Ridley Scott’S Alien is a fantastic sci-fi horror film that has been entertaining audiences since 1979 and delivers great terrifying thrills. But Scott didn’t think there would be enough.
In a recent interview with GQ, Scott reflected on the challenges he faced making the iconic sci-fi horror film and the creative risks he took to ensure it terrified audiences.
His biggest fear was that the film wouldn’t be scary enough to keep viewers on their toes. Scott admitted, “I was worried we might run out of scary, creepy things in the hallway.”
The Xenomorph, while terrifying, rarely appeared fully on screen due to practical effects limitations of the time.
Scott explained: “Don’t forget, we didn’t have digital effects in those days. Nothing. So the backdrops have to be painted and I have to find a very tall, thin man to fit into a rubber costume. Being subliminal and minimal, it works very well. But without that beast it wouldn’t have been the same.”
While the Xenomorph’s sporadic appearances were intentional and effective, Scott feared that the repetitive threat might lose its edge.
So, he found a solution to layer the story with a different kind of horror like betrayal. This is where he plays the character Ash, the android science officer Ian Holmcomes into play. His cold allegiance to corporate interests over crew safety added a thrilling twist to the story.
Scott said: “The news would come suddenly. Ash would object to something, and then he would actually have a bad turn as an AI.
“And Yaphet Kotto had to take the fire extinguisher and hit him on the head, probably took his head off, so now we see wires and metal and organic material… He’s an artificial intelligence.”
According to Scott, this theme of corporate greed manifested through Ash owed much to the legacy of Stanley Kubrick 2001: A Space Odyssey.
He said: “The first time was Stanley Kubrick when he invented HAL. The computer knows from society that the success of the voyage is more important than the crew.
“So we borrowed him and turned him into Ash, where he was the ‘company man’. Of course, if you want to be a company man, you don’t want a black box.
“You want someone who hangs out, meets, chats, drinks coffee and hangs out with people. They won’t know he’s a company man because he’s more human than human.
Ultimately, after innovating under pressure and circumventing the limitations of the era, Scott made a masterpiece of science fiction horror film.
by Joey Paur
Source: Geek Tyrant
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
