.
675
00:37:03,304 --> 00:37:04,704
We want to be
shooting by so and so.
676
00:37:04,764 --> 00:37:06,307
That's it.
677
00:37:06,433 --> 00:37:08,810
Just to get this right is
gonna be incredibly difficult.
678
00:37:08,935 --> 00:37:11,479
This is beautiful,
not just threatening.
679
00:37:11,604 --> 00:37:14,023
And also has very
sexual connotations.
680
00:37:14,149 --> 00:37:17,277
So in everything, it's
like a rather beautiful
681
00:37:17,402 --> 00:37:21,406
humanoid biomechanoid insect.
682
00:37:21,531 --> 00:37:24,075
Giger talks about
intentionally drawing imagery
683
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,077
from his own dreams,
that means coming
684
00:37:26,202 --> 00:37:27,746
from a place where
he didn't have
685
00:37:27,871 --> 00:37:30,248
agency over what came to him.
686
00:37:30,373 --> 00:37:35,754
When he painted, he was
in this sort of trance.
687
00:37:35,879 --> 00:37:40,759
He was possessed, like
a seer, a blind seer.
688
00:37:44,679 --> 00:37:49,142
Would go like that,
and like in a polaroid,
689
00:37:49,267 --> 00:37:54,022
an image would appear
and take shape.
690
00:37:54,147 --> 00:37:57,108
Diane o'bannon: Giger's
images existed in a universe
691
00:37:57,233 --> 00:37:59,486
of their own in Switzerland.
692
00:37:59,611 --> 00:38:03,865
And they really found their
place in space, the xenomorph
693
00:38:03,990 --> 00:38:06,910
and the space jockey.
694
00:38:07,035 --> 00:38:10,497
Giger's images really
found a home in "alien."
695
00:38:10,622 --> 00:38:12,683
Part of what you're seeing
with the character of "alien"
696
00:38:12,707 --> 00:38:16,544
is this gorgeous synchrony,
this incredible synthesis
697
00:38:16,669 --> 00:38:18,880
of multiple
mythological characters,
698
00:38:19,005 --> 00:38:22,091
sekhmet, pazuzu, Kali.
699
00:38:22,217 --> 00:38:24,719
Ian Nathan: You can see
the medieval dragon,
700
00:38:24,844 --> 00:38:30,266
the renaissance demons, the
work of heironymous bosch.
701
00:38:30,391 --> 00:38:32,852
And it's a synthesis that
wasn't done consciously.
702
00:38:32,977 --> 00:38:35,438
It was a synthesis that happened
in the cauldron of stories
703
00:38:35,563 --> 00:38:38,024
that was giger's imagination.
704
00:38:38,149 --> 00:38:40,610
This is a character with which
all three of these artists
705
00:38:40,735 --> 00:38:42,111
identified.
706
00:38:42,237 --> 00:38:43,839
And because they all
resonated with this pattern,
707
00:38:43,863 --> 00:38:45,824
they were drawn
together, this coming
708
00:38:45,949 --> 00:38:48,701
from a much deeper place.
709
00:38:48,827 --> 00:38:52,664
Ian Nathan: Such a brilliant
choice that in the end,
710
00:38:52,789 --> 00:38:56,042
you could say separates "alien"
from anything else was you've
711
00:38:56,167 --> 00:38:58,878
got this extraordinary
artist with this sort
712
00:38:59,003 --> 00:39:01,965
of mind-blowing imagery,
and you inject it
713
00:39:02,090 --> 00:39:03,090
straight into the film.
714
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:11,432
Nicholas cull: In the hands
of perhaps an aficionados who
715
00:39:11,558 --> 00:39:14,435
loved horror movies
and science fiction,
716
00:39:14,561 --> 00:39:17,939
it might have turned out to be
a completely different movie.
717
00:39:18,064 --> 00:39:19,607
Diane o'bannon:
The triptych of Dan
718
00:39:19,732 --> 00:39:22,777
o'bannon, Ridley Scott,
and hans rudi giger
719
00:39:22,902 --> 00:39:26,239
was the gift from the gods.
720
00:39:26,364 --> 00:39:27,591
They were on the
same wavelength.
721
00:39:27,615 --> 00:39:29,158
And they were all
thinking about this
722
00:39:29,284 --> 00:39:34,122
is more than a science fiction
adventure into the future.
723
00:39:34,247 --> 00:39:36,499
This was just as
much an exploration
724
00:39:36,624 --> 00:39:39,252
of the ancient past,
of the repressed
725
00:39:39,377 --> 00:39:42,672
and forgotten that
the alien represents.
726
00:39:42,797 --> 00:39:44,966
When a story comes
from multiple people,
727
00:39:45,091 --> 00:39:47,677
and beyond the agency
of multiple people,
728
00:39:47,802 --> 00:39:50,722
it has a special existence.
729
00:39:50,847 --> 00:39:52,074
Roger Christian:
It is a symbiosis.
730
00:39:52,098 --> 00:39:55,351
"Alien" is a symbiosis
of a few people
731
00:39:55,476 --> 00:39:57,312
who had that sensibility.
732
00:39:57,437 --> 00:39:59,522
If Dan had gone off
and been in charge,
733
00:39:59,647 --> 00:40:01,041
it would have been
a different film.
734
00:40:01,065 --> 00:40:03,359
It would have had more
of the "dark star."
735
00:40:03,484 --> 00:40:06,571
Ron Cobb would have been pure
Sci-Fi, all perfectly done,
736
00:40:06,696 --> 00:40:10,742
more star trekky in
a way, or "2001
737
00:40:10,867 --> 00:40:15,622
I came on board and made
everything look grungy and real
738
00:40:15,747 --> 00:40:18,333
and like a space
truck, you know?
739
00:40:18,458 --> 00:40:21,169
"Alien", I would say
we got the sets right.
740
00:40:21,294 --> 00:40:23,504
The audience didn't
ever question
741
00:40:23,630 --> 00:40:26,341
that we just found
some old space craft
742
00:40:26,466 --> 00:40:29,010
and gone in and filmed in it.
743
00:40:29,135 --> 00:40:31,554
That was different to the
world that had gone before.
744
00:40:31,679 --> 00:40:35,141
There was "robby the robot,"
there was "barbarella."
745
00:40:35,266 --> 00:40:38,311
It's both very tangible, and
a completely different world
746
00:40:38,436 --> 00:40:39,729
at the same time.
747
00:40:39,854 --> 00:40:41,981
There's something almost
perennial about the way
748
00:40:42,106 --> 00:40:44,442
that yes, those ships are
a completely different
749
00:40:44,567 --> 00:40:46,694
environment from what
we're used to now
750
00:40:46,819 --> 00:40:49,572
and what we would have
seen 1,000 years ago,
751
00:40:49,697 --> 00:40:50,977
but human beings
haven't changed,
752
00:40:51,074 --> 00:40:53,409
and they still behave
in the same way.
753
00:40:53,534 --> 00:40:56,412
I place the hub of
the wheel at Ridley,
754
00:40:56,537 --> 00:41:00,249
because he's a visionary, and he
knew what to do with this film
755
00:41:00,375 --> 00:41:02,627
and how to marshal all
these different elements
756
00:41:02,752 --> 00:41:04,545
into "alien."
757
00:41:04,671 --> 00:41:06,881
Tom skerritt: He was
running the camera,
758
00:41:07,006 --> 00:41:09,384
during a lot of the
lighting, everything
759
00:41:09,509 --> 00:41:11,302
was going on at
once, and he was just
760
00:41:11,427 --> 00:41:14,597
conducting it so splendidly.
761
00:41:14,722 --> 00:41:17,392
Ridley shot, yeah, a
good 80% of the film,
762
00:41:17,517 --> 00:41:18,893
and it was a panel
vision camera.
763
00:41:19,018 --> 00:41:20,311
I mean, these aren't light.
764
00:41:20,436 --> 00:41:24,440
He wanted... he wanted
anamorphic on purpose.
765
00:41:24,565 --> 00:41:27,944
We were contained in a space,
and that wide-angle lens
766
00:41:28,069 --> 00:41:31,155
made it seem much
more claustrophobic.
767
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:33,199
The costume designer
who worked with Ridley
768
00:41:33,324 --> 00:41:34,635
said to me once,
you know, Ridley's
769
00:41:34,659 --> 00:41:37,120
got a camera for a head.
770
00:41:37,245 --> 00:41:42,834
He knows where to put
the camera automatically.
771
00:41:42,959 --> 00:41:45,670
When your hand-held, your
breathing with the actors,
772
00:41:45,795 --> 00:41:49,173
you're just part of
what you're filming.
773
00:41:49,298 --> 00:41:52,093
You're not distanced.
774
00:41:52,218 --> 00:41:56,723
I think that's one of the
best operated films ever seen.
775
00:41:56,848 --> 00:41:58,433
It's not wobbly cam.
776
00:41:58,558 --> 00:42:00,518
It was very beautifully
photographed.
777
00:42:06,357 --> 00:42:08,043
Ian Nathan: There's a great
opening sequences where
778
00:42:08,067 --> 00:42:10,486
the camera drifts through
the empty nostromo,
779
00:42:10,611 --> 00:42:15,116
and he had this wonderful
sense of movement in the frame.
780
00:42:15,241 --> 00:42:17,118
Even though they're all
in their cryo chambers,
781
00:42:17,243 --> 00:42:19,746
there's a strange sense
of life about the vessel.
782
00:42:19,871 --> 00:42:22,749
It's all kind of
presaging what's coming.
783
00:42:22,874 --> 00:42:26,210
But it's a haunted quality
that flutter in the frame.
784
00:42:26,335 --> 00:42:27,615
And he talks a
lot about the fact
785
00:42:27,670 --> 00:42:29,547
that he never let
the camera sit still,
786
00:42:29,672 --> 00:42:34,177
that it has to keep moving,
because you want the audience
787
00:42:34,302 --> 00:42:35,678
on edge the whole time.
788
00:42:35,803 --> 00:42:38,389
You never let the
film settle down.
789
00:42:38,514 --> 00:42:40,808
And even around the scenes
where they're kind of just
790
00:42:40,933 --> 00:42:43,133
having these kind of rather
sort of squabbling sequences
791
00:42:43,227 --> 00:42:47,023
between the crew, just
normal ship stuff,
792
00:42:47,148 --> 00:42:49,817
this there's slight air of
agitation about how he frames
793
00:42:49,942 --> 00:42:51,569
and how he moves the camera.
794
00:42:51,694 --> 00:42:53,174
He's getting the heartbeat
795
00:42:53,279 --> 00:42:57,450
of the film, this kind of
growing throb that it has.
796
00:42:57,575 --> 00:43:01,329
Roger Christian: The reason
he wanted the ship in one path
797
00:43:01,454 --> 00:43:05,208
was he wanted to film like the
Mary Celeste at the opening.
798
00:43:05,333 --> 00:43:07,960
He was tracking around
the ship, and there
799
00:43:08,086 --> 00:43:09,879
were eerie little
things going on,
800
00:43:10,004 --> 00:43:12,256
the pecking birds that I
put in there for Ridley,
801
00:43:12,381 --> 00:43:14,300
and everyone said,
you can't do that.
802
00:43:14,425 --> 00:43:16,010
I thought it's a great idea.
803
00:43:16,135 --> 00:43:18,554
The annoying thing, yeah,
that was a Ridley realism,
804
00:43:18,679 --> 00:43:20,449
the little nodding... the
little nodding things.
805
00:43:20,473 --> 00:43:22,308
He had a thing about
that for whatever reason
806
00:43:22,433 --> 00:43:23,101
back from childhood.
807
00:43:23,226 --> 00:43:24,727
I loved it.
808
00:43:24,852 --> 00:43:26,455
Roger Christian: They were
in all the cars in england.
809
00:43:26,479 --> 00:43:28,082
Everyone had these blooming
things that were nodding.
810
00:43:28,106 --> 00:43:29,440
And they always was a joke.
811
00:43:29,565 --> 00:43:31,776
You know, america had
dice hanging and stuff,
812
00:43:31,901 --> 00:43:34,737
but england had
these nodding birds.
813
00:43:34,862 --> 00:43:36,656
It's perpetual motion.
814
00:43:36,781 --> 00:43:41,410
How do you illustrate that
this thing is just carrying on,
815
00:43:41,536 --> 00:43:44,539
and there's no
human beings on it?
816
00:43:44,664 --> 00:43:45,957
It just worked to me.
817
00:43:46,082 --> 00:43:49,001
And that quite kind of
going around the ship
818
00:43:49,127 --> 00:43:53,047
and the eeriness of
it, to me, said a lot.
819
00:43:53,172 --> 00:43:55,466
The little papers rustling.
820
00:43:55,591 --> 00:43:56,968
Terry rawlings:
It's all illogical.
821
00:43:57,093 --> 00:43:59,428
What would make these
pages flit around?
822
00:43:59,554 --> 00:44:00,614
Where's the wind coming from?
823
00:44:00,638 --> 00:44:01,514
All that stuff.
824
00:44:01,639 --> 00:44:02,682
Ivor Powell: Yeah.
825
00:44:02,807 --> 00:44:04,976
It didn't make
sense, but it did.
826
00:44:05,101 --> 00:44:06,310
Yeah.
827
00:44:06,435 --> 00:44:07,915
You know, it was
like Ridley's vision.
828
00:44:08,020 --> 00:44:10,439
His eye prevails over...
829
00:44:10,565 --> 00:44:13,568
Perhaps he'll forgive me
saying... the scientific logic
830
00:44:13,693 --> 00:44:16,821
of something, which is hence
why we had rain pissing
831
00:44:16,946 --> 00:44:19,657
down when Brett gets killed
in that sort of chain
832
00:44:19,782 --> 00:44:20,782
hanging room.
833
00:44:20,825 --> 00:44:22,451
And I had several discussions.
834
00:44:22,577 --> 00:44:24,787
Having worked on
"2001 where everything
835
00:44:24,912 --> 00:44:29,500
was meticulous and
real, but rain in space?
836
00:44:29,625 --> 00:44:31,627
You know, where...
Where's it coming from?
837
00:44:31,752 --> 00:44:32,378
He said, I don't care.
838
00:44:32,503 --> 00:44:33,254
It looks great.
839
00:44:33,379 --> 00:44:34,213
Terry rawlings: It does.
840
00:44:34,338 --> 00:44:35,631
Ivor Powell: That was it.
841
00:44:35,756 --> 00:44:37,884
A thing that we
got from Ben burtt,
842
00:44:38,009 --> 00:44:41,888
we got this sort of that
843
00:44:42,013 --> 00:44:43,890
kept going throughout the film.
844
00:44:49,437 --> 00:44:50,998
Ivor Powell: It was
almost like a breathing,
845
00:44:51,022 --> 00:44:53,024
a sort of an alien
breath, breathing
846
00:44:53,149 --> 00:44:55,109
in, exhaling and inhaling.
847
00:44:55,234 --> 00:44:57,236
And I think it gave a
kind of, just a kind
848
00:44:57,361 --> 00:44:59,780
of feeling that something
was breathing down your neck
849
00:44:59,906 --> 00:45:01,240
all the time.
850
00:45:01,365 --> 00:45:03,326
Kind of gave you an
organic feel to the ship.
851
00:45:06,037 --> 00:45:07,580
Roger Christian: And
then the computer
852
00:45:07,705 --> 00:45:12,960
chatter that comes on in the
helmet, it makes you think,
853
00:45:13,085 --> 00:45:15,671
what's going on here?
854
00:45:15,796 --> 00:45:18,341
Everything that
Ridley built up was
855
00:45:18,466 --> 00:45:21,219
building on this
fear of the unknown,
856
00:45:21,344 --> 00:45:22,637
of something happening.
857
00:45:22,762 --> 00:45:25,264
Everybody's now waiting
for something to happen,
858
00:45:25,389 --> 00:45:26,474
but it doesn't.
859
00:45:26,599 --> 00:45:27,975
When I started
working on the film,
860
00:45:28,100 --> 00:45:29,685
I just realized that this...
861
00:45:29,810 --> 00:45:34,649
This film was going to be
virtually in slow motion.
862
00:45:34,774 --> 00:45:38,236
Everything was slow, except
for these stabs that you've
863
00:45:38,361 --> 00:45:40,613
got at various points.
864
00:45:40,738 --> 00:45:43,407
And you thought, how can
I sort of push someone
865
00:45:43,532 --> 00:45:46,410
into a corner from the
editing point of view,
866
00:45:46,535 --> 00:45:50,122
and how far do you go before the
audience says enough's enough?
867
00:45:57,296 --> 00:45:58,649
Ivor Powell: There
was a lot of, I think,
868
00:45:58,673 --> 00:46:01,300
studio concern about
the fact that it
869
00:46:01,425 --> 00:46:05,263
was 45 minutes before anything,
in their opinion, happened.
870
00:46:05,388 --> 00:46:08,140
Before the facehugger
jumps out of the egg and...
871
00:46:08,266 --> 00:46:11,936
And hits John hurt on
the... on the old visage.
872
00:46:12,061 --> 00:46:13,271
But that was its strength.
873
00:46:13,396 --> 00:46:14,480
Indeed.
874
00:46:14,605 --> 00:46:16,107
That really was
its strength, to be
875
00:46:16,232 --> 00:46:18,818
able to hold it back
that long before you
876
00:46:18,943 --> 00:46:20,987
really gave it to the audience.
877
00:46:21,112 --> 00:46:24,282
They all found it very
hard to cope with that.
878
00:46:24,407 --> 00:46:26,468
Ian Nathan: Dan o'bannon had
conceptualized very early
879
00:46:26,492 --> 00:46:29,829
on in his script that they
wouldn't find the eggs
880
00:46:29,954 --> 00:46:31,914
in the derelict spacecraft.
881
00:46:32,039 --> 00:46:33,749
They would find
the space jockey.
882
00:46:39,046 --> 00:46:40,732
Extraordinary vision,
and it came from giger.
883
00:46:40,756 --> 00:46:43,551
It was a giger picture.
884
00:46:43,676 --> 00:46:45,356
And it did something
brilliant in the sense
885
00:46:45,386 --> 00:46:48,889
that it showed you that the
universe was extraordinary.
886
00:46:49,015 --> 00:46:50,391
It was haunting.
887
00:46:50,516 --> 00:46:51,809
It was almost certainly benign.
888
00:46:51,934 --> 00:46:54,395
You felt almost sort of
a loss when you saw it.
889
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:57,064
It was a kind of creature
ossified to a chair.
890
00:46:57,189 --> 00:46:59,549
You never quite understood what
was creature what was chair,
891
00:46:59,608 --> 00:47:01,444
and it was just brilliant.
892
00:47:01,569 --> 00:47:04,613
It's another thing that
Scott had to fight for.
893
00:47:04,739 --> 00:47:07,616
Because fox just went, well, it
doesn't have any plot function,
894
00:47:07,742 --> 00:47:09,035
you know?
895
00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:11,245
They just go through the
floor and find the eggs.
896
00:47:11,370 --> 00:47:13,497
Ridley said, you can't just
have a hole in the ground.
897
00:47:13,622 --> 00:47:16,792
You've got to suggest something.
898
00:47:16,917 --> 00:47:18,669
In the chest of what
was then the space
899
00:47:18,794 --> 00:47:21,422
jockey, which we now know to be
the engineer, there's a hole.
900
00:47:21,547 --> 00:47:26,510
Dallas: Bones are bent outward,
like he exploded from inside.
901
00:47:26,635 --> 00:47:29,347
So you get an instance
of what is a hint,
902
00:47:29,472 --> 00:47:34,602
a tiny little drop of maybe
what these... these things do.
903
00:47:34,727 --> 00:47:37,563
And they lower Kane
in on like, a wench.
904
00:47:37,688 --> 00:47:39,231
Dallas: Can you see anything?
905
00:47:39,357 --> 00:47:41,692
Kane: I don't... a cave.
906
00:47:41,817 --> 00:47:43,986
A cave of some sort, but I...
907
00:47:47,281 --> 00:47:49,481
I don't know, but it's like
the goddamn tropics in here.
908
00:47:51,911 --> 00:47:54,705
Ian Nathan: And he sees in
there this great sort of tableau
909
00:47:54,830 --> 00:47:57,166
that giger had actually painted.
910
00:47:57,291 --> 00:48:01,921
When we got that onto that
set and saw what they had done,
911
00:48:02,046 --> 00:48:04,340
I mean, it was just...
It was mind-boggling.
912
00:48:04,465 --> 00:48:06,634
Everything was actual size.
913
00:48:06,759 --> 00:48:08,636
There was no cgi.
914
00:48:08,761 --> 00:48:12,390
So you were inside of
these big huge caverns
915
00:48:12,515 --> 00:48:14,517
that look like big
vaginas, you know?
916
00:48:14,642 --> 00:48:18,979
I mean, everything had a sort
of a very sexual orientation.
917
00:48:19,105 --> 00:48:20,815
Ian Nathan: So you've
landed on the planet,
918
00:48:20,940 --> 00:48:23,234
and you've had this
ethereal sequence.
919
00:48:23,359 --> 00:48:26,278
Kane is almost guided
via the signal,
920
00:48:26,404 --> 00:48:28,364
some voice is
calling him onwards.
921
00:48:28,489 --> 00:48:30,050
And it's kind of wonderful
to think that there's
922
00:48:30,074 --> 00:48:32,451
something there, you know,
that the alien spacecraft
923
00:48:32,576 --> 00:48:34,286
is calling him.
924
00:48:34,412 --> 00:48:36,914
We get finally to the
belly of the derelict,
925
00:48:37,039 --> 00:48:39,333
and we get the egg chamber.
926
00:48:39,458 --> 00:48:41,293
That's the wake-up moment.
927
00:48:45,214 --> 00:48:48,092
That whole tactic of the
beginning, the openness,
928
00:48:48,217 --> 00:48:50,386
and the kind of
hauntingness, suddenly, it
929
00:48:50,511 --> 00:48:52,763
gets sucked inward.
930
00:48:52,888 --> 00:48:54,306
Up until that
point, the film has
931
00:48:54,432 --> 00:48:57,768
been a kind of strange
hybrid between a kubrickian
932
00:48:57,893 --> 00:49:00,813
serious science fiction
and this almost kind
933
00:49:00,938 --> 00:49:02,606
of fairy tale-like atmosphere.
934
00:49:02,731 --> 00:49:06,402
It's kind of strange
sort of hauntingness.
935
00:49:06,527 --> 00:49:09,738
It's not, strictly
speaking, entirely realistic
936
00:49:09,864 --> 00:49:12,408
up until the point
they have dinner.
937
00:49:12,533 --> 00:49:14,160
The chestburster
changes the complexion
938
00:49:14,285 --> 00:49:18,998
of the film from a kind of
epic to a kind of horribly,
939
00:49:19,123 --> 00:49:22,960
horribly intimate and sort
of claustrophobic and inward.
940
00:49:23,085 --> 00:49:24,938
It's kind of an inward movement,
even though the creature
941
00:49:24,962 --> 00:49:26,130
comes out of him.
942
00:49:26,255 --> 00:49:27,840
Suddenly, everybody's trapped.
943
00:49:27,965 --> 00:49:30,718
Suddenly, the spaceship is small
and confined, where before,
944
00:49:30,843 --> 00:49:33,179
it being this kind
of fast vessel.
945
00:49:33,304 --> 00:49:35,681
And what the film does is
make that hyper leap jump
946
00:49:35,806 --> 00:49:39,310
into a primal survival
story about many more things
947
00:49:39,435 --> 00:49:41,020
than we realize.
948
00:49:41,145 --> 00:49:44,356
Ridley always says
that this... this
949
00:49:44,482 --> 00:49:46,358
was the scene that
stood out that
950
00:49:46,484 --> 00:49:48,360
would make or break the film.
951
00:49:48,486 --> 00:49:53,199
It was just some craziness
that came out of Ron shusett
952
00:49:53,324 --> 00:49:56,035
and Dan o'bannon's mind.
953
00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:58,662
When you read it in the script,
there's so many different ways
954
00:49:58,787 --> 00:50:01,165
to approach it.
955
00:50:01,290 --> 00:50:05,711
And Ridley was so
constrained with the scene.
956
00:50:05,836 --> 00:50:08,380
It's a very significant
moment in film history.
957
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:17,014
The idea came from a
painting from Francis bacon.
958
00:50:17,139 --> 00:50:21,435
Ridley Scott told me that
this painting, it's just
959
00:50:21,560 --> 00:50:25,981
a crucification, and
one of the member
960
00:50:26,106 --> 00:50:33,614
has just teeth and red
flesh, and he liked to have
961
00:50:33,739 --> 00:50:35,115
the chestburster like that.
962
00:50:38,160 --> 00:50:40,037
Francis bacon: I've
always been very moved
963
00:50:40,162 --> 00:50:43,082
by the movements of
the mouth and the shape
964
00:50:43,207 --> 00:50:44,917
of the mouth and the teeth.
965
00:50:45,042 --> 00:50:48,963
And I like the, you may
say, the glitter and color
966
00:50:49,088 --> 00:50:50,965
that comes from the mouth.
967
00:50:51,090 --> 00:50:55,636
When I was first went to Paris,
I found in an old bookshop
968
00:50:55,761 --> 00:50:57,721
a book on diseases of mouth.
969
00:50:57,846 --> 00:51:00,849
The plates were
hand-colored, and that it
970
00:51:00,975 --> 00:51:04,144
had a tremendous effect on me.
971
00:51:04,270 --> 00:51:05,580
Michael peppiatt:
The three studies
972
00:51:05,604 --> 00:51:08,399
for figures at the
base of the crucifixion
973
00:51:08,524 --> 00:51:12,903
is the real point of
departure for bacon.
974
00:51:13,028 --> 00:51:18,534
He thought of that picture
as his first picture.
975
00:51:18,659 --> 00:51:21,495
He was 35, and that's late,
of course, for an artist
976
00:51:21,620 --> 00:51:24,790
to have a first work.
977
00:51:24,915 --> 00:51:26,667
This is his breakthrough work.
978
00:51:26,792 --> 00:51:31,088
And it's full of contradictions,
full of paradoxes.
979
00:51:31,213 --> 00:51:34,758
How did suddenly this
enormously challenging,
980
00:51:34,883 --> 00:51:40,723
unbelievably horrific
and ugly imagery arise?
981
00:51:40,848 --> 00:51:43,601
The imagery is Christian.
982
00:51:43,726 --> 00:51:50,941
And bacon, even by then,
was a very violent atheist.
983
00:51:51,066 --> 00:51:53,444
You get the crucifixion
in the title,
984
00:51:53,569 --> 00:51:59,575
but it is a mixture of Greek
myths and christianity.
985
00:51:59,700 --> 00:52:03,245
The Greek influence
was very deep,
986
00:52:03,370 --> 00:52:05,539
and I think he
thought of himself
987
00:52:05,664 --> 00:52:08,542
as somebody hounded by furies.
988
00:52:08,667 --> 00:52:12,504
And I think he felt their
talons in his flesh.
989
00:52:12,630 --> 00:52:15,883
He said, oh, yes, the
furies visit me very often.
990
00:52:29,355 --> 00:52:31,565
Denise demetriou: The
temple of Apollo at delphi
991
00:52:31,690 --> 00:52:35,694
was one of the major
sanctuaries of the Greek world.
992
00:52:35,819 --> 00:52:40,240
It is really important in
the story of the furies.
993
00:52:40,366 --> 00:52:43,118
The furies in
Greek mythology are
994
00:52:43,243 --> 00:52:47,790
avengers of crimes, usually
committed by children
995
00:52:47,915 --> 00:52:49,917
against their parents.
996
00:52:50,042 --> 00:52:53,212
And they first appear
in aeschylus' trilogy
997
00:52:53,337 --> 00:52:56,507
when orestes murders his
mother, clytemnestra,
998
00:52:56,632 --> 00:52:59,218
and her lover, aegisthus.
999
00:52:59,343 --> 00:53:03,055
When orestes finds refuge at
the temple of Apollo at delphi,
1000
00:53:03,180 --> 00:53:06,433
the ghost of clytemnestra tries
to wake them up and rouse them
1001
00:53:06,558 --> 00:53:09,061
so that they can fulfill
their purpose, which
1002
00:53:09,186 --> 00:53:13,899
is to hound down
orestes and take revenge
1003
00:53:14,024 --> 00:53:15,818
for clytemnestra's murder.
1004
00:53:15,943 --> 00:53:19,488
The violence of the
brings up the...
1005
00:53:19,613 --> 00:53:21,824
The... the images.
1006
00:53:21,949 --> 00:53:24,034
I mean, if you remember
that wonderful translation
1007
00:53:24,159 --> 00:53:26,662
of one of his lines,
"the reek of human blood
1008
00:53:26,787 --> 00:53:28,163
smiles out at me."
1009
00:53:28,288 --> 00:53:30,249
Well, what could be
more amazing than that?
1010
00:53:30,374 --> 00:53:34,962
That immediately brings up
the most astonishing images.
1011
00:53:35,087 --> 00:53:37,840
William linn: The furies are
a common torment to a creator,
1012
00:53:37,965 --> 00:53:39,425
and here's why.
1013
00:53:39,550 --> 00:53:44,012
To create is inherently a
rebellion against creation.
1014
00:53:44,138 --> 00:53:46,640
Michael peppiatt: The fact
that his father kicked him out
1015
00:53:46,765 --> 00:53:50,686
of the house when he discovered
he was homosexual was
1016
00:53:50,811 --> 00:53:54,648
a lasting wound in bacon.
1017
00:53:54,773 --> 00:53:57,025
I think the furies,
to some extent,
1018
00:53:57,151 --> 00:54:00,028
are actually his
father, his father
1019
00:54:00,154 --> 00:54:04,199
pursuing him, chasing him
out of the family home
1020
00:54:04,324 --> 00:54:08,036
and branding him as an outsider.
1021
00:54:08,162 --> 00:54:13,792
This image came fully formed
out of bacon's imagination.
1022
00:54:13,917 --> 00:54:19,840
It's like Athena springing fully
formed from the head of Zeus.
1023
00:54:19,965 --> 00:54:21,884
I see it as the monster
coming out of bacon,
1024
00:54:22,009 --> 00:54:24,136
and the monster coming
out of the world.
1025
00:54:27,973 --> 00:54:30,726
Myths are thought to be
messages from the divine.
1026
00:54:30,851 --> 00:54:33,937
When Ridley Scott puts
this image of bacon
1027
00:54:34,062 --> 00:54:37,483
into giger's hands, that's
an odd synchronicity.
1028
00:54:37,608 --> 00:54:40,360
And when you see the
importance of the story,
1029
00:54:40,486 --> 00:54:43,405
and you're looking back on it
with the power and magnitude
1030
00:54:43,530 --> 00:54:46,450
with which that story landed,
all the synchronicities
1031
00:54:46,575 --> 00:54:48,327
that brought it to
that point seem all the
1032
00:54:48,452 --> 00:54:49,572
more important and stunning.
1033
00:55:02,466 --> 00:55:06,053
It's crazy that these scenes
that are... a word I hate using,
1034
00:55:06,178 --> 00:55:07,888
but they are so iconic.
1035
00:55:08,013 --> 00:55:10,516
It seems like that
page should be...
1036
00:55:10,641 --> 00:55:11,951
You know, obviously,
there should be
1037
00:55:11,975 --> 00:55:13,977
like the constitution, right?
1038
00:55:14,102 --> 00:55:16,462
I mean, at some point at the
end of "citizen Kane," it says,
1039
00:55:16,522 --> 00:55:18,774
and the camera turns
and focuses and the...
1040
00:55:18,899 --> 00:55:20,067
It's a sled, rosebud.
1041
00:55:20,192 --> 00:55:21,735
Fade to black.
1042
00:55:21,860 --> 00:55:24,060
It's not like, you know, you
know, you think and you go,
1043
00:55:24,154 --> 00:55:24,863
ta-da!
1044
00:55:24,988 --> 00:55:26,573
Right?
1045
00:55:26,698 --> 00:55:31,995
But the chest buster scene is
just a one-page description.
1046
00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:35,624
Broussard's face is screwed
up into a mask of agony,
1047
00:55:35,749 --> 00:55:38,919
and he's trembling
violently from head to foot.
1048
00:55:39,044 --> 00:55:43,632
There's an incoherent shriek
from broussard, oh my god!
1049
00:55:43,757 --> 00:55:47,678
A red smear of blood blossoms on
the chest of broussard's tunic.
1050
00:55:47,803 --> 00:55:50,264
Their eyes are all riveted
to broussard's chest
1051
00:55:50,389 --> 00:55:52,599
as the fabric of his
tunic is ripped open,
1052
00:55:52,724 --> 00:55:56,770
and a horrible, nasty little
head the size of a man's fist
1053
00:55:56,895 --> 00:55:58,272
pushes out.
1054
00:55:58,397 --> 00:56:00,774
Everybody screams and
leaps back from the table.
1055
00:56:00,899 --> 00:56:03,151
The cat spits and bolts.
1056
00:56:03,277 --> 00:56:06,405
The disgusting little head
lunges, comes spurting out
1057
00:56:06,530 --> 00:56:09,700
of broussard's chest, trailing
a thick worm-like tail,
1058
00:56:09,825 --> 00:56:11,952
splattering fluids and blood.
1059
00:56:12,077 --> 00:56:13,745
Lands in the middle
of the dishes
1060
00:56:13,871 --> 00:56:16,206
and food on the table and
screws away while the men
1061
00:56:16,331 --> 00:56:18,709
are stampeding for safe ground.
1062
00:56:18,834 --> 00:56:22,504
When they finally regain control
of themselves, it has escaped.
1063
00:56:22,629 --> 00:56:25,757
Broussard lies slumped
in his chair, a huge hole
1064
00:56:25,883 --> 00:56:28,218
in his chest spouting blood.
1065
00:56:28,343 --> 00:56:30,345
The dishes are scattered
and the food is
1066
00:56:30,470 --> 00:56:32,431
covered with blood and slime.
1067
00:56:35,559 --> 00:56:37,019
I'd make that movie.
1068
00:56:37,144 --> 00:56:38,562
Yeah.
1069
00:56:38,687 --> 00:56:40,164
The chestburster made
everything possible for us.
1070
00:56:40,188 --> 00:56:41,982
It wouldn't have
been the magic it was
1071
00:56:42,107 --> 00:56:43,942
without the chestburster scene.
1072
00:56:44,067 --> 00:56:46,445
Everything rested on that
scene from beginning to end,
1073
00:56:46,570 --> 00:56:48,989
from getting the film made,
to how the audience responds,
1074
00:56:49,114 --> 00:56:51,909
to whether those
monsters continue to live
1075
00:56:52,034 --> 00:56:53,702
in our imagination today.
1076
00:56:53,827 --> 00:56:55,537
It's that moment
we finally assert
1077
00:56:55,662 --> 00:56:57,706
that science fiction
isn't only about minds,
1078
00:56:57,831 --> 00:56:59,207
it's about our bodies.
1079
00:56:59,333 --> 00:57:00,918
It's continuous
with the directions
1080
00:57:01,043 --> 00:57:04,087
horror was taking over the
preceding decade, right?
1081
00:57:04,212 --> 00:57:06,089
Horror is moving
toward body horror,
1082
00:57:06,214 --> 00:57:09,384
through David cronenberg
in particular.
1083
00:57:09,509 --> 00:57:11,595
It's part of the
texture of a film
1084
00:57:11,720 --> 00:57:15,223
that to me, is one of the
most tactile movies ever made.
1085
00:57:15,349 --> 00:57:18,185
The sense of goo
and grime, of things
1086
00:57:18,310 --> 00:57:22,981
spurting at us, the sense
of heat and steam and sweat.
1087
00:57:25,943 --> 00:57:29,696
There is a tendency to think
about the chestburster sequence
1088
00:57:29,821 --> 00:57:32,449
as a scene or even a moment.
1089
00:57:32,574 --> 00:57:35,285
But it really takes a
while to build up to it.
1090
00:57:41,500 --> 00:57:44,586
The nostromo moving in.
1091
00:57:44,711 --> 00:57:47,798
It's funny, isn't it,
how all these, you know,
1092
00:57:47,923 --> 00:57:50,968
outer space shots now have a
certain sort of like, you know,
1093
00:57:51,093 --> 00:57:52,719
generalization about them.
1094
00:57:52,844 --> 00:57:56,014
You know, when you think about
"2001 how gob-smacking that
1095
00:57:56,139 --> 00:57:59,226
was at the time, and now we just
take it completely for granted.
1096
00:58:02,771 --> 00:58:05,065
Michael peppiatt: Why is
it called the nostromo?
1097
00:58:05,190 --> 00:58:07,901
The shuttle craft is
called the narcissus.
1098
00:58:08,026 --> 00:58:11,613
Narcissus and nostromo
are both words
1099
00:58:11,738 --> 00:58:16,410
that are used in book titles
by Joseph Conrad, who wrote
1100
00:58:16,535 --> 00:58:19,746
about the evils of imperialism.
1101
00:58:19,871 --> 00:58:22,374
By allusion to the
works of Conrad,
1102
00:58:22,499 --> 00:58:25,752
there's a strand within "alien"
which is about a concern
1103
00:58:25,877 --> 00:58:28,505
as to what humanity
might find as it
1104
00:58:28,630 --> 00:58:32,259
ventures into the dark places.
1105
00:58:32,384 --> 00:58:34,177
In the case of
Conrad, he's thinking
1106
00:58:34,302 --> 00:58:40,142
about the heart of darkness,
the dark places of empire.
1107
00:58:40,267 --> 00:58:43,562
At the same moment that Ridley
Scott is making "alien,"
1108
00:58:43,687 --> 00:58:47,315
you have Francis Ford coppola
adapting "heart of darkness"
1109
00:58:47,441 --> 00:58:51,445
to be "apocalypse now,"
and explicitly commenting
1110
00:58:51,570 --> 00:58:54,448
on parallels between
the Vietnam war
1111
00:58:54,573 --> 00:58:59,494
and the encounter with evil in
the British and Belgian empire.
1112
00:58:59,619 --> 00:59:02,831
"Alien" directs our
attention or reminds us
1113
00:59:02,956 --> 00:59:07,461
of the dangers of
imperialism and conquest
1114
00:59:07,586 --> 00:59:10,047
of other places,
what we might find
1115
00:59:10,172 --> 00:59:13,341
in these uncharted regions,
especially if we attempt
1116
00:59:13,467 --> 00:59:15,093
to exploit those regions.
1117
00:59:15,218 --> 00:59:18,680
I hate to bring this up, but
this is a commercial ship, not
1118
00:59:18,805 --> 00:59:19,848
a rescue ship.
1119
00:59:19,973 --> 00:59:21,266
Right.
1120
00:59:21,391 --> 00:59:23,769
It's not in my contract
to do this kind of duty.
1121
00:59:23,894 --> 00:59:27,814
Michael peppiatt: The 19705 was
a time of economic downturn,
1122
00:59:27,939 --> 00:59:31,234
of threat, threat
coming from new places.
1123
00:59:31,359 --> 00:59:33,737
Ash, can you see this?
1124
00:59:33,862 --> 00:59:34,862
Yes, I can.
1125
00:59:38,033 --> 00:59:39,451
I've never seen
anything like it.
1126
00:59:39,576 --> 00:59:40,678
Michael peppiatt:
Particularly the
1127
00:59:40,702 --> 00:59:43,121
first stirrings of terrorism.
1128
00:59:43,246 --> 00:59:44,748
There were enemies within.
1129
00:59:44,873 --> 00:59:47,709
There was political corruption.
1130
00:59:47,834 --> 00:59:50,378
People had doubts,
were feeling isolated,
1131
00:59:50,504 --> 00:59:52,380
were feeling disillusioned.
1132
00:59:52,506 --> 00:59:55,008
I say that we abandon this ship.
1133
00:59:55,133 --> 00:59:57,344
We get the shuttle and just
get the hell out of here.
1134
00:59:57,469 --> 01:00:00,263
We take our chances and
just hope that somebody...
1135
01:00:00,388 --> 01:00:01,139
Lambert.
1136
01:00:01,264 --> 01:00:02,766
Lambert: Picks us up.
1137
01:00:02,891 --> 01:00:04,410
Michael peppiatt: This is
a consequence of Watergate.
1138
01:00:04,434 --> 01:00:06,561
This is a consequence
of the Vietnam war.
1139
01:00:06,686 --> 01:00:10,190
This is a consequence of the
political corruption in Europe.
1140
01:00:10,315 --> 01:00:13,485
And I think that
that uncertainty
1141
01:00:13,610 --> 01:00:16,863
plays out in all kinds of
movies from that period.
1142
01:00:19,699 --> 01:00:23,703
Drew Morton: If you look at '78,
you get Ted Bundy's captured,
1143
01:00:23,829 --> 01:00:26,873
John Wayne gacy's captured, the
hillside strangler's out there.
1144
01:00:26,998 --> 01:00:28,583
So there's this kind
of new phenomenon
1145
01:00:28,708 --> 01:00:30,127
out there, right,
the serial killer,
1146
01:00:30,252 --> 01:00:31,795
and what does that mean?
1147
01:00:31,920 --> 01:00:33,314
There's this kind
of idea that there's
1148
01:00:33,338 --> 01:00:35,465
something out there that
can be completely evil
1149
01:00:35,590 --> 01:00:37,509
and illogical and horrible.
1150
01:00:37,634 --> 01:00:38,969
And there's no
reasoning with it,
1151
01:00:39,094 --> 01:00:41,847
and there's nothing you
can do to really stop it.
1152
01:00:41,972 --> 01:00:43,765
At no point in
the "alien" movies,
1153
01:00:43,890 --> 01:00:45,201
and definitely not
in the first one,
1154
01:00:45,225 --> 01:00:47,936
do you feel like
what makes us human
1155
01:00:48,061 --> 01:00:50,355
is the thing that allows
us to beat this creature.
1156
01:00:50,480 --> 01:00:58,480
I admire its purity, a survivor,
1157
01:01:00,782 --> 01:01:06,913
unclouded by
conscience, remorse,
1158
01:01:07,038 --> 01:01:09,040
or delusions of morality.
1159
01:01:09,166 --> 01:01:11,751
There is a commentary in there
about the way that things are
1160
01:01:11,877 --> 01:01:14,880
going right now, and about what
we're doing as human beings,
1161
01:01:15,005 --> 01:01:16,464
and how we're taking
those strengths,
1162
01:01:16,590 --> 01:01:19,092
and those emotions, those
things that make us human,
1163
01:01:19,217 --> 01:01:22,012
and we're turning
our backs on them.
1164
01:01:22,137 --> 01:01:24,556
Michael peppiatt: You have
in these, in the 1970s,
1165
01:01:24,681 --> 01:01:27,350
tremendous fear over
what's happening
1166
01:01:27,475 --> 01:01:29,477
to the American family.
1167
01:01:29,603 --> 01:01:31,021
And I don't love you anymore.
1168
01:01:33,773 --> 01:01:34,316
Where you going?
1169
01:01:34,441 --> 01:01:36,568
I don't know.
1170
01:01:36,693 --> 01:01:39,070
Michael peppiatt:
Panic about divorce,
1171
01:01:39,196 --> 01:01:42,324
panic about family breakdowns.
1172
01:01:42,449 --> 01:01:43,867
Here's what I don't understand,
1173
01:01:43,992 --> 01:01:45,469
all the time... where are
you... where are you running?
1174
01:01:45,493 --> 01:01:47,013
All the times I come over
here, I can't understand
1175
01:01:47,037 --> 01:01:48,288
how you can prefer her to me.
1176
01:01:48,413 --> 01:01:49,247
You can't understand that?
1177
01:01:49,372 --> 01:01:50,707
No. It's a mystery.
1178
01:01:50,832 --> 01:01:51,934
Well, you knew my history
when you married me.
1179
01:01:51,958 --> 01:01:53,001
Yeah.
1180
01:01:53,126 --> 01:01:54,353
Michael peppiatt:
I think you can
1181
01:01:54,377 --> 01:01:56,671
see that the crew
of the space ship
1182
01:01:56,796 --> 01:01:59,633
operate like a kind
of family, and there
1183
01:01:59,758 --> 01:02:03,803
are sort of family-type
tensions between them.
1184
01:02:03,929 --> 01:02:06,056
Before we dock,
I think we oughta
1185
01:02:06,181 --> 01:02:07,515
discuss the bonus situation.
1186
01:02:07,641 --> 01:02:09,118
Right, right.
Parker: We think we ought...
1187
01:02:09,142 --> 01:02:10,453
One of the things
that that strikes me
1188
01:02:10,477 --> 01:02:12,604
about this movie in
general is the way
1189
01:02:12,729 --> 01:02:16,107
that it's connecting what's
gonna happen with 805 movies
1190
01:02:16,233 --> 01:02:18,735
and what has happened
in 70s movies.
1191
01:02:18,860 --> 01:02:22,906
Because sonically, it feels
like a Robert Altman movie.
1192
01:02:23,031 --> 01:02:24,759
You have this scene of
all of these characters
1193
01:02:24,783 --> 01:02:28,286
sitting around talking before
they find out that Kane is ok.
1194
01:02:28,411 --> 01:02:30,411
How about a little something
to lower your spirits?
1195
01:02:30,455 --> 01:02:31,873
Thrill me, will you, please?
1196
01:02:31,998 --> 01:02:33,684
Adam Mortimer: The way that
it's blocked and staged,
1197
01:02:33,708 --> 01:02:36,670
five or six people in the frame
who are all doing something.
1198
01:02:36,795 --> 01:02:38,588
Just give me the short version.
1199
01:02:38,713 --> 01:02:40,757
Adam Mortimer: People
talking on top of each other
1200
01:02:40,882 --> 01:02:44,886
at once at equal volumes, where
you have to sort of decide
1201
01:02:45,011 --> 01:02:46,972
who you want to
listen to, and they're
1202
01:02:47,097 --> 01:02:50,016
all mumbling and talking
extremely naturalistically.
1203
01:02:55,480 --> 01:02:57,524
It's doing the thing
that cinema in america
1204
01:02:57,649 --> 01:02:59,734
was doing in the 705,
which was to try to point
1205
01:02:59,859 --> 01:03:03,863
the lens at a more
naturalistic working class
1206
01:03:03,989 --> 01:03:06,533
reality of america.
1207
01:03:06,658 --> 01:03:10,287
The future of blue
collar workers
1208
01:03:10,412 --> 01:03:14,291
is something that's
wholly revolutionary.
1209
01:03:14,416 --> 01:03:16,918
And the movie, in a
way, is about that.
1210
01:03:17,043 --> 01:03:20,213
It's about the exploitation
of these blue collar workers
1211
01:03:20,338 --> 01:03:22,257
by the corporation.
1212
01:03:22,382 --> 01:03:24,050
Hey, Ripley, I wanna
ask you a question.
1213
01:03:27,012 --> 01:03:28,614
If they find what they're
looking for out there,
1214
01:03:28,638 --> 01:03:30,056
does that mean we
get full shares?
1215
01:03:30,181 --> 01:03:31,391
Don't worry, Parker.
1216
01:03:31,516 --> 01:03:34,477
Yeah, you'll get
whatever's coming to you.
1217
01:03:34,602 --> 01:03:36,813
Look, I'm not gonna
do any more work till we
1218
01:03:36,938 --> 01:03:38,022
get this straightened out.
1219
01:03:39,733 --> 01:03:41,973
"Alien," to me, makes more
sense if it were made in 1974,
1220
01:03:42,068 --> 01:03:44,487
'75, '76 than after "star wars."
1221
01:03:44,612 --> 01:03:46,156
"Alien" is a smaller movie.
1222
01:03:46,281 --> 01:03:48,116
"Alien"... I can't
believe I'm saying this...
1223
01:03:48,241 --> 01:03:50,410
Is a realistic movie.
1224
01:03:50,535 --> 01:03:51,953
Henry Jenkins:
Part of it was just
1225
01:03:52,078 --> 01:03:55,540
getting away from that
sanitized view of space that
1226
01:03:55,665 --> 01:03:59,085
had dominated science
fiction from the 60s and much
1227
01:03:59,210 --> 01:04:02,088
of the 705, and
coming to something
1228
01:04:02,213 --> 01:04:05,300
that felt like a real
lived-in environment.
1229
01:04:05,425 --> 01:04:07,052
It was continuous
with the world we
1230
01:04:07,177 --> 01:04:09,637
knew outside the movie theater.
1231
01:04:09,763 --> 01:04:10,823
Adam Mortimer:
Harry Dean Stanton
1232
01:04:10,847 --> 01:04:12,599
and yaphet kotto
are the two most
1233
01:04:12,724 --> 01:04:14,392
working class guys on the ship.
1234
01:04:14,517 --> 01:04:18,229
And they, unwittingly maybe,
but maybe intuitively,
1235
01:04:18,355 --> 01:04:20,982
know that if they
just freeze Kane,
1236
01:04:21,107 --> 01:04:23,860
everything'5 going to be ok.
1237
01:04:23,985 --> 01:04:26,988
How come they don't freeze him?
1238
01:04:27,113 --> 01:04:29,491
How come you guys
don't freeze him?
1239
01:04:29,616 --> 01:04:31,218
What I think we should
do is just freeze him.
1240
01:04:31,242 --> 01:04:32,322
I mean, he's got a disease.
1241
01:04:32,410 --> 01:04:33,870
Why don't we stop
it where it is?
1242
01:04:33,995 --> 01:04:35,389
He can always get to a
doctor when we get back home.
1243
01:04:35,413 --> 01:04:36,831
Right.
1244
01:04:36,956 --> 01:04:39,834
They're speaking the
truth in this kind of almost
1245
01:04:39,959 --> 01:04:42,003
Greek chorus kind
of prophet way,
1246
01:04:42,128 --> 01:04:43,522
but nobody really wants
to listen to them,
1247
01:04:43,546 --> 01:04:45,548
and they're just
making fun of them.
1248
01:04:45,673 --> 01:04:47,467
Whenever he says
anything, you say
1249
01:04:47,592 --> 01:04:49,427
right, Brett, you know that?
1250
01:04:49,552 --> 01:04:50,637
Right.
1251
01:04:50,762 --> 01:04:52,347
What they're making
fun of them for
1252
01:04:52,472 --> 01:04:55,892
is that Harry Dean Stanton keeps
saying right, right, right,
1253
01:04:56,017 --> 01:04:57,852
but it's because they are right.
1254
01:04:57,977 --> 01:05:00,438
And in the staging
of this scene,
1255
01:05:00,563 --> 01:05:03,400
Dallas, the ship captain,
is sitting closest to us,
1256
01:05:03,525 --> 01:05:07,278
and there's this wall of the two
working class guys between him
1257
01:05:07,404 --> 01:05:10,907
and the two women, who are
scientists and flight officers.
1258
01:05:11,032 --> 01:05:12,951
And when he gets
frustrated with this sense
1259
01:05:13,076 --> 01:05:16,996
that, even jokingly, his
authority is being undermined
1260
01:05:17,122 --> 01:05:19,666
by these two guys,
who are his employees,
1261
01:05:19,791 --> 01:05:22,127
he crosses to the
far depth of the shot
1262
01:05:22,252 --> 01:05:24,838
to talk to lambert,
who immediately
1263
01:05:24,963 --> 01:05:27,340
starts talking this sort
of elevated, educated way.
1264
01:05:27,465 --> 01:05:29,843
Well, according to my
calculations, based on time
1265
01:05:29,968 --> 01:05:31,553
spent getting to and
from the planet...
1266
01:05:31,678 --> 01:05:32,929
Just give me the short version.
1267
01:05:33,054 --> 01:05:34,180
How far to earth?
1268
01:05:34,305 --> 01:05:35,598
10 months.
1269
01:05:35,723 --> 01:05:37,201
Adam Mortimer: And you
can really see visually
1270
01:05:37,225 --> 01:05:39,561
in this incredibly subtle
way that there really
1271
01:05:39,686 --> 01:05:44,482
is this war about the movement
between the classes on the ship
1272
01:05:44,607 --> 01:05:47,861
and who has the
right to be heard.
1273
01:05:47,986 --> 01:05:49,863
Right.
1274
01:05:49,988 --> 01:05:53,450
Michael peppiatt: We now know
that Hollywood in the 1970s
1275
01:05:53,575 --> 01:05:56,578
was a very oppressive
place for women.
1276
01:05:56,703 --> 01:05:58,204
Do you find, in
fact, that this, what
1277
01:05:58,329 --> 01:06:00,957
could be best described as
your equipment, in fact,
1278
01:06:01,082 --> 01:06:02,375
hinders you perhaps?
1279
01:06:02,500 --> 01:06:04,145
Michael peppiatt: You
think about the sexism,
1280
01:06:04,169 --> 01:06:08,089
the misogyny that was implicit
within the industry that
1281
01:06:08,214 --> 01:06:09,048
made this film.
1282
01:06:09,174 --> 01:06:10,258
You mean my fingers?
1283
01:06:11,885 --> 01:06:13,219
No, I meant your...
1284
01:06:15,763 --> 01:06:16,598
Come on, spit it out.
1285
01:06:16,723 --> 01:06:17,515
I meant your...
1286
01:06:17,640 --> 01:06:18,641
Your figure.
1287
01:06:18,766 --> 01:06:20,351
My figure?
1288
01:06:20,477 --> 01:06:22,371
Michael peppiatt: And there's
no way of looking at "alien"
1289
01:06:22,395 --> 01:06:27,400
without seeing it as a
male fantasy of the kind
1290
01:06:27,525 --> 01:06:30,570
of oppression that have been
being handed out to women
1291
01:06:30,695 --> 01:06:37,202
over the centuries, a guilt
that was part of masculinity
1292
01:06:37,327 --> 01:06:43,166
in the 1970s, and should
be part of masculinity now.
1293
01:06:43,291 --> 01:06:47,295
"Alien" has within it fantasies
of male pregnancy, fantasies
1294
01:06:47,420 --> 01:06:53,468
of male rape, fantasies
of male penetration.
1295
01:06:53,593 --> 01:06:57,931
And it's all tied up with that
amazing chest buster scene.
1296
01:06:58,056 --> 01:06:59,766
I don't know how explicitly they
1297
01:06:59,891 --> 01:07:01,559
realized what they were doing.
1298
01:07:01,684 --> 01:07:03,454
I can't imagine that any
studio would be like,
1299
01:07:03,478 --> 01:07:05,730
yes, you're making a
male rape movie in space.
1300
01:07:05,855 --> 01:07:07,607
For sure, let's go for it.
1301
01:07:07,732 --> 01:07:09,359
It's wonderful that
the unconscious works
1302
01:07:09,484 --> 01:07:12,445
in so many mysterious ways.
1303
01:07:12,570 --> 01:07:15,156
It feels like a
summoning in a major way,
1304
01:07:15,281 --> 01:07:18,701
an accidental awakening
of some repressed spirit.
1305
01:07:18,826 --> 01:07:23,623
The furies certainly speak
for the repressed feminine.
1306
01:07:23,748 --> 01:07:27,544
And "alien" certainly
represents the repressed
1307
01:07:27,669 --> 01:07:30,713
feminine's retribution.
1308
01:07:30,838 --> 01:07:34,300
"Alien" touched a nerve
with a lot of people
1309
01:07:34,425 --> 01:07:38,304
because it was talking
about something,
1310
01:07:38,429 --> 01:07:45,019
that even in 2019, we're still
not comfortable addressing.
1311
01:07:45,144 --> 01:07:51,234
The idea that
"alien" is addressing
1312
01:07:51,359 --> 01:07:56,781
the guilt that a
patriarchal society feels
1313
01:07:56,906 --> 01:07:58,825
makes perfect sense to me.
1314
01:07:58,950 --> 01:08:00,535
We'll move in pairs.
1315
01:08:00,660 --> 01:08:03,663
We'll go step by step and cut
off every bulkhead and every
1316
01:08:03,788 --> 01:08:06,207
vent until we have it cornered,
and then we'll blow it
1317
01:08:06,332 --> 01:08:07,917
the fuck out into space.
1318
01:08:08,042 --> 01:08:10,628
Is that acceptable to you?
1319
01:08:10,753 --> 01:08:12,964
Ripley was created
in 1979, and it's
1320
01:08:13,089 --> 01:08:15,800
insane that we don't have that
many great female characters
1321
01:08:15,925 --> 01:08:17,093
since.
1322
01:08:17,218 --> 01:08:19,262
And especially in a
genre like horror,
1323
01:08:19,387 --> 01:08:23,558
that's given so many female
characters throughout time,
1324
01:08:23,683 --> 01:08:25,310
and yet, there's not
one that strikes us
1325
01:08:25,435 --> 01:08:29,188
as being as developed and as
complex and as interesting
1326
01:08:29,314 --> 01:08:30,440
as Ripley was.
1327
01:08:30,565 --> 01:08:32,734
And isn't it ironic
that she ends up
1328
01:08:32,859 --> 01:08:36,279
being that way because she
was written to be a man?
1329
01:08:36,404 --> 01:08:39,490
Ripley is the only
maternal character
1330
01:08:39,616 --> 01:08:41,701
within her promethean crew.
1331
01:08:41,826 --> 01:08:45,663
Her transformation
gives us direction
1332
01:08:45,788 --> 01:08:48,541
for the transformation that
we need to take as a culture
1333
01:08:48,666 --> 01:08:50,126
to avoid self-destruction.
1334
01:08:50,251 --> 01:08:51,251
She's a new example.
1335
01:08:53,838 --> 01:08:56,090
Adam Mortimer: When we start
off this sequence with Kane,
1336
01:08:56,215 --> 01:08:58,384
this very strange
shot that's low angle,
1337
01:08:58,509 --> 01:09:00,136
and he's all the
way to the side...
1338
01:09:00,261 --> 01:09:03,014
And maybe at that point,
for want of a better term,
1339
01:09:03,139 --> 01:09:04,992
there's kind of this something's
being buried inside you,
1340
01:09:05,016 --> 01:09:06,452
something's been
planted in your brain,
1341
01:09:06,476 --> 01:09:07,935
and you're not sure what.
1342
01:09:08,061 --> 01:09:09,061
Parker: How you doing?
1343
01:09:09,145 --> 01:09:09,896
Ian Nathan: Kane
seems all right.
1344
01:09:10,021 --> 01:09:11,564
He's even smiling a bit.
1345
01:09:11,689 --> 01:09:13,083
He's not at his best, but
he's... he's looking a bit peaky,
1346
01:09:13,107 --> 01:09:15,652
but he's starting
to kind of cough.
1347
01:09:15,777 --> 01:09:17,945
Before you realize
what really happens,
1348
01:09:18,071 --> 01:09:19,572
your brain is
already ahead of you.
1349
01:09:19,697 --> 01:09:23,368
Your brain is going, it's
in him, and it's coming out.
1350
01:09:23,493 --> 01:09:24,928
Adam Mortimer: One thing
that he's certainly
1351
01:09:24,952 --> 01:09:27,955
taking advantage of is
the incredible width
1352
01:09:28,081 --> 01:09:29,916
of the anamorphic frame.
1353
01:09:30,041 --> 01:09:33,294
The entire cast is in
this one wide shot.
1354
01:09:33,419 --> 01:09:36,047
What could be safer
than every single cast
1355
01:09:36,172 --> 01:09:40,510
member in a brightly lit
white room in a horror movie?
1356
01:09:40,635 --> 01:09:42,053
Everything in that
ship is so dark.
1357
01:09:42,178 --> 01:09:44,764
I mean, the light Ridley
Scott uses is literally
1358
01:09:44,889 --> 01:09:45,949
the light from the torches.
1359
01:09:45,973 --> 01:09:47,558
That's it, right?
1360
01:09:47,684 --> 01:09:50,004
But that scene, oh my god, you
could operate in that scene.
1361
01:09:50,061 --> 01:09:51,497
And you needed to
operate in that scene,
1362
01:09:51,521 --> 01:09:54,607
but they couldn't
save the patient.
1363
01:09:54,732 --> 01:09:56,651
Adam Mortimer: You
go to ash's reaction.
1364
01:09:56,776 --> 01:09:58,736
I think that really,
the key to the tension
1365
01:09:58,861 --> 01:10:01,364
here is tracking ash, because
he's always in opposition
1366
01:10:01,489 --> 01:10:03,616
to everybody else.
1367
01:10:03,741 --> 01:10:05,427
It's a very short shot,
and you wouldn't notice it
1368
01:10:05,451 --> 01:10:06,679
the first time, but
when you go back
1369
01:10:06,703 --> 01:10:08,579
and rewatch it you
realize, he knows
1370
01:10:08,705 --> 01:10:10,164
that this is going to happen.
1371
01:10:10,289 --> 01:10:13,167
There's so many more
single one shots of him
1372
01:10:13,292 --> 01:10:16,671
in this very strange off-kilter
framing that really gives him
1373
01:10:16,796 --> 01:10:19,882
this sinister
surveillance kind of vibe,
1374
01:10:20,007 --> 01:10:21,727
whereas most of the
other characters, you're
1375
01:10:21,759 --> 01:10:25,054
seeing them in groups, because
they're all on the same team.
1376
01:10:25,179 --> 01:10:27,598
You believe that this is because
he has a better intuition
1377
01:10:27,724 --> 01:10:29,827
than the rest of them about how
dangerous it is and he's trying
1378
01:10:29,851 --> 01:10:31,978
to protect them,
but in fact, he's
1379
01:10:32,103 --> 01:10:35,523
trying to protect this
baby monster that he's
1380
01:10:35,648 --> 01:10:36,899
allowed to come into the world.
1381
01:10:37,024 --> 01:10:39,277
This son of a bitch is huge.
1382
01:10:39,402 --> 01:10:40,653
I mean, it's like a man.
1383
01:10:40,778 --> 01:10:41,821
It's big.
1384
01:10:41,946 --> 01:10:44,574
Kane's son.
1385
01:10:44,699 --> 01:10:46,743
Ash is such a dick.
1386
01:10:46,868 --> 01:10:48,661
Dallas: Ash, you
hear or see anything?
1387
01:10:51,748 --> 01:10:55,293
When you think about it,
he's not an authentic being.
1388
01:10:55,418 --> 01:11:02,842
So someone, a human person had
to program him, educate him.
1389
01:11:02,967 --> 01:11:05,344
Not only is he supposed
to look like a person,
1390
01:11:05,470 --> 01:11:08,264
he's supposed to
pass as a person,
1391
01:11:08,389 --> 01:11:10,141
because the crew didn't know.
1392
01:11:10,266 --> 01:11:15,146
And that's what
makes him the worse.
1393
01:11:15,271 --> 01:11:18,107
That misogyny was built-in.
1394
01:11:18,232 --> 01:11:19,567
Could kill him.
1395
01:11:19,692 --> 01:11:21,319
Clarke wolfe: Ash
looks at Dallas,
1396
01:11:21,444 --> 01:11:22,653
like, what do you think?
1397
01:11:22,779 --> 01:11:23,881
I'm willing to take that chance.
1398
01:11:23,905 --> 01:11:25,031
Just cut it off of him.
1399
01:11:25,156 --> 01:11:26,240
You take responsibility?
1400
01:11:26,365 --> 01:11:27,593
Yes, yes, I'll
take responsibility.
1401
01:11:27,617 --> 01:11:29,076
Now get it off of him.
1402
01:11:29,202 --> 01:11:31,287
Clarke wolfe: Ripley, on
the other hand, is saying,
1403
01:11:31,412 --> 01:11:32,538
I am making this call.
1404
01:11:32,663 --> 01:11:34,415
It's my job to make this call.
1405
01:11:34,540 --> 01:11:35,875
Dallas: Ripley,
this is an order.
1406
01:11:36,000 --> 01:11:36,834
You hear me?
1407
01:11:36,959 --> 01:11:37,959
Yes.
1408
01:11:38,002 --> 01:11:38,753
I read you.
1409
01:11:38,878 --> 01:11:42,673
The answer is negative.
1410
01:11:42,799 --> 01:11:44,133
Inner hatch opened.
1411
01:11:44,258 --> 01:11:46,594
And he says, nope,
that's not gonna happen.
1412
01:11:46,719 --> 01:11:48,346
I override you.
1413
01:11:48,471 --> 01:11:53,559
Where does he get the idea to
penetrate this woman forcibly?
1414
01:11:53,684 --> 01:11:55,269
You know, but it
doesn't logically
1415
01:11:55,394 --> 01:11:57,814
make sense for an artificial
life form to do that.
1416
01:11:57,939 --> 01:11:58,939
He would choke her.
1417
01:11:58,981 --> 01:12:00,900
He would suffocate her.
1418
01:12:01,025 --> 01:12:05,947
The final choice that
he makes is to just
1419
01:12:06,072 --> 01:12:08,074
put this woman in her place.
1420
01:12:08,199 --> 01:12:11,953
The programming... think,
if we think about that,
1421
01:12:12,078 --> 01:12:16,958
if we really unpack that,
it's so frustrating.
1422
01:12:17,083 --> 01:12:19,126
I hate him.
1423
01:12:22,797 --> 01:12:24,358
Adam Mortimer: Another
thing that I think
1424
01:12:24,382 --> 01:12:27,718
about is the tradition of
dramatizations that happen
1425
01:12:27,844 --> 01:12:30,638
over dinners, which
you can see in anything
1426
01:12:30,763 --> 01:12:34,100
from Chekov, to ibsen,
going back to Shakespeare.
1427
01:12:34,225 --> 01:12:36,936
And I can't help but think of
"guess who's coming to dinner."
1428
01:12:37,061 --> 01:12:39,480
And in this case, it's the
alien who's coming to dinner
1429
01:12:39,605 --> 01:12:43,985
and shreds the social
fabric of the dinner table.
1430
01:12:44,110 --> 01:12:47,321
But the text and the subtext
is totally about food, right?
1431
01:12:47,446 --> 01:12:49,991
The first thing that I'm
gonna do when I get back
1432
01:12:50,116 --> 01:12:51,951
is to get some decent food.
1433
01:12:52,076 --> 01:12:53,244
I can dig it, man.
1434
01:12:53,369 --> 01:12:54,638
I'm telling you I've
eaten worse food...
1435
01:12:54,662 --> 01:12:55,889
Adam Mortimer: Even
when it comes to...
1436
01:12:55,913 --> 01:12:57,498
There's this shot
across the table,
1437
01:12:57,623 --> 01:13:00,960
and you can see the cat in
the background, soft focus,
1438
01:13:01,085 --> 01:13:03,045
it's eating dinner too.
1439
01:13:03,170 --> 01:13:05,840
Kane: Usually you know
what it's made of.
1440
01:13:05,965 --> 01:13:08,718
No, man, I don't want to
talk about what it's made of.
1441
01:13:08,843 --> 01:13:09,677
I'm eating...
1442
01:13:09,802 --> 01:13:11,262
What's the food made of?
1443
01:13:11,387 --> 01:13:14,682
It's made out of your
fucking insides of your body.
1444
01:13:14,807 --> 01:13:16,851
And there's just this
cluster of noise.
1445
01:13:16,976 --> 01:13:19,937
And it's almost like you're
hearing it from the point
1446
01:13:20,062 --> 01:13:21,647
of view of the chestburster.
1447
01:13:21,772 --> 01:13:23,733
It's inside of Kane.
1448
01:13:23,858 --> 01:13:25,693
It's fully conscious.
1449
01:13:25,818 --> 01:13:27,570
It's about to come through him.
1450
01:13:27,695 --> 01:13:30,531
It's first impressions
of the universe
1451
01:13:30,656 --> 01:13:32,116
are hearing these
indistinct voices
1452
01:13:32,241 --> 01:13:33,576
of all of these human beings.
1453
01:13:33,701 --> 01:13:36,954
It's like you're in
this sort of Sonic womb.
1454
01:13:37,079 --> 01:13:41,334
Roger corman: Now, from the
laughter, comes of first sign
1455
01:13:41,459 --> 01:13:44,712
that something is wrong.
1456
01:13:44,837 --> 01:13:48,966
That is John brilliantly
portraying the beginning
1457
01:13:49,091 --> 01:13:51,677
of the pain within him.
1458
01:13:51,802 --> 01:13:57,016
The reaction of everybody
is so precise, so right.
1459
01:13:57,141 --> 01:13:58,619
Adam Mortimer: As soon
as this guy gets sick,
1460
01:13:58,643 --> 01:14:01,270
and he flips hand-held
behind his head,
1461
01:14:01,395 --> 01:14:03,773
you feel like you're in this
completely different world.
1462
01:14:03,898 --> 01:14:06,776
To me, Ridley's really
pulling a kubrick here.
1463
01:14:06,901 --> 01:14:08,569
You see this in
"clockwork orange,"
1464
01:14:08,694 --> 01:14:10,321
you see this in "Barry lyndon."
1465
01:14:10,446 --> 01:14:13,532
In all of these movies, you
have kubrick approaching
1466
01:14:13,658 --> 01:14:16,494
sets and characters
with a very squared
1467
01:14:16,619 --> 01:14:18,704
off and rigid formal style.
1468
01:14:18,829 --> 01:14:20,998
But when violence
happens, kubrick
1469
01:14:21,123 --> 01:14:24,126
will drastically change the
kind of visual vocabulary
1470
01:14:24,251 --> 01:14:25,670
of the scene.
1471
01:14:25,795 --> 01:14:27,064
Adam Mortimer: It's
this amazing choice
1472
01:14:27,088 --> 01:14:29,173
to not see Kane's face
at the very moment
1473
01:14:29,298 --> 01:14:31,217
that he's going
through the most agony.
1474
01:14:31,342 --> 01:14:33,427
It's incredibly
unnerving, and it's
1475
01:14:33,552 --> 01:14:36,263
sort of a taste of
what's about to happen
1476
01:14:36,389 --> 01:14:39,767
25 seconds later when it becomes
one of the messiest scenes
1477
01:14:39,892 --> 01:14:41,227
in film history.
1478
01:14:41,352 --> 01:14:43,688
Ridley Scott: Hello,
Roger, and cut, push out.
1479
01:14:43,813 --> 01:14:45,648
Roger Christian: It
was kind of looming
1480
01:14:45,773 --> 01:14:47,316
at us this scene, you know?
1481
01:14:47,441 --> 01:14:49,819
Everyone was a bit
worried about it for sure,
1482
01:14:49,944 --> 01:14:51,904
because a, it'd never
been done before,
1483
01:14:52,029 --> 01:14:55,574
and there was so much
preparation around it.
1484
01:14:55,700 --> 01:14:57,820
Ian Nathan: Like much of the
design work for the film,
1485
01:14:57,910 --> 01:15:00,413
it had taken a long while
to get to where they were.
1486
01:15:00,538 --> 01:15:03,040
And I don't know how fully
satisfied Ridley was.
1487
01:15:03,165 --> 01:15:05,001
I think the egg
and the facehugger
1488
01:15:05,126 --> 01:15:07,169
worked very clearly for him.
1489
01:15:07,294 --> 01:15:09,064
You'd have the kind of
witch's fingers element
1490
01:15:09,088 --> 01:15:10,816
of the facehugger, it's
slightly kind of sort
1491
01:15:10,840 --> 01:15:13,175
of insectile nature of it.
1492
01:15:13,300 --> 01:15:15,511
But the chestburster was
difficult, because it
1493
01:15:15,636 --> 01:15:16,721
had to appear childlike.
1494
01:15:16,846 --> 01:15:18,198
It had to at least
kind of function.
1495
01:15:18,222 --> 01:15:20,182
It had to be able to
come out of his chest,
1496
01:15:20,307 --> 01:15:22,810
it had to suggest
the creature to come.
1497
01:15:22,935 --> 01:15:25,688
So in a way, the design of the
chestburster was governed most,
1498
01:15:25,813 --> 01:15:28,315
I think, by function
and practicality,
1499
01:15:28,441 --> 01:15:33,195
the need the sequence as much by
the flamboyance of giger's work
1500
01:15:33,320 --> 01:15:37,992
and then Scott's desire to
create something extraordinary.
1501
01:15:38,117 --> 01:15:40,286
Ivor Powell: They couldn't
solve the look of it.
1502
01:15:40,411 --> 01:15:42,955
Giger had a go at
the chestburster,
1503
01:15:43,080 --> 01:15:44,665
and he says he
never got it right.
1504
01:15:44,790 --> 01:15:46,417
It wasn't working.
1505
01:15:46,542 --> 01:15:49,837
I did some design they looked
like chicken, something like...
1506
01:15:49,962 --> 01:15:52,590
Like chicken without feathers.
1507
01:15:52,715 --> 01:15:55,384
But I was not happy with.
1508
01:15:55,509 --> 01:15:59,138
And then build up
the thing, and it
1509
01:15:59,263 --> 01:16:02,266
looked like a small dinosaur.
1510
01:16:02,391 --> 01:16:04,369
Ian Nathan: It had versions that
kind of looked like a Turkey
1511
01:16:04,393 --> 01:16:06,479
that had been sort of plucked.
1512
01:16:06,604 --> 01:16:08,105
Just were laughable.
1513
01:16:08,230 --> 01:16:10,390
They couldn't come up with
something that was genuinely
1514
01:16:10,483 --> 01:16:12,568
terrifying in its own right.
1515
01:16:12,693 --> 01:16:14,320
Roger Christian:
Roger dicken went away
1516
01:16:14,445 --> 01:16:16,447
and developed it on his own.
1517
01:16:16,572 --> 01:16:19,575
He was able to make it work.
1518
01:16:19,700 --> 01:16:22,161
They had made
this little puppet.
1519
01:16:22,286 --> 01:16:25,289
Frankly, it looked
like a penis and...
1520
01:16:25,414 --> 01:16:26,624
With teeth.
1521
01:16:26,749 --> 01:16:29,835
And they had, like,
they said, and we're
1522
01:16:29,960 --> 01:16:33,089
going to have it so
that it'll just blow up,
1523
01:16:33,214 --> 01:16:34,441
and then these
teeth will come out.
1524
01:16:34,465 --> 01:16:36,842
They were like, describing this.
1525
01:16:36,967 --> 01:16:38,677
It's just a thing.
1526
01:16:38,803 --> 01:16:41,472
We were going, oh, ok.
1527
01:16:41,597 --> 01:16:44,934
I mean, they were so excited,
these puppeteer people.
1528
01:16:45,059 --> 01:16:47,812
They were... it was
just hysterical.
1529
01:16:47,937 --> 01:16:49,956
Ian Nathan: The fundamental math
of the chestburster sequence
1530
01:16:49,980 --> 01:16:51,816
is that the cast didn't know.
1531
01:16:51,941 --> 01:16:53,692
Course, this isn't quite true.
1532
01:16:53,818 --> 01:16:56,018
We knew that there was going
to be a chestburster scene,
1533
01:16:56,112 --> 01:16:58,739
we just didn't know how
it was going to be done.
1534
01:16:58,864 --> 01:17:00,504
Roger Christian: John
hurt obviously knew,
1535
01:17:00,616 --> 01:17:03,702
so they just kept him plied with
red wine and cigarettes all day
1536
01:17:03,828 --> 01:17:05,079
long.
1537
01:17:05,204 --> 01:17:08,624
They knew they were
relying on his Patience
1538
01:17:08,749 --> 01:17:12,962
to stay in that position
while everything was set up.
1539
01:17:13,087 --> 01:17:16,048
The atmosphere on the
set had a certain frisson,
1540
01:17:16,173 --> 01:17:18,551
you know, in the morning,
because everybody
1541
01:17:18,676 --> 01:17:21,387
knew that this was filmically,
a sort of major scene.
1542
01:17:21,512 --> 01:17:23,281
I don't think anybody had
any idea that it would
1543
01:17:23,305 --> 01:17:25,850
become a kind of film classic.
1544
01:17:25,975 --> 01:17:28,328
Ian Nathan: Roger dicken brought
the chestburster to the set
1545
01:17:28,352 --> 01:17:29,895
in a carrier bag.
1546
01:17:30,020 --> 01:17:31,647
Blood was being loaded.
1547
01:17:31,772 --> 01:17:34,316
All the crew was sort of donning
these rain jackets because they
1548
01:17:34,441 --> 01:17:36,068
kind of knew what was coming.
1549
01:17:36,193 --> 01:17:38,130
Roger Christian: In the
morning, Ridley said, let's put
1550
01:17:38,154 --> 01:17:40,156
some bits of gristle and stuff.
1551
01:17:40,281 --> 01:17:42,491
So I sent the buyer
down to the abattoir
1552
01:17:42,616 --> 01:17:47,955
to buy a load of offal,
which stank terrible.
1553
01:17:48,080 --> 01:17:51,876
And they put it in formaldehyde
for you, but it was worse.
1554
01:17:52,001 --> 01:17:53,085
But we packed it round.
1555
01:17:53,210 --> 01:17:54,670
And Ridley was doing
it himself too.
1556
01:17:54,795 --> 01:17:58,966
We were sticking it
all around underneath.
1557
01:17:59,091 --> 01:18:00,902
Veronica Cartwright: We're
all up in our dressing rooms
1558
01:18:00,926 --> 01:18:02,595
at shepperton studios.
1559
01:18:02,720 --> 01:18:04,805
Harry Dean Stanton is
sitting in the hall
1560
01:18:04,930 --> 01:18:06,682
singing and playing guitar.
1561
01:18:06,807 --> 01:18:08,392
We're up there for hours.
1562
01:18:08,517 --> 01:18:11,729
We kept wondering, what
the... what was going on?
1563
01:18:11,854 --> 01:18:13,415
Ian Nathan: But at a
certain point in time,
1564
01:18:13,439 --> 01:18:16,150
some assistant is sent
to bring them to set.
1565
01:18:16,275 --> 01:18:20,279
And what greets them isn't
a vision, it's a smell.
1566
01:18:20,404 --> 01:18:21,947
Because over these
hours, this kind
1567
01:18:22,072 --> 01:18:23,672
of offal and produce has just
1568
01:18:23,782 --> 01:18:25,576
been cooking under the lights.
1569
01:18:25,701 --> 01:18:29,371
Literally, you gagged when
you walked onto the set.
1570
01:18:29,496 --> 01:18:30,956
It was so disgusting.
1571
01:18:31,081 --> 01:18:33,584
Ridley wasn't certain how
that was going to happen,
1572
01:18:33,709 --> 01:18:36,503
how... how... how's
that gonna manifest?
1573
01:18:36,629 --> 01:18:40,382
All this... this innards
of a cow and the blood,
1574
01:18:40,507 --> 01:18:43,385
and thinking, my.
1575
01:18:43,510 --> 01:18:44,970
Dan o'bannon: What
they saw was John
1576
01:18:45,095 --> 01:18:48,098
hurt spread out on this table
with all of these hoses.
1577
01:18:48,224 --> 01:18:50,267
Everybody is
covered up in suits.
1578
01:18:50,392 --> 01:18:53,020
The actors walk in, and they
see that waiting for them.
1579
01:18:53,145 --> 01:18:55,356
And I saw them, their
faces all sort of dropped.
1580
01:18:55,481 --> 01:18:58,776
They all sort of went like
this, and their eyes got big
1581
01:18:58,901 --> 01:19:00,945
and roamed around
all over this stuff.
1582
01:19:01,070 --> 01:19:03,656
Veronica Cartwright: We
started to shoot the scene,
1583
01:19:03,781 --> 01:19:06,951
and I was told I'd get
a little blood on me.
1584
01:19:07,076 --> 01:19:09,495
So we start to roll.
1585
01:19:09,620 --> 01:19:12,998
Ian Nathan: And then what
happens is brilliant.
1586
01:19:13,123 --> 01:19:17,002
There's just this splat, almost
like a bullet has hit him.
1587
01:19:17,127 --> 01:19:20,422
He puts a pause in.
1588
01:19:20,547 --> 01:19:22,925
You've got to kind of
give the audience a chance
1589
01:19:23,050 --> 01:19:25,010
to realize what's happened.
1590
01:19:25,135 --> 01:19:27,554
John hurt: The whole thing
was really a trick in the cut.
1591
01:19:27,680 --> 01:19:29,306
And there was a cut
to the other side
1592
01:19:29,431 --> 01:19:32,559
of the table where by
which time I had been
1593
01:19:32,685 --> 01:19:34,353
replaced by a replica body.
1594
01:19:34,478 --> 01:19:37,314
His t-shirt pulled
you know, tightly on it,
1595
01:19:37,439 --> 01:19:43,362
and then there's gonna be blood
lines on high pressure pumps.
1596
01:19:43,487 --> 01:19:45,406
They're going to blow
blood everywhere.
1597
01:19:45,531 --> 01:19:48,325
So we start to roll,
and then all of a sudden,
1598
01:19:48,450 --> 01:19:49,450
Ridley shouts, cut.
1599
01:19:49,493 --> 01:19:50,536
Cut.
1600
01:19:50,661 --> 01:19:52,955
It didn't work
on the first take.
1601
01:19:53,080 --> 01:19:54,623
There wasn't much
of a chestburster.
1602
01:19:54,748 --> 01:19:56,875
It couldn't get through
the damn t-shirt.
1603
01:19:57,001 --> 01:19:59,336
Well, we found ourselves
leaning in to see
1604
01:19:59,461 --> 01:20:01,046
what the hell was going on.
1605
01:20:01,171 --> 01:20:04,425
Roger Christian: Second time,
it still didn't go through,
1606
01:20:04,550 --> 01:20:06,218
but it came up
like that, and then
1607
01:20:06,343 --> 01:20:07,970
went down and covered in blood.
1608
01:20:08,095 --> 01:20:11,056
And the actors were all kind of
looking like that and curious.
1609
01:20:11,181 --> 01:20:16,645
So it was a stroke of
genius that it went wrong.
1610
01:20:16,770 --> 01:20:20,482
They still didn't
know what was coming.
1611
01:20:20,607 --> 01:20:22,401
And it reset again.
1612
01:20:22,526 --> 01:20:25,904
Ridley just said to Nick
allder and to Roger dicken,
1613
01:20:26,030 --> 01:20:27,906
just get it through this time.
1614
01:20:28,032 --> 01:20:31,869
And they added more
blood, more pipelines.
1615
01:20:31,994 --> 01:20:34,246
Ian Nathan: And this thing
goes up through, splat.
1616
01:20:34,371 --> 01:20:35,914
They fire all the pumps.
1617
01:20:36,040 --> 01:20:37,350
Roger Christian:
When it went through,
1618
01:20:37,374 --> 01:20:41,170
I mean, that blood
just went everywhere.
1619
01:20:41,295 --> 01:20:43,547
It was just exactly
what Scott wanted.
1620
01:20:43,672 --> 01:20:47,468
It was just this absolutely
immediate visceral response.
1621
01:20:47,593 --> 01:20:52,056
When it happened, of
course, it stills you.
1622
01:20:52,181 --> 01:20:57,061
So that's how it manifests, huh?
1623
01:20:57,186 --> 01:20:58,062
Ridley Scott: God!
1624
01:20:58,187 --> 01:21:01,106
And again, Nick, and again!
1625
01:21:01,231 --> 01:21:04,818
Veronica Cartwright: I had
leaned into a blood jet.
1626
01:21:04,943 --> 01:21:08,364
That little blood shot
me square in the face.
1627
01:21:08,489 --> 01:21:12,785
And that's when I jumped
back and I went, oh my god.
1628
01:21:12,910 --> 01:21:17,164
And my knees hit the
back of those banquette
1629
01:21:17,289 --> 01:21:21,794
where we were all sitting,
and it flipped me upside down.
1630
01:21:21,919 --> 01:21:24,088
And I said, oh my gosh,
we're still shooting.
1631
01:21:24,213 --> 01:21:26,215
So I rolled over
and I got back up,
1632
01:21:26,340 --> 01:21:30,010
and I ran around and
got back into the scene.
1633
01:21:33,972 --> 01:21:36,892
So there were different... there
were different reactions to it.
1634
01:21:37,017 --> 01:21:38,394
Ridley Scott: And action.
1635
01:21:38,519 --> 01:21:40,145
Crew: Blood.
1636
01:21:40,270 --> 01:21:41,146
Ridley Scott: Blood.
1637
01:21:41,271 --> 01:21:42,106
Crew: Enough.
1638
01:21:42,231 --> 01:21:42,731
Ridley Scott: Push it out.
1639
01:21:42,856 --> 01:21:43,899
Pump it.
1640
01:21:44,024 --> 01:21:45,085
Roger Christian:
Roger dicken had
1641
01:21:45,109 --> 01:21:46,860
built little lungs in as well.
1642
01:21:46,985 --> 01:21:49,780
It was a lot of stuff
going on under the table
1643
01:21:49,905 --> 01:21:54,410
to make it look so real, hung
bits of stuff all over it so
1644
01:21:54,535 --> 01:21:56,412
that it looked like it
broke through the flesh
1645
01:21:56,537 --> 01:21:57,537
and heart and muscles.
1646
01:22:00,082 --> 01:22:05,337
That was part of Ridley wanting
this to be unquestionably real.
1647
01:22:06,713 --> 01:22:09,007
And I think that
scream, when it screams,
1648
01:22:09,133 --> 01:22:11,135
there's the bacon shot.
1649
01:22:11,260 --> 01:22:14,513
There's something really
strange in those paintings that
1650
01:22:14,638 --> 01:22:18,434
connects to the phobias that
we carry with us to this day,
1651
01:22:18,559 --> 01:22:20,602
and they come from
our ancient past.
1652
01:22:20,727 --> 01:22:23,021
So I think, you
know, particularly
1653
01:22:23,147 --> 01:22:26,650
the "incubus" is
one that was struck
1654
01:22:26,775 --> 01:22:29,027
me when I read the script.
1655
01:22:29,153 --> 01:22:31,780
Because that chestburster
it comes out and sits there
1656
01:22:31,905 --> 01:22:34,741
for a moment and screams,
and that's just as you
1657
01:22:34,867 --> 01:22:36,326
imagine an incubus would do.
1658
01:22:36,452 --> 01:22:39,037
It would come out,
sit, and scream at you.
1659
01:22:39,163 --> 01:22:41,498
I loved that image
so much, and what
1660
01:22:41,623 --> 01:22:44,209
I see in it is something
that's like a material
1661
01:22:44,334 --> 01:22:47,045
object trying to come to life.
1662
01:22:47,171 --> 01:22:49,131
And that's what "alien" is.
1663
01:22:49,256 --> 01:22:50,466
Ridley Scott: Slow.
1664
01:22:50,591 --> 01:22:51,800
Slow.
1665
01:22:51,925 --> 01:22:55,512
Ok, and the head back.
1666
01:22:55,637 --> 01:22:58,015
Slow, go!
1667
01:22:58,140 --> 01:22:58,807
Shit.
1668
01:22:58,932 --> 01:22:59,433
Great.
1669
01:22:59,558 --> 01:23:00,100
Cut it.
1670
01:23:00,225 --> 01:23:00,809
Crew: Cut it.
1671
01:23:00,934 --> 01:23:02,394
Save the blood.
1672
01:23:02,519 --> 01:23:04,581
Drew Morton: When I'm watching
the chestburster scene
1673
01:23:04,605 --> 01:23:08,150
on the nostromo, and I'm
thinking about how brilliantly
1674
01:23:08,275 --> 01:23:10,944
staged it is because it doesn't
take place in a dark corridor
1675
01:23:11,069 --> 01:23:12,654
with a guy all by himself.
1676
01:23:12,779 --> 01:23:16,658
And then decades
later, Ridley Scott
1677
01:23:16,783 --> 01:23:20,454
restages a chestburster scene
and does it exactly in that way
1678
01:23:20,579 --> 01:23:23,290
that's so much more tropey.
1679
01:23:23,415 --> 01:23:26,627
In the dark, a guy
alone being watched over
1680
01:23:26,752 --> 01:23:34,718
only by the malevolent David,
and with this smoke and lights
1681
01:23:34,843 --> 01:23:38,138
behind him, it's almost
like it's the first draft
1682
01:23:38,263 --> 01:23:39,890
of the original scene
that was rejected
1683
01:23:40,015 --> 01:23:43,393
and then for some
reason, revisited later.
1684
01:23:43,519 --> 01:23:47,397
But on the other hand,
there is something really
1685
01:23:47,523 --> 01:23:50,943
delightful if you give into it.
1686
01:23:51,068 --> 01:23:54,279
I feel like Ridley Scott
can't find a better way
1687
01:23:54,404 --> 01:23:58,575
to talk about his own
mortality than by going back
1688
01:23:58,700 --> 01:24:03,247
over and over to the origin
side of the height of his powers
1689
01:24:03,372 --> 01:24:06,500
and the height of
his creativity.
1690
01:24:06,625 --> 01:24:08,961
Ian Nathan: If you look at
where Ridley Scott is currently
1691
01:24:09,086 --> 01:24:11,880
taking the "alien"
cycle, he's using
1692
01:24:12,005 --> 01:24:14,258
it explicitly to
explore questions
1693
01:24:14,383 --> 01:24:16,593
of where did life come from?
1694
01:24:16,718 --> 01:24:20,097
What does it mean to be human?
1695
01:24:20,222 --> 01:24:24,851
He seems fascinated by the idea
that the child would destroy
1696
01:24:24,977 --> 01:24:31,191
the parent, that the created
would destroy the creator, that
1697
01:24:31,316 --> 01:24:35,112
things we make come back and
destroy us, which I suppose
1698
01:24:35,237 --> 01:24:37,614
are variations on the
Frankenstein story.
1699
01:24:37,739 --> 01:24:41,660
But the repeated recurrence
of this in his work
1700
01:24:41,785 --> 01:24:45,622
suggests, I think, a major
autistic obsession, actually.
1701
01:24:48,750 --> 01:24:52,129
People often talk of
Hollywood as the dream factory
1702
01:24:52,254 --> 01:24:54,631
but I think the dreams that
Hollywood puts on the screens
1703
01:24:54,756 --> 01:24:57,342
are not just the
dream of one person,
1704
01:24:57,467 --> 01:24:59,928
they're collective dreams.
1705
01:25:00,053 --> 01:25:04,391
Cinema is a window on our
collective unconscious.
1706
01:25:04,516 --> 01:25:07,019
And in that way, I
think that "alien"
1707
01:25:07,144 --> 01:25:09,896
is an incredibly
important window
1708
01:25:10,022 --> 01:25:15,944
on what people were thinking
about as of the late 1970s.
1709
01:25:16,069 --> 01:25:18,572
When you look back an
alien 40 years later,
1710
01:25:18,697 --> 01:25:20,741
it seems prophetic
of where we've gone.
1711
01:25:20,866 --> 01:25:22,386
We're still going
in the same direction
1712
01:25:22,451 --> 01:25:25,037
that it seemed to be indicating
at the time, which makes
1713
01:25:25,162 --> 01:25:28,790
the world of "alien," if not
probable, at least, you know,
1714
01:25:28,915 --> 01:25:30,626
looking like a
possibility in the way
1715
01:25:30,751 --> 01:25:32,461
that "star wars" could never be.
1716
01:25:36,673 --> 01:25:39,718
The last act of "alien" is
escaping self-destruction.
1717
01:25:39,843 --> 01:25:41,887
That's the myth of our times.
1718
01:25:42,012 --> 01:25:43,812
Part of what makes "alien"
so powerful is it's
1719
01:25:43,847 --> 01:25:45,307
so much more than an allegory.
1720
01:25:45,432 --> 01:25:50,062
It taps into a deep set
of patterns that can
1721
01:25:50,187 --> 01:25:51,980
mean many, many, many things.
1722
01:25:52,105 --> 01:25:54,650
I don't think we can get
to the bottom of "alien."
1723
01:25:54,775 --> 01:25:57,861
Like a piece of sand vibrating
in a somatic experiment,
1724
01:25:57,986 --> 01:26:00,697
in touch with something deeper,
Dan o'bannon must have been
1725
01:26:00,822 --> 01:26:02,699
on the frequency for this myth.
1726
01:26:02,824 --> 01:26:07,829
He seems to have been a
stenograph for a larger song.
1727
01:26:09,831 --> 01:26:13,460
Diane o'bannon: My husband
was out of time, in a way,
1728
01:26:13,585 --> 01:26:16,880
out of specific time.
1729
01:26:17,005 --> 01:26:18,507
But he lives on.
1730
01:26:18,632 --> 01:26:22,260
And when he was dying,
that's what I said to him.
1731
01:26:22,386 --> 01:26:24,304
He was not conscious.
1732
01:26:24,429 --> 01:26:26,682
I said, you moved the world.
1733
01:26:26,807 --> 01:26:27,516
You did it.
1734
01:26:27,641 --> 01:26:29,267
You moved the world.
1735
01:26:29,393 --> 01:26:31,353
And he did.
1736
01:26:31,478 --> 01:26:35,148
In a way, I don't think Dan
o'bannon is finished yet.
1737
01:26:35,273 --> 01:26:39,361
When he died, I had
a strange feeling
1738
01:26:39,486 --> 01:26:44,533
that he'd gone back to the
future from whence he'd come.
1739
01:26:44,658 --> 01:26:48,245
And there's still things there
that are emerging from him
1740
01:26:48,370 --> 01:26:51,707
and things that I
have that are just
1741
01:26:51,832 --> 01:26:53,417
now becoming relevant today.
1742
01:26:53,542 --> 01:26:56,378
And there's more there.
1743
01:26:56,503 --> 01:26:57,713
There's more there.
1744
01:26:57,838 --> 01:27:00,257
Don't ask me why he
had this connection
1745
01:27:00,382 --> 01:27:05,011
to the past and the
future, but he sure did.
1746
01:27:05,137 --> 01:27:08,640
He came from a place that had
no telephone or television
1747
01:27:08,765 --> 01:27:11,852
and went to the stars.
1748
01:27:11,977 --> 01:27:12,686
Went to the stars.
1749
01:27:12,811 --> 01:27:14,062
It's inexplicable.
132519
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