“Their timidness added to the illusion”: ‘Alien’ Director Ridley Scott’s Clever Practical Effects on Set Even Made Space Look Convincing
- Ridley Scott used his children during the filming of 1979's Alien.
- The filmmaker was not the first choice to direct the movie that spawned a media franchise.
- Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope was Ridley Scott's inspiration to work on Alien when 20th Century Fox offered him the movie.
Ridley Scott directed 1979’s science-horror fiction movie Alien, which was based on a story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. The movie is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential science fiction and horror films of all time. Despite receiving a mixed response at the box office, Alien was a box office success, which later spawned a media franchise of movies, books, video games, and toys.
Writer Dan O’Bannon had originally assumed that he’d direct the movie. It was eventually Ridley Scott who was given the offer after 20th Century Fox was impressed by Scott’s debut feature, The Duellists. The recent release of Alien: Romulus has not only urged the fans to revisit the franchise movies but also look at the details of its making, and one surprising detail was Scott’s use of children in the movie.
Ridley Scott used his children to make the Alien set look bigger
Filmmaker Ridley Scott’s Alien is regarded as one of the biggest influences on science fiction horror movies. The movie launched a wave of audiences embracing the science fiction horror genre. James and Anthony Deveney, not only host Raiders of the Lost Podcast, an ultimate film and TV podcast but also likes to go in-depth about the making of the movie. During an episode, they mentioned how Ridley Scott used his children to make the sets of his celebrated movie Alien look bigger.
The hosts explained that there are so many scenes of Scott’s kids in the movie in the space suit in the wide shots so that the space jockey looks big. They mentioned that the set wasn’t as big as it looked on-screen, so the filmmaker decided to put his kids in the space suits and let them walk through the scenes to make the set look bigger.
James and Anthony Deveney went ahead to explain that there is a scene in the movie where the kids are next to the space jockey; it looks 10 times the size of a human being, which might not appear the same if an adult was in the scene. They also mentioned the scene where Nostromo lands and the kids come down the leg, which they noted was 58 feet long and they had to build the leg.
But Ridley Scott was not convinced that it looked large enough, so he had his two young sons and the son of the cinematographer standing for the actors. Ardent fans of the movie were amazed at the details of the movie that was released in 1979. A user commented,
It worked so well; their timidness and unbalance added to the illusion of walking in a spacesuit in an unfamiliar/alien terrain.
Another user also added that they love when movies use techniques like that Ridley Scott used for Alien. A third user mentioned that it’s cool to know this now, as they had no idea. They mentioned that the scale, lighting, and music all went into creating such an atmospheric masterpiece. A lot of users praised the kids for being the coolest to be a part of the Alien movie.
Ridley Scott’s Alien has Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope’s release to thank
It is no hidden fact that before George Lucas started to develop Star Wars, science fiction was considered a second-tier genre. Ridley Scott, who was technically the fifth choice to direct Alien, was inspired by Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope to work on his science-fiction epic.
During an interview with Letterboxed, Scott was asked about his four favorite films, and he said that he had finished his first film, The Duellists, and was going to do Tristan & Isolde next. But then he saw Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope on the big screen and was taken away by the galaxy that Lucas had crafted. (via Collider)
Ridley Scott noted that he was blown away by the science fiction imagination of George Lucas which sent him into a creative turmoil and he questioned himself on how will he replicate the success of what he watched on the big screen. He scrapped the idea of Tristan & Isolde and was soon offered Alien, to which he said yes.
Alien became one of the most impressive and biggest influences on science fiction movies and went ahead to launch a larger franchise that included filmmakers James Cameron, David Fincher, and now Fede Álvarez. 2001: A Space Odyssey is also one of the movies that inspired the filmmaker while he was making Alien.
With Alien: Romulus’ release and success, the filmmaker assured the fans that his movie would return to the horror aspects of the original movie, which impressed the audience. Alien: Romulus is playing in cinemas.
Alien is available to watch on Hulu.
