Friday, August 26, 2011

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #6: ALIEN

That's movie-making for you: hurry up and wait. Actor Bolaji Badejo, as the titular extraterrestrial terror, takes a break between takes on the set of Ridley Scott's Alien at Shepperton Studios in England, probably in late '78. I love this pic because it shows how friggin' scary-cool H.R. Giger's design was; especially that skull face which was obscured in the film by the smooth, black "carapace" that is missing in this photo.

Have a great weekend, Star Kids!

9 comments:

  1. True costuming craftsmanship and art. Much better than the CG rubbish of today's films

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  2. Superb, the more the Alien films went on the less like this the Alien became, the ones in Alien Ressurection are just slime covered monsters !!

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  3. I remember Dan O'Bannon saying in an interview once that Giger actually used a real human skull for the Alien's face. As far as I'm concerned, Ridley Scott's film is still far superior to any of its sequels.

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  4. I think this Behind the scene Pix
    comes from a delete scene from the Movie
    Lambert look for oxygen and toss empty bottle behind her,
    several hit something in end of room
    until that something stand up and Lambert start to scream

    Ridely Scott cut the scene from Movie because it show Alien in total
    and it's before duel Ripley Alien in the shuttle.

    Michel Van

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  5. I may be wrong but I thought that Badejo did a runner before shooting started and that it was stuntman Eddie Powell who took his place...
    Regards,
    Barry

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  6. Well, Badejo's the only one credited for the part. If it's someone else in the suit, I have no information to confirm it.

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  7. I don't think the final costume had eyes. That or I just don't remember the Alien having eyes because most of it's shots tend to focus on it's mouth.

    It certainly is scarier without eye sockets. The less the head looks like a human skull the more "alien" the Alien looks...

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  8. The alien costume had a hard, black, translucent carapace over this mask, so that the skull-like features were barely visible.

    Obviously, during this break, that piece was removed, probably for the actor's comfort.

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  9. Eddie Powell, stuntman, did play the Alien in some of the more difficult scenes. A few more details and pictures of Powell in the costume here:
    http://weyland-yutaniarchives.blogspot.com/2010/08/who-is-eddie-powell.html

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