“Alien”: Where did the idea for the iconic monster come from?

The series centers on the battles between humans and the Aliens, a titular alien race of bloodthirsty space predators. The idea for the creatures came from screenwriters Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. The two were working on a film in which a dangerous creature would attack a group of miners on a spaceship. But they couldn’t figure out how the alien would get on board. Shusett eventually suggested that an extraterrestrial race would lay eggs inside one of the astronauts after coming into close contact with him. They would hatch after he left the planet, which wouldn’t end well for the unfortunate person carrying them. O’Bannon really liked this vision. According to him, it would be especially terrifying for a male audience.

The screenwriter had previously worked on an unrealized adaptation of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “Dune.” There he met Swiss painter Hans Rudolf Geiger. The artist was impressed by his beautiful, haunting work drawn from his worst nightmares. When “Alien” was greenlit, O’Bannon suggested that Geiger be in charge of developing the alien design. Director Ridley Scott He was so impressed with the artist’s book “Necronomicon” that he decided to base the art direction for the film on it.

Geiger believed that the xenomorph should look like a mixture of man and machine. It was supposed to look both human and inhuman. He decided that the alien would have no eyes. Then he added a tail with a needle and extra jaws on the tongue. The scriptwriters added mucus covering the creature’s body and corrosive acid flowing through its veins. Scott, in turn, said that the alien would be more terrifying if it was played by an actor wearing a costume on the set. In the end, he chose Bolajo Badejo, a special effects specialist from Nigeria. The young man was very thin and tall – he was 2 meters and 8 centimeters tall. He also attended mime classes, thanks to which he gave the alien his specific way of moving – quiet, slow, silent, ready for a surprise attack.

After the premiere “Alien: The Eighth Passenger of the Nostromo” In 1979, it was clear that horror cinema had received one of its new icons. A sequel seemed to be a matter of time. However, years passed and the creators could not agree on the direction of the series. Scott’s film was a horror film set on a spaceship – a translation of a horror film, in which a killer with unprecedented power kills one hero after another, into a science fiction film. Then came the script for “Terminator” by the then unknown director James Cameron. It made such an impression that he was commissioned to develop the plot for a sequel to “Alien”. Cameron wrote the first 42-page treatment in three days. He polished the idea while waiting for Arnold Schwarzenegger to return from filming “Conan the Destroyer” and start filming “Terminator”.

The future Oscar winner for Titanic went in a completely different direction than Scott. In the first film, there was one creature and the helpless crew of the Nostromo. In the second, the heroes were a military unit, and there were many strange creatures, including a queen who was much older than them. “Alien: The Final Showdown” It wasn’t a horror movie, it was pure action, with thousands of gunshots and testosterone gushing off the screen. The genre turned out to be a hit, and the film was one of the highest grossing films of 1986.

The main series had two more sequels: “Alien 3” (1993) and “Alien: Awakening” (1997). All focused on the character of Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo crew, who for the rest of her life (and even beyond) was linked to a race of star predators.

The next spin-off series, consisting of two films, concerns the battle between xenomorphs and Predators – space hunters from another popular franchise. The first film in the series was released in 2004. “Alien vs. Predator 2” hit theaters three years later. Both films served as prequels to the original series. Lance Henriksen, who played the android Bishop in “The Decisive Engagement” and its sequel, played Charles B. Weyland, the head of the evil Weyland Corporation, which appeared in the original series. Unlike the “Alien” series, the fight between the xenomorphs and Predators was not well received by viewers and critics.

At the same time, Scott was developing ideas about the origins of the xenomorph. The result of his work were two films: “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant”. They take place after the Predators series, but before the original series. In turn, the upcoming Romulus It takes place after “The Eighth Passenger of the Nostromo” but before “The Final Clash”.

To summarize: If someone wants to watch the Alien series in chronological order, they should watch the movies in the following order:

1. Alien vs Predator
2. Alien vs Predator 2
3. “Prometheus”
4. “The Stranger: The Covenant”
5. “Alien: The Eighth Passenger of the Nostromo”
6. “The Stranger: Romulus”
7. “Alien: The Final Showdown”
8. “The Stranger 3”
9. “Alien: The Awakening”