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Making 'Alien' Was Even More Horrific Than The Final Product
The Set Reeked Of Animal Intestines, Formaldehyde, And Rotting Seafood
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Making movies can be messy work - especially in the 1970s. According to numerous crew accounts, the set of Alien stunk to high heaven. There's a good deal of blood and guts in the film, and Ridley Scott was known to be a bit of a perfectionist when it came to the aesthetic of the movie. Since prosthetics at the time were of fairly low quality, Scott resorted to using real animal parts to make the gore as realistic as possible. In his words:
I figured the best thing to do was to get stuff from a butcher's shop and a fishmonger. On the morning we had them examining the Facehugger; that was clams, oysters, seafood. You had to be ready to shoot because it started to smell pretty quickly. You can't make better stuff than that - it's organic.
Other crew members complained of the horrific stench on set: a mixture of rotting organs, shellfish, and formaldehyde.
Actors Nearly Blacked Out After Spacesuit Oxygen Tanks Malfunctioned
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Fox execs were notoriously tight-pursed when it came to Alien, and it took some serious convincing from Scott to boost the budget from $4 million to $8 million. Even then, sacrifices were required in various departments to make the movie happen. This included the props and costume departments, which ended up being quite dangerous for the actors.
The spacesuit costumes seen in the film induced claustrophobia and required air tanks to pump oxygen inside for the actors. The tanks were shoddy at best, and actors Tom Skerritt and Veronica Cartwright both claim to have nearly suffocated due to tank malfunctions. These suits were hot and heavy, making it even more difficult on the actors.
The Actors Were Deliberately Trapped On A Self-Contained Set
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Alien was designed to engender isolation and helplessness, and the set was specifically constructed with a short ceiling to make it more claustrophobic. It was built with only one entrance and exit.
The layout of the Nostromo demanded walking through the entire thing to get out. This made the actors extremely uncomfortable - like they had no way to escape - and likely influenced their performances.
Ridley Scott Made The Pulsating Alien Egg Move
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There were a lot of real animal parts used in the making of Alien. Scott believed that actual viscera looked more realistic than prosthetics and used them wherever he could.
In the scene with the original alien egg, the egg is actually filled with sheep intestines and beef organs to give it a more organic look and texture. Scott took it upon himself to animate the egg, donning a surgical glove to wriggle the insides around. The crew was fairly disgusted by this writhing mass, which is precisely the effect Scott was going for.
Ridley Scott's Young Children Passed Out Inside A Faulty Space Suit
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To make the scale of the Space Jockey scene as impressive as possible, Ridley Scott used his own children instead of the main actors to portray the characters in their spacesuits. This made everything in the shot appear larger, but it was also extremely taxing for the kids. The air tubes that were supposed to circulate oxygen throughout the suits were not very effective, and the kids were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes. This led to them passing out on at least one occasion.
Veronica Cartwright Passed Out After Being Showered With Chestburster Blood
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There were many tough days on set, but the chestburster scene was particularly difficult for the cast. They had no idea what was going to happen that day, because Ridley Scott deliberately kept them in the dark. When asked about this decision, Scott said:
The reactions were going to be the most difficult thing. If an actor is just acting terrified, you can't get the genuine look of raw, animal fear.
No one had as big of a reaction to the visceral explosion as Veronica Cartwright, who plays Lambert in the film. According to her castmates, Cartwright had a bit of a panic attack and fainted shortly after the take. Screenwriter Dan O'Bannon notes that a three-foot jet of blood "caught her smack in the kisser."
Sigourney Weaver Developed An Allergic Reaction To Glycerin Spray
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The unsung hero of Alien is Jonesy the cat, who actually survives the alien menace better than the vast majority of the Nostromo crew. Jonesy was played by four different cats throughout the production, and they were a pretty regular fixture on the sets.
Sigourney Weaver was not thrilled to have the cats around, as she believed she was allergic to them. At one point during filming, Weaver developed a nasty rash and simply thought that it was because of the cats. However, it turned out that the glycerin spray the crew used to simulate sweat was the real culprit.
The Set Was Filthy And Difficult To Navigate
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Alien has a very distinctive look. It's dark, wet, isolating, and just overall terrifying. For the people in the crew, those were the conditions they worked in all day. Ridley Scott used extensive smoke work in the movie, which filled the set with a noxious haze that made everything "filthy." On top of that, the dark lighting made it hard to see inside the Nostromo set. It was extremely disorienting for the actors, especially since the whole set was basically a labyrinth.
There Was Conflict Among The Writers Over Their Film Credits
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In addition to the many physical discomforts involved with Alien's production, there was also professional drama happening in the background.
While the original script for Alien was written by Dan O'Bannon, the film underwent several rewrites during the production process. According to producer Walter Hill, he and his colleague David Giler wrote at least five subsequent drafts of the film before filming began. The final film is fairly different from the original script, but Dan O'Bannon launched a legal campaign to keep Hill and Giler off the credits.
Veronica Cartwright Mistakenly Believed She Had Been Cast As Ripley
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Veronica Cartwright, who played Lambert in the film, originally auditioned for the role of Ripley on two separate occasions. After the second reading, Cartwright's agent informed her that she had landed the role. The studio had already cast Sigourney Weaver as Ripley however, and it was decided that Cartwright would get the role of Lambert instead.
Unfortunately, nobody bothered to tell Cartwright about the change until the day of her wardrobe test. She went into the studio fully believing that she was playing Ripley, and even argued with the wardrobe people about it. Eventually, she called her agent, who quickly learned that there had been a mistake. Cartwright was disappointed about the mix-up and had to be convinced to take the role of Lambert.
An Actor Had To Drop Out After Getting Extremely Sick On Set
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John Hurt plays Kane in the film, but he wasn't the first choice. In fact, actor Jon Finch had been cast as Kane way before Hurt took over the role. During his first day of shooting, Finch grew incredibly ill and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. Ridley Scott spoke about the incident in an interview, saying:
So, I’m on camera, doing my first shot, first take, and I notice Jon has gone yellow. So, I walk over to him and he said, "I feel terrible. I’m a diabetic." I said, "We better get you out of here. You need some insulin."
Finch left the set and never returned. That would be the last time Scott would see Finch until they worked on 2005's Kingdom of Heaven.
The Man In The Xenomorph Suit Had To Undergo Training In Mime And Tai Chi
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Not many people know his name, but the man inside the alien suit is a Nigerian actor named Bolaji Badejo. The lanky actor stood an impressive 7’2” and was hired specifically for his wiry frame and unique body type. The alien suit was uncomfortable for Badejo, and he found it difficult to see out of the head. Director Ridley Scott made things even more challenging by asking Badejo to perform motions that were difficult to pull off in the constricting suit. According to actress Veronica Carwright, Scott also ordered Badejo to undergo mime and tai chi training to get his body in the right shape for the role.
No One Wanted To Direct The Movie In The First Place
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Alien was Ridley Scott's second movie, but he wasn't even close to the studio's first choice to direct the film. According to Scott himself, the original script was turned down by as many as six other directors before it found its way to him. In fact, Scott turned it down himself. Though he liked the script, he was busy on another project and rejected the original offer. Only after that project fell through did Scott contact Fox about making Alien.
