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YTS.MX
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Where's Apone?
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Get away from her, you bitch!
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We all knew, all the actors on it knew
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after a week of work
that we had something.
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I know some people say they watch it
every Christmas together.
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They watch it every Thanksgiving.
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So what are you waiting for?
Breakfast in bed?
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Isn't it shocking that we're talking
about this 40 years later,
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and it's a sequel?
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I mean, there's gotta be something to it.
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At the moment
when the chestburster first erupts,
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the entire audience
just leapt into the air.
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And Paxton turned to me and he was like,
"Oh, dude, this is gonna be so awesome."
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Stop your grinning and drop your linen.
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My memory of seeing the completed Aliens
was just shock and awe.
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I want this thing to go smooth
and by the numbers.
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The experience was beyond adjectives,
because it was just an assault.
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If you're gonna only be
in one movie in your life,
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this was the movie to be in.
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It was alchemy, it was magic,
it was witchcraft.
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Coming around for a 709-er.
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Everybody was immediately aware
that this wasn't just a hit movie,
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but it was something even more important,
something that would really endure.
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These people are dead Burke.
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Don't you have any idea
what you've done here?
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Jim has a way of pulling you in.
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Multiple signals.
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And once he pulls you in,
he's not gonna let you go.
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And I love the film.
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The film had such an incredible
momentum and drive.
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I like to keep this handy.
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For close encounters.
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Without a doubt, Aliens is the best movie
that I've ever been in.
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I just don't think there's a flaw,
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I can't find anything wrong
with that movie.
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And it made sense to me.
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It's all of my design influences
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and all of the story ideas
I'd been working on.
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I was born to make that movie.
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Well, there goes our salvage, guys.
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{\an8}I've had a few, I would say
fairly profound experiences in a cinema.
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{\an8}And one of them was
the opening night of Alien.
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It was at a theater somewhere
in Orange County, a big cinema.
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And what struck me so much
was the sense of presence, of place.
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You are there, you are inhabiting
this spacecraft with these people.
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The rigorous sense of detail,
the blue collar aesthetic.
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One memory that stands out really clearly
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from that film
is the plip-plop of the water drops
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on the bill of the ball cap
that Harry Dean Stanton's wearing.
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And he goes into some kind of
cooling room or condenser room
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or whatever it is, and the chains rustling,
clicking against each other.
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And in that moment, that taught me
a powerful lesson as a filmmaker,
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how you create a sense of
a tactile reality for the audience.
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It's all about sense memory.
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{\an8}The atmospherics
and the creation of a genre,
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{\an8}the psychological, claustrophobic
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thriller of being locked in space
was almost the first of its kind.
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I could smell it.
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{\an8}Something about what I was looking at
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{\an8}made me feel like I could smell the oil
and smell this and that.
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{\an8}And it was great,
it was a great moment in movies.
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{\an8}You could feel it with Ridley Scott
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{\an8}that 2001 was inspiring him to make a film
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{\an8}that was reverent to its source material,
that was serious.
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That lived in sense of reality.
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{\an8}This is really a look
that Dan O'Bannon developed
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with John Carpenter for Dark Star.
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Ridley ran with that.
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{\an8}He really took that to the next level
with his wonderful lighting.
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With Aliens, we had that
as a jumping off point.
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{\an8}As early as the release of the first film,
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{\an8}there were plans to do
another ship coming to LV-426.
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A very standard sequel idea,
which I'm sure would've worked fine.
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They had an idea of the alien actually
not having been killed in the first film
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and returning to Earth.
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They had an idea of the eggs from LV-426
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drifting down to Earth in an Invasion
of the Body Snatchers way.
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Which sounds a little far-fetched,
but it could have worked.
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But it speaks for itself to see
Ripley back in her particular story.
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I was actually pitching something else
to Walter Hill and David Giler.
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They had given me something
that they wanted to do,
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which was Spartacus in space.
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And so I went off and I did this whole
genetic engineering story
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about this underclass
of genetically engineered slaves
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that weren't considered human.
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And I came back with this epic
science fiction concept and they said,
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Nah, we just want swords
and sandals on another planet.
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I mean, frankly, these guys
were a giant disappointment.
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They didn't really
understand science fiction.
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They had lucked
into a science fiction hit,
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and then they were pretending
they knew about science fiction,
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but they didn't really,
especially David Giler.
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And he said,
"Well, we got this other thing."
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He said, "Well, nothing's really
happened on it in seven years,
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but you could take a stab at that."
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I said, "Well, what is it?"
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He said, "Alien 2." Kinda dismissively.
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And meanwhile, my brain lights up
like a slot machine at Vegas
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that's paying off a million bucks.
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You know what I mean? Ding, ding, ding.
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I race home,
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I get all my notes for this other thing
that I had been writing on.
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I called it E.T., believe it or not.
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And then some other chump
came out with a movie called E.T.,
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or, at least I heard
that it was coming out,
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and I went,
"All right, I'll give up that title."
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And then I changed it to, I think, Mother.
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And so I was writing Mother
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because it was about two mothers fighting.
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The mother alien protecting its young,
and the mother human.
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Giler had given me
a one-line or two-line concept.
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The same place where they found
the derelict ship has now been colonized
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and they lose contact with the colony
and they call in the Space Marines.
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And then, this is an exact quote,
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"And then some bullshit happens,
dot, dot, dot."
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And I ran with it.
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At the same time that
he was writing Alien,
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{\an8}he was also writing
Rambo: First Blood Part II.
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So he had two different desks
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and he played different music
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to get him into the head space
for the two different films.
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{\an8}There's no bones about it,
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without James Cameron,
without Ridley Scott,
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and for all intents and purposes,
without David Fincher,
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but that's a different conversation,
we would not have the films that we have.
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But you can't make a monster film
without an interesting monster.
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You still don't understand
what you're dealing with, do you?
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Perfect organism.
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Its structural perfection
is matched only by its hostility.
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The foundational work
that H.R. Giger did on Alien
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was really unsurpassable.
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{\an8}The fully developed
language of biomechanics
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mixed with sexuality and dread
and psychological terror
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that his images produced
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was really like lightning in a bottle.
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You look at some of the early concept art
by Ron Cobb, who's a brilliant artist,
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{\an8}and some of the other things
that Dan O'Bannon had developed
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in the early days
before Ridley was fully on as a director.
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And it wouldn't have been the same.
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It would've been probably
one movie, and you're done.
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I remember when I was a kid
going into bookstores
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with family and seeing a book by Giger,
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{\an8}and they're like, "No, no, no, no, no,
you can't look at that book."
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Giger did quite a bit of work
on Jodorowsky's Dune project,
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{\an8}which fell through,
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{\an8}and it was Dan O'Bannon who saw his work
and realized there's something there.
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Certainly we see elements
that are phallic,
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we see orifices, we see parts
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{\an8}that actually look familiar
to us as humans.
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{\an8}And yet the elements are distorted,
they're grotesque,
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they're exaggerated, horrific.
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{\an8}It was just so out there
and beautiful, elegant,
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erotic, strange, terrifying, beguiling,
it was all these things.
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And Giger himself was a very charming man
and had a great sense of humor.
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We were all very nervous because
what Ridley Scott and H.R. Giger
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and that entire team
had done with the first film
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was so monumental and so intimidating
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that we thought
we were imposters coming in.
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I remember Cameron
at some point flippantly saying,
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"Yeah, no big deal, we can beat that."
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I think we watched a screening of it,
"We can do better than that."
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And I remember thinking, "Oh, God,
I'm glad he feels this way."
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{\an8}Aliens, it literally picks up,
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apart from 57 years,
where the last one ended.
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{\an8}She gets into the Narcissus, she gets
into that little life pod, she flies away,
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and we pick up with that life pod
at the beginning of this film.
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{\an8}I've gotta find that delicate equipoise
between it being my film,
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{\an8}but being a proper homage
and respectful sequel to Ridley's film.
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And I think we hit that balance and
we did shift the tone more toward action.
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That's okay.
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How are you gonna out horror
and out suspense Alien?
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Never compete head on.
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40 meters in, bearing 221,
there should be a stairwell.
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{\an8}What if we brought
this whole platoon of marines in,
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had them armed to the brim?
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What could go wrong?
This is what goes wrong.
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Whoever's alive,
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-get the hell out of here, goddamn it!
-Just shut up.
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God, where's Apone?
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How are we today?
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Oh, terrible.
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Well, better than yesterday at least.
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Where am I?
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{\an8}I live and work a lot in my dreams.
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{\an8}Dreams are a source of
story, ideas, and inspirations.
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{\an8}James Cameron is able to use dreams
in a way that are relevant to the plot,
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not as a false scare.
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{\an8}The audience goes into Aliens at that time
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{\an8}with the knowledge of that horrific scene
with John Hurt from the first film.
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And even though it doesn't
pay off in that same way,
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he really increased that sense of dread
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when Ripley is having her dream
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and she pulls the sheet off
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and the chestburster
is stretching her abdomen out.
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That's where everybody goes, "Oh, no!"
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She's internalized that horrific moment
with John Hurt from her previous voyage.
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It's almost like
the chestburster is the thing
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that she needs to get out of herself,
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which is her trauma.
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She's not the character you met in Alien.
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She's a damaged version of that character.
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In Aliens, some of the experiences
that we should note
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{\an8}in terms of Ripley's exposure to trauma
is that she is the single survivor
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{\an8}of this horrific attack on the Nostromo.
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She's holding onto survivor's guilt.
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The features of PTSD that we see
in Ripley include hyperarousal signs,
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avoidance symptoms, as well as
re-experiencing symptoms,
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having nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive,
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constant negative thoughts about
what she experienced on the Nostromo.
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{\an8}I was really taken with
Sigourney Weaver in Alien.
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We know it's using the air shafts.
Will you listen to me, Parker?
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Shut up.
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{\an8}It is Ripley story all the way through.
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{\an8}This untested first officer type person
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{\an8}who was working
a fairly menial blue collar job,
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and then how she was
forged into this almost weapon
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by an encounter
with this extraterrestrial threat.
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People in a tight knit group tend to
want to agree with each other,
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but she was the outlier.
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She was the one that said,
"You can't come back on the ship.
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It's breaking the protocols,
we could all die."
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This is an order, you hear me?
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Yes, I read you. The answer is negative.
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{\an8}I feel like it's the legacy
of Ripley and her surviving
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these terrible adventures
that she gets forced into.
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I just think that Jim Cameron
lived up to that tenfold in Aliens
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in terms of giving Ripley
a satisfying character journey,
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but challenged her in ways
that she hadn't been challenged.
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The analysis team,
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which went over the lifeboat
centimeter by centimeter,
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found no physical evidence
of the creature you described.
234
00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,360
Good. That's because I blew it
out of the goddamn airlock.
235
00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:17,800
Could they have made a sequel
without Sigourney Weaver?
236
00:16:18,140 --> 00:16:20,300
I think they could. I'm glad they didn't.
237
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:22,870
Because you could
theoretically have excised her
238
00:16:22,900 --> 00:16:24,700
and had The Company
just send the marines back.
239
00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:26,450
You don't have the heart.
240
00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:27,340
She's the core of it.
241
00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:30,910
I think she's one of, if not the greatest
heroine who's ever been on screen.
242
00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:33,500
And I think to be denied that
would've been absolutely criminal.
243
00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:40,240
So having lost so much
and weirdly lived so long
244
00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:44,060
coming back into this world,
that's even more of a disappointment.
245
00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:48,310
She's a little grizzled. It's cool.
246
00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:51,980
Sigourney as Ripley was critical to me
247
00:16:52,060 --> 00:16:55,460
just in terms of my excitement,
my passion,
248
00:16:55,500 --> 00:16:56,860
my commitment to the project.
249
00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:02,120
But of course, seven years had gone by
and no personal services contract
250
00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:03,740
goes beyond a seven year horizon.
251
00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:08,240
They were waiting for me to write
something to essentially use as bait
252
00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:10,160
to attract her back to the project.
253
00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,420
Honestly, I knew absolutely
nothing about the sequel
254
00:17:15,580 --> 00:17:18,980
till I literally received the script
from Jim Cameron
255
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:24,300
when I was working in France
on a film with Gerard Depardieu.
256
00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:29,570
And I got this script delivered
or in the mail, started reading it.
257
00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:33,320
And of course, what a script!
258
00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:35,440
And Ripley's on every page, and I thought,
259
00:17:35,500 --> 00:17:39,300
"God, you would've thought
that Fox would mention this."
260
00:17:40,540 --> 00:17:42,300
I'm very nerdy about scripts.
261
00:17:42,700 --> 00:17:46,580
It really has to do
a lot of things for me,
262
00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:48,720
for me to be interested in the filmmaker.
263
00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:53,140
If it's not in the script, I'm not that
interested no matter who you are.
264
00:17:53,380 --> 00:17:58,120
{\an8}And you have to remember
that back in the eighties,
265
00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:02,110
there was a huge disparity between
what women leads were paid
266
00:18:02,140 --> 00:18:03,820
and what male leads were paid.
267
00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:06,740
And she wanted to be
paid a million dollars.
268
00:18:07,860 --> 00:18:11,740
The idea of paying that much money
for a lead in a sequel,
269
00:18:11,780 --> 00:18:17,000
which their feeling was it would make
maybe 60% what the first film made
270
00:18:18,260 --> 00:18:19,980
really didn't pencil out.
271
00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:24,360
So we had to find a way to get
the two parties together.
272
00:18:26,220 --> 00:18:29,240
She wanted a rich deal
because the first film was a hit.
273
00:18:29,460 --> 00:18:32,840
She had then by the short and curlies
because she was Ripley.
274
00:18:32,940 --> 00:18:34,290
and she was the only survivor.
275
00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:35,980
Last survivor of the Nostromo.
276
00:18:36,420 --> 00:18:39,780
So now we had to figure out
how to actually get the deal made.
277
00:18:40,140 --> 00:18:43,260
I said, "I'm not gonna let this thing
get torpedoed just because of one actress.
278
00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,560
"Are you kidding me?"
So here's my game plan.
279
00:18:46,100 --> 00:18:47,420
Over the next weekend,
280
00:18:47,660 --> 00:18:51,680
I am going to completely rewrite
the script and just take Ripley out."
281
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,220
Of course, I had zero intention
of doing that whatsoever.
282
00:18:55,580 --> 00:18:57,110
The deal was made in 24 hours.
283
00:18:58,300 --> 00:19:02,690
It wasn't till I talked to Jim much later
284
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:04,860
that he said, "Yeah, I was so scared
285
00:19:05,300 --> 00:19:08,260
about meeting you and would
you like this script and everything?"
286
00:19:08,300 --> 00:19:11,860
And I was like,
"Really? What's not to like?"
287
00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:15,720
{\an8}Sigourney is a very classy lady.
288
00:19:16,020 --> 00:19:18,000
{\an8}She is a wonderful actress.
289
00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:20,340
Her performance in Alien was immaculate.
290
00:19:20,500 --> 00:19:23,260
She's very sexy, very photogenic.
291
00:19:23,540 --> 00:19:26,400
And Sigourney as a person
is extremely compelling,
292
00:19:26,700 --> 00:19:31,560
very sophisticated, but also has
a very down to earth straightforwardness.
293
00:19:33,820 --> 00:19:38,220
{\an8}She was a far cry from
a sort of theatrical actressy actress.
294
00:19:38,260 --> 00:19:39,780
{\an8}She didn't pull that at all.
295
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:43,030
When I first came to the set,
296
00:19:43,060 --> 00:19:46,640
{\an8}Sigourney Weaver walked right up to me
and said, "Hi, I am Sigourney Weaver."
297
00:19:47,020 --> 00:19:50,820
{\an8}And I thought in my head,
"Good for you that you did that."
298
00:19:50,900 --> 00:19:52,820
Because if you didn't do that,
299
00:19:52,850 --> 00:19:54,500
I don't know
if I'm supposed to talk to you.
300
00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:56,320
I don't know the protocol.
301
00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:00,540
I had an enormous crush on her.
302
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,520
She's just the most beautiful,
coolest woman there is.
303
00:20:03,820 --> 00:20:06,790
Obviously,
her character hated my character,
304
00:20:06,820 --> 00:20:07,980
and that became a running joke.
305
00:20:08,180 --> 00:20:10,700
"Oh, here comes the horrible creepy guy."
306
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:13,760
But in a weird way, we bonded because
307
00:20:14,020 --> 00:20:16,920
the Marines and the guys
had their comradery.
308
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:22,100
We were both
considered outsiders by the gang.
309
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:25,980
She truly is the head of the snake.
310
00:20:26,140 --> 00:20:28,300
{\an8}I think the reason that Jim
uses her so much
311
00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:30,580
{\an8}is she's got an incredible work ethic.
312
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:32,820
{\an8}She's always ready to go.
313
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,020
She's very analytical, very analytical.
314
00:20:37,060 --> 00:20:38,660
The second the camera rolls,
315
00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:44,120
she goes a hundred percent feral
and instinctive, and emotional.
316
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:53,550
We had a couple of, not serious, run-ins,
disagreements over scenes.
317
00:20:53,580 --> 00:20:57,180
And I can remember the three of us,
Jim kind of listening,
318
00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:59,560
but she's stand her ground,
she's a tough cookie.
319
00:21:01,620 --> 00:21:04,580
Jim was always very deferential toward me.
320
00:21:05,300 --> 00:21:07,930
I don't know, maybe it's because
I played Ripley before,
321
00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:10,590
but he always wanted my feedback.
322
00:21:10,620 --> 00:21:14,400
You guys threw me at the wolves
and now you want me to go back out there?
323
00:21:15,180 --> 00:21:16,880
Forget it. It's not my problem.
324
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:21,190
{\an8}Ripley made it so clear that
she's not only never going back,
325
00:21:21,220 --> 00:21:24,960
{\an8}but never, ever working
for The Company again, ever.
326
00:21:25,140 --> 00:21:28,120
{\an8}They're bastards.
327
00:21:29,020 --> 00:21:32,160
And the only reason
she could be compelled to do it
328
00:21:32,340 --> 00:21:35,920
is to save other people
from this horrible creature.
329
00:21:37,180 --> 00:21:40,300
How many are there? How many colonists?
330
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:42,980
I don't know, 60, maybe 70 families.
331
00:21:43,660 --> 00:21:47,180
Sigourney did such a good job
of portraying that,
332
00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:52,300
that it explained her metamorphosis
into this all powerful
333
00:21:52,700 --> 00:21:56,060
goddess, a warrior goddess.
334
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:13,420
Did IQs just drop sharply
while I was away?
335
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,380
Who's the villain in that movie?
The corporate world.
336
00:22:16,870 --> 00:22:17,960
That's the villain.
337
00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:21,440
Is Aliens an anti-corporate film?
338
00:22:21,530 --> 00:22:23,200
{\an8}Well, it's certainly not pro-corporate.
339
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,320
42 million in adjusted dollars.
340
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:28,400
That's minus payload, of course.
341
00:22:28,580 --> 00:22:32,960
{\an8}I think very much, Jim was trying
to make several points in the film,
342
00:22:33,220 --> 00:22:39,060
one of which was fear the corporations,
the military industrial complex.
343
00:22:39,220 --> 00:22:42,760
{\an8}Here it is in space
and still in charge of things,
344
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:45,760
now putting human lives at great risk.
345
00:22:45,820 --> 00:22:48,620
He saw thousands of eggs there, thousands.
346
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:50,650
Thank you, that will be all.
347
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:52,400
Goddamn it, that's not all!
348
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,690
{\an8}I thought it was important to be true
to some of the themes of the first film.
349
00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,080
{\an8}And obviously it is anti-corporate.
350
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:00,860
The blue collar people
are just expendable.
351
00:23:01,070 --> 00:23:03,950
I don't ask because it takes
two weeks to get an answer out here.
352
00:23:03,980 --> 00:23:06,080
-And the answer is always don't ask.
-Don't ask.
353
00:23:06,460 --> 00:23:09,400
{\an8}I've always personally
had a problem with authority.
354
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:15,480
{\an8}So I think to me
it was absolutely my worldview
355
00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:20,560
that your life wasn't that meaningful
356
00:23:21,540 --> 00:23:24,490
set against a profit sheet.
357
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,060
And because I came up in the seventies
358
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:34,580
and I was on a campus
where Napalm was invented.
359
00:23:36,300 --> 00:23:38,430
And Three Mile Island had happened
360
00:23:38,460 --> 00:23:42,080
and the profit motive
put ahead of human safety.
361
00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:46,100
Look, I'm a child of the sixties,
so I'm ready to protest everything.
362
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:48,700
{\an8}The idea that the future
363
00:23:48,730 --> 00:23:51,670
{\an8}is governed by corporations
is I think something
364
00:23:51,700 --> 00:23:54,080
{\an8}that has been a staple of science fiction.
365
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,230
{\an8}You look at Robocop,
366
00:23:58,250 --> 00:24:01,110
{\an8}OCP is definitely
the bad evil corporation,
367
00:24:01,660 --> 00:24:04,880
{\an8}you look at Outland,
Con-Am is definitely the evil corporation.
368
00:24:04,970 --> 00:24:07,720
{\an8}Drop by my office. We'll talk some more.
369
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:10,080
I'll do that.
370
00:24:10,220 --> 00:24:12,900
Science fiction is just filled
with evil corporations.
371
00:24:18,710 --> 00:24:21,000
A company that had control of space
372
00:24:21,360 --> 00:24:24,760
would have access to trillions
of dollars in wealth and resources.
373
00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:28,340
{\an8}So they would be just as powerful
as a government these days.
374
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,290
{\an8}What if it's actually the corporation
that's controlling the government,
375
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:34,480
{\an8}not the other way around?
376
00:24:39,220 --> 00:24:40,880
They're building better worlds.
377
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,220
{\an8}Let's expand humans' reach into space.
378
00:24:44,300 --> 00:24:45,380
Planet engineers,
379
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,300
they go in, set up these big atmosphere
processes to make the air breathable.
380
00:24:49,650 --> 00:24:50,660
Takes decades.
381
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:55,920
{\an8}But that obviously means you are
going to stumble upon other life forms.
382
00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:01,180
Colonization, as we've seen on Earth,
doesn't always end well.
383
00:25:01,410 --> 00:25:03,390
By destroying an M-class star.
384
00:25:03,420 --> 00:25:05,070
I love Weyland-Yutani in this.
385
00:25:05,100 --> 00:25:06,900
I love the evil corporate overlords.
386
00:25:06,980 --> 00:25:08,740
{\an8}The shadow of The Company looms large.
387
00:25:20,460 --> 00:25:21,940
{\an8}The origins of Weyland-Yutani
388
00:25:21,970 --> 00:25:25,360
{\an8}really relate to the time
the Alien was being made.
389
00:25:25,460 --> 00:25:28,340
{\an8}And Ron Cobb, the designer, said
390
00:25:28,370 --> 00:25:31,870
that they were trying
to echo this paranoia
391
00:25:31,900 --> 00:25:35,140
about Japanese companies
buying into Western companies.
392
00:25:35,180 --> 00:25:36,960
And there was this,
I think fear at the time
393
00:25:36,990 --> 00:25:39,520
that Toyota were gonna
buy British Leyland.
394
00:25:39,900 --> 00:25:43,640
So it was Leyland Toyota
that became Weyland-Yutani.
395
00:25:43,900 --> 00:25:46,360
It was just an echo of what
was going on at the time.
396
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:49,940
And then when Cameron came in
397
00:25:49,970 --> 00:25:53,320
and took the company into Aliens,
he added the D.
398
00:25:53,360 --> 00:25:55,260
So it read "Weyland-Yutani."
399
00:25:55,740 --> 00:25:58,210
And you never hear
the name mentioned in Alien.
400
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,000
It was just part of the designs.
401
00:26:00,540 --> 00:26:03,680
And Cameron made it
much more robustly corporate.
402
00:26:04,740 --> 00:26:07,680
{\an8}There's this wonderful kind of back
and forth of ownership
403
00:26:07,710 --> 00:26:11,860
between Ridley Scott and James Cameron
with the mythology of Alien.
404
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,320
Of course, both Alien and Aliens
405
00:26:16,410 --> 00:26:19,310
are influenced
by the fiction of Joseph Conrad.
406
00:26:19,820 --> 00:26:21,560
The name Nostromo,
407
00:26:21,590 --> 00:26:25,230
the original ship in Alien,
is a novel by Conrad.
408
00:26:25,700 --> 00:26:27,960
The original screenplay of Alien had
409
00:26:28,260 --> 00:26:30,940
Hearts of Darkness quotes
written across the front of it.
410
00:26:31,300 --> 00:26:33,360
Sulaco, the name of the ship in Aliens,
411
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:36,940
relates to the city name
in Nostromo, the novel.
412
00:26:37,420 --> 00:26:42,480
And Conrad wrote about
man colonizing far off places
413
00:26:42,660 --> 00:26:45,520
and companies moving into those places.
414
00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:48,500
So there's this theme
from Conrad that I think
415
00:26:48,740 --> 00:26:51,710
certainly goes right
through Alien and Aliens.
416
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,080
You know, Burke, I don't know
which species is worse.
417
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:01,860
You don't see them fucking each other over
for a goddamn percentage.
418
00:27:01,940 --> 00:27:05,740
I remember the wardrobe
was an interesting piece of it.
419
00:27:06,660 --> 00:27:10,900
Weeks and weeks before
I even left to go to London,
420
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:14,500
they were measuring me for the suit.
421
00:27:16,460 --> 00:27:21,900
Then I go to London and they do
a second fitting, I haven't seen anything,
422
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:23,900
but they're still taking measurements,
423
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,400
and I couldn't wait to see
what they came up with.
424
00:27:27,740 --> 00:27:31,290
Cut to, they bring me
the suit with the collars up.
425
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,560
I went, "That's it?
That's all you came up with?"
426
00:27:35,740 --> 00:27:37,220
I was so disappointed.
427
00:27:37,340 --> 00:27:40,220
It just looks like a guy that you
want to go, "Hey, buddy, your collar's up."
428
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:44,520
That could have been better.
429
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,350
Burke was the guy doing the dirty work,
430
00:27:47,380 --> 00:27:53,220
but in the name of and in service of
this huge conglomerate power.
431
00:27:53,740 --> 00:27:56,700
It was anti-corporate
432
00:27:57,780 --> 00:27:59,680
against the most intimate personal.
433
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:00,740
Why are you going?
434
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,820
Corporation co-financed that colony
along with colonial administration.
435
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,660
{\an8}All of his films feel like
they are about hubris.
436
00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:11,540
{\an8}But this ship can't sink.
437
00:28:11,580 --> 00:28:13,860
She's made of iron, sir.
I assure you she can.
438
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:18,400
They're about technology, the arrogance
of people relying on technology.
439
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:24,400
The arrogance of companies
who don't think about people.
440
00:28:28,460 --> 00:28:30,080
These proceedings are closed.
441
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,040
Do you have any news about my daughter?
442
00:28:36,580 --> 00:28:41,920
{\an8}What I really missed, which I enjoyed
seeing in the director's cut,
443
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,540
was the part
where you learn about her daughter.
444
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,380
Amanda Ripley-McClaren.
Married name, I guess.
445
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:50,000
Age: 66.
446
00:28:51,180 --> 00:28:53,040
And that was at the time of her death.
447
00:28:53,330 --> 00:28:56,320
Because that part
should have been left in about,
448
00:28:56,350 --> 00:29:00,180
because that gives such a backstory
to why she's doing these things.
449
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:03,330
We see it in The Special Edition,
450
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:05,490
which I think is probably the most watched
version of the film now,
451
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:07,220
about how her daughter has been dead.
452
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,980
She left her just before
her 11th birthday,
453
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:11,710
and she's died while Ripley's been away.
454
00:29:11,740 --> 00:29:15,820
And so Ripley has a hole inside her,
which is filled when she meets Newt.
455
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:24,920
{\an8}Jim cut out the fact that Ripley
was a mother in the main film.
456
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:29,560
He didn't have the courage
to tell me before the first screening.
457
00:29:29,900 --> 00:29:31,050
I promised her
458
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,010
that I'd be home for her birthday.
459
00:29:35,220 --> 00:29:40,110
I always felt that that was
the linchpin for Ripley,
460
00:29:40,140 --> 00:29:43,720
that she'd left a daughter behind,
461
00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:48,100
and here was this girl,
this brave girl who needed her.
462
00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:51,080
{\an8}And that's also personal
463
00:29:51,110 --> 00:29:53,650
{\an8}because the picture of her daughter
was Sigourney's mom.
464
00:29:55,990 --> 00:29:56,990
Amy.
465
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,320
{\an8}And we thought that
if we pleaded with 20th Century Fox,
466
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,280
they would agree to a longer cut,
467
00:30:04,620 --> 00:30:07,640
but this is not the time
of multiplex theaters.
468
00:30:08,700 --> 00:30:13,320
You couldn't have four screens
showing the same film,
469
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:15,740
and it really did affect box office.
470
00:30:15,820 --> 00:30:19,920
So we had to come up with some
very difficult choices about what to cut.
471
00:30:20,060 --> 00:30:21,940
We couldn't go back for reshoots.
472
00:30:22,620 --> 00:30:26,660
So we had to find things
that we could take out as chunks.
473
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:31,060
That was hard for me
because I'd based everything on it.
474
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:32,760
I realize now that you don't need it,
475
00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:37,740
and that maybe it works just as well,
if not better, for her not to have that.
476
00:30:38,460 --> 00:30:40,880
But just in the terms of
shooting the movie,
477
00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:43,840
that was very important
to me as the backstory.
478
00:30:45,180 --> 00:30:49,400
{\an8}There's always a huge debate amongst fans
over what's the better version.
479
00:30:51,180 --> 00:30:52,180
I'm of the belief
480
00:30:52,210 --> 00:30:55,880
{\an8}that if Jim Cameron is telling you
that this is how he wishes it was,
481
00:30:56,500 --> 00:30:58,360
{\an8}then that's how it should have been.
482
00:30:58,780 --> 00:31:02,090
{\an8}You can savor each for its own qualities.
483
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:03,300
{\an8}I like the slim cut.
484
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:07,280
Mystery planet.
485
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:09,180
So we don't know what's down there,
486
00:31:09,460 --> 00:31:12,410
and then woof, you come in,
there are a few lights on.
487
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:14,760
Oh, my God, what's happening?
What's happened?
488
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,460
Do too. You go in places we can't fit.
489
00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,120
So? That's why I'm the best.
490
00:31:21,220 --> 00:31:24,220
My choice would always
be the director's cut.
491
00:31:24,300 --> 00:31:25,690
What is it, dad?
492
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:27,940
Because simply my brother was in that.
493
00:31:28,220 --> 00:31:29,340
He played my brother.
494
00:31:29,380 --> 00:31:32,100
To me, they've been gone a long time.
495
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:33,820
It'll be okay.
496
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:38,100
But I think that it also brings
a whole different element to my character.
497
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:42,580
You see how our family was just
a regular family trying to strike it rich.
498
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:44,830
And I think it brings
that different dimension to it
499
00:31:44,990 --> 00:31:48,220
and brings even more empathy for Newt.
500
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:54,070
There's great stuff in there.
501
00:31:54,100 --> 00:31:55,770
I love a sentry gun
as much as the next person.
502
00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:57,450
"A" and "B" sentries
are in place and keyed.
503
00:31:57,470 --> 00:31:58,480
Roger.
504
00:31:58,500 --> 00:32:02,080
But I think the sense of dread you have
505
00:32:02,540 --> 00:32:04,980
not knowing what's waiting
for them on the colony
506
00:32:05,020 --> 00:32:08,340
when you see the acid burns,
when you see the barricades they've made.
507
00:32:08,530 --> 00:32:10,860
You don't know what's happened.
508
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:21,560
Ripley, we have to talk.
509
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:25,680
We've lost contact
with the colony on LV-426.
510
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,140
{\an8}Did you do backstory for Gorman?
511
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,400
{\an8}It happened as we went along.
512
00:32:30,500 --> 00:32:33,030
I didn't think,
"Oh, gosh, who is this guy?
513
00:32:33,050 --> 00:32:34,260
How has he come to be here?"
514
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:35,820
It was all in the script.
515
00:32:36,260 --> 00:32:38,320
Ripley, you wouldn't be
going in with the troops.
516
00:32:38,500 --> 00:32:40,080
I can guarantee your safety.
517
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:44,680
He's wrapped really tight,
he's wired, he's tense,
518
00:32:45,060 --> 00:32:46,650
he's got to keep it all together
519
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:51,540
and he's really got to
don't fuck it up, Gorman.
520
00:32:53,540 --> 00:32:54,620
What is it, Hicks?
521
00:32:55,150 --> 00:32:57,780
Hudson, sir. He's Hicks.
522
00:32:58,340 --> 00:33:02,360
I was about to sign with Stanley Kubrick
for Full Metal Jacket.
523
00:33:02,660 --> 00:33:06,260
So I was seriously pumped
and really so excited
524
00:33:06,460 --> 00:33:08,320
to go and do a Stanley Kubrick movie
525
00:33:08,460 --> 00:33:11,440
that when my agent rang
and said, "They wanna see you,
526
00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:14,400
20th Century Fox is doing a sci-fi movie."
527
00:33:15,210 --> 00:33:19,120
And I said, "I don't wanna go for sci-fi.
528
00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:20,570
I'm working with Stanley Kubrick."
529
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:23,380
And she said,
"Don't be an asshole, just go along."
530
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:25,840
"And who? James Cameron, Terminator."
531
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:27,670
"Nah, I don't know a Terminator."
532
00:33:28,780 --> 00:33:31,880
And I met Jim and Gale and talked,
533
00:33:32,100 --> 00:33:36,790
and a little bit of filming
for half an hour.
534
00:33:36,820 --> 00:33:41,460
And they said, "Well, go away,
take these sides, Hudson."
535
00:33:41,820 --> 00:33:45,040
And I'm going out the front door
and the receptionist,
536
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:46,700
"Oh, Mr. Hope, come back, come back.
537
00:33:46,740 --> 00:33:49,120
No, no, no, they don't
want you to look at these."
538
00:33:49,300 --> 00:33:51,320
Took away Hudson and gave me Gorman.
539
00:33:51,460 --> 00:33:54,600
And something like three days later,
it was like a straight offer
540
00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:56,780
and my agent nearly fell off her chair.
541
00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:59,000
They want William for one of the leads.
542
00:33:59,140 --> 00:34:03,820
But the fact was that I was cast in less
than a week and something happened.
543
00:34:04,460 --> 00:34:08,860
I know that Jim and Gale had some
other people set up for Gorman in LA,
544
00:34:09,180 --> 00:34:10,960
and something clicked.
545
00:34:14,290 --> 00:34:17,840
I remember being shown
the APC for the first time,
546
00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:22,660
and I thought, "This is a bit dusty.
Can we clean this, Jim?"
547
00:34:22,900 --> 00:34:27,760
And he kind of rolled his eyes
and Lance said, "Ah, Jim loves that."
548
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:31,980
That's exactly what Gorman would say,
"Clean this shit up."
549
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:35,480
I want this thing to go smooth
and by the numbers.
550
00:34:35,940 --> 00:34:38,850
{\an8}He's green, he's clearly gone
on the fast track.
551
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:40,900
{\an8}He has no experience, he has no authority.
552
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:42,900
Meet me at the south lock.
We're coming in.
553
00:34:42,930 --> 00:34:43,950
Roger.
554
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,000
He's coming in. I feel safer already.
555
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:49,530
{\an8}Typical Second Lieutenant
that knows everything.
556
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,020
-Let's saddle up, Apone.
-Aye, sir.
557
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,740
{\an8}Then finds out that he's over his head.
558
00:34:54,900 --> 00:34:55,700
Wonderful.
559
00:34:56,860 --> 00:34:57,940
Shit.
560
00:34:58,260 --> 00:35:00,560
{\an8}I love that he has his own arc in the film
561
00:35:00,590 --> 00:35:03,420
{\an8}where he's knocked down a few notches,
562
00:35:03,460 --> 00:35:05,320
and at one point Vasquez
wants to kill him.
563
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:08,100
-Wake up, pendejo, and then I'm gonna kill you!
-Back off.
564
00:35:08,140 --> 00:35:11,800
Because he is responsible
for the death of her best friend Drake.
565
00:35:11,980 --> 00:35:16,240
And you see William Hope
perform this character so beautifully.
566
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:19,700
And like I have so much compassion
for Gorman as a character, I love him.
567
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:20,900
How do you feel?
568
00:35:21,790 --> 00:35:24,880
All right, I guess.
One hell of a hangover.
569
00:35:25,420 --> 00:35:28,570
{\an8}It's definitely an examination
of different leadership styles,
570
00:35:28,610 --> 00:35:33,900
{\an8}and the difference between somebody
who is a leader by designation,
571
00:35:34,500 --> 00:35:37,580
who wins the argument from authority.
572
00:35:37,700 --> 00:35:39,880
I'm the Lieutenant,
I must therefore be right.
573
00:35:40,140 --> 00:35:42,660
Boy's definitely got a corncob up his ass.
574
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,240
Versus Apone who's a natural leader.
575
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:50,060
The Sergeant was always
the more respected by the troops,
576
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,580
by the rank and file, than the Lieutenant.
577
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:54,160
Second squad, what's your status?
578
00:35:54,460 --> 00:35:55,800
We just finished our sweep.
579
00:35:56,610 --> 00:35:58,080
-Nobody's home.
-Roger.
580
00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:02,380
Ripley isn't there to lead.
She does not want to lead.
581
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:06,900
They consistently dismiss her
until the shit hits the fan.
582
00:36:07,570 --> 00:36:10,360
And then she just naturally steps forward.
583
00:36:10,460 --> 00:36:13,740
Because some people
who are just natural alphas,
584
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:17,090
when they see things going sideways,
they just jump in.
585
00:36:17,390 --> 00:36:20,360
They just take over. They can't not do it,
it's part of their character.
586
00:36:22,660 --> 00:36:24,620
Just in terms of the human landscape,
587
00:36:24,780 --> 00:36:27,610
I think most people
would aspire to be that good.
588
00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:30,500
Most people never
step across that threshold.
589
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:40,280
{\an8}I mean, I definitely felt in the first one
that she had what we call the right stuff
590
00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:42,960
and that's why
she doesn't wanna let Kane in.
591
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:45,400
I feel like she's so transformed
592
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:52,220
before she even starts the story of two,
by so much loss, so much PTSD.
593
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:56,980
And so her natural leadership
has so much to overcome,
594
00:36:57,820 --> 00:36:59,660
and it's really a last resort.
595
00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:02,210
Of course, she keeps her head,
596
00:37:02,470 --> 00:37:05,540
and I think doesn't
have the imagination of artists.
597
00:37:05,570 --> 00:37:07,700
to think of all the things
that can go wrong.
598
00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:09,820
I think she's very disciplined about that.
599
00:37:10,420 --> 00:37:16,680
She tries to just think
about the practical solutions.
600
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:19,100
Well, there's a pressure door at this end.
601
00:37:20,260 --> 00:37:22,640
Couldn't we put one
of the remote sentry units in the tunnel
602
00:37:23,140 --> 00:37:24,300
and then seal that door?
603
00:37:24,340 --> 00:37:27,340
My mother was
a very good person in a crisis
604
00:37:27,490 --> 00:37:29,120
and she was a nurse
605
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:33,180
and she was in the Canadian Army Reserve
and things like that.
606
00:37:33,220 --> 00:37:34,620
She was very competent.
607
00:37:34,860 --> 00:37:36,760
I remember once
as a kid being very impressed,
608
00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:40,560
I hopped into the house
with a board nailed to my foot
609
00:37:40,620 --> 00:37:43,760
by a three inch nail
that I had stepped onto.
610
00:37:43,940 --> 00:37:46,080
And I hopped in the house,
"Mom, I got a board nailed to my foot."
611
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,830
And she just went,
"Put your knee over there on the chair."
612
00:37:48,860 --> 00:37:52,420
And she just grabbed the board
and she just went, pulled the nail out,
613
00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:55,200
and said, "All right, we're going
to the hospital, get in the car."
614
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:57,720
And it was like, wow.
615
00:37:57,760 --> 00:37:59,220
She can really handle shit.
616
00:38:01,820 --> 00:38:03,920
I could relate to it
from my own childhood.
617
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:08,120
I could relate to it from my own life,
because I know that I'm best in a crisis.
618
00:38:08,540 --> 00:38:13,310
When the adrenaline spikes,
my brain goes into supercomputer mode.
619
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:20,960
{\an8}Jim really was pretty unknown at the time.
620
00:38:21,020 --> 00:38:23,300
{\an8}He was very young,
I don't think he was 30 yet.
621
00:38:23,380 --> 00:38:26,640
He wasn't the wunderkind
that we know he is now.
622
00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,500
Jim's earliest film work
was for Roger Corman.
623
00:38:31,180 --> 00:38:34,500
{\an8}Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot fast,
get through a day, get to the next day.
624
00:38:34,820 --> 00:38:37,740
{\an8}Just everything as fast as possible,
and they'd work it out in the edit.
625
00:38:38,050 --> 00:38:40,620
{\an8}When they were building interior
spaceships for Roger Corman,
626
00:38:40,660 --> 00:38:45,080
{\an8}they had styrofoam takeaway packages
from different restaurants
627
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:46,480
and they were just painting them silver.
628
00:38:49,300 --> 00:38:52,860
{\an8}When you work for Roger Corman,
you learn how to do absolutely everything,
629
00:38:53,340 --> 00:38:55,520
{\an8}and you have no money
and you have no time.
630
00:38:56,240 --> 00:38:58,760
So you better damn well know
what you're doing.
631
00:39:01,210 --> 00:39:06,180
{\an8}Roger Corman's was the best
film school that you could imagine.
632
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:10,860
{\an8}It's a mutual use scenario,
where you are using Roger
633
00:39:10,980 --> 00:39:13,660
for the experience
and the resume building,
634
00:39:13,730 --> 00:39:15,620
and he's using you for cheap labor.
635
00:39:17,900 --> 00:39:22,000
I know that he had been doing sets
and all kinds of things
636
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:26,600
before he got to pick up directing.
637
00:39:27,380 --> 00:39:30,460
Him and I used to go by,
we didn't have any money.
638
00:39:30,620 --> 00:39:37,500
He was working at a tiny studio
that was barely getting movies out.
639
00:39:37,740 --> 00:39:39,820
We would go have a beer.
640
00:39:40,140 --> 00:39:43,560
Jim had all his art supplies
in his trunk of his car
641
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:50,460
and he would do drawings of space
and an alien planet,
642
00:39:50,740 --> 00:39:55,150
the surface of an alien planet,
and just never stopped creating.
643
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:57,180
That's the other part, skill.
644
00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:00,280
He can draw, he can build shit.
645
00:40:00,900 --> 00:40:01,960
He always had that.
646
00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:06,900
{\an8}Certainly Jim was very excited about
what could be done with science fiction.
647
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,360
{\an8}And he ran with it,
he ran awfully fast with it.
648
00:40:15,380 --> 00:40:18,100
{\an8}Battle Beyond the Stars
was a response to Star Wars.
649
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:20,720
Galaxy of Terror was a response to Alien.
650
00:40:25,140 --> 00:40:30,000
{\an8}Just the mood and the style of that film,
and we would've worked on it for free.
651
00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:35,600
Roger paid us but myself, Bob Skotak,
Denny Skotak, some of others,
652
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:41,300
I went deep on the Giger designs
and how that whole
653
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:45,000
"biomechanoid" aesthetic worked.
654
00:40:45,260 --> 00:40:47,870
Quit lording it over me like you
are still the patron saint
655
00:40:47,900 --> 00:40:49,280
of the Academy, Cameron.
656
00:40:49,500 --> 00:40:50,760
I think the link is,
657
00:40:50,860 --> 00:40:54,160
{\an8}it begins with the fact that where
James Cameron began in his career.
658
00:40:54,260 --> 00:40:57,020
He was looking for ways
to outwit the studio system.
659
00:40:57,450 --> 00:40:59,710
He was looking for sort of guiding lights
660
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:03,080
that said you don't have to just
be obedient to executives.
661
00:41:03,380 --> 00:41:05,940
And the model for that for him
was John Carpenter.
662
00:41:06,300 --> 00:41:07,840
John Carpenter and Deborah Hill,
663
00:41:08,100 --> 00:41:10,900
they basically created
a model of filmmaking
664
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:12,640
where they dictated.
665
00:41:12,740 --> 00:41:16,100
And Cameron thought, "For me
and Gale Anne Hurd, this is the way to go."
666
00:41:16,500 --> 00:41:17,650
So he looked at that
667
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:20,680
{\an8}and The Terminator
is so close to Halloween
668
00:41:20,700 --> 00:41:24,980
{\an8}in terms of not just the style of film,
it is that relentlessness
669
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:28,120
{\an8}and the idea of full
bore tension all the time.
670
00:41:28,660 --> 00:41:32,020
{\an8}It's right,
it's The Thing influences Aliens,
671
00:41:32,060 --> 00:41:34,640
{\an8}Assault on Precinct 13 influences Aliens.
672
00:41:34,950 --> 00:41:37,260
He loves that idea of
673
00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:42,650
dynamic filmmaking that puts
the audience in a state of anxiety.
674
00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:44,180
And I think Carpenter pioneers that.
675
00:41:44,450 --> 00:41:46,640
But also it's about
the model of filmmaker.
676
00:41:52,380 --> 00:41:53,910
I think what made James Cameron
677
00:41:53,940 --> 00:41:56,480
{\an8}the right man for the job
was The Terminator.
678
00:41:59,180 --> 00:42:01,880
Terminator established that style for him.
679
00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:04,900
{\an8}And it is relentless.
It's the pacing of it.
680
00:42:05,060 --> 00:42:07,490
With Terminator, you are exhausted
by the end of that film
681
00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:10,140
because you feel as pursued
as Sarah Connor does.
682
00:42:16,990 --> 00:42:19,420
And Aliens is a perfect example of that.
683
00:42:22,500 --> 00:42:26,210
I have read the script to The Terminator
and what an amazing script.
684
00:42:26,420 --> 00:42:27,720
If you hadn't seen the movie,
685
00:42:27,750 --> 00:42:29,850
you get the whole sense of it
from the script.
686
00:42:29,980 --> 00:42:35,920
And it absolutely will not stop, ever!
Until you are dead.
687
00:42:36,890 --> 00:42:37,920
He is a great writer.
688
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:45,300
Even if I hadn't been attached to Alien 2,
from before I made The Terminator,
689
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:47,540
I would've been a logical choice.
690
00:42:59,430 --> 00:43:03,840
{\an8}I think it's important if you're doing
a sequel to be properly respectful
691
00:43:04,420 --> 00:43:05,580
{\an8}of the prior work.
692
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,120
{\an8}I think I was more radical
with Terminator 2,
693
00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,160
{\an8}throwing out more
of my own work from Terminator.
694
00:43:12,260 --> 00:43:15,320
I need your clothes,
your boots, and your motorcycle.
695
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:19,900
I saw Aliens
as a natural extension of Alien.
696
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:25,560
I tried to use some of the cinematic
touchstones that Ridley did,
697
00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:27,620
but I also needed to make it my own.
698
00:43:27,860 --> 00:43:31,680
So I'd say it got hybrid vigor.
699
00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:05,480
The ship will detonate
in T-minus 10 minutes.
700
00:44:23,900 --> 00:44:27,220
{\an8}I haven't, to this day,
ever read a film script
701
00:44:27,340 --> 00:44:29,480
{\an8}that took my head off like Aliens did.
702
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,780
I think it was a kind of general
agreement with everybody.
703
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:37,660
The meticulousness of the script
and the sheer economy and power
704
00:44:38,300 --> 00:44:40,060
was immediately obvious.
705
00:44:40,700 --> 00:44:45,420
{\an8}I think I finished it on the John at 3 AM
because I couldn't stop reading.
706
00:44:48,180 --> 00:44:52,060
We were given the entire script,
which I have actually,
707
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:53,640
including with my notes.
708
00:44:53,700 --> 00:44:55,370
{\an8}And I'm saving that from my old age.
709
00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:58,280
{\an8}I'll put it on eBay
when I really need money.
710
00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:02,550
I think he wanted us
to know the full picture
711
00:45:02,580 --> 00:45:06,580
so that we could
really engage with everything.
712
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:08,900
Because this script was so good,
713
00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:17,440
all of us were just wanting, needing
to get it right, whatever that meant.
714
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:23,400
It took a while to learn how to read Jim
and understand how he works.
715
00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:26,900
He was very protective
of his script as written.
716
00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:32,080
We got a strong sense
that this was a story he needed to tell.
717
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:35,120
In the first scene with Burke,
718
00:45:35,300 --> 00:45:39,780
I said, "Jim, can I say thanks
for the coffee?" Pause.
719
00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:44,830
Yeah.
720
00:45:45,140 --> 00:45:46,180
Thanks for the coffee.
721
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:51,640
It's like he had chiseled
that thing to a high polish,
722
00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:54,520
and you could see it,
you could taste it, you could feel it.
723
00:45:57,420 --> 00:45:59,240
The thing I like about
the character the most
724
00:45:59,270 --> 00:46:04,800
{\an8}is that she knows when she's called upon
to stand up and do something,
725
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:06,800
{\an8}no matter how much
she doesn't want to do it.
726
00:46:07,300 --> 00:46:09,160
And that's what gets her
out that apartment,
727
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:10,640
that's what puts her on that ship.
728
00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:12,210
Her sense of duty.
729
00:46:12,240 --> 00:46:13,820
Because just one of those things
730
00:46:13,860 --> 00:46:16,980
managed to wipe out
my entire crew in less than 24 hours.
731
00:46:17,140 --> 00:46:18,360
Maybe in the back of her mind
732
00:46:18,390 --> 00:46:21,840
she knows that it will be
cathartic for her or it'll kill her.
733
00:46:26,260 --> 00:46:29,160
{\an8}Back then in the mid eighties,
there was this sense of
734
00:46:29,300 --> 00:46:33,800
{\an8}revisionist Reagan era,
"Let's go back and finish the job."
735
00:46:33,970 --> 00:46:37,800
{\an8}-Sir.
-Do we get to win this time?
736
00:46:38,260 --> 00:46:42,200
{\an8}Rambo, Aliens, Uncommon Valor,
which predates all that.
737
00:46:42,460 --> 00:46:45,620
{\an8}Those were films that were all about
"Let's go back and do it right this time."
738
00:46:45,780 --> 00:46:48,280
You're going out there
to destroy them, right?
739
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:53,700
Not to study, not to bring back,
but to wipe them out.
740
00:46:53,780 --> 00:46:58,420
She's just completely
energized by the fact
741
00:46:58,450 --> 00:47:01,570
that these families
aren't being told what's going on.
742
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:05,180
The Company refuses to take it seriously.
743
00:47:05,340 --> 00:47:07,720
I think it's the last thing
in the world she wants to do,
744
00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:11,000
but there's no help for it, she has to go.
745
00:47:12,890 --> 00:47:13,940
All right, I'm in.
746
00:47:26,210 --> 00:47:28,120
{\an8}What are you waiting for?
Breakfast in bed?
747
00:47:28,660 --> 00:47:30,400
{\an8}Another glorious day in the corps.
748
00:47:31,100 --> 00:47:35,490
{\an8}I think everything Jim Cameron designed
looked like a flying gun.
749
00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:41,610
The Sulaco was only
about five or six feet long.
750
00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:43,660
So it was quite a small miniature.
751
00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:48,940
{\an8}There wasn't the budget to make
a giant 2001 ship.
752
00:47:50,140 --> 00:47:53,600
{\an8}The set that they built
for the Sulaco is glorious.
753
00:47:53,810 --> 00:47:57,600
{\an8}And those slow tracking shots
through the interior of the ship,
754
00:47:57,630 --> 00:47:59,360
which you see so much more of
in the special edition,
755
00:47:59,620 --> 00:48:01,900
they show you
how wonderful those sets were.
756
00:48:02,060 --> 00:48:05,060
But there's a real
tangible quality to Aliens.
757
00:48:06,560 --> 00:48:09,720
He had clearly spent
a lot of time watching Alien,
758
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:13,050
and he learned the slow burn start
is one of the best things about it.
759
00:48:18,720 --> 00:48:22,600
{\an8}Having cryogenic sleep, this goes back
decades in science fiction.
760
00:48:23,820 --> 00:48:24,960
{\an8}When you're on a spaceship,
761
00:48:25,140 --> 00:48:29,460
{\an8}if you can put the crew to sleep
and minimize your food and water needs,
762
00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:31,460
{\an8}that really saves a lot of space
763
00:48:31,640 --> 00:48:34,260
{\an8}and fuel for you
to get to your destination.
764
00:48:35,660 --> 00:48:37,080
{\an8}The heart beats three times a minute,
765
00:48:37,260 --> 00:48:40,600
{\an8}body temperature is usually down
to about three degrees Centigrade.
766
00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:43,940
Again, this is sort of Cameron's
emphasis on things
767
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,340
and Ridley Scott's emphasis on things
768
00:48:46,660 --> 00:48:50,040
that are futuristic
but not far out of reach.
769
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:51,880
Something that is
an active area of research.
770
00:48:51,940 --> 00:48:54,980
Fall in, people. Come on, let's go.
771
00:48:55,180 --> 00:48:56,640
I hate this job.
772
00:48:56,860 --> 00:49:01,220
{\an8}I was working in London, I was doing
fringe theater and auditioning,
773
00:49:01,260 --> 00:49:02,760
didn't have an agent as of yet,
774
00:49:02,820 --> 00:49:08,500
and saw a notice in the actor's paper
that said they wanted to audition
775
00:49:08,980 --> 00:49:14,200
Americans and North Americans, Canadians,
for this new film called Aliens.
776
00:49:15,940 --> 00:49:17,970
-It is too bad.
-Fuck.
777
00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:22,640
I can recall when my agent first called
to say, "Yeah, you've got this meeting
778
00:49:22,700 --> 00:49:25,420
out at Pinewood Studios
for this movie Aliens."
779
00:49:25,460 --> 00:49:29,170
And I thought, "Oh, well,"
because admittedly I'm a bit of a snob.
780
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:32,990
I'm British trained,
classically trained actor.
781
00:49:33,020 --> 00:49:36,200
So I was like,
"Oh, well, some sci-fi thing."
782
00:49:36,780 --> 00:49:39,500
They ain't paying us enough for this, man.
783
00:49:40,560 --> 00:49:43,320
Not enough to have
to wake up to your face, Drake.
784
00:49:43,360 --> 00:49:48,580
So I submitted myself, I sent my photo
and resume in to 20th Century Fox.
785
00:49:48,980 --> 00:49:52,900
These were calls for Americans
with British equity cards
786
00:49:53,660 --> 00:49:54,770
because in those days
787
00:49:54,850 --> 00:49:57,840
the Brits weren't quite good enough
with American accents.
788
00:49:58,040 --> 00:50:01,030
{\an8}We were only allowed to bring
very few people in from the US
789
00:50:01,060 --> 00:50:03,020
{\an8}because this was a UK production.
790
00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:08,940
We needed people who spoke
unaccented American English,
791
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:13,040
which is not necessarily
as common then as it is now.
792
00:50:13,180 --> 00:50:17,020
So a lot of our cast were actually
Americans living in the UK.
793
00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:20,260
Drake, check your camera.
There seems to be a malfunction.
794
00:50:21,340 --> 00:50:22,370
That's better.
795
00:50:22,860 --> 00:50:25,000
I'm summoned to Pinewood Studios
796
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:30,600
and walk into Jim's office,
and my most vivid memory of all
797
00:50:30,760 --> 00:50:35,040
is that Jim had plastered
on his office in sequence
798
00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:38,640
storyboards on all four walls,
all the way around.
799
00:50:39,780 --> 00:50:41,290
And it just blew my mind.
800
00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:44,990
And then of course, was absolutely
overwhelmed when they said,
801
00:50:45,020 --> 00:50:47,960
"Look, we want you to play Drake,"
and handed me the script.
802
00:50:48,280 --> 00:50:52,860
Of course, with the one provision
that I had to get in the gym and bulk up.
803
00:50:53,540 --> 00:50:57,880
Strangely enough, all of us auditioned
with the Hudson lines.
804
00:50:58,100 --> 00:51:00,480
Hey, Ripley, don't worry.
805
00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:04,480
Me and my squad
of ultimate badasses will protect you.
806
00:51:05,640 --> 00:51:07,540
All the women read the Vasquez part.
807
00:51:07,580 --> 00:51:09,490
That was the one
that was most fleshed out.
808
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:14,340
I only need to know one thing.
Where they are.
809
00:51:14,380 --> 00:51:15,760
-Vasquez
-Yo, Vasquez, kick ass.
810
00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:19,600
And I went in to meet Gale Anne Hurd,
had no idea who this young woman was,
811
00:51:19,720 --> 00:51:23,710
but she did have a poster of Terminator
on the wall of her office,
812
00:51:23,740 --> 00:51:25,160
which I had just seen.
813
00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:28,040
And I loved it, I loved it,
and I just said,
814
00:51:28,060 --> 00:51:29,840
"Oh, my God, I love that movie."
815
00:51:30,450 --> 00:51:31,970
Terminal guidance locked in.
816
00:51:32,060 --> 00:51:34,690
{\an8}So I was wearing some weird
funky coat that I had bought
817
00:51:35,030 --> 00:51:36,860
{\an8}because I always wanted
to be a little bit more
818
00:51:36,980 --> 00:51:42,120
kind of special and funky
than I genetically am able to.
819
00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:44,640
I'm in the waiting room
820
00:51:44,670 --> 00:51:47,500
with some of the toughest people
I've ever seen in my life.
821
00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:51,170
One of the guys in the waiting room
was Al Matthews, who was the Sergeant.
822
00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:52,620
How many more you got, Spunkmeyer?
823
00:51:52,660 --> 00:51:54,420
-Last one.
-Take it away.
824
00:51:54,860 --> 00:52:00,400
He's very opinionated and very loud,
and I was like, "Oh, I'm in trouble."
825
00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:05,600
James Cameron goes to me,
826
00:52:06,640 --> 00:52:09,300
"I'll give you the part
if you give me the coat."
827
00:52:10,010 --> 00:52:12,090
I gave him the coat and got the part.
828
00:52:13,400 --> 00:52:14,620
That funky coat I was wearing,
829
00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:17,690
I was not up for Vasquez.
830
00:52:17,720 --> 00:52:20,160
Vazquez had already
been cast in the United States,
831
00:52:20,220 --> 00:52:24,020
or at least they had been
considering a bodybuilder
832
00:52:24,460 --> 00:52:27,420
that they were giving acting lessons to,
833
00:52:27,820 --> 00:52:31,180
like what they did for Arnold,
they wanted the physique.
834
00:52:31,240 --> 00:52:35,020
The physique was very
central to the character.
835
00:52:36,620 --> 00:52:42,540
They had me read Vasquez
just to hear how I can read.
836
00:52:42,760 --> 00:52:45,860
All right, we've got
seven canisters of CN-20.
837
00:52:46,380 --> 00:52:49,160
I say we roll them in there
and nerve gas the whole fucking nest.
838
00:52:49,420 --> 00:52:52,840
I don't know what happened
where I ended up being cast as Vasquez,
839
00:52:52,900 --> 00:52:54,790
but it was definitely due
to James Cameron,
840
00:52:54,820 --> 00:52:58,140
so I thank him, profusely.
841
00:52:58,300 --> 00:52:59,700
Physically, she's okay.
842
00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:03,260
Borderline malnutrition, but I don't think
there's any permanent damage.
843
00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:06,940
And so I rode my bike to the callback
through the city streets
844
00:53:07,020 --> 00:53:10,160
around Trafalgar Square,
which is like a nightmare.
845
00:53:10,260 --> 00:53:14,520
Like two storey buses
and hell bent for leather,
846
00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:18,500
and I just got pumped up
and arrived sweaty and ready.
847
00:53:19,120 --> 00:53:22,000
Primary couplers released.
Hit the internals.
848
00:53:25,040 --> 00:53:27,980
So I cycled into Soho Square
849
00:53:28,040 --> 00:53:32,190
{\an8}and I locked up my bike
and then I did 20 push-ups,
850
00:53:32,220 --> 00:53:35,440
{\an8}which was a really good thing to do
because by the time I arrived,
851
00:53:35,800 --> 00:53:38,120
I was nicely sweaty and flushed
852
00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:42,880
and I looked like somebody strong,
who could actually be a marine.
853
00:53:44,120 --> 00:53:47,060
And I was initially cast as Ferro,
the dropship pilot.
854
00:53:47,420 --> 00:53:50,000
And then by the time I had been engaged,
855
00:53:50,220 --> 00:53:52,480
Jim said, "Oh, well,
you're not gonna be Ferro.
856
00:53:52,980 --> 00:53:56,000
You're gonna be a different
character that I've written since."
857
00:53:56,420 --> 00:53:59,160
It's like, I'll be the person
who sweeps the capsule.
858
00:54:02,160 --> 00:54:04,680
The casting process for me
was very frustrating
859
00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:07,900
{\an8}because I had met
with Stanley Kubrick beforehand,
860
00:54:08,260 --> 00:54:10,680
for a movie called Full Metal Jacket.
861
00:54:11,860 --> 00:54:14,520
Every actor wanted to work
on a Stanley Kubrick project.
862
00:54:15,240 --> 00:54:19,580
And at the time,
James Cameron wasn't a name really.
863
00:54:20,660 --> 00:54:23,500
Kubrick makes an offer and tells me
he wants me for eight weeks.
864
00:54:23,780 --> 00:54:27,900
I go, "Wow, I can do that and then
maybe make this work with Aliens."
865
00:54:28,360 --> 00:54:31,400
I talked to Kubrick's people
and I said, "Listen,
866
00:54:31,480 --> 00:54:33,320
it's only a one week overlap."
867
00:54:33,580 --> 00:54:36,320
I said, "James Cameron has said
868
00:54:36,360 --> 00:54:38,470
that he will allow me
to come one week late."
869
00:54:38,970 --> 00:54:40,480
He said, "No, the way we shoot,
870
00:54:40,520 --> 00:54:43,000
you may be shooting eight weeks,
you may be shooting eight months."
871
00:54:43,320 --> 00:54:45,820
The film ended up shooting
over a year, I understand.
872
00:54:45,880 --> 00:54:48,140
So I ended up
having to make this decision.
873
00:54:48,250 --> 00:54:50,740
And so I went with Aliens.
874
00:54:53,440 --> 00:54:55,260
I guess you don't like
the cornbread either.
875
00:54:55,580 --> 00:54:57,380
So Jim, he came up with the name Frost,
876
00:54:57,500 --> 00:55:01,520
and he says, "What I like about
this name, Ricco, is that
877
00:55:02,480 --> 00:55:05,180
{\an8}you're called Frost,
but you're gonna die by flames."
878
00:55:09,660 --> 00:55:11,200
Bill inhabited the character.
879
00:55:11,520 --> 00:55:14,620
He came in, we didn't have a gun
to give him for the audition,
880
00:55:15,020 --> 00:55:17,540
and it was like in Gale's office
881
00:55:17,740 --> 00:55:20,080
and he got it rolled up,
like a poster tube
882
00:55:20,820 --> 00:55:23,340
and he is running around
with this thing and rolling on the floor
883
00:55:23,380 --> 00:55:26,860
and shooting with the poster tube
and yelling at the top of his lungs.
884
00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:29,460
He thought he had completely
blown the addition.
885
00:55:29,500 --> 00:55:32,840
And meanwhile Gale and I are looking
at each other like, "This is great."
886
00:55:33,380 --> 00:55:36,370
independently targeting
particle beam phalanx.
887
00:55:37,940 --> 00:55:40,880
I was writing in my script,
and Jim came up and said,
888
00:55:40,940 --> 00:55:42,390
"Oh, hey, what you doing?"
889
00:55:42,420 --> 00:55:44,820
And I said, "I'm working
on Dietrich's backstory."
890
00:55:45,080 --> 00:55:47,800
And he got this look of panic on his face
891
00:55:48,920 --> 00:55:51,500
because I don't think
he wanted me to be too creative,
892
00:55:51,560 --> 00:55:55,580
"It's all on the page babe."
893
00:55:55,880 --> 00:55:58,640
I knew what I was going for,
I knew that it would be a group.
894
00:55:58,700 --> 00:56:01,170
It's like, "Okay, let's have this guy
and then let's have this guy,
895
00:56:01,200 --> 00:56:02,540
and let's see how that fires."
896
00:56:02,600 --> 00:56:04,860
And it all just appeared pretty quickly.
897
00:56:09,240 --> 00:56:12,070
It was once Jenette and I got together
and we started working out
898
00:56:12,100 --> 00:56:14,580
{\an8}how it is that we're here,
899
00:56:14,940 --> 00:56:18,820
{\an8}and we created our entire backstory
that we had been to borstal together,
900
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:22,880
we had life sentences
and this opportunity came up.
901
00:56:25,500 --> 00:56:28,300
The mission, although dangerous
and we might die anyway,
902
00:56:28,340 --> 00:56:31,300
it was better than being
in the hell hole we were in.
903
00:56:32,220 --> 00:56:34,400
{\an8}So we took the opportunity
and vowed to each other
904
00:56:34,430 --> 00:56:35,810
that we'd have each other's back.
905
00:56:37,240 --> 00:56:39,900
{\an8}Nothing romantic,
let's squash that completely.
906
00:56:39,940 --> 00:56:41,140
Wierzbowski, come on. Let's go.
907
00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:43,200
Crowe, I want it now. Give it up.
908
00:56:44,100 --> 00:56:45,100
Right on, Vaz.
909
00:56:45,580 --> 00:56:48,400
You would have little pieces
as an actor with any character.
910
00:56:50,040 --> 00:56:56,310
The backstory of Vasquez as written
in the original draft,
911
00:56:56,980 --> 00:57:02,880
as I recall, she and Drake
were conscripted out of juvenile prison.
912
00:57:03,060 --> 00:57:04,920
They had been serving a life sentence.
913
00:57:05,500 --> 00:57:06,620
She had been a gang member.
914
00:57:07,320 --> 00:57:10,460
If you were in prison for life,
you had obviously murdered someone.
915
00:57:11,700 --> 00:57:14,560
I was hired by the army
or the Colonial Marines
916
00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:17,960
to be a grunt and then probably
given some med tech training.
917
00:57:18,160 --> 00:57:19,940
-What's her name again?
-Rebecca.
918
00:57:20,260 --> 00:57:22,120
I didn't come out
of med school to do this.
919
00:57:22,600 --> 00:57:24,580
I did come up with a first name for myself
920
00:57:25,010 --> 00:57:28,660
on our helmet and everything,
it had an initial with our last name,
921
00:57:28,880 --> 00:57:32,200
and it was the initial of each one of us,
it was our own initial.
922
00:57:32,580 --> 00:57:35,130
And so I figured,
Dietrich is a German name
923
00:57:35,160 --> 00:57:36,930
and so my first name is Carla.
924
00:57:38,620 --> 00:57:41,980
I appreciated it
because I am part German so I'll take it.
925
00:57:42,620 --> 00:57:46,800
I've been told I have a Bavarian face
for whatever that's worth.
926
00:57:47,680 --> 00:57:51,240
Jim gave us a few hints
like Spunkmeyer.
927
00:57:51,460 --> 00:57:53,710
There was a cookie in LA at the time
928
00:57:53,740 --> 00:57:56,280
called Otis Spunkmeyer's
chocolate chip or something.
929
00:57:56,340 --> 00:57:57,880
And that's where Spunkmeyer came from.
930
00:57:58,100 --> 00:58:00,350
And Vasquez came from Vasquez Rocks,
931
00:58:00,380 --> 00:58:03,180
which is a common
shooting location out in the desert.
932
00:58:04,200 --> 00:58:07,240
Other than that, I don't think
any of us got any clues.
933
00:58:07,540 --> 00:58:11,280
What I base my character on is that
I'm not the person that wants trouble.
934
00:58:11,380 --> 00:58:13,720
I don't wanna fight,
I don't wanna fight these aliens,
935
00:58:14,140 --> 00:58:15,620
but I have a job to do.
936
00:58:16,290 --> 00:58:17,640
Talk to me, Frosty.
937
00:58:18,260 --> 00:58:19,610
Let's keep moving, baby.
938
00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:25,120
I took my Chicago street backstory,
my Chicago street hardness.
939
00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:28,460
It's coming straight forward. Straight up.
940
00:58:29,160 --> 00:58:31,880
And when it comes to battle,
you gotta survive.
941
00:58:36,080 --> 00:58:40,060
Al Matthews was a complete cutup.
942
00:58:40,320 --> 00:58:42,740
He had a wonderful sense of humor.
943
00:58:42,980 --> 00:58:47,740
Very American, very urban American,
just reminded us of home.
944
00:58:47,920 --> 00:58:51,740
And he was a little scary too
because he had that presence
945
00:58:51,780 --> 00:58:53,880
of having been a Marine Sergeant.
946
00:58:54,750 --> 00:58:57,460
If he wanted to yell at us, we listened.
947
00:58:57,490 --> 00:58:58,940
Oh, Lord, it's freezing.
948
00:58:59,500 --> 00:59:01,160
What do you want me to do,
fetch your slippers for you?
949
00:59:01,240 --> 00:59:03,320
Gee, would you sir? I'd like that.
950
00:59:04,100 --> 00:59:05,160
Look into my eye.
951
00:59:05,280 --> 00:59:09,170
{\an8}Perfect, how he presented himself
952
00:59:09,200 --> 00:59:11,610
{\an8}as the platoon Sergeant in charge.
953
00:59:11,650 --> 00:59:15,980
Like he said, "Look into my eye.
You don't see a tear here.
954
00:59:16,560 --> 00:59:17,980
I'm not crying for you."
955
00:59:18,080 --> 00:59:19,620
All right, gear up.
956
00:59:19,820 --> 00:59:22,380
Two minutes, people. Get hot.
957
00:59:22,840 --> 00:59:26,770
I think he had been to Vietnam
three times, at least twice.
958
00:59:27,260 --> 00:59:31,560
And the reason he was living in England
and was never gonna return to the US
959
00:59:31,620 --> 00:59:36,620
was because he was highly cynical
about that whole affair.
960
00:59:38,940 --> 00:59:41,220
What you saw on set was Al.
961
00:59:41,500 --> 00:59:44,100
He probably did more
ad-libbing than anybody else.
962
00:59:44,560 --> 00:59:48,180
And James just let him roll with it
because he knew what he was saying,
963
00:59:48,340 --> 00:59:50,420
{\an8}James couldn't have thought of.
964
00:59:51,020 --> 00:59:53,200
{\an8}Al was coming with the real shit.
965
00:59:53,240 --> 00:59:57,700
Absolutely badasses.
Let's pack em in, get in there.
966
00:59:59,060 --> 01:00:00,080
Move it.
967
01:00:00,750 --> 01:00:01,790
{\an8}And he had it.
968
01:00:01,840 --> 01:00:05,070
{\an8}I mean, those guys don't have
to show it to you.
969
01:00:05,200 --> 01:00:06,480
{\an8}It's all over them.
970
01:00:06,540 --> 01:00:08,820
It is around them.
971
01:00:09,140 --> 01:00:10,740
And we liked it, we liked it.
972
01:00:10,880 --> 01:00:13,380
A little bit of abuse doesn't hurt.
973
01:00:13,740 --> 01:00:15,940
Day in the Marine Corps's
like a day on the farm.
974
01:00:16,870 --> 01:00:20,080
Every meal is a banquet,
every paycheck, a fortune.
975
01:00:20,120 --> 01:00:23,110
{\an8}We used to go and hang out
in Al Matthews' dressing room,
976
01:00:23,140 --> 01:00:25,280
{\an8}because Al was older
than the rest of us
977
01:00:25,560 --> 01:00:32,120
{\an8}and had been around the industry
and was also a hardcore vet.
978
01:00:32,800 --> 01:00:34,960
He asked for a really nice suite
979
01:00:35,500 --> 01:00:37,790
and we would go and hang out
980
01:00:37,850 --> 01:00:42,980
and had the odd drink,
maybe the odd puff.
981
01:00:43,010 --> 01:00:44,790
All right, sweethearts, you heard the man,
982
01:00:44,820 --> 01:00:47,200
and you know the drill.
Assholes and elbows!
983
01:00:47,480 --> 01:00:49,580
The most vivid memory I have of Al
984
01:00:49,660 --> 01:00:54,340
was the day when we were
filming the interior of the APC
985
01:00:54,520 --> 01:00:56,380
when we were hurtling toward the planet.
986
01:00:58,380 --> 01:01:01,280
Of course,
it's just a stage setting, a box,
987
01:01:01,310 --> 01:01:04,700
they had on like huge 2x12s
988
01:01:05,420 --> 01:01:11,640
that the crew guys were
stepping on to create the reverberation,
989
01:01:14,180 --> 01:01:16,960
and the set fell apart
and it came crashing in.
990
01:01:17,260 --> 01:01:20,890
And I'll never forget,
Al Matthews without a second
991
01:01:21,900 --> 01:01:26,670
ran and stuck his body up against it
and then started barking.
992
01:01:26,700 --> 01:01:29,100
"Move, out, out, out,
everybody out, move out."
993
01:01:29,420 --> 01:01:31,800
And we just followed orders.
994
01:01:33,220 --> 01:01:34,580
That was an intense moment.
995
01:01:35,220 --> 01:01:36,320
It all came natural.
996
01:01:37,560 --> 01:01:39,100
-Shit
-Oh, man.
997
01:01:39,360 --> 01:01:43,820
Another masterful bit of casting
from Gale and Jim to see Al.
998
01:01:44,120 --> 01:01:49,170
And then sad that Al
disappeared after Aliens.
999
01:01:49,200 --> 01:01:52,940
He took off to,
I guess, he lived in Spain or in Portugal
1000
01:01:53,380 --> 01:01:55,360
and lived there until he passed.
1001
01:01:58,700 --> 01:02:02,400
{\an8}The marines in Aliens are more
than just marines in Aliens
1002
01:02:02,440 --> 01:02:03,980
{\an8}because they feel like real people.
1003
01:02:04,300 --> 01:02:07,300
They have desires, they have opinions,
they have duty,
1004
01:02:07,440 --> 01:02:09,960
they have honor, they have to eat,
they have friends.
1005
01:02:10,240 --> 01:02:13,180
All of those things
that we have in our own life.
1006
01:02:15,660 --> 01:02:16,960
Why are they so beloved?
1007
01:02:17,040 --> 01:02:21,300
I think because all of them
have very clear narrative arcs.
1008
01:02:22,060 --> 01:02:23,560
{\an8}They're all deeply human.
1009
01:02:23,620 --> 01:02:26,490
{\an8}And I think it's so palpable
when you see the movie,
1010
01:02:26,510 --> 01:02:29,240
that brotherhood, sisterhood,
1011
01:02:29,280 --> 01:02:31,620
whatever it is that the Marines have.
1012
01:02:31,650 --> 01:02:34,740
Juicy colonists' daughters
we have to rescue from their virginity.
1013
01:02:35,840 --> 01:02:38,300
-Favorite duty.
-Dumbass colonists.
1014
01:02:39,200 --> 01:02:42,630
Of course, it doesn't fill Ripley
with any kind of confidence
1015
01:02:42,660 --> 01:02:46,230
to see how brash they are
and how confident they are
1016
01:02:46,260 --> 01:02:48,580
in what they can do as Marines.
1017
01:02:48,800 --> 01:02:51,490
It just makes her more uneasy.
1018
01:02:52,500 --> 01:02:53,590
Talking about Marines.
1019
01:02:54,780 --> 01:02:55,840
It's almost like a family.
1020
01:02:56,140 --> 01:02:58,290
A family will have different people
and different members
1021
01:02:58,320 --> 01:03:00,460
and they have different issues
and whatnot,
1022
01:03:00,920 --> 01:03:04,580
but somebody else can't say
anything bad about that person.
1023
01:03:04,700 --> 01:03:08,360
You can say something bad about
your brother or your sister or whatever,
1024
01:03:08,580 --> 01:03:10,880
but no one else can say that.
1025
01:03:10,940 --> 01:03:15,360
And that's kind of what we were,
we had each other's backs.
1026
01:03:31,400 --> 01:03:34,270
{\an8}You never said anything
about an android being on board. Why not?
1027
01:03:34,360 --> 01:03:38,280
{\an8}I loved the character
because I had already decided
1028
01:03:38,580 --> 01:03:43,980
he's not afraid, all he wants to do
is serve people and serve situations.
1029
01:03:44,500 --> 01:03:48,500
I was trying to make myself
a future android,
1030
01:03:48,560 --> 01:03:54,740
which is more intelligent and more ready
and more fit to pull this off.
1031
01:03:55,420 --> 01:03:57,260
That character wouldn't hurt a fly.
1032
01:03:57,930 --> 01:03:58,960
He really wouldn't.
1033
01:03:59,040 --> 01:04:01,330
It's just common practice.
We always have a synthetic on board.
1034
01:04:02,060 --> 01:04:04,380
I prefer the term
"artificial person" myself.
1035
01:04:06,050 --> 01:04:08,320
I'm a street kid from New York City
1036
01:04:09,260 --> 01:04:12,140
and I used to shine shoes
and I lived on the streets.
1037
01:04:12,480 --> 01:04:14,680
Bishop was a little bit like an orphan.
1038
01:04:14,980 --> 01:04:17,420
That was in there,
I could feel it and see it.
1039
01:04:17,860 --> 01:04:18,880
I'll be in medlab.
1040
01:04:19,900 --> 01:04:22,120
Check on Gorman, continue my analysis.
1041
01:04:22,520 --> 01:04:25,760
{\an8}I had already done
Piranha II: The Spawning with Jim
1042
01:04:26,180 --> 01:04:27,800
{\an8}and I played a harbor cop.
1043
01:04:29,080 --> 01:04:30,660
{\an8}Can I ask you a few questions?
1044
01:04:32,200 --> 01:04:35,540
That was the lowest budget
I think any of us ever worked on.
1045
01:04:42,500 --> 01:04:45,140
{\an8}Hemdale said, "Who do you
want to play in the Terminator?"
1046
01:04:45,520 --> 01:04:47,260
{\an8}And he said, "Lance."
1047
01:04:48,220 --> 01:04:51,620
And Hemdale said, "Anybody but him."
1048
01:04:53,930 --> 01:04:58,560
With Bishop, we knew that he
would be absolutely perfect
1049
01:04:59,440 --> 01:05:02,540
and that he would put everything
into creating the role.
1050
01:05:02,730 --> 01:05:05,820
{\an8}So there really wasn't a second choice.
1051
01:05:08,160 --> 01:05:12,220
There was this otherworldly
distant kind of weirdness,
1052
01:05:12,440 --> 01:05:15,020
which Lance played beautifully.
1053
01:05:15,460 --> 01:05:17,180
He has a very unique presence.
1054
01:05:17,580 --> 01:05:19,100
That's a nice pet you got there, Bishop.
1055
01:05:19,500 --> 01:05:20,880
{\an8}Magnificent, isn't it?
1056
01:05:22,160 --> 01:05:25,820
{\an8}Cameron's famous for his
cautionary tales about technology,
1057
01:05:25,880 --> 01:05:28,270
{\an8}whether it be Terminator,
whether it be Avatar.
1058
01:05:28,300 --> 01:05:31,410
{\an8}It's often about the evils
of big technology
1059
01:05:31,460 --> 01:05:33,170
imposing itself on organic life.
1060
01:05:33,460 --> 01:05:36,500
And then you look at that message,
1061
01:05:36,580 --> 01:05:37,770
which is kind of there in Alien.
1062
01:05:37,800 --> 01:05:42,740
{\an8}And in Aliens, I often feel that
it's a redemption story for technology.
1063
01:05:44,340 --> 01:05:47,460
He even references the three rules.
1064
01:05:47,680 --> 01:05:50,400
It is impossible for me to harm,
or by omission of action,
1065
01:05:50,440 --> 01:05:51,960
allow to be harmed, a human being.
1066
01:05:52,420 --> 01:05:55,020
{\an8}That's the Asimov's first law of robotics.
1067
01:05:55,200 --> 01:05:57,770
The second law
is that they must obey a human,
1068
01:05:57,800 --> 01:05:59,420
except where that conflicts
with the first law.
1069
01:05:59,600 --> 01:06:01,570
The third law is that they must
protect their own existence,
1070
01:06:01,600 --> 01:06:03,420
except where it conflicts
with the first two laws.
1071
01:06:04,320 --> 01:06:08,200
One of the things that people
sometimes talk about is robotic ethics.
1072
01:06:08,230 --> 01:06:11,530
{\an8}If you get an android that is basically
indistinguishable from a human,
1073
01:06:12,000 --> 01:06:13,350
{\an8}does it have the same rights?
1074
01:06:13,380 --> 01:06:15,300
{\an8}Does it have the same
moral responsibilities
1075
01:06:15,500 --> 01:06:16,800
and moral accountabilities?
1076
01:06:16,940 --> 01:06:19,260
Just stay away from me, Bishop,
you got that straight?
1077
01:06:20,580 --> 01:06:23,460
{\an8}It's a synthetic human, not a robot.
1078
01:06:23,880 --> 01:06:25,050
{\an8}So what does that mean?
1079
01:06:25,080 --> 01:06:30,540
{\an8}So he thought, "Well, I'm gonna play him
earnestly, thoughtfully, kindly."
1080
01:06:31,280 --> 01:06:32,800
It's okay. We're okay.
1081
01:06:33,660 --> 01:06:36,440
He wanted to be the opposite of Ash.
1082
01:06:39,100 --> 01:06:40,480
But I wasn't appreciative
1083
01:06:40,560 --> 01:06:43,040
because it wasn't in my nature
to play that.
1084
01:06:43,420 --> 01:06:45,700
I've played bad guys, don't get me wrong.
1085
01:06:46,460 --> 01:06:49,780
{\an8}I'm sorry to say that.
The man is gone, he can't defend himself.
1086
01:06:49,920 --> 01:06:54,560
But can I make it better?
Can I, you know? Yeah.
1087
01:06:58,580 --> 01:07:01,920
I remember he had this idea
to put on contact lens
1088
01:07:01,950 --> 01:07:05,200
{\an8}with two pupils in it that Jim nixed.
1089
01:07:05,420 --> 01:07:08,930
But Lance had gotten
that made at his own expense,
1090
01:07:08,960 --> 01:07:12,050
and that was impressive to me, like,
1091
01:07:12,270 --> 01:07:14,030
"Oh, he's really thought
this character through."
1092
01:07:14,060 --> 01:07:15,200
You did okay.
1093
01:07:15,940 --> 01:07:17,660
-I did?
-Oh, yeah.
1094
01:07:17,880 --> 01:07:20,510
They talk about Aliens as being
a film about the nuclear family,
1095
01:07:20,540 --> 01:07:22,650
where you've got Ripley
as the matriarchal figure,
1096
01:07:22,680 --> 01:07:23,850
you've got Newt as the child,
1097
01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:28,060
you've got Hicks as the patriarch,
but not the dominant character.
1098
01:07:28,240 --> 01:07:32,440
And then there's Bishop who is, I guess
being referred to as the family dog.
1099
01:07:32,600 --> 01:07:33,690
The loyal dog,
1100
01:07:33,720 --> 01:07:36,410
he's there for you, he'll do anything,
he'll lay down his life for you.
1101
01:07:36,440 --> 01:07:38,080
{\an8}-Count you out of everything.
-That's right, man.
1102
01:07:38,500 --> 01:07:40,080
-Hey, why don't you go, man?
-I'll go.
1103
01:07:40,480 --> 01:07:42,020
-What?
-I'll go.
1104
01:07:42,520 --> 01:07:44,660
{\an8}The legacy of Bishop is so powerful
1105
01:07:44,820 --> 01:07:47,920
{\an8}that you see him
in Walter in Alien: Covenant
1106
01:07:48,120 --> 01:07:51,600
{\an8}who has that same kind of warmth
and gentleness about him,
1107
01:07:51,760 --> 01:07:53,920
{\an8}and even that calmingness of his voice
1108
01:07:54,600 --> 01:07:57,420
She was a chief science officer
of the Prometheus.
1109
01:07:58,840 --> 01:07:59,980
The ship that disappeared.
1110
01:08:00,720 --> 01:08:01,650
Precisely.
1111
01:08:01,680 --> 01:08:03,680
So I really feel like James Cameron
1112
01:08:04,000 --> 01:08:07,220
went into writing Aliens
in a way where he wanted to
1113
01:08:07,540 --> 01:08:10,740
further the discussion
of artificial intelligence
1114
01:08:10,880 --> 01:08:13,040
{\an8}in the middle of a very human culture.
1115
01:08:16,180 --> 01:08:18,980
{\an8}I would never understand
why you would build an android
1116
01:08:19,040 --> 01:08:20,260
{\an8}that looks just like a human.
1117
01:08:20,680 --> 01:08:23,300
{\an8}It's the most ineffective shape.
1118
01:08:23,480 --> 01:08:27,380
It is totally designed to make humans
comfortable around the artificial life.
1119
01:08:27,480 --> 01:08:28,890
They should be on treads,
1120
01:08:28,920 --> 01:08:32,520
they should have
bulletproof things or whatever.
1121
01:08:34,000 --> 01:08:37,800
{\an8}If you can make artificial life like that,
why are you sending humans out there?
1122
01:08:38,020 --> 01:08:40,040
{\an8}Why aren't you just sending
all of those guys?
1123
01:08:40,340 --> 01:08:41,390
{\an8}Welcome, brother.
1124
01:08:42,620 --> 01:08:44,300
{\an8}It's another question.
1125
01:08:44,680 --> 01:08:46,680
If I ever meet James Cameron,
I won't ask it.
1126
01:08:47,780 --> 01:08:50,610
-Hey, Bishop, man. Do the thing with the knife.
-Oh, please.
1127
01:08:50,640 --> 01:08:51,760
Oh, come on. Yeah!
1128
01:08:51,860 --> 01:08:56,620
There's a well-known scene
that Bill Paxton and I did together.
1129
01:08:56,980 --> 01:08:59,460
He said, "Hey Bishop, do the knife trick."
1130
01:09:00,450 --> 01:09:03,440
-I don't want to see that, man.
-Come on, man!
1131
01:09:03,520 --> 01:09:06,180
Before we started shooting,
I went to Jim and said,
1132
01:09:06,240 --> 01:09:10,760
"What if I put my hand on top
of Bill's hand and do the knife trick?"
1133
01:09:10,790 --> 01:09:12,120
-Come on!
-Don't move. Trust me.
1134
01:09:12,380 --> 01:09:15,100
{\an8}Lance was like a little Machiavelli.
1135
01:09:16,980 --> 01:09:19,690
He got Jim to agree and he came to me
1136
01:09:19,720 --> 01:09:21,140
and he said, "Look,
this is what we're gonna do."
1137
01:09:22,000 --> 01:09:24,600
We're gonna be doing
like this rehearsal in the mess halls,
1138
01:09:24,680 --> 01:09:26,600
and I want you to grab Paxton,
1139
01:09:27,400 --> 01:09:31,080
and you just grab him
and stick his arm down.
1140
01:09:31,120 --> 01:09:33,020
Come on. Bishop! Hey, man.
1141
01:09:33,080 --> 01:09:37,860
It was one of those moments
where you share your idea with a director,
1142
01:09:39,240 --> 01:09:40,940
and then see what happens.
1143
01:09:43,090 --> 01:09:46,860
Bill was frightened to death
that Lance was gonna stick him,
1144
01:09:47,620 --> 01:09:50,340
and Lance by this time,
was going pretty darn fast.
1145
01:09:53,880 --> 01:09:56,340
So we got that,
and it was a total surprise.
1146
01:09:56,400 --> 01:09:58,760
Bill had no frigging clue.
1147
01:09:58,850 --> 01:09:59,860
Thank you.
1148
01:10:02,120 --> 01:10:03,340
That wasn't funny, man.
1149
01:10:03,940 --> 01:10:06,140
I came into London at the airport,
1150
01:10:06,540 --> 01:10:09,030
Jim had said,
"We're gonna do it with a knife,"
1151
01:10:09,060 --> 01:10:10,160
and I said, "Fine."
1152
01:10:10,500 --> 01:10:14,980
But knowing him, I bought
like 20 different kinds of knives.
1153
01:10:15,340 --> 01:10:18,920
And they said, "I want you to step
away from your suitcase, sir."
1154
01:10:19,120 --> 01:10:20,860
Well, they weren't gonna
let me in the country.
1155
01:10:21,600 --> 01:10:24,020
Gale Hurd had to come down and get me out,
1156
01:10:24,220 --> 01:10:29,760
used her might, and she's only
like this tall but feisty, man.
1157
01:10:30,040 --> 01:10:31,340
{\an8}Anyway, she got me in.
1158
01:10:32,110 --> 01:10:35,040
Not bad for a human.
1159
01:10:35,300 --> 01:10:36,740
{\an8}We knew he'd been practicing.
1160
01:10:37,340 --> 01:10:40,400
{\an8}We also knew that it was
completely illegal to bring
1161
01:10:40,520 --> 01:10:42,620
any weapons into the United Kingdom.
1162
01:10:43,900 --> 01:10:47,060
Don't for a minute think
that that would stop Lance,
1163
01:10:47,500 --> 01:10:50,860
because, of course, he'd been
practicing with these knives
1164
01:10:51,240 --> 01:10:53,040
and he wanted Jim to pick one,
1165
01:10:53,740 --> 01:10:57,320
the weight, the feel,
all of that has to be exactly right.
1166
01:10:58,260 --> 01:11:00,220
So I go to the airport
1167
01:11:01,200 --> 01:11:05,840
and I luckily am able to go
into VIP and meet with him
1168
01:11:05,880 --> 01:11:08,360
before he goes through
customs and immigration.
1169
01:11:08,840 --> 01:11:13,310
And he takes me aside and says,
"There might be a problem,
1170
01:11:13,340 --> 01:11:15,240
I have a suitcase full of knives."
1171
01:11:15,860 --> 01:11:18,780
And I said, "Knives?"
1172
01:11:19,160 --> 01:11:22,320
Luckily we had a handler
who was working with us
1173
01:11:22,720 --> 01:11:28,260
who was able to get them
not to open that bag.
1174
01:11:28,340 --> 01:11:29,710
They opened other bags,
1175
01:11:29,740 --> 01:11:33,420
they did not open that bag
because they would've been confiscated.
1176
01:11:34,320 --> 01:11:35,520
But I was sweating.
1177
01:11:36,000 --> 01:11:37,230
I was definitely sweating.
1178
01:11:37,260 --> 01:11:40,700
Lance was not sweating because,
of course, synthetic humans don't sweat.
1179
01:11:41,620 --> 01:11:46,700
Honestly, Lance Henriksen's performance
as Bishop is just master acting.
1180
01:11:46,840 --> 01:11:49,120
I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid.
1181
01:11:49,590 --> 01:11:53,880
Talk about an actor's commitment
to a being.
1182
01:11:53,980 --> 01:11:56,340
You don't even call it like a character.
It's like a being.
1183
01:11:56,440 --> 01:12:00,080
And he just embodied that so thoroughly.
1184
01:12:00,780 --> 01:12:01,850
What's the question?
1185
01:12:02,340 --> 01:12:05,560
Is this gonna be a stand-up fight, sir,
or another bug hunt?
1186
01:12:05,630 --> 01:12:07,860
{\an8}The feeling I got was that in Alien,
1187
01:12:08,220 --> 01:12:12,920
that's the first contact that humanity
has had with any kind of alien life form.
1188
01:12:13,560 --> 01:12:15,780
{\an8}That line in the film suggests that
1189
01:12:16,080 --> 01:12:18,960
{\an8}not only has there been contact
with other alien life forms,
1190
01:12:19,340 --> 01:12:23,880
but there has been contact with other
hostile alien life forms, more than one.
1191
01:12:24,060 --> 01:12:26,240
It's a very Vietnam era line.
1192
01:12:38,860 --> 01:12:42,660
{\an8}That line alone has intrigued
many fans of the film
1193
01:12:42,700 --> 01:12:48,270
{\an8}so much so that there have been authors
of the expanded universe,
1194
01:12:48,300 --> 01:12:52,500
of the extension of this film
of what that could possibly mean.
1195
01:12:52,540 --> 01:12:54,860
And we've seen some things of that nature.
1196
01:12:54,900 --> 01:12:59,270
Like in the short story collection,
there's the Aliens Bug Hunt
1197
01:12:59,300 --> 01:13:00,980
which has a lot of what ifs.
1198
01:13:01,140 --> 01:13:04,120
What if these characters had encountered
something like this in the past?
1199
01:13:06,080 --> 01:13:09,430
{\an8}What we're suggesting with that one line
is that there are other planets
1200
01:13:09,460 --> 01:13:13,740
{\an8}and other colonies
because they are the colonial marines.
1201
01:13:13,800 --> 01:13:16,330
Sure wouldn't mind getting some
more of that Arcturian poontang.
1202
01:13:16,360 --> 01:13:18,200
Remember that?
1203
01:13:18,720 --> 01:13:21,400
The impression is
that with their superior firepower,
1204
01:13:21,440 --> 01:13:25,000
they've never found an indigenous organism
that they couldn't handle.
1205
01:13:25,430 --> 01:13:28,540
You don't get the impression
from the term "bug hunt"
1206
01:13:29,170 --> 01:13:32,860
that they're dealing with
intelligent interstellar civilizations.
1207
01:13:33,040 --> 01:13:37,270
Do we know that there are
also intelligent alien species
1208
01:13:37,300 --> 01:13:40,460
that are doing interstellar warfare?
1209
01:13:41,100 --> 01:13:42,120
I don't go there.
1210
01:13:42,240 --> 01:13:46,320
-Apparently, she saw an alien once.
-Whoopee-fuckin'-do!
1211
01:13:56,460 --> 01:14:00,040
{\an8}We're on an express elevator to hell,
going down.
1212
01:14:00,080 --> 01:14:01,100
Two.
1213
01:14:01,520 --> 01:14:06,030
{\an8}I think that James Cameron's experience
in engineering and design
1214
01:14:06,060 --> 01:14:08,100
{\an8}and art direction and concept art,
1215
01:14:08,160 --> 01:14:10,320
{\an8}and a lot of the things
he did on Roger Corman movies
1216
01:14:10,820 --> 01:14:14,340
{\an8}really helps him create a style
and a look and a world
1217
01:14:14,560 --> 01:14:15,940
that feels absolutely realistic.
1218
01:14:20,460 --> 01:14:24,090
The dropship design at the time,
it didn't seem futuristic enough.
1219
01:14:24,120 --> 01:14:27,480
That's like a Vietnam era
or like an Apache helicopter.
1220
01:14:27,730 --> 01:14:30,740
Primary couplers released.
Hit the internals.
1221
01:14:31,500 --> 01:14:35,780
It was very important
that I understood technical things
1222
01:14:35,820 --> 01:14:38,980
and that they were explained to me
what different dials were for,
1223
01:14:39,180 --> 01:14:41,300
what I would do,
where I would put my glasses,
1224
01:14:41,340 --> 01:14:43,840
why I was wearing my glasses,
where I would take them off.
1225
01:14:45,820 --> 01:14:47,420
Stand by 10 seconds.
1226
01:14:47,600 --> 01:14:49,640
Even though it's just a few lines,
1227
01:14:49,980 --> 01:14:55,060
it was felt that this is very important
in giving a sense of accuracy.
1228
01:14:55,100 --> 01:14:57,040
We're in the pipe, five by five.
1229
01:15:00,560 --> 01:15:03,980
{\an8}Jim was bringing into it a whole other
kind of a high tech quality,
1230
01:15:04,460 --> 01:15:08,380
{\an8}and his own design sensibilities
that had a big impact on the film.
1231
01:15:08,440 --> 01:15:10,760
He essentially designed the dropship.
1232
01:15:11,050 --> 01:15:12,460
He drew that stuff himself.
1233
01:15:14,750 --> 01:15:19,840
These vehicles and this tech can exist,
and that it works,
1234
01:15:20,200 --> 01:15:21,290
and that it's functional.
1235
01:15:23,460 --> 01:15:25,660
{\an8}And even like the HKs in Terminator,
1236
01:15:25,860 --> 01:15:28,360
{\an8}those seem like something
a machine would design.
1237
01:15:28,860 --> 01:15:33,780
{\an8}I think there's a lot of thought put into
his world building that's uniquely him.
1238
01:15:37,140 --> 01:15:40,280
All right, let's see what we can see.
1239
01:15:40,380 --> 01:15:45,040
But also the video the troopers
are carrying around was very primitive.
1240
01:15:46,540 --> 01:15:48,620
They're flying around in the dropship.
1241
01:15:48,740 --> 01:15:52,060
What you're seeing
of the colony complex is very low-res.
1242
01:15:53,040 --> 01:15:54,720
This is what people could relate to.
1243
01:15:56,980 --> 01:16:00,900
Like the first Alien film
where they're approaching the Derelict
1244
01:16:01,040 --> 01:16:03,700
{\an8}and there's futzing
going on with the video,
1245
01:16:04,120 --> 01:16:07,560
this gave it that same sort of
reality that people could relate to.
1246
01:16:07,760 --> 01:16:12,060
Okay, Ferro. Take us in low
over the main colony complex.
1247
01:16:12,940 --> 01:16:16,300
So when we're talking about the dropship
entering the atmosphere
1248
01:16:16,340 --> 01:16:21,460
and flying past the atmosphere processor
and coming to the colony complex,
1249
01:16:21,980 --> 01:16:25,540
I drew a contour map of the path
1250
01:16:26,360 --> 01:16:28,550
that actually showed,
and we had this for the crew,
1251
01:16:28,580 --> 01:16:31,490
we made Xerox copies of it
so we could see,
1252
01:16:31,520 --> 01:16:33,460
here's where we're flying,
here's where we're gonna see,
1253
01:16:33,500 --> 01:16:34,860
here's where the ground should be flat.
1254
01:16:36,080 --> 01:16:37,960
The screen graphic of flying in,
1255
01:16:38,000 --> 01:16:42,080
that was based on my little contour
map drawing of the dropship's path.
1256
01:16:42,680 --> 01:16:45,240
So we were always trying to be consistent
1257
01:16:45,920 --> 01:16:51,040
and locate people in the geography
and the geometry of the sets.
1258
01:16:54,840 --> 01:16:59,720
So terraforming is one of those
things that is, again, in the future.
1259
01:16:59,860 --> 01:17:03,520
They go in and set up these big atmosphere
processes to make the air breathable.
1260
01:17:03,870 --> 01:17:04,890
Takes decades.
1261
01:17:05,300 --> 01:17:07,480
If you're doing atmospheric reprocessing
1262
01:17:07,660 --> 01:17:10,340
where you're breaking up elements
or recombining elements
1263
01:17:10,520 --> 01:17:12,200
to make the atmosphere more breathable.
1264
01:17:12,620 --> 01:17:16,780
But again, this is Cameron's thing
of having technology that is futuristic,
1265
01:17:17,080 --> 01:17:20,500
but not so futuristic
it's not incomprehensible to us.
1266
01:17:23,180 --> 01:17:26,030
But having those big armored things
that come down over the windows
1267
01:17:26,060 --> 01:17:27,110
when there are storms,
1268
01:17:27,150 --> 01:17:29,980
that's a nice touch that gives it
that sense of realism.
1269
01:17:30,200 --> 01:17:34,180
Having the big nuclear plant and separated
from where the colonists live,
1270
01:17:34,220 --> 01:17:36,440
that's also another thing
that would be realistic.
1271
01:17:36,680 --> 01:17:38,990
It really does look
almost like a video game
1272
01:17:39,020 --> 01:17:40,440
where you're colonizing a planet
1273
01:17:40,480 --> 01:17:43,020
and you have certain
facilities you need to build.
1274
01:17:43,380 --> 01:17:46,720
Check it out. I am the ultimate badass.
1275
01:17:47,880 --> 01:17:49,680
State of the badass art.
1276
01:17:50,760 --> 01:17:52,320
You do not want to fuck with me.
1277
01:17:52,460 --> 01:17:56,640
{\an8}I was reading a lot of books
on Vietnam at the time.
1278
01:17:57,380 --> 01:18:01,450
Michael Herr's Dispatches being obviously
the one that was the most prominent.
1279
01:18:01,480 --> 01:18:02,420
But there were other ones.
1280
01:18:02,460 --> 01:18:04,680
There was another one called
Going After Cacciato.
1281
01:18:05,020 --> 01:18:08,800
There are a number of books
in that kind of oeuvre of the disgruntled
1282
01:18:09,240 --> 01:18:12,260
or disillusioned or traumatized soldier.
1283
01:18:12,630 --> 01:18:15,640
So I wanted that flavor.
1284
01:18:15,900 --> 01:18:18,260
Hudson, just relax.
1285
01:18:23,080 --> 01:18:28,360
{\an8}And of course, Herr also wrote very
famously the voiceover in Apocalypse Now.
1286
01:18:28,690 --> 01:18:29,750
Saigon.
1287
01:18:31,860 --> 01:18:32,870
Shit.
1288
01:18:35,100 --> 01:18:36,680
I'm still only in Saigon.
1289
01:18:36,820 --> 01:18:39,420
And it was also fairly fresh
if you think about this
1290
01:18:39,920 --> 01:18:43,400
being in the early eighties
in the fall of Saigon in '75.
1291
01:18:43,440 --> 01:18:46,380
And it was all pretty prominent
and very prominent in my life.
1292
01:18:47,340 --> 01:18:53,580
I was thinking of taking Vietnam era
ideas into science fiction.
1293
01:18:53,740 --> 01:18:57,280
I was a big fan of Joe Haldeman's
The Forever War.
1294
01:18:58,760 --> 01:19:04,050
{\an8}The concept of the high tech soldier
versus this low tech
1295
01:19:04,540 --> 01:19:06,500
{\an8}organic force of nature
1296
01:19:06,540 --> 01:19:12,220
embedded in the script was
an inescapable Vietnam era sensibility.
1297
01:19:12,360 --> 01:19:13,580
{\an8}How tall are you, Private?
1298
01:19:13,760 --> 01:19:15,290
{\an8}Sir, five-foot-nine, sir.
1299
01:19:15,320 --> 01:19:18,100
{\an8}Five-foot-nine.
I didn't know they stacked shit that high.
1300
01:19:18,300 --> 01:19:21,240
It's interesting because they were making
Full Metal Jacket at the same time
1301
01:19:21,280 --> 01:19:22,190
as we were doing that.
1302
01:19:22,220 --> 01:19:25,500
So we were hanging out with
a lot of those guys on the weekends
1303
01:19:25,540 --> 01:19:28,380
and they were certainly
making a Vietnam movie.
1304
01:19:32,840 --> 01:19:37,260
{\an8}One thing about Aliens that they
wear their clothes all different.
1305
01:19:37,700 --> 01:19:40,280
Some wear helmets,
some don't wear helmets,
1306
01:19:40,580 --> 01:19:42,700
headbands, things like that.
1307
01:19:42,840 --> 01:19:44,680
That's how it was in Vietnam.
1308
01:19:45,100 --> 01:19:47,600
Putting different writings
on their helmets,
1309
01:19:47,900 --> 01:19:51,280
writing on their vest,
and the art on the jump ship.
1310
01:19:51,640 --> 01:19:55,940
We did that back then
on the U.E.s and the 46s.
1311
01:19:56,220 --> 01:19:58,960
You put the art on your helicopters.
1312
01:20:01,220 --> 01:20:04,240
There was the afternoon,
Jim had come to us and said,
1313
01:20:04,320 --> 01:20:06,780
{\an8}"Okay, everybody, pack up your stuff,
follow me."
1314
01:20:07,920 --> 01:20:10,990
{\an8}And there he goes,
walking off through Pinewood Studios
1315
01:20:11,020 --> 01:20:12,800
and here we are following me,
wondering,
1316
01:20:13,230 --> 01:20:14,560
"What's this, where are we going?"
1317
01:20:15,160 --> 01:20:18,890
And we come to this wooden stair,
rickety wooden stair.
1318
01:20:18,920 --> 01:20:21,160
We go up into this little building
and get to the top.
1319
01:20:22,060 --> 01:20:23,060
It's the art department.
1320
01:20:23,220 --> 01:20:28,810
There's all kind of strips of leather,
bones, all weird crap.
1321
01:20:28,840 --> 01:20:30,060
And Jim just turned around and went,
1322
01:20:30,440 --> 01:20:33,010
"Right, you're gonna spend
the rest of the afternoon
1323
01:20:33,210 --> 01:20:34,750
personalizing all your gear."
1324
01:20:36,280 --> 01:20:39,060
Had those leather strips and the bones
hanging off of my hat.
1325
01:20:39,100 --> 01:20:42,080
And I had some more around my neck,
and they were just chicken bones.
1326
01:20:42,300 --> 01:20:45,440
But it all became personal expression.
1327
01:20:46,680 --> 01:20:48,560
{\an8}And I come up with a number of ideas.
1328
01:20:48,600 --> 01:20:52,240
{\an8}One of them is: "When in doubt, nuke 'em."
1329
01:20:53,960 --> 01:20:55,050
Last stand.
1330
01:20:55,120 --> 01:20:56,380
Another one.
1331
01:20:56,680 --> 01:21:00,020
Oh yes, the mother-of-my-kids' name
is Heather.
1332
01:21:00,120 --> 01:21:03,060
So I decided to make this heart
and put Heather in the middle of it.
1333
01:21:03,180 --> 01:21:08,480
So I scratched this beautifully,
perfectly shaped heart into this metal.
1334
01:21:09,140 --> 01:21:11,030
And then I started scratching
in "Heather,"
1335
01:21:11,080 --> 01:21:13,260
and I'm scratching it in
and it's looking great.
1336
01:21:13,360 --> 01:21:15,110
But I realized about halfway through
1337
01:21:15,140 --> 01:21:18,360
that I am not gonna have
enough room to write Heather.
1338
01:21:20,850 --> 01:21:26,120
So at that stage, I come to the idea
like I would shorten it to Heath.
1339
01:21:26,520 --> 01:21:30,920
So I write H-E-A-T-H,
and it fits perfectly.
1340
01:21:31,560 --> 01:21:35,240
And of course, once the movie comes out,
I get all these fans asking me,
1341
01:21:35,350 --> 01:21:36,380
"Who is Heath?"
1342
01:21:39,240 --> 01:21:42,710
{\an8}So I have a lot of fans
who think that I may be gay
1343
01:21:42,740 --> 01:21:44,110
{\an8}because I put in Heath then.
1344
01:21:47,520 --> 01:21:53,760
Vazquez, she was a Chicana from Achola,
from Los Angeles, from the barrio.
1345
01:21:54,580 --> 01:22:00,220
I was reading a Chicana poet
and there was this poem,
1346
01:22:01,320 --> 01:22:04,520
and it was about a gang member.
1347
01:22:04,740 --> 01:22:07,300
Well, I wrote it on the armor.
1348
01:22:07,580 --> 01:22:11,860
I mean, it means literally
"The risk always lives."
1349
01:22:12,200 --> 01:22:14,050
But that's not a really good translation.
1350
01:22:14,080 --> 01:22:15,440
I would translate it,
1351
01:22:15,620 --> 01:22:19,860
other Spanish speakers would,
as "There is no getting out."
1352
01:22:19,900 --> 01:22:21,740
You never get out of life alive.
1353
01:22:21,830 --> 01:22:23,520
Pendejo jerk-off.
1354
01:22:24,380 --> 01:22:28,420
{\an8}I don't remember doing anything
but putting "happenstance" on my helmet.
1355
01:22:28,680 --> 01:22:29,910
the word "happenstance."
1356
01:22:31,340 --> 01:22:34,560
{\an8}It's gonna be luck if we end up surviving.
1357
01:22:35,900 --> 01:22:37,540
{\an8}So there's a darkness to it, I guess.
1358
01:22:40,200 --> 01:22:41,800
Because I was the med tech officer,
1359
01:22:41,960 --> 01:22:45,340
I designed a Red Cross that had
a drop of blood coming off of it.
1360
01:22:45,570 --> 01:22:48,080
And that became my tattoo.
We designed our own tattoos.
1361
01:22:48,120 --> 01:22:52,720
And then I, on my skivvies,
my olive drab T-shirt and boxer shorts,
1362
01:22:53,260 --> 01:22:57,320
over my heart, I put the international
symbol of "don't go there."
1363
01:22:57,420 --> 01:22:59,740
The circle with the diagonal line, like
1364
01:23:00,080 --> 01:23:01,830
"No, this is closed off, everybody."
1365
01:23:02,030 --> 01:23:04,940
And on the back of my helmet
as an homage to Dietrich,
1366
01:23:05,240 --> 01:23:07,020
I wrote "The Blue Angel."
1367
01:23:07,860 --> 01:23:10,230
Which a few people have caught,
I've seen it online,
1368
01:23:10,260 --> 01:23:13,100
like the real nitpicky fans.
1369
01:23:13,300 --> 01:23:15,140
Everything was a reflection of character.
1370
01:23:15,540 --> 01:23:18,520
I think that for me, that was
the first time where I was on a set going,
1371
01:23:18,900 --> 01:23:24,600
"Oh, everything supports the story,
everything tells a story."
1372
01:23:26,500 --> 01:23:30,220
And the same goes for the locker.
1373
01:23:30,520 --> 01:23:33,030
I don't know how much
you can see in the film,
1374
01:23:33,060 --> 01:23:35,540
but inside each of our lockers,
1375
01:23:35,810 --> 01:23:40,330
we've personalized it with photos
and different things.
1376
01:23:40,360 --> 01:23:42,130
And that meant a lot to me.
1377
01:23:42,160 --> 01:23:45,540
It was things that I had used
in my research of like who she was.
1378
01:23:45,580 --> 01:23:48,870
And I always use photographs,
1379
01:23:48,900 --> 01:23:54,160
I look into photographs to get
an idea about who a person is.
1380
01:23:54,200 --> 01:23:57,660
And so I got to put the photographs
1381
01:23:57,700 --> 01:24:00,700
from a Avedon, Richard Avedon book,
which I loved,
1382
01:24:00,940 --> 01:24:03,680
on the locker, who to me was my brother.
1383
01:24:11,700 --> 01:24:14,080
{\an8}It's on another planet, there are aliens,
it's all set in the future.
1384
01:24:14,540 --> 01:24:17,060
{\an8}But there is a touchstone to this.
1385
01:24:17,120 --> 01:24:19,270
And I think Cameron brings his experience,
1386
01:24:19,300 --> 01:24:22,400
he brings his knowledge of weaponry
and the military to this.
1387
01:24:22,440 --> 01:24:26,200
And I think the verisimilitude
to the way he treats the marines,
1388
01:24:26,740 --> 01:24:31,040
gives this a layer of relatability.
1389
01:24:31,260 --> 01:24:32,610
We may not have been in the army,
1390
01:24:32,640 --> 01:24:34,140
but we recognize that for what it is,
1391
01:24:34,180 --> 01:24:35,810
which is something real,
something tangible.
1392
01:24:35,840 --> 01:24:36,940
It doesn't feel like Star Trek.
1393
01:24:37,310 --> 01:24:39,020
10 seconds people. Look sharp.
1394
01:24:48,720 --> 01:24:51,280
Nothing. Not a goddamn thing.
1395
01:24:53,940 --> 01:24:57,170
{\an8}A number of years ago,
I was flipping through the channels on TV
1396
01:24:57,200 --> 01:24:58,580
{\an8}and I came across Aliens,
1397
01:24:58,880 --> 01:25:00,700
{\an8}and it was about halfway
through the movie,
1398
01:25:00,900 --> 01:25:03,300
and I was shocked at how well it held up
1399
01:25:03,580 --> 01:25:05,980
because it looked like this movie
could have been made last year.
1400
01:25:06,180 --> 01:25:07,600
And one of the reasons why is because
1401
01:25:07,660 --> 01:25:11,320
Jim didn't use a lot
of the 1980's special effects.
1402
01:25:11,730 --> 01:25:13,440
{\an8}You're gonna love this.
1403
01:25:14,260 --> 01:25:15,820
{\an8}He used props, practicals.
1404
01:25:16,220 --> 01:25:18,680
{\an8}And so when you saw these things,
they were real.
1405
01:25:19,440 --> 01:25:23,780
{\an8}There's no acting necessary,
you were there.
1406
01:25:27,060 --> 01:25:30,710
So when you have rain on the film set,
it's a lot of rain.
1407
01:25:31,230 --> 01:25:32,990
So the rain's pouring down
1408
01:25:33,050 --> 01:25:35,120
and I'm supposed to come out
and lead them.
1409
01:25:35,560 --> 01:25:38,760
I go, "Jim, when I come out,
should I run right or left?"
1410
01:25:39,040 --> 01:25:42,040
And he looks at me straight
in the eye and he goes, "Yes."
1411
01:25:42,460 --> 01:25:43,460
And walks away.
1412
01:25:46,180 --> 01:25:48,300
Let's go! Moving on!
1413
01:25:49,040 --> 01:25:50,040
He's like a chess player.
1414
01:25:50,200 --> 01:25:52,970
Most people may see
two or three moves ahead,
1415
01:25:53,000 --> 01:25:55,610
and Jim is working on five
and seven moves ahead,
1416
01:25:55,640 --> 01:25:59,560
and I could see that when we're
on set that he's always preoccupied.
1417
01:26:01,820 --> 01:26:04,450
And it was unusual for the director
1418
01:26:04,540 --> 01:26:08,860
{\an8}to be so very involved in creating
and making the sets.
1419
01:26:10,320 --> 01:26:12,820
Drama and design came together.
1420
01:26:16,450 --> 01:26:19,420
There was a lot of establishing
so you could feel like you were there
1421
01:26:19,560 --> 01:26:22,150
{\an8}and not get confused,
like were we on operations deck?
1422
01:26:22,460 --> 01:26:25,440
{\an8}There were certain
landmark things on each set
1423
01:26:25,480 --> 01:26:28,080
{\an8}to locate you very quickly.
1424
01:26:30,380 --> 01:26:35,160
{\an8}I'd been on a lot of sets growing up,
but this one was the next level.
1425
01:26:35,470 --> 01:26:38,200
{\an8}You're walking through
those tunnels of the colony set
1426
01:26:38,300 --> 01:26:41,140
that had been devastated
by the xenomorph attack.
1427
01:26:41,460 --> 01:26:45,520
All those abandoned office spaces,
just mess everywhere
1428
01:26:45,560 --> 01:26:47,250
in what looks like a battle had occurred.
1429
01:26:47,280 --> 01:26:49,320
I mean, the attention to detail,
1430
01:26:49,680 --> 01:26:52,520
the production design team
and the art department put in this
1431
01:26:52,800 --> 01:26:54,840
was something
like I had never seen before.
1432
01:26:55,000 --> 01:26:56,790
Sir, this place is dead.
1433
01:26:56,820 --> 01:26:58,620
Whatever happened here,
I think we missed it.
1434
01:26:59,480 --> 01:27:02,200
{\an8}I think that starts
with my initial impulse on the Terminator.
1435
01:27:02,520 --> 01:27:05,020
{\an8}I'm gonna have to shoot it
in contemporary world.
1436
01:27:05,060 --> 01:27:09,060
{\an8}I don't have the money for big sets,
I can't project myself into the future.
1437
01:27:09,400 --> 01:27:11,610
So let's see little glimpses
of the future,
1438
01:27:11,640 --> 01:27:13,780
but let's make it a very gritty,
1439
01:27:14,050 --> 01:27:16,700
texturally real,
right here in Los Angeles.
1440
01:27:16,740 --> 01:27:17,910
We'll be in the alleys,
1441
01:27:18,900 --> 01:27:22,380
we'll be in the pawn shops,
we'll be in the seedy hotels.
1442
01:27:22,680 --> 01:27:23,800
It'll feel real.
1443
01:27:29,120 --> 01:27:32,460
The seeds of that idea
was actually in Star Wars,
1444
01:27:32,520 --> 01:27:35,100
{\an8}which preceded Alien by a couple of years.
1445
01:27:35,580 --> 01:27:39,420
{\an8}And then Ridley took it much farther
and really just put it in our face.
1446
01:27:39,620 --> 01:27:41,900
Shouldn't have landed
on this damn ball, I know that.
1447
01:27:43,330 --> 01:27:45,340
{\an8}Aliens, it's set in the future.
1448
01:27:45,710 --> 01:27:48,040
{\an8}But the work of Ron Cobb and Syd Mead
1449
01:27:48,520 --> 01:27:51,280
and Peter Lamont,
the production designer in the UK,
1450
01:27:51,620 --> 01:27:53,100
everything was believable.
1451
01:27:54,100 --> 01:27:58,820
{\an8}Walking around the live action sets,
which we would do regularly at lunchtimes,
1452
01:27:59,060 --> 01:28:03,460
it felt present day,
yet slightly futuristic.
1453
01:28:03,760 --> 01:28:06,520
When the audience see that on the screen,
1454
01:28:06,560 --> 01:28:09,230
{\an8}they accept it,
they're already in a familiar place.
1455
01:28:09,260 --> 01:28:11,000
{\an8}Like hits from small-arms fire.
1456
01:28:11,500 --> 01:28:15,360
One of the things
that was smart about that film
1457
01:28:15,460 --> 01:28:17,520
and how it was designed
1458
01:28:17,720 --> 01:28:21,320
was the use of some recognizable things
1459
01:28:21,350 --> 01:28:25,940
that probably
wouldn't necessarily exist in the future,
1460
01:28:26,240 --> 01:28:28,580
but help ground the film
in everyday reality.
1461
01:28:28,650 --> 01:28:30,560
And simple things
like the warning stripes,
1462
01:28:30,580 --> 01:28:32,080
the yellow and black stripes.
1463
01:28:34,820 --> 01:28:39,060
{\an8}If you want an idea of how influential
Aliens would become,
1464
01:28:39,500 --> 01:28:42,600
{\an8}just think about these corridors
and how much they would
1465
01:28:43,180 --> 01:28:46,820
be replicated in video game design
down the years.
1466
01:28:50,920 --> 01:28:53,740
It's probably seismic survey charges.
1467
01:28:54,140 --> 01:28:57,620
{\an8}We are making our way along
these long corridors that existed.
1468
01:28:57,660 --> 01:29:00,340
{\an8}We're not pretending,
we're in this huge place,
1469
01:29:00,540 --> 01:29:03,420
and we're using our deployment
blocking and our techniques.
1470
01:29:03,540 --> 01:29:05,440
Staying in character,
remembering our lines.
1471
01:29:05,990 --> 01:29:07,450
Okay, Dietrich, Frost, you're up.
1472
01:29:08,580 --> 01:29:11,440
He had real British SAS guys come in
1473
01:29:12,200 --> 01:29:14,660
{\an8}and put us through a week-long boot camp,
1474
01:29:15,340 --> 01:29:17,750
{\an8}that was not fun and games.
1475
01:29:29,810 --> 01:29:32,820
{\an8}Boot camps are very important
to bring all the actors together,
1476
01:29:33,200 --> 01:29:36,980
{\an8}understanding their job in the military,
1477
01:29:37,260 --> 01:29:40,600
the way you move, the way you act,
the way you speak.
1478
01:29:41,400 --> 01:29:42,670
Watch your spacing.
1479
01:29:42,700 --> 01:29:44,540
All right, you heard the man.
Don't bunch up.
1480
01:29:44,900 --> 01:29:45,900
Stay loose.
1481
01:29:46,000 --> 01:29:49,320
{\an8}First task was 4:30 AM call,
five mile run.
1482
01:29:50,500 --> 01:29:52,450
And it wasn't like, "Oh, let me just jog."
1483
01:29:52,480 --> 01:29:54,980
It was like, "Move, move, move, move."
1484
01:29:55,320 --> 01:29:57,150
Screaming at us, making us move.
1485
01:29:57,180 --> 01:30:02,320
And again, Bill Paxton,
I'll never forget him that day,
1486
01:30:02,360 --> 01:30:06,380
He was like, "Hey, you know, man,
I just got off a flight
1487
01:30:06,420 --> 01:30:09,410
and I'm a little jet lagged. Can I stop?"
1488
01:30:09,440 --> 01:30:11,260
They were just all over him.
1489
01:30:11,480 --> 01:30:15,280
{\an8}I do recall going through
the forest and I immediately
1490
01:30:15,940 --> 01:30:18,460
hit a wire that was supposed
to be a landmine.
1491
01:30:21,460 --> 01:30:25,060
{\an8}We worked with a pistol, a Pulse Rifle,
and a flamethrower, all of us.
1492
01:30:25,100 --> 01:30:26,160
Vasquez, take point.
1493
01:30:26,480 --> 01:30:27,490
Let's move!
1494
01:30:28,060 --> 01:30:30,640
We learned the ideas of like how you
1495
01:30:31,060 --> 01:30:33,800
take the point and then people
go forward and then
1496
01:30:33,900 --> 01:30:36,720
how they behave in a new environment.
1497
01:30:37,220 --> 01:30:38,230
Move up.
1498
01:30:38,840 --> 01:30:42,260
{\an8}How do you approach
an urban landscape?
1499
01:30:42,660 --> 01:30:44,950
{\an8}How do you approach a building?
How do you use the weapons?
1500
01:30:44,980 --> 01:30:49,600
All of that training was highly,
highly useful, let me tell you,
1501
01:30:50,080 --> 01:30:54,320
The two people who trained us were
Al Matthews, a former marine sergeant
1502
01:30:54,740 --> 01:30:57,600
and Tip Tipping,
one of the English stunt men
1503
01:30:57,840 --> 01:31:02,460
who was a British SAS special forces guy,
and they were serious.
1504
01:31:02,920 --> 01:31:05,260
Second squad move up, flanking positions.
1505
01:31:05,680 --> 01:31:07,080
Second squad online.
1506
01:31:09,080 --> 01:31:11,560
One of the things was,
if we're ever caught
1507
01:31:11,600 --> 01:31:13,960
with our weapon pointing
at another character,
1508
01:31:14,180 --> 01:31:16,980
we had to immediately
hit the deck and do 10 push-ups.
1509
01:31:18,060 --> 01:31:20,880
Ricco Ross was always getting caught
1510
01:31:20,920 --> 01:31:24,100
and he would not only would do 10 pushups,
he'd do one-armed pushups,
1511
01:31:24,140 --> 01:31:26,240
he would do push-ups
with a clap inbetween.
1512
01:31:26,540 --> 01:31:30,320
{\an8}During the course of boot camp,
you get to know your fellow teammates,
1513
01:31:30,400 --> 01:31:31,500
your fellow soldiers,
1514
01:31:31,720 --> 01:31:34,000
and you get to joke with them
and tease each other.
1515
01:31:34,500 --> 01:31:38,380
And so then by the time we made the movie,
we did know each other
1516
01:31:38,600 --> 01:31:39,830
and we knew how far we could take it.
1517
01:31:39,860 --> 01:31:41,790
We knew what buttons to push.
1518
01:31:41,820 --> 01:31:45,600
Somebody said "alien." She thought
they said "illegal alien" and signed up.
1519
01:31:45,640 --> 01:31:46,840
Fuck you, man.
1520
01:31:46,900 --> 01:31:48,260
Anytime, anywhere.
1521
01:31:48,320 --> 01:31:49,410
Are you finished?
1522
01:31:49,480 --> 01:31:53,560
And they gave us a task and they said,
"We're going to put a pen
1523
01:31:53,960 --> 01:31:56,700
in the secretary's office
at Pinewood Studios,
1524
01:31:56,940 --> 01:31:58,680
and you have to start outside.
1525
01:31:58,800 --> 01:32:04,660
You have to find your way into the complex
with formation that we've taught you
1526
01:32:04,930 --> 01:32:06,780
and you have to go capture that pen."
1527
01:32:07,920 --> 01:32:09,040
Which we did.
1528
01:32:09,420 --> 01:32:12,780
But they hadn't told the secretary
this was gonna happen.
1529
01:32:13,620 --> 01:32:14,970
And she was shocked outta her mind.
1530
01:32:15,000 --> 01:32:17,860
She thought,
"Oh, my Lord, terrorists" or something.
1531
01:32:17,920 --> 01:32:19,580
It was pretty fun.
1532
01:32:23,040 --> 01:32:25,620
I think I read a review that
with the Smartguns,
1533
01:32:25,660 --> 01:32:29,920
that sort of the choreography that Mark Rolston
and I had done with the Smartguns
1534
01:32:29,970 --> 01:32:32,820
almost looked like
we were flamenco dancers.
1535
01:32:34,980 --> 01:32:38,190
I mean, it was a really
interesting mechanism.
1536
01:32:38,220 --> 01:32:42,820
You know, it was a huge gun
attached to a steady cam harness.
1537
01:32:42,940 --> 01:32:44,780
So there is a way that it moves.
1538
01:32:45,960 --> 01:32:47,640
We sort of choreographed it
with each other.
1539
01:32:47,680 --> 01:32:50,700
I mean it was fun,
but the way you held yourself
1540
01:32:50,820 --> 01:32:54,420
had totally to do with not falling over.
1541
01:33:00,380 --> 01:33:04,740
Cameron had a vision for the future,
which is true to this day.
1542
01:33:05,000 --> 01:33:07,940
Now we have women in combat units.
1543
01:33:08,200 --> 01:33:11,950
Back then in '86, there were
no women in combat units.
1544
01:33:11,980 --> 01:33:16,020
{\an8}They were in support units,
they couldn't be in the infantry.
1545
01:33:18,290 --> 01:33:22,620
I think it shows you that you don't
have to hit people over the head
1546
01:33:22,800 --> 01:33:24,760
when it comes to certain concepts.
1547
01:33:24,800 --> 01:33:28,020
If you just bring in these characters,
1548
01:33:28,140 --> 01:33:32,480
{\an8}Ripley, Vasquez, Newt,
and let them just be.
1549
01:33:33,000 --> 01:33:35,320
Let their character speak for itself.
1550
01:33:35,560 --> 01:33:40,660
{\an8}By the mid eighties, we had not
really gotten a single film to portray
1551
01:33:40,880 --> 01:33:44,420
{\an8}such diversity for the female gender.
1552
01:33:45,820 --> 01:33:49,840
With Vasquez, I have always
admired this character.
1553
01:33:51,430 --> 01:33:56,220
Jenette Goldstein portrays Vasquez
in such an amazing way,
1554
01:33:56,480 --> 01:33:58,370
in such an empowering way,
1555
01:33:58,430 --> 01:34:04,400
a way where we see
a woman who is fearless.
1556
01:34:04,980 --> 01:34:08,100
Of course, I struggle as a Latina woman,
1557
01:34:08,440 --> 01:34:10,980
knowing that this is
a white woman portraying
1558
01:34:11,070 --> 01:34:13,140
this Spanish speaking Latina hero.
1559
01:34:13,260 --> 01:34:19,940
I would say that it's probably fair
to address the realities of that.
1560
01:34:22,100 --> 01:34:28,620
It can be racial erasure because a Latina
was not cast as Vasquez,
1561
01:34:28,940 --> 01:34:32,180
but it's also racial empowerment
at the same time
1562
01:34:32,440 --> 01:34:35,980
because of how this character
was foregrounded
1563
01:34:36,260 --> 01:34:40,640
and respected and honored
in the Aliens franchise.
1564
01:34:45,440 --> 01:34:52,380
As Vasquez, I have Latina women
who've been in the military come up to me,
1565
01:34:52,420 --> 01:34:54,960
so it's like, oh, yeah,
so obviously they have identified.
1566
01:34:55,320 --> 01:35:00,960
I have gay black men
come up to me and say,
1567
01:35:01,180 --> 01:35:04,300
"I completely know her experience
because that was mine."
1568
01:35:04,620 --> 01:35:09,720
I have men say to me that as young boys,
1569
01:35:10,040 --> 01:35:13,900
him and their brother would fight
who would play Vasquez.
1570
01:35:16,120 --> 01:35:19,500
I distinctly recall
after I'd first seen it,
1571
01:35:19,760 --> 01:35:22,150
{\an8}11-year-old me, I went and bought
little fingerless gloves
1572
01:35:22,180 --> 01:35:24,900
{\an8}and some football shin pads
so that I could be Vasquez
1573
01:35:25,060 --> 01:35:29,190
because Vasquez spoke to me like that was
the best thing I'd ever seen on screen.
1574
01:35:29,220 --> 01:35:31,260
Jenette Goldstein was amazing.
1575
01:35:32,800 --> 01:35:35,870
{\an8}The favorite line of hers
is not a line I created.
1576
01:35:35,900 --> 01:35:37,280
{\an8}I heard it in a bar.
1577
01:35:37,320 --> 01:35:39,880
{\an8}This guy literally said to this girl.
1578
01:35:39,920 --> 01:35:42,620
-Have you ever been mistaken for a man?
-No.
1579
01:35:43,170 --> 01:35:44,190
Have you?
1580
01:35:44,240 --> 01:35:46,630
The best slam down I'd ever heard.
1581
01:35:46,660 --> 01:35:49,300
And I went, "I'm writing that down,
I'm using that."
1582
01:35:49,520 --> 01:35:50,630
But that's what you do as a writer.
1583
01:35:50,660 --> 01:35:54,200
You absorb from the human
condition around you.
1584
01:35:57,000 --> 01:35:58,080
You're just too bad.
1585
01:35:58,340 --> 01:35:59,360
Fuck.
1586
01:35:59,460 --> 01:36:01,640
{\an8}Jim wanted something different.
1587
01:36:01,820 --> 01:36:04,890
{\an8}He wanted to get away
from the tropes at the time,
1588
01:36:04,920 --> 01:36:07,260
and I guess he was one
of the early people who really
1589
01:36:07,620 --> 01:36:13,160
{\an8}brought a modern female cinema
characters who were tough as nails
1590
01:36:13,560 --> 01:36:15,600
{\an8}and could kick anybody's ass.
1591
01:36:21,760 --> 01:36:24,820
I don't think of Aliens
as a feminist film.
1592
01:36:25,320 --> 01:36:31,280
I think Aliens is a great, powerful story
about the human condition
1593
01:36:31,820 --> 01:36:35,720
that happens to have
an amazing female lead.
1594
01:36:36,000 --> 01:36:37,920
I'm trying to figure out
what we're dealing with here.
1595
01:36:38,740 --> 01:36:39,870
Let's go through it again.
1596
01:36:39,980 --> 01:36:45,620
Ripley is like the single mom
struggling to keep her sanity,
1597
01:36:45,740 --> 01:36:48,720
struggling to make her way in the world.
1598
01:36:48,940 --> 01:36:54,320
And not only does she do that,
but she bests all the people around her,
1599
01:36:54,440 --> 01:36:59,840
all the men, conquers the mission,
defeats the enemy, demon,
1600
01:37:00,200 --> 01:37:03,780
saves the child,
fulfills her maternal instincts,
1601
01:37:03,840 --> 01:37:09,120
and actually is a nurturing gorgeous
female who's tough as shit.
1602
01:37:09,520 --> 01:37:13,660
{\an8}Sigourney herself is such a strong woman
1603
01:37:13,980 --> 01:37:18,350
who is a feminist and stands up
for right things and women.
1604
01:37:18,380 --> 01:37:24,160
That gave this film an extra bit
of sort of feminine and feminist.
1605
01:37:24,220 --> 01:37:25,400
Wow. Both combined.
1606
01:37:27,920 --> 01:37:30,740
And when you look
at Sigourney's character,
1607
01:37:31,380 --> 01:37:34,560
{\an8}you understand that
all of these specialists are telling her,
1608
01:37:34,600 --> 01:37:36,400
"This is what we're gonna do,
this is what we need to do."
1609
01:37:36,460 --> 01:37:37,560
And she's telling them,
1610
01:37:37,680 --> 01:37:40,280
{\an8}"If you want to survive,
this is what you have to do."
1611
01:37:40,780 --> 01:37:42,020
I need to see air ducts.
1612
01:37:42,220 --> 01:37:45,480
I need to see electrical access tunnels,
sub basements,
1613
01:37:45,820 --> 01:37:47,900
every possible way into this complex.
1614
01:37:48,120 --> 01:37:50,080
I don't think we had
seen that in film before.
1615
01:37:50,500 --> 01:37:51,540
Easy.
1616
01:37:51,860 --> 01:37:53,120
It's gonna be okay.
1617
01:37:53,400 --> 01:37:55,200
It's all right, you're gonna be okay.
1618
01:37:55,340 --> 01:37:59,830
I think all the Alien movies
have had at their center
1619
01:37:59,860 --> 01:38:04,460
this uncompromising woman
who won't give up.
1620
01:38:04,720 --> 01:38:10,040
And yes, if that's your definition
of feminism, certainly.
1621
01:38:10,320 --> 01:38:12,400
What I loved about the films is to me,
1622
01:38:12,640 --> 01:38:15,730
you're showing women
as we are in the world,
1623
01:38:15,760 --> 01:38:18,420
getting things done,
women get things done.
1624
01:38:18,780 --> 01:38:23,080
So to portray that in a film,
shouldn't be earth shaking,
1625
01:38:23,540 --> 01:38:27,760
but it is because
for so many years women were like,
1626
01:38:28,220 --> 01:38:31,540
oh, wearing little tiny dresses
1627
01:38:31,580 --> 01:38:36,190
and breaking down in corners
and waiting for the men to come in.
1628
01:38:36,220 --> 01:38:42,270
So it was really liberating to have
the portrayal of a woman in this world
1629
01:38:42,300 --> 01:38:43,920
in Jenette's character too.
1630
01:38:44,120 --> 01:38:49,020
Just real life working women
as part of this community,
1631
01:38:49,540 --> 01:38:51,760
with all the good and bad in that.
1632
01:38:51,900 --> 01:38:54,640
I think just making it,
we were just telling the truth.
1633
01:38:54,760 --> 01:38:57,920
Hudson, just deal with it because
we need you and I'm sick of your bullshit.
1634
01:38:57,980 --> 01:39:00,140
{\an8}I think that Gale Anne Hurd
and James Cameron
1635
01:39:00,180 --> 01:39:03,240
{\an8}were always a little bit worried that they
might have traumatized me in some way.
1636
01:39:04,680 --> 01:39:07,150
When I saw them recently at a convention,
1637
01:39:07,180 --> 01:39:10,200
I think it was Gale, she said to me,
"Was it really traumatic?"
1638
01:39:14,100 --> 01:39:16,780
Jim and I talked about
how concerned we were
1639
01:39:17,800 --> 01:39:19,580
and Sigourney was concerned as well.
1640
01:39:19,910 --> 01:39:25,440
This young impressionable girl,
would we really terrify her for life?
1641
01:39:30,940 --> 01:39:33,700
I really had absolutely no clue
1642
01:39:34,040 --> 01:39:36,150
what I was getting a part of
or anything like that.
1643
01:39:36,180 --> 01:39:38,980
We weren't a part of
the film industry at all.
1644
01:39:41,720 --> 01:39:44,120
I was eating lunch in my school cafeteria
1645
01:39:44,220 --> 01:39:45,880
and there was a lady walking around
1646
01:39:45,980 --> 01:39:49,900
taking Polaroid pictures of girls,
my friends, myself.
1647
01:39:50,300 --> 01:39:53,590
Now, would they be going around
the school cafeterias taking pictures?
1648
01:39:53,620 --> 01:39:55,720
No, but you just didn't
even think anything of it.
1649
01:40:01,080 --> 01:40:03,860
It was between myself
and another girl in the States,
1650
01:40:03,890 --> 01:40:05,880
and they wanted us to meet Sigourney
1651
01:40:06,140 --> 01:40:09,160
and run through lines with her
just to see how the chemistry was
1652
01:40:09,230 --> 01:40:10,340
between the two of us.
1653
01:40:11,360 --> 01:40:14,040
I was very excited because they told us
she was coming over on Concorde.
1654
01:40:14,080 --> 01:40:16,450
Well, in the eighties, if you knew anyone
who went on Concorde,
1655
01:40:16,480 --> 01:40:17,780
that was really impressive.
1656
01:40:20,440 --> 01:40:23,100
We got 15 of these M40 grenades.
1657
01:40:24,240 --> 01:40:25,330
Don't touch that.
1658
01:40:25,920 --> 01:40:26,850
Dangerous.
1659
01:40:26,880 --> 01:40:31,440
{\an8}James Cameron has always brought
this family elements to his films.
1660
01:40:34,320 --> 01:40:40,560
With Aliens, he's kind of addressed it
as a love story of parental love
1661
01:40:41,380 --> 01:40:43,840
{\an8}and it's a unique one.
1662
01:40:44,180 --> 01:40:48,920
There's these two kindred spirits
in Ripley and Newt
1663
01:40:48,950 --> 01:40:50,960
who both lost their families
1664
01:40:51,520 --> 01:40:52,920
and they find each other.
1665
01:40:53,180 --> 01:40:57,940
And it is a beautiful
love story in that sense.
1666
01:40:58,180 --> 01:41:00,680
My mommy always said
there were no monsters,
1667
01:41:01,160 --> 01:41:03,340
no real ones, but there are.
1668
01:41:03,980 --> 01:41:05,440
Yes, there are, aren't there?
1669
01:41:05,760 --> 01:41:09,380
James Cameron was absolutely amazing.
He was phenomenal with me.
1670
01:41:10,800 --> 01:41:14,000
At the start of filming,
he said to my dad,
1671
01:41:14,060 --> 01:41:16,240
"Hey, do you have any tips
on working with Carrie?
1672
01:41:16,640 --> 01:41:19,420
Anything I need to know, like any ideas?"
1673
01:41:19,680 --> 01:41:22,420
And my dad just said to him,
"Just tell her what to do
1674
01:41:22,930 --> 01:41:24,900
and she will do exactly
what you tell her to do."
1675
01:41:25,440 --> 01:41:28,000
And so at the end of filming,
1676
01:41:28,120 --> 01:41:30,740
he said to my dad,
"You were absolutely correct."
1677
01:41:32,140 --> 01:41:34,880
I think that James knew that I'd been
1678
01:41:35,000 --> 01:41:39,680
doing some teaching
of teenagers in London, acting,
1679
01:41:40,070 --> 01:41:43,080
and he asked me to start coaching Carrie.
1680
01:41:44,580 --> 01:41:47,580
It's okay, don't worry, it'll be okay.
1681
01:41:47,700 --> 01:41:49,340
Carrie had never acted before,
1682
01:41:49,460 --> 01:41:51,840
so the sessions that I spent with her
1683
01:41:52,120 --> 01:41:56,230
were to help her
to feel natural in her skin
1684
01:41:56,260 --> 01:42:02,340
and physical with the lines
and to enjoy the process of acting.
1685
01:42:04,120 --> 01:42:06,040
I remember at the time, there was a lot
1686
01:42:06,070 --> 01:42:08,980
of fan chitchat
about Carrie Henn's performance.
1687
01:42:09,840 --> 01:42:13,440
{\an8}There were scenes where the dialogue
might have been a little too pointed,
1688
01:42:13,500 --> 01:42:15,910
{\an8}and yet that resulted
1689
01:42:15,940 --> 01:42:18,540
in one of the most quoted
lines from the film about,
1690
01:42:18,700 --> 01:42:19,740
"They mostly come at night."
1691
01:42:19,860 --> 01:42:22,620
We better get back
because it'll be dark soon
1692
01:42:22,650 --> 01:42:24,100
and they mostly come at night.
1693
01:42:24,530 --> 01:42:25,560
Mostly.
1694
01:42:25,970 --> 01:42:30,190
{\an8}I like the fact that Cameron clearly
thinks a lot of Newt as a character.
1695
01:42:30,220 --> 01:42:33,600
{\an8}She has survived using only her wits.
She has outwitted these aliens.
1696
01:42:33,640 --> 01:42:37,000
She has lived where all the men
in this colony have fallen.
1697
01:42:37,100 --> 01:42:38,280
She has survived.
1698
01:42:38,540 --> 01:42:42,540
There's something special about her,
but there's also something off about Newt.
1699
01:42:42,920 --> 01:42:45,840
And whether that's just who she is
1700
01:42:46,020 --> 01:42:48,000
or whether that's because
she's going through
1701
01:42:48,080 --> 01:42:50,460
a huge amount of PTSD, it's hard to say.
1702
01:42:50,530 --> 01:42:53,990
Try this. It's a little hot chocolate.
1703
01:42:54,100 --> 01:42:57,940
She's almost wise beyond her years,
but she's also slightly detached.
1704
01:42:58,060 --> 01:43:00,650
I don't know whether he's trying
to say something about trauma.
1705
01:43:00,840 --> 01:43:04,160
These people are here to protect you.
They're soldiers.
1706
01:43:04,880 --> 01:43:07,020
It won't make any difference.
1707
01:43:07,360 --> 01:43:10,140
She's literally watched
everyone she knows die.
1708
01:43:12,200 --> 01:43:17,440
For me and Carrie, I think so much
of the relationship that we have
1709
01:43:17,800 --> 01:43:20,880
stemmed from the actual
doing of the scenes.
1710
01:43:21,600 --> 01:43:24,300
These scenes that I think
are written so well,
1711
01:43:25,280 --> 01:43:29,280
Newt and Ripley are the only ones
who really know what they're dealing with.
1712
01:43:29,560 --> 01:43:31,300
And that's a kind of sisterhood.
1713
01:43:32,320 --> 01:43:34,300
There is a mother-daughter element
1714
01:43:34,440 --> 01:43:37,740
that I think is especially emphasized
because of the queen,
1715
01:43:38,320 --> 01:43:42,980
but I also feel like we were
sisters in this in a weird way,
1716
01:43:43,170 --> 01:43:45,740
comrades in it,
that we were in a way equal
1717
01:43:46,500 --> 01:43:48,660
because of what we'd seen and experienced.
1718
01:44:02,340 --> 01:44:05,460
What's happening, Apone?
Can't see anything in here.
1719
01:44:05,880 --> 01:44:07,300
Pull your team out, Gorman.
1720
01:44:07,380 --> 01:44:10,780
{\an8}The hive sequence is genuinely
one of my favorite moments.
1721
01:44:10,880 --> 01:44:12,980
It works on so many different levels.
1722
01:44:13,020 --> 01:44:16,620
I want a straight "V" deployment,
second team on left flank.
1723
01:44:17,000 --> 01:44:19,090
You have that brilliant hive setting,
1724
01:44:19,120 --> 01:44:21,060
that Acton Power Station completely done
1725
01:44:21,090 --> 01:44:24,120
with all this biomechanical
sort of resin and growths.
1726
01:44:25,340 --> 01:44:26,980
Nobody touch nothing.
1727
01:44:27,720 --> 01:44:28,910
You can barely see anything.
1728
01:44:28,940 --> 01:44:31,960
Cameron wanted it incredibly
dingy and poorly lit.
1729
01:44:32,020 --> 01:44:33,500
It's hot as hell in here.
1730
01:44:33,620 --> 01:44:36,000
-Yeah, man, but it's a dry heat.
-Knock it off.
1731
01:44:36,030 --> 01:44:40,720
And of course, the scale of Aliens
compared to Alien,
1732
01:44:40,780 --> 01:44:43,460
I mean this the little fun house
as people call it,
1733
01:44:44,100 --> 01:44:45,740
intimate, claustrophobic.
1734
01:44:45,900 --> 01:44:50,630
Whereas the scale of Aliens
with these huge set pieces
1735
01:44:50,660 --> 01:44:53,970
and everything was practical
and everything was pretty butch,
1736
01:44:54,000 --> 01:44:56,040
kind of military.
1737
01:44:56,760 --> 01:44:59,140
-Any movement?
-Nothing.
1738
01:44:59,860 --> 01:45:03,140
Shooting in the power station
was difficult,
1739
01:45:03,170 --> 01:45:07,310
but it was also really conducive
to our performance
1740
01:45:07,350 --> 01:45:09,570
because it was so real.
1741
01:45:10,240 --> 01:45:11,860
Holy shit!
1742
01:45:16,020 --> 01:45:17,740
It was utterly miserable, may I say,
1743
01:45:17,780 --> 01:45:20,240
because we were shooting
in the winter in England,
1744
01:45:20,380 --> 01:45:22,760
the makeup people
are constantly coming, putting gel on us
1745
01:45:22,800 --> 01:45:25,240
to make us look as if we're sweating,
but it's really cold.
1746
01:45:27,480 --> 01:45:30,360
{\an8}So they're playing like, "Whew,
hot in here and sweaty."
1747
01:45:30,660 --> 01:45:33,480
{\an8}And then they're like,
"Where's my warming blanket?"
1748
01:45:33,800 --> 01:45:36,760
{\an8}There's a story
of Tim Burton's film Batman
1749
01:45:37,060 --> 01:45:39,720
filming on the same location
a few years later.
1750
01:45:40,080 --> 01:45:44,420
And apparently the the entire hive set
had still been intact.
1751
01:45:55,780 --> 01:45:59,800
And I find the cocooned woman,
her character title, the Cocooned Woman.
1752
01:45:59,830 --> 01:46:01,190
It'll be all right.
You're gonna be all right.
1753
01:46:01,220 --> 01:46:03,720
Please. Kill me.
1754
01:46:03,750 --> 01:46:05,640
Just stay calm,
we're gonna get you outta here.
1755
01:46:08,260 --> 01:46:10,880
The chestburster from the original
1756
01:46:11,060 --> 01:46:14,100
is one of the most
shocking scenes in film history.
1757
01:46:20,260 --> 01:46:22,940
When it bursts out of John Hurt's chest.
1758
01:46:23,040 --> 01:46:24,460
Oh, God!
1759
01:46:25,780 --> 01:46:30,080
They essentially stayed true
to what H.R. Giger
1760
01:46:30,320 --> 01:46:33,160
and Carlo Rambaldi
had created in the original.
1761
01:46:37,200 --> 01:46:40,620
{\an8}I think by necessity,
the chestburster kind of had to
1762
01:46:41,000 --> 01:46:42,610
{\an8}fall a little bit by the wayside
1763
01:46:42,640 --> 01:46:45,330
{\an8}because you had to get
to the warriors quickly.
1764
01:46:51,200 --> 01:46:55,540
I thought that was well done considering
how small a part the chestburster played.
1765
01:46:55,600 --> 01:46:59,300
{\an8}We wanted to incorporate a little
more movement and a little more flash.
1766
01:46:59,520 --> 01:47:00,660
The big difference was
1767
01:47:00,690 --> 01:47:04,080
that our chestburster was built
with an articulated body.
1768
01:47:05,900 --> 01:47:08,770
They also figured, "Okay,
1769
01:47:08,980 --> 01:47:11,490
we're mutating
our xenomorphs a little bit,
1770
01:47:11,520 --> 01:47:13,600
let's mutate our chestburster a little bit
1771
01:47:14,060 --> 01:47:16,800
and let's give it the ability
to pull itself out."
1772
01:47:20,500 --> 01:47:22,620
Ultimately, it boils down to Ripley,
1773
01:47:23,100 --> 01:47:27,600
her reaction when that one
colony victim has a chestburster,
1774
01:47:27,820 --> 01:47:28,970
the look on her face.
1775
01:47:31,440 --> 01:47:35,060
Going back to PTSD, like those memories
flushing back into her head
1776
01:47:35,120 --> 01:47:37,160
from seeing Kane chestbursted.
1777
01:47:37,700 --> 01:47:41,260
It connects the audience with the film
in a way that is very, very powerful.
1778
01:47:41,500 --> 01:47:42,920
Multiple signals.
1779
01:47:43,760 --> 01:47:44,990
There's nothing back here.
1780
01:47:45,020 --> 01:47:47,970
Look, I'm telling you,
there's something moving and it ain't us!
1781
01:47:48,980 --> 01:47:53,500
Fox sent over a crate that had pieces
of the original H.R. Giger suit,
1782
01:47:53,760 --> 01:47:56,960
and one of them was a head
that had been airbrushed by Giger,
1783
01:47:57,140 --> 01:48:01,170
no dome on it, hand,
some gloves came, a tail came.
1784
01:48:01,520 --> 01:48:04,280
And thinking back on
seeing all those props,
1785
01:48:04,340 --> 01:48:08,460
it's amazing to me
that they had survived the shoot.
1786
01:48:08,900 --> 01:48:16,470
So the alien xenomorph design in Aliens
does differ in some key ways
1787
01:48:16,500 --> 01:48:19,200
from the original Alien xenomorph.
1788
01:48:19,500 --> 01:48:24,420
Perhaps the most obvious difference
is that the xenomorphs in Aliens
1789
01:48:24,660 --> 01:48:30,180
lack the translucent surface covering
on the back of their heads.
1790
01:48:30,620 --> 01:48:34,800
And instead it's this exposed
bony thing going on.
1791
01:48:35,140 --> 01:48:36,620
How that happened was,
1792
01:48:36,760 --> 01:48:41,600
while the xenomorph head was being
sculpted at Stan Winston's studio
1793
01:48:41,640 --> 01:48:45,060
by Tom Woodruff Jr.,
one of my dad's key artists,
1794
01:48:45,730 --> 01:48:47,400
Jim came in and took a look
1795
01:48:47,640 --> 01:48:50,800
at how that bony ridge
sculpture was coming along
1796
01:48:51,120 --> 01:48:53,480
with the intention later down the road
1797
01:48:53,510 --> 01:48:56,810
of adding
a semi-translucent covering to it.
1798
01:48:56,860 --> 01:49:00,270
And you would see
the bony stuff through that a little bit.
1799
01:49:00,300 --> 01:49:02,600
But Jim saw it and he goes,
"I think this looks really cool."
1800
01:49:03,360 --> 01:49:07,320
He just really dug how it looked
and did not want to cover it up.
1801
01:49:07,380 --> 01:49:09,300
And he justified it by saying,
1802
01:49:09,840 --> 01:49:13,560
"These are slightly mutated version
1803
01:49:13,590 --> 01:49:16,790
of the xenomorph we saw
in the original film."
1804
01:49:18,460 --> 01:49:20,500
The practical aspect of that was
1805
01:49:21,220 --> 01:49:24,860
Jim knew he was gonna be doing
a lot of really hard -edged lighting
1806
01:49:25,160 --> 01:49:28,940
and that dome would not provide
much of an interesting shape or figures.
1807
01:49:30,240 --> 01:49:35,340
{\an8}My first real encounter with the idea
and the physicality of the creature
1808
01:49:35,520 --> 01:49:36,840
{\an8}was in Jim's office,
1809
01:49:37,060 --> 01:49:39,820
because wall to wall,
it was covered with his drawings,
1810
01:49:39,850 --> 01:49:41,440
with James Cameron's drawings.
1811
01:49:41,760 --> 01:49:44,340
He's a fabulous visual artist
1812
01:49:44,440 --> 01:49:49,670
and he had all different derivations
of his ideas fully articulated.
1813
01:49:49,700 --> 01:49:52,640
And I went to art school,
I went to Rhode Island School of Design,
1814
01:49:52,860 --> 01:49:54,700
and I know an artist when I see one.
1815
01:49:54,740 --> 01:49:56,340
I mean, it was breathtaking.
1816
01:49:58,400 --> 01:50:03,470
I do remember one time when some
of the guys had labored over a paint job.
1817
01:50:03,500 --> 01:50:05,920
It was early days shooting a warrior,
1818
01:50:06,240 --> 01:50:09,060
and he had added beautiful blues,
1819
01:50:09,490 --> 01:50:13,820
and he walked it out on set
and Cameron's reaction was,
1820
01:50:14,130 --> 01:50:16,730
"What the fuck is this?
It's supposed to be black."
1821
01:50:17,320 --> 01:50:20,920
And we're all saying,
"Well, it will read as black on set,
1822
01:50:20,960 --> 01:50:23,320
but there's subtleties
in there just in case."
1823
01:50:23,740 --> 01:50:25,840
He said, "You guys don't get it.
1824
01:50:25,940 --> 01:50:28,880
The shapes are defined
by the specular highlights,
1825
01:50:29,100 --> 01:50:32,140
which is created by slime
on a black surface."
1826
01:50:32,460 --> 01:50:35,760
And while a guy was standing
in the warrior suit,
1827
01:50:36,040 --> 01:50:38,300
Cameron grabs a black spray can
1828
01:50:38,320 --> 01:50:40,240
while he is talking
and he's shaking it up,
1829
01:50:40,460 --> 01:50:44,840
and he just starts spraying
over the paint job
1830
01:50:45,210 --> 01:50:47,440
and turning it into a black,
which is what he wanted.
1831
01:50:47,480 --> 01:50:51,580
He said, "This thing has to disappear
into the cocooning."
1832
01:50:52,580 --> 01:50:53,910
He had a habit of doing that,
1833
01:50:53,970 --> 01:50:57,410
which is a great way
of thickening our skins.
1834
01:50:59,540 --> 01:51:03,260
Next one down, and proceed on a 216.
1835
01:51:03,690 --> 01:51:05,730
All roger, that's a 216.
1836
01:51:05,790 --> 01:51:08,740
{\an8}One of the really interesting
things about the film
1837
01:51:08,820 --> 01:51:13,520
{\an8}is the way Jim Cameron
lets the audience fill in the gaps.
1838
01:51:13,560 --> 01:51:14,600
Well, what is it, Hudson?
1839
01:51:15,640 --> 01:51:17,640
You tell me, man, I only work here.
1840
01:51:17,960 --> 01:51:21,320
{\an8}The marines have their spotlights,
but crucially they have their cameras.
1841
01:51:21,600 --> 01:51:27,040
So much of this we see on monitors,
we hear the sounds of them over the radio.
1842
01:51:27,120 --> 01:51:28,820
We see what their cameras are seeing.
1843
01:51:30,080 --> 01:51:32,380
Your transmission's showing
a lot of breakup.
1844
01:51:32,700 --> 01:51:34,640
{\an8}Anything that's transmitted
over the radios,
1845
01:51:34,820 --> 01:51:37,540
{\an8}there was a sound editor who went,
1846
01:51:37,640 --> 01:51:40,360
{\an8}had to go through the whole film
and put [makes sound]
1847
01:51:40,440 --> 01:51:42,320
in the front and end
of every transmission.
1848
01:51:43,060 --> 01:51:45,060
We're still Marines
and we got a job to do.
1849
01:51:45,660 --> 01:51:46,720
Keep it moving.
1850
01:51:47,080 --> 01:51:52,080
{\an8}It works almost in a way
as a found footage horror film
1851
01:51:52,480 --> 01:51:53,320
{\an8}where we're seeing this
1852
01:51:53,340 --> 01:51:55,580
through the point of view
of the Marine's head cams.
1853
01:51:55,960 --> 01:52:00,580
We're seeing only certain glimpses
of the terror going on
1854
01:52:00,840 --> 01:52:03,320
{\an8}obstructed by static and cutting back
1855
01:52:03,350 --> 01:52:06,060
to Ripley's reactions,
to Gorman's reactions.
1856
01:52:06,300 --> 01:52:07,170
Go sit up front.
1857
01:52:08,600 --> 01:52:09,780
Go on. Now!
1858
01:52:11,400 --> 01:52:14,560
{\an8}I'd seen plenty of examples,
maybe in suspense films,
1859
01:52:14,620 --> 01:52:17,080
{\an8}maybe not in a horror film necessarily,
1860
01:52:17,320 --> 01:52:21,100
{\an8}of crosscutting being
used to build suspense.
1861
01:52:24,560 --> 01:52:29,060
{\an8}There were no screens there, there was just
all the camera crew and Jim
1862
01:52:29,340 --> 01:52:31,780
{\an8}with this little spritzer
going [makes sounds]
1863
01:52:32,090 --> 01:52:34,960
to sweat and the tension.
1864
01:52:35,000 --> 01:52:36,500
Okay, let's go again.
1865
01:52:36,540 --> 01:52:38,700
Oh, great! Wonderful.
1866
01:52:39,880 --> 01:52:41,080
Shit.
1867
01:52:41,140 --> 01:52:43,760
There was a very tight depth of focus.
1868
01:52:43,840 --> 01:52:46,860
Quarter inch forward, no problem.
Quarter inch back, no problem.
1869
01:52:46,900 --> 01:52:48,740
Half an inch? Now we're getting fuzzy.
1870
01:52:48,920 --> 01:52:51,400
So don't move forward so much.
1871
01:52:52,980 --> 01:52:54,010
It went back to Fox.
1872
01:52:54,040 --> 01:52:56,920
In those days, they sent everything
back right away, a day's shooting,
1873
01:52:57,300 --> 01:53:00,040
but they came back and said,
"It's slightly out of focus.
1874
01:53:00,180 --> 01:53:01,960
We want you to reshoot
the whole thing again."
1875
01:53:02,300 --> 01:53:06,040
And that was an indication
of how much they liked the film.
1876
01:53:09,240 --> 01:53:13,000
Using these video screens,
it's a really super effective way
1877
01:53:13,080 --> 01:53:15,590
to get us into the point
of view of the Marines
1878
01:53:15,620 --> 01:53:16,880
{\an8}to feel like we're there with them
1879
01:53:17,300 --> 01:53:21,020
and show their chaotic documentary,
handheld points of view.
1880
01:53:23,120 --> 01:53:25,200
And then to actually
be in with the Marines.
1881
01:53:28,820 --> 01:53:31,520
It was a really multifaceted
way to basically
1882
01:53:32,240 --> 01:53:36,800
show the same beat of action,
which is going in, aliens attack, get out.
1883
01:53:40,400 --> 01:53:43,320
On paper, it's pretty straightforward,
1884
01:53:43,380 --> 01:53:44,820
but it's almost like
three dimensional chess.
1885
01:53:44,860 --> 01:53:46,420
You have all these different
things happening.
1886
01:53:47,880 --> 01:53:49,040
Who's firing? Goddamn it.
1887
01:53:49,080 --> 01:53:52,140
Some of these things you just do
instinctively because they seem cool.
1888
01:53:52,260 --> 01:53:53,800
Sometimes they work on the page
1889
01:53:53,840 --> 01:53:56,420
and then you think, "All right,
now how am I gonna get that feeling
1890
01:53:56,800 --> 01:53:59,400
that I had on the page,
how am I gonna achieve that?"
1891
01:53:59,600 --> 01:54:02,980
There's lots of movement in camera,
there's lots of handheld,
1892
01:54:03,260 --> 01:54:05,080
{\an8}it's all beautifully choreographed.
1893
01:54:05,440 --> 01:54:07,480
{\an8}None of that happens by accident.
1894
01:54:07,510 --> 01:54:10,080
It's all thought out
and it's all intuitive.
1895
01:54:10,340 --> 01:54:13,380
And I think Jim Cameron did a lot
of his own operating on that film.
1896
01:54:13,720 --> 01:54:16,580
{\an8}This group of people
that have become your family
1897
01:54:16,850 --> 01:54:19,850
{\an8}and you're watching your family
go into the heart of darkness.
1898
01:54:20,040 --> 01:54:22,480
You're watching your family
in Apocalypse Now,
1899
01:54:22,700 --> 01:54:25,410
and they don't know that it's a nest
that they're going into.
1900
01:54:27,540 --> 01:54:31,120
It's extremely hard to do,
to do an action film that feels like
1901
01:54:31,320 --> 01:54:34,440
your emotions are involved
in every moment of that action.
1902
01:54:50,340 --> 01:54:53,120
{\an8}The first thing I remember
about the death scene was reading it.
1903
01:54:53,700 --> 01:54:56,360
I remember thinking,
"Wow, I'm the first to go.
1904
01:54:56,500 --> 01:54:58,600
I'm the first to die. Come on, man!"
1905
01:54:59,980 --> 01:55:03,340
{\an8}During the eighties, there were a lot
of movies where you'd have a black guy
1906
01:55:03,380 --> 01:55:06,080
{\an8}and people would make jokes
that he's not gonna last.
1907
01:55:08,520 --> 01:55:10,400
{\an8}I just thought
that was kind of that thing,
1908
01:55:10,440 --> 01:55:12,460
{\an8}and I wanted to talk to Jim about it.
1909
01:55:12,600 --> 01:55:15,940
He says, "You're six foot three,
200 pound guy,"
1910
01:55:15,980 --> 01:55:17,380
he said, "I gotta get rid of you, man."
1911
01:55:18,340 --> 01:55:20,700
Jim tells me,
"This is what we're gonna do.
1912
01:55:21,340 --> 01:55:22,700
You've got all the ammo."
1913
01:55:23,340 --> 01:55:25,120
Frost, you got the duty. Open that bag.
1914
01:55:25,820 --> 01:55:28,290
During the chaos, one of the fire guns
are gonna come off
1915
01:55:28,320 --> 01:55:29,640
and it's gonna light you up,
1916
01:55:29,780 --> 01:55:34,240
and when it lights you up, you're gonna
back up and fall down three stories
1917
01:55:34,420 --> 01:55:35,760
and that'll be your death scene.
1918
01:55:36,020 --> 01:55:37,260
And I'm like, "Wow!"
1919
01:55:39,680 --> 01:55:43,750
I'm a physical guy, I'm an athlete,
so I enjoy doing my own stunts.
1920
01:55:43,780 --> 01:55:46,780
But this was one stunt
that I did not want to even touch.
1921
01:55:47,010 --> 01:55:50,340
Not only to deal with a fall
of three stories,
1922
01:55:50,640 --> 01:55:53,060
it dealt with a fall of three stories
while on fire.
1923
01:55:54,320 --> 01:55:57,450
They put a flame in front of the camera
and you see me burning.
1924
01:55:57,940 --> 01:56:01,040
And then I turn and act like
I'm gonna fall over.
1925
01:56:01,630 --> 01:56:04,320
The stunt guy came and he fell over.
1926
01:56:04,680 --> 01:56:06,420
Beautiful scene. Take two.
1927
01:56:06,840 --> 01:56:08,960
He brings the guy up again,
he goes, "Good."
1928
01:56:09,190 --> 01:56:10,710
But he said,
"This time when you're falling,
1929
01:56:10,740 --> 01:56:12,420
I want you to try and put yourself out."
1930
01:56:13,120 --> 01:56:16,000
The guy does it, he's putting
himself out and he falls over.
1931
01:56:16,560 --> 01:56:18,360
And everybody's applauding.
1932
01:56:18,510 --> 01:56:22,180
And then James says, "I think I got it,
but let's just do it one more time
1933
01:56:22,220 --> 01:56:24,520
and this time we're gonna
just really light you up."
1934
01:56:26,560 --> 01:56:28,580
This guy did the scene three times,
1935
01:56:28,940 --> 01:56:31,300
and after that he took off and he left.
1936
01:56:31,340 --> 01:56:32,340
That was his job done.
1937
01:56:47,040 --> 01:56:49,800
And I keep pointing out to people
that I didn't die right away.
1938
01:56:49,860 --> 01:56:53,940
Hey, look, the Sarge and Dietrich
aren't dead, man.
1939
01:56:54,080 --> 01:56:56,880
Clearly I was being impregnated
with alien embryos.
1940
01:56:57,820 --> 01:56:59,170
And that wasn't fun.
1941
01:57:00,880 --> 01:57:05,200
{\an8}But the funny part was when my parents
went to see the film in the movie theater,
1942
01:57:05,730 --> 01:57:09,140
I died maybe a third, two thirds
of the way through the movie
1943
01:57:09,720 --> 01:57:12,420
and my father turns to my mother
and says, "Can we go now?"
1944
01:57:12,600 --> 01:57:14,280
I think my mom made him stay to the end.
1945
01:57:14,380 --> 01:57:16,080
And I'm asked this often at cons, like,
1946
01:57:16,300 --> 01:57:18,630
"Were you frightened
when the alien grabbed you?"
1947
01:57:18,660 --> 01:57:22,220
And it's like, "Buddy,
he's a stunt man in a rubber suit,
1948
01:57:22,280 --> 01:57:24,300
cracking jokes in my ears, so no."
1949
01:57:25,360 --> 01:57:29,420
I was frightened of James Cameron
and doing the stunt wrong.
1950
01:57:47,650 --> 01:57:51,780
-Jesus Christ, Apone! What is going on?
-Wierzbowski and Crowe are down!
1951
01:57:51,940 --> 01:57:54,120
{\an8}Crowe gets blown up real good.
1952
01:57:54,770 --> 01:57:58,120
He's killed
by the exploding artillery bag.
1953
01:58:00,600 --> 01:58:03,420
And Wierzbowski is actually
killed off screen.
1954
01:58:03,960 --> 01:58:05,300
You don't actually see it.
1955
01:58:05,720 --> 01:58:09,080
We do see Hicks yelling,
"Wierzbowski, Wierzbowski."
1956
01:58:09,900 --> 01:58:11,060
Wierzbowski!
1957
01:58:12,300 --> 01:58:13,600
Wierzbowski!
1958
01:58:15,020 --> 01:58:17,120
But we don't actually see
what happens to him.
1959
01:58:37,320 --> 01:58:41,420
{\an8}Apone gets grabbed
and pulled down by an alien.
1960
01:58:41,760 --> 01:58:44,320
-Apone. Talk to me, Apone!
-He's gone!
1961
01:58:44,380 --> 01:58:47,860
And we learn later on
that he's not dead, of course.
1962
01:58:48,200 --> 01:58:51,260
That like Dietrich,
something terrible is happening.
1963
01:58:51,300 --> 01:58:53,620
He's getting impregnated by a facehugger
1964
01:58:53,860 --> 01:58:55,680
and the heart monitor is still going,
1965
01:58:55,840 --> 01:58:58,280
-I ain't going back in there.
-You can't help them.
1966
01:59:00,480 --> 01:59:01,380
You can't.
1967
01:59:02,420 --> 01:59:04,700
Right now, they're being
cocooned just like the others.
1968
01:59:20,840 --> 01:59:25,000
{\an8}So about a year ago, I was around Mark.
1969
01:59:26,130 --> 01:59:30,340
I said, "You know, Mark, people keep
asking me, you know about this,
1970
01:59:30,660 --> 01:59:33,760
you know, "Drake, we are leaving,
Marines, we are leaving."
1971
01:59:34,520 --> 01:59:36,140
Did I say Drake or Marines?"
1972
01:59:36,260 --> 01:59:39,420
And he was like, "Oh, you said, Drake,
you said Drake."
1973
01:59:42,160 --> 01:59:45,460
I think I said Drake
because everybody else
1974
01:59:46,040 --> 01:59:48,860
was in the APC or close to it.
1975
01:59:51,200 --> 01:59:54,160
And he was the last one,
so I'm gonna go with Drake.
1976
02:00:01,280 --> 02:00:05,020
{\an8}It was my, like, "Hello,
welcome to action filmmaking."
1977
02:00:07,470 --> 02:00:09,140
In order to make this whole thing work,
1978
02:00:09,180 --> 02:00:11,960
there were so many components
that sort of make your head spin.
1979
02:00:12,660 --> 02:00:15,720
If I had like three tubes
run up through my leg,
1980
02:00:15,840 --> 02:00:17,200
put under the appliance,
1981
02:00:17,310 --> 02:00:19,300
they have to make
a cast of your head first.
1982
02:00:19,460 --> 02:00:23,320
So they create the appliance
to fit exactly on your face.
1983
02:00:23,360 --> 02:00:26,880
And in these tubes,
they were gonna pump chemicals.
1984
02:00:27,400 --> 02:00:30,140
One that bubbled, one that fizzed,
and one that smoked.
1985
02:00:32,120 --> 02:00:33,260
Get ushered to set,
1986
02:00:33,480 --> 02:00:36,600
get handed a full-on live flamethrower.
1987
02:00:36,860 --> 02:00:40,860
Flame bars in varying
arrangements all around you.
1988
02:00:41,860 --> 02:00:43,960
Cameron 25 yards away
1989
02:00:43,990 --> 02:00:47,880
with inch thick sheet
of plexiglass in front of him.
1990
02:00:48,510 --> 02:00:50,660
Huge helicopter fan to the right,
1991
02:00:50,960 --> 02:00:53,660
and the shot, seemingly very simple.
1992
02:00:54,120 --> 02:00:59,860
All I had to do was turn
doing a death scream
1993
02:01:00,820 --> 02:01:05,240
while firing the flamethrower
directly at camera
1994
02:01:05,480 --> 02:01:09,600
to reveal the death mask,
which is bubbling, fizzing, and smoking
1995
02:01:09,720 --> 02:01:13,440
then fall with flamethrower
in between flame bars,
1996
02:01:13,730 --> 02:01:15,650
all the while holding my breath.
1997
02:01:16,680 --> 02:01:17,960
We only had to do it twice.
1998
02:01:18,000 --> 02:01:20,840
And the only reason we had to do
it twice was because the first time
1999
02:01:21,220 --> 02:01:24,980
when I turned toward camera,
I was like, "Oh, that's the director."
2000
02:01:25,020 --> 02:01:27,480
So I aimed just above camera.
2001
02:01:27,720 --> 02:01:30,300
And when I finished, Jim was like,
"Mark, Mark, Mark, no, no, no.
2002
02:01:30,520 --> 02:01:34,420
Aim directly down the pipe here."
2003
02:01:34,460 --> 02:01:36,100
He said, "You went too high."
2004
02:01:36,140 --> 02:01:40,000
I said, "I know Jim,
I didn't wanna like fire it at you."
2005
02:01:40,180 --> 02:01:42,560
He said, "No, no, we have plexiglass,
we'll be fine, we'll be fine."
2006
02:01:43,420 --> 02:01:48,020
This flame throw, it shot
big wad of flame, like 25 yards.
2007
02:01:48,880 --> 02:01:50,450
Forget him, he's gone!
2008
02:01:51,820 --> 02:01:55,260
{\an8}There was a moment
which was not choreographed chaos,
2009
02:01:55,440 --> 02:01:59,380
{\an8}which was actually real chaos,
which was in the APC.
2010
02:01:59,480 --> 02:02:07,520
When Drake is killed and the flamethrower
goes across the inside, we panic.
2011
02:02:09,720 --> 02:02:13,460
What you see is actually real panic
because in the first shot,
2012
02:02:13,900 --> 02:02:20,750
the heat from the flamethrower
ignited some strange chemical reaction
2013
02:02:20,780 --> 02:02:25,000
with the material they had painted
the inside and it let off this fume
2014
02:02:25,560 --> 02:02:28,620
and we could not breathe,
me and Michael Biehn.
2015
02:02:28,740 --> 02:02:31,640
We reset, everything was fine,
there was no harm.
2016
02:02:31,940 --> 02:02:34,960
And we redid it obviously
with a fire effect.
2017
02:02:35,040 --> 02:02:39,280
However, I do believe
the bit of us panicking
2018
02:02:39,980 --> 02:02:42,760
is cut within the actual film.
2019
02:02:49,580 --> 02:02:54,960
Look, this whole station is basically
a big fusion reactor, right?
2020
02:02:55,120 --> 02:02:59,770
{\an8}The idea that he had to put that hive
in an atmosphere processor
2021
02:02:59,800 --> 02:03:01,400
{\an8}to make it a thermonuclear reactor.
2022
02:03:01,560 --> 02:03:05,240
Look where your team is, they're right
under the primary heat exchangers.
2023
02:03:05,920 --> 02:03:08,980
To make it so that these are Marines,
these ultimate soldiers
2024
02:03:09,120 --> 02:03:10,320
were completely defanged.
2025
02:03:10,400 --> 02:03:12,760
We can't have
any firing in there. I, uh...
2026
02:03:13,660 --> 02:03:15,740
I want you to collect
magazines from everybody.
2027
02:03:15,920 --> 02:03:17,320
Is he fucking crazy?
2028
02:03:17,480 --> 02:03:18,870
All of their magazines were taken away.
2029
02:03:18,900 --> 02:03:21,520
So they were walking in there essentially
with their dicks in their hands,
2030
02:03:21,720 --> 02:03:25,160
nothing to protect them from these aliens,
and then the whole hive comes to life.
2031
02:03:25,500 --> 02:03:29,000
And we as the audience
are absolutely terrified.
2032
02:03:29,360 --> 02:03:34,200
And all of that is to show you
how ineffectual Gorman is.
2033
02:03:34,260 --> 02:03:36,680
What the hell are we supposed to use, man,
harsh language?
2034
02:03:36,720 --> 02:03:39,020
Flame units only. I want rifles slung.
2035
02:03:39,100 --> 02:03:40,820
-Sir, I--
-Just do it, Sergeant.
2036
02:03:41,140 --> 02:03:45,140
{\an8}But I meet marines and many times
they're in full uniform.
2037
02:03:45,940 --> 02:03:49,480
And they're extremely
complimentary, mostly.
2038
02:03:49,920 --> 02:03:53,160
One guy I met recently said, "Mr. Hope,
2039
02:03:53,940 --> 02:04:00,720
I have to tell you that we use your scenes
in teaching officers what not to do."
2040
02:04:01,460 --> 02:04:02,490
Fall back!
2041
02:04:02,540 --> 02:04:04,710
-I told them to fall back.
-Fall back, goddamn it. Now!
2042
02:04:04,740 --> 02:04:05,680
I told them fall back!
2043
02:04:05,720 --> 02:04:07,270
He doesn't even have
the courage to deal with this.
2044
02:04:07,300 --> 02:04:09,740
He stares at the screen
and she takes the APC
2045
02:04:10,000 --> 02:04:12,360
and she just charges straight in there.
2046
02:04:12,420 --> 02:04:15,380
And I think that's when this stops
being Gorman's operation.
2047
02:04:15,420 --> 02:04:17,580
And from then on, it's Ripley's operation.
2048
02:04:19,930 --> 02:04:21,900
Ripley, what the hell are you doing?
2049
02:04:22,200 --> 02:04:24,520
Seeing Ripley kind of spooling up,
2050
02:04:24,580 --> 02:04:29,120
{\an8}seeing her big flywheel starting
to gain momentum in that
2051
02:04:29,280 --> 02:04:32,820
{\an8}scene where she's yelling at him
and something's gonna happen.
2052
02:04:33,300 --> 02:04:34,500
Do something!
2053
02:04:35,000 --> 02:04:39,240
It's almost like what became
secondary there was the actual fates
2054
02:04:39,520 --> 02:04:41,250
of the people on the front line.
2055
02:04:41,580 --> 02:04:43,160
It was really following her.
2056
02:04:43,340 --> 02:04:47,210
{\an8}It's not there to have you learn
something about the alien.
2057
02:04:47,240 --> 02:04:49,320
{\an8}It's so you can learn something about her.
2058
02:04:49,880 --> 02:04:54,340
And frankly for me, it was for Ripley
to learn something about herself.
2059
02:04:55,720 --> 02:04:59,560
She has to get into gear
because these people are so hapless.
2060
02:05:03,020 --> 02:05:06,570
And that piece of music, Ripley's Rescue,
Horner's score, it's so percussive.
2061
02:05:13,120 --> 02:05:17,060
That is probably the most
pivotal moment for Ripley.
2062
02:05:17,120 --> 02:05:19,800
It's not when she saves Newt,
it's not when she fights the Queen.
2063
02:05:20,060 --> 02:05:22,340
It's when she decides
no longer to be afraid,
2064
02:05:22,380 --> 02:05:25,000
where she's no longer someone
running away from her past.
2065
02:05:29,320 --> 02:05:30,720
Come on, let's move it!
2066
02:05:40,280 --> 02:05:41,860
What are we talking about this for?
2067
02:05:41,960 --> 02:05:45,560
I say we take off and nuke
the entire site from orbit.
2068
02:05:46,620 --> 02:05:53,320
{\an8}The important part of Hicks was
playing second fiddle to Ripley.
2069
02:05:54,200 --> 02:05:56,760
He knew Ripley knew the situation better.
2070
02:05:57,040 --> 02:05:58,450
He was ready to listen.
2071
02:05:58,480 --> 02:06:00,980
That way they can only come
at us from these two corridors.
2072
02:06:01,820 --> 02:06:02,900
Outstanding.
2073
02:06:03,240 --> 02:06:05,670
There's a sequence, and of course,
I know that you know what it is,
2074
02:06:05,700 --> 02:06:08,360
when they're trying to decide
what they're gonna do,
2075
02:06:09,140 --> 02:06:10,190
Ripley says something,
2076
02:06:10,220 --> 02:06:13,600
I think we should just take off
and nuke this planet from orbit.
2077
02:06:14,120 --> 02:06:15,450
It's the only way to be sure.
2078
02:06:15,760 --> 02:06:17,630
Paul Reiser just goes,
"Oh, no, we can't do that,
2079
02:06:17,660 --> 02:06:19,120
we can't do that, we can't do that."
2080
02:06:19,470 --> 02:06:23,140
She says,
"Well, I think Hicks is in charge."
2081
02:06:23,220 --> 02:06:26,120
Hicks is next in chain of command.
Am I right, Corporal?
2082
02:06:26,600 --> 02:06:30,860
And I chose to play that
as a little bit of a burden.
2083
02:06:31,730 --> 02:06:32,770
Yeah.
2084
02:06:34,640 --> 02:06:36,000
Yeah, that's right.
2085
02:06:36,360 --> 02:06:39,120
And there are small choices
2086
02:06:39,150 --> 02:06:42,440
that you can make as an actor
that mean a lot.
2087
02:06:42,570 --> 02:06:44,920
Prep for dust off.
We're gonna need an immediate evac.
2088
02:06:44,960 --> 02:06:46,400
Roger, on our way.
2089
02:06:46,920 --> 02:06:49,880
Say we take off,
nuke this site from orbit.
2090
02:06:50,300 --> 02:06:53,000
{\an8}That is one of the most
romantic scenes in cinema
2091
02:06:53,160 --> 02:06:55,700
{\an8}when Hicks without missing a beat,
just backs her up.
2092
02:06:55,760 --> 02:06:57,070
It's the only way to be sure.
2093
02:06:58,780 --> 02:07:00,040
Wonderful, wonderful moment.
2094
02:07:00,540 --> 02:07:02,120
-Let's do it.
-Yeah.
2095
02:07:02,880 --> 02:07:05,190
I like Hicks because you can tell
2096
02:07:05,210 --> 02:07:06,990
it's more than
just being a marine for him.
2097
02:07:07,020 --> 02:07:09,500
{\an8}He's smart. He likes what he does.
2098
02:07:09,650 --> 02:07:11,160
{\an8}He's good at what he does.
2099
02:07:12,010 --> 02:07:13,110
{\an8}He's good looking.
2100
02:07:16,500 --> 02:07:20,740
I always thought Michael Biehn brought
such cool to it and yet such warmth.
2101
02:07:21,570 --> 02:07:22,660
Are you alright?
2102
02:07:24,120 --> 02:07:27,640
He's got such a warm face,
as handsome as it is,
2103
02:07:28,020 --> 02:07:31,100
and he has a kind of ease
in his body physically
2104
02:07:31,340 --> 02:07:32,960
that is perfect for Hicks.
2105
02:07:34,180 --> 02:07:37,680
I like to keep this handy
for close encounters.
2106
02:07:38,120 --> 02:07:40,240
{\an8}There's a bit of Walter Hill
influence there.
2107
02:07:40,280 --> 02:07:43,280
{\an8}I revered Walter
and I loved his kind of
2108
02:07:43,880 --> 02:07:46,480
{\an8}ultra macho kind of cool characters,
2109
02:07:46,760 --> 02:07:51,440
and he's drawing from
the whole history of Westerns, before that.
2110
02:07:51,760 --> 02:07:56,500
I was just channeling that ethos
and Michael was perfect.
2111
02:07:56,860 --> 02:07:58,460
I want you two walk in perimeter.
2112
02:08:00,930 --> 02:08:02,030
Move!
2113
02:08:02,400 --> 02:08:07,220
{\an8}Jim was already working on Aliens
while he was making The Terminator.
2114
02:08:07,800 --> 02:08:10,560
{\an8}So I was very aware of the project.
2115
02:08:11,200 --> 02:08:14,060
My agent called Jim and said, "Hey, Jim,
2116
02:08:14,740 --> 02:08:16,440
is there anything
for Michael in the movie?"
2117
02:08:16,510 --> 02:08:21,070
And Jim said he thought he was gonna go
with James Remar for this role.
2118
02:08:21,100 --> 02:08:23,140
I think James had been up
for The Terminator.
2119
02:08:23,560 --> 02:08:26,180
He was one of Walter Hill's guys from
2120
02:08:26,220 --> 02:08:28,480
the first movie they did
that was so successful.
2121
02:08:28,780 --> 02:08:31,840
He was gonna use Remar
right from the very beginning.
2122
02:08:31,880 --> 02:08:33,420
It was just kind of a done deal.
2123
02:08:35,280 --> 02:08:36,580
I always liked you, Luther.
2124
02:08:37,760 --> 02:08:39,560
You're always a lot of fun
to hang out with.
2125
02:08:40,120 --> 02:08:44,200
James Remar was great in the character,
he was great in the character.
2126
02:08:44,240 --> 02:08:46,130
He was a bit of a loose cannon.
2127
02:08:47,480 --> 02:08:50,300
I had seen Remar as the character
while I wrote it,
2128
02:08:50,520 --> 02:08:53,710
and I think Michael felt a little
kind of passed over.
2129
02:08:53,740 --> 02:08:55,890
But I was early in my career.
2130
02:08:55,920 --> 02:08:57,520
I just wanted to work
with different people
2131
02:09:00,520 --> 02:09:05,360
Of course, I didn't know how wonderful
Aliens was gonna be so I wasn't crushed,
2132
02:09:05,580 --> 02:09:07,580
maybe slightly disappointed.
2133
02:09:09,700 --> 02:09:13,040
{\an8}Of course, a lot of people
can point out that you can see
2134
02:09:13,160 --> 02:09:16,600
{\an8}his back in one scene
when they're approaching the hive.
2135
02:09:16,740 --> 02:09:20,400
That's all you see of James Remar,
the rest is Michael Biehn.
2136
02:09:23,100 --> 02:09:26,220
We showed up on set one day
and we're reading the call list and we go,
2137
02:09:26,760 --> 02:09:28,020
"Who's Michael Biehn?"
2138
02:09:28,620 --> 02:09:32,100
And the secretary just
looked at us blank faced,
2139
02:09:32,180 --> 02:09:35,960
completely blandly and said,
"Well, he's Hicks."
2140
02:09:36,240 --> 02:09:38,740
I mean, it was gaslighting.
We were gaslit.
2141
02:09:39,060 --> 02:09:40,200
No explanation.
2142
02:09:41,160 --> 02:09:44,220
One day we're shooting with this guy
and then we're shooting with this guy.
2143
02:09:44,320 --> 02:09:46,130
Of course we are,
like, "Well, he's him!"
2144
02:09:46,160 --> 02:09:47,820
Like, why are you asking the question?
2145
02:09:47,900 --> 02:09:49,440
It was bizarre.
2146
02:09:51,140 --> 02:09:56,230
{\an8}James Remar was arrested
for buying heroin and cocaine,
2147
02:09:56,260 --> 02:09:59,020
{\an8}a speedball from
an undercover police officer.
2148
02:09:59,300 --> 02:10:01,800
{\an8}We didn't have to make
a difficult decision.
2149
02:10:02,220 --> 02:10:08,060
What we had to do was get him
the best possible defense counsel.
2150
02:10:08,100 --> 02:10:12,240
So he didn't spend eight to ten years
in a penitentiary in the UK.
2151
02:10:12,280 --> 02:10:13,740
Instead we got him deported.
2152
02:10:14,500 --> 02:10:16,600
Now, there was no decision there,
2153
02:10:17,620 --> 02:10:20,480
there was no, "Oh, we could have
fought harder to keep him."
2154
02:10:21,360 --> 02:10:23,700
He was either going to jail
or he was going to the US.
2155
02:10:25,920 --> 02:10:28,820
Well, Gale called me,
and was pretty cut and dry,
2156
02:10:28,860 --> 02:10:30,740
and Gale is pretty cut and dry.
2157
02:10:31,060 --> 02:10:32,790
"Jim wanted me to call and ask you
2158
02:10:32,820 --> 02:10:35,880
if you would come over
and replace James Remar?"
2159
02:10:36,220 --> 02:10:41,540
She basically said,
"You have to take his contract."
2160
02:10:41,580 --> 02:10:43,340
Meaning I would get his billing,
2161
02:10:43,540 --> 02:10:46,320
I would get paid the same
amount as he got paid.
2162
02:10:46,680 --> 02:10:48,300
I'd already made The Terminator
2163
02:10:48,360 --> 02:10:51,340
and I think I got paid
about the same for both of them.
2164
02:10:52,960 --> 02:10:54,900
And the thing about Michael Biehn is
2165
02:10:55,320 --> 02:10:59,340
that Michael is very personable
and very warm.
2166
02:10:59,860 --> 02:11:02,740
And at that time, James had not been.
2167
02:11:03,140 --> 02:11:07,220
James had not been as much
of a team player as Michael was.
2168
02:11:07,460 --> 02:11:08,740
And it was quite a relief.
2169
02:11:09,520 --> 02:11:14,050
I mean, that was just a no brainer.
I'm just like, "Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
2170
02:11:14,080 --> 02:11:15,880
-Ready to go."
-Shoot it out!
2171
02:11:19,840 --> 02:11:24,650
We think about Aliens now
as being a classic,
2172
02:11:24,680 --> 02:11:27,700
but I wanted to work with Jim again.
2173
02:11:29,560 --> 02:11:32,340
The lesson is you work
with people that are loyal
2174
02:11:32,440 --> 02:11:34,360
because you create something together.
2175
02:11:34,520 --> 02:11:36,680
There's a shorthand and there's a trust.
2176
02:11:37,200 --> 02:11:41,360
And I think I learned that
with Michael on The Terminator
2177
02:11:41,400 --> 02:11:44,020
to some extent, and then again
cemented it on Aliens.
2178
02:11:44,100 --> 02:11:47,520
Looks like the new lieutenant's too
good to eat with the rest of us grunts.
2179
02:11:47,700 --> 02:11:52,760
That character was written so well,
it was very easy for me to just walk in
2180
02:11:52,820 --> 02:11:56,200
and fall asleep.
2181
02:11:59,740 --> 02:12:01,020
I'll tell you what I did do.
2182
02:12:01,160 --> 02:12:03,020
You see Hicks smiles a lot,
2183
02:12:03,340 --> 02:12:06,740
like when he watches her
with the loader and stuff like that
2184
02:12:06,800 --> 02:12:08,900
at the beginning
there's a big smile on his face.
2185
02:12:11,360 --> 02:12:12,120
Where you want it?
2186
02:12:15,040 --> 02:12:19,480
One of the very first sequences
that we shot, that I shot
2187
02:12:19,700 --> 02:12:22,300
when we were finding Newt
for the first time.
2188
02:12:22,820 --> 02:12:25,200
Hey, shh, it's all right.
2189
02:12:25,360 --> 02:12:26,590
If I'm not mistaken,
2190
02:12:26,610 --> 02:12:29,900
at that point I reached down
to grab her and she bites me.
2191
02:12:30,000 --> 02:12:31,660
I got it. Ow!
2192
02:12:32,500 --> 02:12:36,100
And whether it's in the film or not,
the way that I did the take a few times
2193
02:12:36,760 --> 02:12:39,980
I just kinda laughed, I was surprised,
I was smiling.
2194
02:12:40,480 --> 02:12:44,600
And I remember that Jim and Gale,
I had dinner with them,
2195
02:12:45,020 --> 02:12:47,960
probably, the first weekend
that I was there.
2196
02:12:48,120 --> 02:12:53,350
And I think both Jim and Gale
mentioned that smile
2197
02:12:53,380 --> 02:12:55,880
that I brought to Hicks
2198
02:12:56,260 --> 02:13:00,580
was something different than
they were getting from James Remar.
2199
02:13:00,850 --> 02:13:03,520
Here, I want you to put this on.
2200
02:13:04,680 --> 02:13:06,580
-What's it for?
-It's a locator.
2201
02:13:07,080 --> 02:13:11,520
I wanted to play Hicks with
a little bit of compassion
2202
02:13:11,560 --> 02:13:15,880
and that fear and being responsible
2203
02:13:15,910 --> 02:13:20,840
and not just some tough guy
who's out there wanting to kick ass.
2204
02:13:45,240 --> 02:13:46,430
{\an8}Has Aliens dated?
2205
02:13:46,460 --> 02:13:48,900
{\an8}Do you know what?
I genuinely don't think it has.
2206
02:13:55,360 --> 02:14:00,080
It hasn't dated in a way that Alien 3
and Alien: Resurrection very much have.
2207
02:14:00,400 --> 02:14:02,240
And I think it's because
it's the last Alien film
2208
02:14:02,270 --> 02:14:04,320
that doesn't lean on computer effects.
2209
02:14:06,980 --> 02:14:08,730
There's a couple of effect shots.
2210
02:14:08,760 --> 02:14:11,310
There's the dropship crash
where you can see the screen
2211
02:14:11,340 --> 02:14:13,820
that it's playing out on and they're
just hiding behind rocks in front of it.
2212
02:14:14,020 --> 02:14:15,460
That's maybe not the best.
2213
02:14:17,380 --> 02:14:21,900
{\an8}All that had to be shot as a model
so that it could be processed
2214
02:14:22,840 --> 02:14:27,200
and projected on a giant reprojection
screen on the live action set.
2215
02:14:28,160 --> 02:14:30,600
The scene of the tumbling dropship
2216
02:14:31,040 --> 02:14:35,190
was an incredibly complicated scene
to film and took many days,
2217
02:14:35,220 --> 02:14:37,120
if not weeks, to perfect.
2218
02:14:38,410 --> 02:14:43,780
And none of the live action could be shot
until Jim Cameron was happy with that.
2219
02:14:47,820 --> 02:14:51,540
{\an8}I can see a couple of little things
in there that bother me.
2220
02:14:51,600 --> 02:14:54,910
Like hands of aliens when they grab,
there's kind of a buckle,
2221
02:14:54,940 --> 02:14:58,000
but really that's more,
I see it in still photos.
2222
02:14:58,660 --> 02:15:01,430
There are a couple
of shots of the Queen
2223
02:15:01,460 --> 02:15:05,680
where maybe it looks miniature,
the running stuff maybe.
2224
02:15:10,680 --> 02:15:13,920
But there's something about
that movie in particular
2225
02:15:14,100 --> 02:15:18,780
that has made it hold up
for all these years.
2226
02:15:21,440 --> 02:15:22,740
-15.
-How many?
2227
02:15:23,440 --> 02:15:24,550
I can't tell.
2228
02:15:24,640 --> 02:15:26,600
The technology feels right.
2229
02:15:26,880 --> 02:15:29,460
{\an8}The emotional relationships
all feel right.
2230
02:15:29,490 --> 02:15:30,540
{\an8}That's not changed.
2231
02:15:30,570 --> 02:15:33,000
The camaraderie between the marines,
that's never changed.
2232
02:15:33,420 --> 02:15:35,300
There's just elements of it
that still work.
2233
02:15:35,480 --> 02:15:37,960
Well, elements, that's not right.
The whole movie still works.
2234
02:15:49,920 --> 02:15:53,200
{\an8}Would it become an Avatar movie?
I don't know.
2235
02:15:54,080 --> 02:15:55,540
{\an8}Jurassic Park had the mix down.
2236
02:15:55,580 --> 02:15:57,890
{\an8}We had the mix down
on Starship Troopers
2237
02:15:57,920 --> 02:16:00,840
{\an8}where part of it is practical
because you have
2238
02:16:01,120 --> 02:16:04,720
{\an8}that interaction between people
where people can touch and feel things.
2239
02:16:07,530 --> 02:16:11,460
We had a very similar thing that happened
on the Predator movie Prey,
2240
02:16:11,820 --> 02:16:16,260
where we had built a predator suit
and helmet and weapons.
2241
02:16:16,820 --> 02:16:21,240
There were certain aspects
that were enhanced with CGI.
2242
02:16:26,280 --> 02:16:29,240
{\an8}When people say,
"Well, how much can we do practically?"
2243
02:16:29,860 --> 02:16:31,640
{\an8}And I say, "Watch Aliens."
2244
02:16:31,900 --> 02:16:35,700
That movie has zero digital work in it.
2245
02:16:36,220 --> 02:16:38,860
Take a look at how effective it still is.
2246
02:16:39,720 --> 02:16:42,410
It's real.
The light is falling on real objects.
2247
02:16:49,010 --> 02:16:56,400
{\an8}It was also shot with a keen understanding
of the limitations of the technique.
2248
02:16:56,960 --> 02:17:02,090
This makes for better storytelling
because you have to withhold a little bit.
2249
02:17:06,240 --> 02:17:07,640
It ain't stopping them.
2250
02:17:07,760 --> 02:17:09,380
150 rounds on "D."
2251
02:17:09,610 --> 02:17:12,310
The limitations
Jim Cameron faced on Aliens
2252
02:17:12,420 --> 02:17:15,810
allowed for better horror moments.
2253
02:17:16,480 --> 02:17:19,520
I can't imagine that that film
could be improved on
2254
02:17:19,620 --> 02:17:21,560
if they had all the modern day techniques.
2255
02:17:27,080 --> 02:17:28,730
Hold on a second, there's something.
2256
02:17:28,760 --> 02:17:30,520
Just get up here.
2257
02:17:31,040 --> 02:17:32,620
I'm in. Ramp closing.
2258
02:17:33,340 --> 02:17:35,760
{\an8}As far as I'm concerned
I could still be alive.
2259
02:17:37,040 --> 02:17:38,240
I didn't die on screen.
2260
02:17:38,760 --> 02:17:41,230
So I always have this idea that there
could be a future Aliens
2261
02:17:41,260 --> 02:17:43,100
{\an8}where I'm on the planet.
2262
02:17:44,220 --> 02:17:45,580
{\an8}I'm still there.
2263
02:17:55,200 --> 02:17:57,060
Move it Spunkmeyer, we're rolling.
2264
02:18:00,200 --> 02:18:02,400
Just in terms of what people think about
2265
02:18:02,440 --> 02:18:05,160
when they think about Private Spunkmeyer,
if they ever do,
2266
02:18:05,190 --> 02:18:06,680
they think of that scene for some reason,
2267
02:18:06,720 --> 02:18:08,460
they think of me doing the goo.
2268
02:18:08,960 --> 02:18:10,960
And unbeknownst to them,
it's not my voice.
2269
02:18:11,960 --> 02:18:13,970
When I go up the stairs and I go,
2270
02:18:14,280 --> 02:18:17,920
"Hey, there's some stuff here,
the sludge on the stairs,"
2271
02:18:17,960 --> 02:18:20,580
but I'm killed at in that moment
or whatever, offscreen.
2272
02:18:21,360 --> 02:18:24,100
I was doing a play
in Nova Scotia right after,
2273
02:18:24,140 --> 02:18:28,720
and James Cameron wanted to fly me
down to LA to do the ADR
2274
02:18:29,520 --> 02:18:31,760
and because of the play, I couldn't do it.
2275
02:18:32,660 --> 02:18:34,360
So he got someone else to do it.
2276
02:18:34,420 --> 02:18:38,120
And this is what I sound like
to James Cameron obviously
2277
02:18:38,160 --> 02:18:40,700
because he got some New Yorker,
it's not my voice at all.
2278
02:18:41,080 --> 02:18:43,420
-It's like-
-Hold on a second, there's something.
2279
02:18:43,580 --> 02:18:45,280
Hey, there's some stuff here!
2280
02:18:46,300 --> 02:18:48,080
It's hilarious, but that's not my voice.
2281
02:18:48,640 --> 02:18:50,400
I'm in. Ramp closing.
2282
02:18:50,520 --> 02:18:53,100
People say to me,
"Were you scared on the Aliens set?"
2283
02:18:53,580 --> 02:18:55,640
Could I tell you
that I wasn't scared at all?
2284
02:18:57,440 --> 02:19:00,960
Or was I sad that I was about to die? No.
2285
02:19:01,660 --> 02:19:03,920
Except for I wanted
a bigger part in the movie.
2286
02:19:14,660 --> 02:19:15,740
Well, where the fu...
2287
02:19:22,400 --> 02:19:24,980
{\an8}My death scene I think
was shot in two ways.
2288
02:19:25,020 --> 02:19:26,250
One where you saw me die
2289
02:19:26,280 --> 02:19:29,120
and one where
it was just blood splattered.
2290
02:19:31,060 --> 02:19:35,580
And I know the dialogue had been
changing very much on that day
2291
02:19:35,640 --> 02:19:38,880
and I was really busy trying
to remember the new lines.
2292
02:19:39,960 --> 02:19:41,760
So everything else was out the window.
2293
02:19:41,800 --> 02:19:44,280
I was just trying to remember
the new lines.
2294
02:19:44,740 --> 02:19:45,970
Well, where the fu...
2295
02:19:46,140 --> 02:19:49,820
After the scene, I remember Sigourney
said something very nice about it.
2296
02:20:03,320 --> 02:20:04,400
Well, that's great.
2297
02:20:04,620 --> 02:20:06,480
It's just fucking great, man!
2298
02:20:06,540 --> 02:20:12,010
{\an8}I had no idea that Jim would create
a world that just sucks you in.
2299
02:20:12,040 --> 02:20:15,760
He created the world so brilliantly.
2300
02:20:16,020 --> 02:20:19,210
That to me is what makes
the movie stand the test of time
2301
02:20:19,240 --> 02:20:21,760
because you never doubt the world.
2302
02:20:24,810 --> 02:20:27,010
Such brilliant artistry from Stan Winston,
2303
02:20:27,040 --> 02:20:30,000
all of his guys, his crew, the miniatures.
2304
02:20:30,660 --> 02:20:31,680
But the one person
2305
02:20:31,710 --> 02:20:36,740
that continually repeated to me
that this was gonna be huge was Paxton.
2306
02:20:37,000 --> 02:20:39,260
Now, what the fuck are we supposed to do?
2307
02:20:39,500 --> 02:20:43,340
{\an8}Bill is a little bit like that character
that he played in Aliens
2308
02:20:43,380 --> 02:20:44,600
without the coward part.
2309
02:20:45,300 --> 02:20:48,140
He's very loud.
2310
02:20:48,600 --> 02:20:52,060
When he enters a room, "Hey, Michael!"
2311
02:20:52,100 --> 02:20:53,170
{\an8}Get up, boy!
2312
02:20:53,900 --> 02:20:55,380
{\an8}You're dead meat now, boy.
2313
02:20:55,480 --> 02:20:59,180
I'd done Lords of Discipline with him
and still hanging out quite a bit
2314
02:20:59,240 --> 02:21:00,460
when we were doing Terminator.
2315
02:21:00,500 --> 02:21:01,540
My turn.
2316
02:21:06,660 --> 02:21:10,360
I was always excited
and looking forward to seeing him.
2317
02:21:11,020 --> 02:21:13,360
How do I get out
of this chickenshit outfit?
2318
02:21:13,520 --> 02:21:15,060
You secure that shit, Hudson.
2319
02:21:16,120 --> 02:21:19,330
Bill, my God, I was terrified,
2320
02:21:19,360 --> 02:21:22,440
{\an8}I didn't know what back
to one or a master shot was,
2321
02:21:22,760 --> 02:21:25,080
and he just took me
by the hand the very first day
2322
02:21:25,110 --> 02:21:28,400
and just said, "All right, honey,
we are gonna learn while we earn."
2323
02:21:28,680 --> 02:21:30,820
-Keep running.
-You do not want to fuck with me.
2324
02:21:31,540 --> 02:21:36,790
You just could not keep him belted down.
2325
02:21:36,820 --> 02:21:39,960
I mean, he came out
with gazillion lines and ways to do it.
2326
02:21:40,240 --> 02:21:43,680
Yo! Stop your grinning
and drop your linen.
2327
02:21:43,960 --> 02:21:45,320
{\an8}Bill brings so much.
2328
02:21:45,380 --> 02:21:49,980
{\an8}He's just this overflowing
cornucopia of creativity.
2329
02:21:50,060 --> 02:21:51,810
And maybe it's like an ant hive.
2330
02:21:51,840 --> 02:21:54,920
-Bees, man, bees have hives.
-You know what I mean.
2331
02:21:55,500 --> 02:21:57,320
{\an8}He was almost like my big brother on set.
2332
02:21:58,620 --> 02:22:00,140
I would kind of follow him around.
2333
02:22:01,700 --> 02:22:03,370
-Hudson!
-Jesus.
2334
02:22:03,430 --> 02:22:04,810
Christ, kid, look out!
2335
02:22:09,980 --> 02:22:11,620
Sigourney was the general, man,
2336
02:22:11,720 --> 02:22:15,110
whereas Bill Paxton was like the glue
and the fun for all of us.
2337
02:22:15,140 --> 02:22:18,200
We got sonic, electronic ball breakers.
2338
02:22:18,540 --> 02:22:21,870
We got nukes, we got knives, sharp sticks.
2339
02:22:21,900 --> 02:22:22,900
Knock it off, Hudson.
2340
02:22:23,610 --> 02:22:28,580
{\an8}The amazing thing about Bill is that
his joie de vivre was infectious
2341
02:22:28,960 --> 02:22:30,480
and you wanted him around.
2342
02:22:30,950 --> 02:22:34,120
His enthusiasm made
everything so much better.
2343
02:22:34,600 --> 02:22:38,580
{\an8}And I remember thinking,
"Bill is stealing the show."
2344
02:22:39,480 --> 02:22:42,200
{\an8}Bill is still stealing the show.
2345
02:22:42,590 --> 02:22:43,650
He was killing it.
2346
02:22:44,680 --> 02:22:45,960
I'm afraid I have some bad news.
2347
02:22:47,120 --> 02:22:48,400
Well, that's a switch.
2348
02:22:48,960 --> 02:22:52,080
When you think of Bill Paxton
and the character Hudson,
2349
02:22:53,660 --> 02:22:59,660
it was singularly probably
the best written character in the film.
2350
02:23:00,200 --> 02:23:03,060
How long after we're declared overdue
can we expect a rescue?
2351
02:23:03,340 --> 02:23:04,400
17 days.
2352
02:23:05,700 --> 02:23:07,120
17 days?
2353
02:23:07,340 --> 02:23:08,540
Not a buffoon at all.
2354
02:23:09,440 --> 02:23:11,120
He was more of a realist.
2355
02:23:11,760 --> 02:23:13,520
Hey, man, I don't wanna
rain on your parade.
2356
02:23:13,560 --> 02:23:15,360
We're not gonna last 17 hours.
2357
02:23:15,520 --> 02:23:17,420
{\an8}I remember seeing Aliens opening night,
2358
02:23:17,940 --> 02:23:20,170
{\an8}and the reaction
to all of Hudson's big lines,
2359
02:23:20,200 --> 02:23:21,680
they were instantly quotable.
2360
02:23:22,120 --> 02:23:24,410
You know after the movie was over
2361
02:23:24,440 --> 02:23:26,740
people in the lobby of the theater
saying, "Game over, game over."
2362
02:23:26,800 --> 02:23:28,650
-Game over, man.
-Game over, man.
2363
02:23:28,680 --> 02:23:30,350
It's game over, man. It's game over.
2364
02:23:30,380 --> 02:23:33,700
That's it, man.
Game over, man. It's game over.
2365
02:23:34,260 --> 02:23:36,600
They're not really jokes,
they're just a character moment.
2366
02:23:36,900 --> 02:23:37,980
But he just loses it.
2367
02:23:38,320 --> 02:23:42,220
He loses it the way Chef loses it
in Apocalypse Now.
2368
02:23:42,760 --> 02:23:46,580
It's kind of funny,
but also you can feel the tension.
2369
02:23:46,840 --> 02:23:49,150
Hey, maybe you haven't been
keeping up on current events,
2370
02:23:49,180 --> 02:23:51,360
but we just got our asses kicked, pal.
2371
02:23:51,580 --> 02:23:52,580
It's like a tourniquet.
2372
02:23:53,000 --> 02:23:55,760
You wind it tighter,
you release it briefly,
2373
02:23:55,790 --> 02:23:57,380
and then you wind it even tighter.
2374
02:23:57,780 --> 02:23:59,620
They're inside, inside the perimeter.
2375
02:24:00,520 --> 02:24:01,540
They're in here.
2376
02:24:01,660 --> 02:24:02,840
Hudson, stay cool.
2377
02:24:03,100 --> 02:24:06,550
I don't think that Arnold Schwarzenegger
would be upset with me saying
2378
02:24:06,580 --> 02:24:09,220
{\an8}that Arnold Schwarzenegger has just
always been Arnold Schwarzenegger,
2379
02:24:09,480 --> 02:24:11,820
and that's what's made him so successful.
2380
02:24:14,420 --> 02:24:20,990
But Bill really went from being
a larger than life personality
2381
02:24:21,030 --> 02:24:23,760
to a very subtle actor, good actor.
2382
02:24:24,280 --> 02:24:27,960
{\an8}This is the big move, the next level,
the corner of this whole thing.
2383
02:24:28,000 --> 02:24:30,560
I'm talking about putting some
heavy digits in our pocket, bro.
2384
02:24:30,940 --> 02:24:34,200
And I miss him.
2385
02:24:38,320 --> 02:24:41,080
And there was this one convention
for one of our anniversaries,
2386
02:24:41,420 --> 02:24:43,940
and it was one of the last times
that I saw him
2387
02:24:44,600 --> 02:24:48,080
{\an8}and I ran into Jenette in the hotel
2388
02:24:48,110 --> 02:24:50,500
{\an8}and we were talking
and she said, "Yeah, Bill's here."
2389
02:24:50,540 --> 02:24:52,260
And then I hadn't seen him in so long,
2390
02:24:52,500 --> 02:24:56,270
so I thought, "Oh, I'm gonna go see him
before it gets really busy."
2391
02:24:56,300 --> 02:24:59,210
And at first, his security people
wouldn't let me through.
2392
02:24:59,240 --> 02:25:02,880
I was like, "Well, look, I know him,
I'm not trying to like get his autograph.
2393
02:25:02,920 --> 02:25:04,860
I'm not causing any problems,
I just wanna say hi."
2394
02:25:05,240 --> 02:25:07,940
So I went around behind him
2395
02:25:08,000 --> 02:25:11,400
and he was looking at me like,
"Why is this person back here?"
2396
02:25:11,940 --> 02:25:17,030
And everyone who was in line
knew who I was at that stage.
2397
02:25:17,060 --> 02:25:19,760
And they're taking pictures
of the two of us standing there together.
2398
02:25:19,800 --> 02:25:23,500
And suddenly he realized that it was me.
2399
02:25:23,680 --> 02:25:26,380
And he's like,
"Guys, do you know who this is?
2400
02:25:26,420 --> 02:25:27,500
Oh, this is Carrie!"
2401
02:25:27,540 --> 02:25:28,980
They're like,
"Yeah, we've known for a while."
2402
02:25:29,010 --> 02:25:30,350
And he's like, "It just dawned on me."
2403
02:25:32,680 --> 02:25:36,280
He was a good person
and I'm glad he was in my life.
2404
02:25:39,800 --> 02:25:43,130
{\an8}Jim had a private dinner
for us at Comic-con
2405
02:25:43,380 --> 02:25:45,100
{\an8}for the anniversary of the film.
2406
02:25:45,220 --> 02:25:47,000
People brought their kids,
it was really great.
2407
02:25:47,080 --> 02:25:50,060
And then right after that, we lost him
and we couldn't believe it.
2408
02:25:50,100 --> 02:25:52,170
I mean, and we couldn't
believe our good fortune
2409
02:25:52,200 --> 02:25:54,900
to have seen him all together.
2410
02:25:56,660 --> 02:25:58,880
{\an8}I'm gonna run my mascara
if we're not careful.
2411
02:26:00,380 --> 02:26:03,960
But he was a wonderful guy to work with.
2412
02:26:04,940 --> 02:26:08,640
{\an8}Just a very gracious and wonderful man.
2413
02:26:09,140 --> 02:26:12,700
{\an8}And with a lot of arrows
still in his quiver.
2414
02:26:14,620 --> 02:26:15,640
He left early.
2415
02:26:17,320 --> 02:26:19,460
One of life's tragedies, yeah.
2416
02:26:20,340 --> 02:26:21,410
Gorgeous man.
2417
02:26:22,620 --> 02:26:29,310
{\an8}The most moving thing
that I ever saw at Bill's memorial service
2418
02:26:29,340 --> 02:26:31,320
that they had at Warner Brothers,
2419
02:26:31,920 --> 02:26:33,170
I mean, there were thousands.
2420
02:26:33,200 --> 02:26:37,940
And I mean luminaries,
I mean, major directors.
2421
02:26:37,980 --> 02:26:43,540
And then the most moving tribute
came from Jim Cameron.
2422
02:26:44,000 --> 02:26:46,260
I mean, I cried when he said it.
2423
02:26:47,240 --> 02:26:48,660
He said, paraphrasing,
2424
02:26:49,120 --> 02:26:53,940
he said, "I'm known as not being
a very warm and fuzzy guy,
2425
02:26:54,820 --> 02:26:58,300
but my biggest regret in life
2426
02:26:58,810 --> 02:27:02,900
is that when I spoke to Bill
the night before his surgery,
2427
02:27:03,540 --> 02:27:05,260
that I didn't tell him that I loved him."
2428
02:27:06,160 --> 02:27:07,420
And I was like, "Whoa!"
2429
02:27:07,600 --> 02:27:09,900
I mean, that just hit,
still hits my heart.
2430
02:27:27,380 --> 02:27:28,600
You can count me out.
2431
02:27:28,880 --> 02:27:30,570
Guess we can just count you
out of everything.
2432
02:27:30,600 --> 02:27:31,620
That's right, man.
2433
02:27:31,920 --> 02:27:33,320
-And why don't you go, man?
-I'll go.
2434
02:27:33,860 --> 02:27:35,340
-What?
-I'll go.
2435
02:27:35,440 --> 02:27:37,780
{\an8}I worked in a mine once.
It didn't bother me.
2436
02:27:42,920 --> 02:27:44,820
They had a hole in a big pipe
2437
02:27:45,380 --> 02:27:47,980
and they had cut it out
with an arc welder.
2438
02:27:49,280 --> 02:27:51,300
And then as I was getting in,
2439
02:27:52,360 --> 02:27:55,020
one of the soldiers handed me a gun.
2440
02:27:57,280 --> 02:27:59,560
And I looked at the gun
and I gave it back.
2441
02:27:59,840 --> 02:28:03,000
And that distracted me
from where the hell I was going.
2442
02:28:03,720 --> 02:28:04,740
See you soon.
2443
02:28:06,190 --> 02:28:07,220
Watch your fingers.
2444
02:28:08,040 --> 02:28:11,640
And then I started scuttling through
with a camera in front of me.
2445
02:28:14,820 --> 02:28:16,820
They welded it closed behind me.
2446
02:28:17,150 --> 02:28:18,360
So I had to go.
2447
02:28:20,760 --> 02:28:21,980
The moment with a handgun?
2448
02:28:22,080 --> 02:28:26,060
It's funny, I don't recall
anything being planned.
2449
02:28:26,180 --> 02:28:30,660
{\an8}His character of this very strange being,
2450
02:28:31,240 --> 02:28:34,780
she didn't trust him,
she worked with him.
2451
02:28:35,320 --> 02:28:38,880
Vasquez wouldn't go
down there herself without a gun.
2452
02:28:40,200 --> 02:28:42,080
{\an8}I love the kind of back and forth
2453
02:28:42,140 --> 02:28:44,340
{\an8}between trusting Bishop
and not trusting Bishop.
2454
02:28:45,620 --> 02:28:46,940
He'll go and get the dropship.
2455
02:28:47,120 --> 02:28:49,690
{\an8}He's like, he may be synthetic,
but he's not stupid.
2456
02:28:49,720 --> 02:28:50,980
He doesn't want to die,
2457
02:28:51,010 --> 02:28:53,330
but he's prepared to do it
for everyone else.
2458
02:28:54,870 --> 02:28:57,120
{\an8}He gets in the pipe and crawls
all the way, and you think,
2459
02:28:57,200 --> 02:28:59,340
{\an8}"Yeah, we're with you, man,
you've got a heart."
2460
02:28:59,370 --> 02:29:00,360
{\an8}Maybe.
2461
02:29:03,960 --> 02:29:07,060
{\an8}You don't have to be around Jim very long
2462
02:29:07,140 --> 02:29:10,330
to see how brilliant he is,
how hardworking he is,
2463
02:29:10,360 --> 02:29:11,700
how passionate he is.
2464
02:29:12,060 --> 02:29:14,900
And this movie was no different.
2465
02:29:18,540 --> 02:29:22,880
He was putting in at least 18-hour days.
2466
02:29:25,660 --> 02:29:28,760
Two or three days into shooting,
I had a 4:30 AM call.
2467
02:29:28,860 --> 02:29:31,580
I had to have the death mask
applied to my face
2468
02:29:31,610 --> 02:29:33,780
{\an8}and walking through a soundstage.
2469
02:29:34,540 --> 02:29:37,900
{\an8}Dark, but in the far distance
I could see a light,
2470
02:29:38,520 --> 02:29:40,300
and saw somebody.
2471
02:29:41,020 --> 02:29:44,100
And as I got through the set,
I was like, "Oh, it's Jim."
2472
02:29:45,260 --> 02:29:48,210
And he had a flashlight and a notepad
2473
02:29:48,240 --> 02:29:51,100
and he was looking at stuff
and he was writing furiously.
2474
02:29:51,840 --> 02:29:54,140
And I just said calmly,
I was like, "Morning, Jim."
2475
02:29:54,920 --> 02:29:56,640
And he was so focused,
2476
02:29:58,060 --> 02:29:59,760
he didn't even register.
2477
02:30:02,020 --> 02:30:04,600
I personally believe in the auteur system.
2478
02:30:04,900 --> 02:30:06,560
That's the singular vision.
2479
02:30:06,740 --> 02:30:10,080
It's Hitchcock,
it's Scorsese, it's Cameron.
2480
02:30:12,120 --> 02:30:13,710
To me, it's not my ego.
2481
02:30:13,740 --> 02:30:16,420
{\an8}It's the film has the ego,
the film must be,
2482
02:30:16,520 --> 02:30:18,300
{\an8}the film must be willed into place.
2483
02:30:18,340 --> 02:30:23,320
{\an8}It's not about power for me,
it's about the act of creation.
2484
02:30:23,360 --> 02:30:27,840
And once I can see it in my mind,
I have to do it.
2485
02:30:30,040 --> 02:30:33,630
Nobody thought to change
anything in this picture
2486
02:30:33,660 --> 02:30:36,380
because the script was virtually perfect.
2487
02:30:37,840 --> 02:30:41,720
Nobody could better what
James Cameron had in his head.
2488
02:30:41,900 --> 02:30:44,980
And I think that's what crew
might have had a problem with.
2489
02:30:45,320 --> 02:30:47,000
But a lot of other things too.
2490
02:30:49,460 --> 02:30:50,740
I didn't know what to expect.
2491
02:30:51,520 --> 02:30:53,740
Is he gonna be casual?
Is he gonna be a monster?
2492
02:30:55,600 --> 02:30:57,320
I strolled up to him when he was looking
2493
02:30:57,330 --> 02:30:59,550
{\an8}through the viewfinder
underneath the dropship,
2494
02:31:00,560 --> 02:31:03,580
{\an8}and I said, "Hey, Jim, I got an idea."
2495
02:31:04,280 --> 02:31:06,780
And he said,
"Can't you see I'm busy right now?"
2496
02:31:10,040 --> 02:31:14,040
And I went, "Wow. Okay. All right. Okay."
2497
02:31:15,340 --> 02:31:19,360
But I like him the way he is.
2498
02:31:19,800 --> 02:31:22,800
I wouldn't want him to
sand off one corner.
2499
02:31:22,880 --> 02:31:25,100
{\an8}I don't think back then,
at that point in his career,
2500
02:31:25,660 --> 02:31:29,140
{\an8}the world was quite ready
for his level of perfectionism.
2501
02:31:30,500 --> 02:31:32,080
But Aliens is the first time
2502
02:31:32,560 --> 02:31:35,000
that he really had to deal
with "outsiders."
2503
02:31:35,540 --> 02:31:38,160
All the tension
between him and the British crew.
2504
02:31:39,640 --> 02:31:41,240
To be charitable,
2505
02:31:41,820 --> 02:31:44,160
the craftsmanship in England
was excellent,
2506
02:31:45,760 --> 02:31:48,600
but to be uncharitable,
2507
02:31:49,060 --> 02:31:51,110
they were on a whole
different wavelength from us.
2508
02:31:54,140 --> 02:31:56,480
We were coming out of The Terminator.
2509
02:31:56,730 --> 02:32:00,600
We get to England
and the pace is pastoral.
2510
02:32:02,700 --> 02:32:04,810
All the cast, we don't ascribe
2511
02:32:04,840 --> 02:32:10,100
to all the rumor of Jim being some
sort of megalomaniacal crazy person. No.
2512
02:32:10,350 --> 02:32:11,360
He knew what he wanted.
2513
02:32:12,120 --> 02:32:14,620
And because of where Jim came up,
2514
02:32:15,720 --> 02:32:17,320
he's done every job on the set.
2515
02:32:17,540 --> 02:32:20,840
If you're screwing around,
he's gonna tell you.
2516
02:32:22,620 --> 02:32:25,020
And I'm sure this is common knowledge now
2517
02:32:25,480 --> 02:32:28,080
that the British crew sort of
worshiped Ridley Scott,
2518
02:32:29,060 --> 02:32:33,540
and Jim kept setting up these
screenings of Terminator
2519
02:32:33,600 --> 02:32:36,940
{\an8}for the guys at the end of the day,
and nobody bothered to go.
2520
02:32:37,740 --> 02:32:43,180
{\an8}And so it was
a very tough beginning for him.
2521
02:32:45,140 --> 02:32:49,560
One of the most annoying things was
that they kept calling Jim "The Yank."
2522
02:32:49,880 --> 02:32:51,840
Jim is Canadian.
2523
02:32:52,020 --> 02:32:55,640
He's never been an American citizen,
and they wouldn't stop.
2524
02:32:58,360 --> 02:33:00,440
That year, '85, '86,
2525
02:33:00,700 --> 02:33:07,000
the cinemas really took a dive in England
because of the advent of the VCR.
2526
02:33:07,640 --> 02:33:09,580
So no one on my crew
had seen The Terminator.
2527
02:33:09,700 --> 02:33:13,080
And we were trying to replace
the great Ridley Scott,
2528
02:33:13,340 --> 02:33:15,680
who, by the way,
only made a couple of films.
2529
02:33:15,720 --> 02:33:18,780
It's not like he was
Alfred Hitchcock or something.
2530
02:33:20,180 --> 02:33:23,460
First day of shooting,
all I've gotta do is get six set-ups.
2531
02:33:24,260 --> 02:33:27,780
And we're gonna wrap
about an hour and a half early,
2532
02:33:28,160 --> 02:33:31,570
which everybody will like,
and we'll set up a little champagne buffet
2533
02:33:31,600 --> 02:33:35,130
and we'll toast
to us working with them
2534
02:33:35,160 --> 02:33:38,160
and how it'll be a great film.
2535
02:33:38,880 --> 02:33:41,920
I got to 4:30, 5 o'clock in the afternoon,
2536
02:33:42,900 --> 02:33:47,620
and it was clear I was gonna be struggling
to get my fourth setup of the day.
2537
02:33:48,240 --> 02:33:52,040
And I looked out and I saw them setting up
all the little champagne glasses
2538
02:33:52,240 --> 02:33:53,280
on the table.
2539
02:33:53,360 --> 02:33:55,080
I said, "Get that shit off the set!
2540
02:33:55,140 --> 02:33:58,880
We're going to the the last minute."
And it all just went dark.
2541
02:34:01,450 --> 02:34:04,100
I do think Cameron works best
2542
02:34:04,130 --> 02:34:07,040
when he's being forged in hardship.
2543
02:34:08,280 --> 02:34:10,640
All his blood, sweat, and tears
are in that film,
2544
02:34:10,860 --> 02:34:14,480
and it's a common thread
for a lot of the films that he's made.
2545
02:34:15,140 --> 02:34:17,820
{\an8}I sometimes wonder if he'd be capable
of making a good film
2546
02:34:18,100 --> 02:34:20,480
{\an8}if someone didn't spike
the punch with PCP,
2547
02:34:20,520 --> 02:34:23,760
if his crew didn't walk out,
if he didn't have to attack his tea lady.
2548
02:34:35,490 --> 02:34:36,550
{\an8}The poor tea lady.
2549
02:34:36,580 --> 02:34:39,600
{\an8}I mean, I've thought many times about
trying to track her down,
2550
02:34:39,640 --> 02:34:42,100
at least apologize
to her family, the poor thing.
2551
02:34:42,140 --> 02:34:45,220
But she was just caught
at that tectonic interface
2552
02:34:45,260 --> 02:34:46,680
between these two cultures.
2553
02:34:47,420 --> 02:34:49,680
The thing that drove me
nuts the first day was,
2554
02:34:49,720 --> 02:34:51,860
we're starting to percolate,
we're starting to get somewhere.
2555
02:34:51,900 --> 02:34:53,570
I'm about to do the first big setup,
2556
02:34:53,600 --> 02:34:56,460
which was a lot of extras moving around,
took a long time to choreograph.
2557
02:34:57,010 --> 02:34:58,760
I turn around and the crew's gone.
2558
02:34:59,620 --> 02:35:01,860
Where'd the crew go? Oh, they're at tea.
2559
02:35:02,180 --> 02:35:03,680
I said, "They're what?"
2560
02:35:04,100 --> 02:35:09,080
The entire crew is lined up,
a 100 long, one by one
2561
02:35:09,400 --> 02:35:14,100
buying sticky buns
and a cup of tea and a scone,
2562
02:35:14,920 --> 02:35:16,100
and then the next one steps up,
2563
02:35:16,130 --> 02:35:18,800
and that'll be tuppence and whatever.
2564
02:35:19,240 --> 02:35:22,820
And I'm like, "You gotta be
fucking kidding me, right?"
2565
02:35:23,040 --> 02:35:25,920
And I just watch this in horror
while 20 minutes,
2566
02:35:26,740 --> 02:35:28,340
I could do two shots in 20 minutes,
2567
02:35:28,680 --> 02:35:30,210
goes by, right?
2568
02:35:30,240 --> 02:35:31,520
And then everybody comes back
2569
02:35:31,560 --> 02:35:34,580
and they've got their tea and their bun,
and they're back to work.
2570
02:35:34,620 --> 02:35:36,520
And I'm like, "I'm doomed."
2571
02:35:37,060 --> 02:35:39,260
I just teleported
into an alternate reality.
2572
02:35:39,300 --> 02:35:40,920
I just landed on an alien planet.
2573
02:35:43,720 --> 02:35:45,900
So I walk out the next day
and the whole crew's lined up,
2574
02:35:46,180 --> 02:35:48,240
and as I'm walking along,
I say, "Do you mind if I..."
2575
02:35:48,560 --> 02:35:50,200
and they're like,
"Oh, no, no, go ahead, governor."
2576
02:35:50,300 --> 02:35:54,220
And I said to the lady,
I said, "Well, how much is that?"
2577
02:35:55,320 --> 02:35:57,040
Because I figured
if we're gonna waste time,
2578
02:35:57,080 --> 02:35:58,580
let's at least have fun with it.
2579
02:35:58,620 --> 02:36:00,560
"Well, how much is that?"
"Oh, well, that's such and such."
2580
02:36:00,880 --> 02:36:02,410
"How much is that?"
"Well, that's such and such."
2581
02:36:02,440 --> 02:36:03,310
How much for a cup of tea?
2582
02:36:03,330 --> 02:36:04,820
And I said,
"Well, how much for all of it?"
2583
02:36:05,360 --> 02:36:06,990
And she said, "Well, what do you mean?"
2584
02:36:07,020 --> 02:36:08,680
I said, "Everything, everything
on the whole cart.
2585
02:36:08,720 --> 02:36:10,020
How much for all of that?"
2586
02:36:10,200 --> 02:36:12,740
But now there's a murmur down the line,
"Oh, governor's buying."
2587
02:36:13,280 --> 02:36:17,600
He's gonna apologize for taking
away the champagne toast."
2588
02:36:17,740 --> 02:36:20,560
I'm starting to make some points here.
I should have stopped then.
2589
02:36:20,920 --> 02:36:23,020
But I'm perverse that way.
2590
02:36:23,280 --> 02:36:25,780
I pull out a big wad of bills,
I count it all out.
2591
02:36:26,520 --> 02:36:29,260
I say, "We're good?"
She said, "Absolutely."
2592
02:36:29,620 --> 02:36:32,600
I said, "Do you mind just stepping
2593
02:36:33,100 --> 02:36:35,090
a little bit to the side
just for a moment?"
2594
02:36:35,180 --> 02:36:36,340
And she said, "Okay."
2595
02:36:37,150 --> 02:36:38,260
She stepped over.
2596
02:36:38,400 --> 02:36:40,690
I kicked that fucking cart
as hard as I could.
2597
02:36:40,720 --> 02:36:43,030
It went flying off,
stuff splashed everywhere.
2598
02:36:43,060 --> 02:36:45,320
I turned around and said,
"Everybody go back to work right now,
2599
02:36:45,560 --> 02:36:47,040
or I'm pulling the plug
on this production.
2600
02:36:47,060 --> 02:36:48,260
We're going back to America.
2601
02:36:48,440 --> 02:36:49,880
You guys will all be out of a job.
2602
02:36:50,100 --> 02:36:51,580
Here's how it's gonna work tomorrow.
2603
02:36:51,780 --> 02:36:54,040
You assign somebody
from each one of your departments
2604
02:36:54,220 --> 02:36:55,340
to go and get the stuff.
2605
02:36:55,400 --> 02:36:57,220
You give them the order,
you give them money,
2606
02:36:57,260 --> 02:36:59,320
they bring it to you on the set,
and we keep working.
2607
02:36:59,360 --> 02:37:00,960
If that's unacceptable, we're done here."
2608
02:37:03,100 --> 02:37:05,380
Silence. Absolute silence.
2609
02:37:06,680 --> 02:37:08,330
I'm thinking now, in retrospect,
2610
02:37:08,360 --> 02:37:10,370
I could have done it
a little more diplomatically,
2611
02:37:11,320 --> 02:37:12,980
but there was no more tea.
2612
02:37:16,540 --> 02:37:19,120
{\an8}It took them a while
just watching him work
2613
02:37:19,210 --> 02:37:23,000
{\an8}and watching the kind of work
that was being done
2614
02:37:23,480 --> 02:37:28,980
for them to understand
how amazing he was as a filmmaker.
2615
02:37:31,220 --> 02:37:33,780
The Terminator came out on VHS
2616
02:37:33,880 --> 02:37:35,860
and one by one over the next week,
2617
02:37:36,200 --> 02:37:38,250
everybody came in,
well, not everybody,
2618
02:37:38,280 --> 02:37:41,020
but a lot of them came up to me,
"Good film, governor."
2619
02:37:41,460 --> 02:37:43,300
And then after that,
everything shifted a little bit.
2620
02:37:45,700 --> 02:37:48,810
Gale Anne Hurd, I think,
had a really rough time on this film.
2621
02:37:48,840 --> 02:37:50,340
I think partly because the sexism
2622
02:37:50,370 --> 02:37:52,850
{\an8}was so ingrained
in the film industry at the time.
2623
02:37:53,060 --> 02:37:55,880
{\an8}She was young,
she was married to the director.
2624
02:37:56,000 --> 02:37:59,140
No one listened to her.
No one respected her authority.
2625
02:37:59,400 --> 02:38:01,920
But honestly,
I think she did wonderful things.
2626
02:38:03,820 --> 02:38:07,240
{\an8}I did a lot of the initial interviews
for heads of department
2627
02:38:07,840 --> 02:38:09,020
{\an8}before they met with Jim.
2628
02:38:09,240 --> 02:38:12,470
{\an8}Many of them, they reach over
to shake my hand, very polite
2629
02:38:12,500 --> 02:38:16,340
and say, "Just want you to know
I won't take any instruction.
2630
02:38:16,380 --> 02:38:18,540
I won't take any orders from a woman."
2631
02:38:20,280 --> 02:38:22,920
And I have never been shy.
2632
02:38:22,960 --> 02:38:25,520
And I said, "Well, then you won't
be working on this movie."
2633
02:38:26,060 --> 02:38:27,360
And they couldn't believe it.
2634
02:38:28,360 --> 02:38:30,780
{\an8}You go to England,
now, you're making a studio movie
2635
02:38:30,820 --> 02:38:33,360
{\an8}in a studio culture at Pinewood.
2636
02:38:33,680 --> 02:38:37,700
{\an8}And this upstart young woman
who's made one film
2637
02:38:37,820 --> 02:38:42,190
comes into the old boy network in England,
and they didn't listen to her.
2638
02:38:42,220 --> 02:38:45,600
They kept looking around her to see
who was really producing the movie.
2639
02:38:47,960 --> 02:38:50,940
None of the three producers
of the first film,
2640
02:38:50,980 --> 02:38:55,040
so that's David Giler, Gordon Carroll,
and Walter Hill, were available
2641
02:38:55,380 --> 02:38:59,160
to spend a hundred percent
of their time on set in the UK.
2642
02:38:59,260 --> 02:39:01,480
So there needed to be someone hands on.
2643
02:39:02,080 --> 02:39:05,900
I had absolutely no lack
of confidence whatsoever.
2644
02:39:06,160 --> 02:39:08,060
I don't think 20th Century Fox
2645
02:39:08,090 --> 02:39:11,260
felt as confident
about my abilities as I did.
2646
02:39:11,360 --> 02:39:17,200
The jump up from working for Roger Corman,
where I had been a line producer
2647
02:39:17,240 --> 02:39:19,740
on a $380,000 film
2648
02:39:20,140 --> 02:39:24,540
to making Terminator for 6.4 million
was a much bigger leap
2649
02:39:24,960 --> 02:39:28,220
than going from 6.4 million to 13 million,
2650
02:39:28,260 --> 02:39:30,040
which was the budget for Aliens.
2651
02:39:30,220 --> 02:39:34,560
So to me,
it was not a big leap whatsoever.
2652
02:39:35,360 --> 02:39:43,200
She, to me, was like Athena,
she was like, so wise, so tough, so lucid.
2653
02:39:44,920 --> 02:39:47,260
I don't think that people
talk about her enough
2654
02:39:47,360 --> 02:39:50,400
when we talk about Terminator,
Aliens, and The Abyss.
2655
02:39:50,440 --> 02:39:53,720
She really, I think, is probably
the only person that can
2656
02:39:54,140 --> 02:39:55,580
hold Jim back a little bit.
2657
02:39:59,080 --> 02:40:03,340
In the beginning of the movie,
there's a laser, goes, bzzzzzzzz.
2658
02:40:05,720 --> 02:40:07,620
And that wasn't in the original script,
2659
02:40:08,080 --> 02:40:12,340
{\an8}but what happened is that Jim decided
that he wanted that laser in the movie,
2660
02:40:12,620 --> 02:40:14,160
and it wasn't in the budget.
2661
02:40:14,480 --> 02:40:17,800
And Gale was like,
"Jim, Jim, this is gonna cost
2662
02:40:17,820 --> 02:40:19,850
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."
We can't have it.
2663
02:40:19,880 --> 02:40:22,820
But Jim was like, "No, but this is
what I want, this is what I need."
2664
02:40:23,720 --> 02:40:25,760
"This is something
that I feel is gonna really
2665
02:40:25,960 --> 02:40:28,440
kick the movie off in a futuristic way."
2666
02:40:28,620 --> 02:40:30,180
She eventually tells him, "Listen,
2667
02:40:30,330 --> 02:40:32,570
you're gonna have to pay for it
out of your own pocket.
2668
02:40:32,600 --> 02:40:34,440
If you needed that badly, then you do it."
2669
02:40:34,720 --> 02:40:36,800
And the interesting thing about
that conversation is that
2670
02:40:37,020 --> 02:40:38,630
she was doing what she was supposed to do.
2671
02:40:38,660 --> 02:40:40,260
She was being a good producer,
2672
02:40:41,040 --> 02:40:43,400
and he was doing what a director does.
2673
02:40:45,680 --> 02:40:48,300
The story is that he eventually
paid for it out of his own pocket
2674
02:40:48,520 --> 02:40:51,180
and he got that laser,
and that's how the movie kicks off.
2675
02:40:51,500 --> 02:40:54,350
But I remember thinking, "Oh, my God,
they have to go and sleep
2676
02:40:54,370 --> 02:40:56,420
with each other tonight together."
2677
02:40:59,100 --> 02:41:06,710
{\an8}Jim and Gale's focus and intensity
and will to make this their movie.
2678
02:41:06,740 --> 02:41:08,560
This is it, this was their make or break.
2679
02:41:08,980 --> 02:41:11,020
Terminator? Yeah, nice picture.
2680
02:41:11,680 --> 02:41:15,760
James, whoever this Canadian kid is,
"Yeah, we like your script."
2681
02:41:16,360 --> 02:41:18,820
But you gotta get this right,
and they knew it.
2682
02:41:19,060 --> 02:41:20,160
This was their ticket.
2683
02:41:20,690 --> 02:41:21,770
Hey, listen.
2684
02:41:23,040 --> 02:41:24,490
We're all in strung-out shape.
2685
02:41:26,080 --> 02:41:27,280
But stay frosty.
2686
02:41:33,760 --> 02:41:34,780
Show me everything
2687
02:41:36,180 --> 02:41:37,380
I can handle myself.
2688
02:41:40,120 --> 02:41:41,320
Yeah, I noticed.
2689
02:41:41,820 --> 02:41:45,740
{\an8}It was very evident
that Jim had written in,
2690
02:41:46,260 --> 02:41:49,500
what I call a "like story."
2691
02:41:50,140 --> 02:41:53,100
And that we liked each other a lot,
myself and Ripley.
2692
02:41:54,200 --> 02:41:55,800
There's just no doubt about it.
2693
02:41:55,980 --> 02:41:58,760
What we played was what Jim wanted.
2694
02:41:59,260 --> 02:42:02,740
{\an8}I like the romantic element,
the tension, the flirtation
2695
02:42:02,820 --> 02:42:05,280
that we see with Ripley and Hicks.
2696
02:42:05,320 --> 02:42:07,060
Because it's something
we don't see in Alien.
2697
02:42:07,680 --> 02:42:10,540
To see this little blossoming romance,
2698
02:42:10,580 --> 02:42:15,000
to see another also aspect
of her personality is great.
2699
02:42:15,640 --> 02:42:17,380
You have more empathy,
2700
02:42:17,470 --> 02:42:21,140
you feel like she's someone you know,
she's a real woman.
2701
02:42:22,380 --> 02:42:23,580
It's just a precaution.
2702
02:42:24,960 --> 02:42:25,990
Thanks.
2703
02:42:26,680 --> 02:42:28,380
Doesn't mean we're engaged or anything.
2704
02:42:28,620 --> 02:42:33,440
{\an8}It's the last thing in the world anyone
is thinking about, especially for her.
2705
02:42:34,630 --> 02:42:35,810
Come on, ease down.
2706
02:42:36,720 --> 02:42:39,570
Over time, just through
all these experiences,
2707
02:42:39,600 --> 02:42:43,310
they accept each other
and grow to like each other.
2708
02:42:43,340 --> 02:42:50,160
So it is very real, to me,
working affection that grows,
2709
02:42:50,720 --> 02:42:56,140
certainly being in life and death
situations is probably also a stimulus.
2710
02:42:57,160 --> 02:42:59,840
It was just very natural,
2711
02:43:00,280 --> 02:43:04,690
I think, Ripley and Hicks
ending up together
2712
02:43:04,720 --> 02:43:10,500
was one of the upsetting things to see
that David Fincher killed Hicks,
2713
02:43:10,600 --> 02:43:13,260
not to mention Newt.
2714
02:43:15,000 --> 02:43:23,260
Only Cameron would shoot a briefing
about how to use a Pulse Rifle,
2715
02:43:23,640 --> 02:43:28,320
and for it to be the most
romantic scene in the movie.
2716
02:43:28,760 --> 02:43:32,420
And this is how sort of Cameron
works with opposites.
2717
02:43:32,720 --> 02:43:38,920
He loves this idea
of brute metal, guns, fighting,
2718
02:43:39,220 --> 02:43:43,780
but he constantly threads things
with an emotional sensibility, with heart.
2719
02:43:43,920 --> 02:43:45,580
How long has it been
since you got any sleep?
2720
02:43:46,700 --> 02:43:47,700
24 hours?
2721
02:43:48,140 --> 02:43:51,730
I usually skip the stage directions.
I get so excited reading a script.
2722
02:43:51,760 --> 02:43:55,460
So honestly, I didn't know about
all the guns till I was on the set.
2723
02:43:55,730 --> 02:43:58,280
I want to introduce you
to a personal friend of mine.
2724
02:43:59,480 --> 02:44:02,220
This is an M41A Pulse Rifle.
2725
02:44:02,420 --> 02:44:05,010
{\an8}We're already over in England,
and all the sets are built.
2726
02:44:05,040 --> 02:44:07,300
{\an8}We're gonna start shooting,
we're in rehearsal, and she says,
2727
02:44:07,840 --> 02:44:12,500
{\an8}"I can't shoot a machine gun.
I'm a gun control advocate."
2728
02:44:12,840 --> 02:44:14,480
I said, "Have you ever shot
a machine gun?"
2729
02:44:14,720 --> 02:44:15,700
She says, "No."
2730
02:44:16,220 --> 02:44:18,020
I said, "Would you like to?"
2731
02:44:20,160 --> 02:44:21,800
Okay, what do I do?
2732
02:44:22,180 --> 02:44:25,840
So she stands there
and she's all fuming.
2733
02:44:26,160 --> 02:44:28,320
And she goes, "Brrrrrrrrr."
2734
02:44:30,900 --> 02:44:32,980
"That's kind of cool." Brrrrrrrrr.
2735
02:44:35,180 --> 02:44:37,640
It was its own thrill that I had to
2736
02:44:38,040 --> 02:44:43,800
use a very heavy gun that was
a machine gun, also a bazooka.
2737
02:44:45,220 --> 02:44:50,180
I needed to protect Newt,
become part of this party of soldiers
2738
02:44:50,300 --> 02:44:54,100
to the extent that
our survival depended on it.
2739
02:44:55,520 --> 02:44:58,580
But she was always uneasy
with that part of the character.
2740
02:44:58,900 --> 02:45:00,520
So then I had to trace it back
and said, "Look,
2741
02:45:00,900 --> 02:45:02,220
Ripley's never fired a machine gun,
2742
02:45:02,260 --> 02:45:04,460
so this is perfect,
this is perfect for you.
2743
02:45:04,740 --> 02:45:09,100
Just remember that reaction
and that hesitation,
2744
02:45:09,340 --> 02:45:11,530
because where does
conflict in films come from?
2745
02:45:11,560 --> 02:45:14,360
When people are forced to do things
that are outside of their
2746
02:45:14,680 --> 02:45:17,920
normal modes of behavior
for a greater reason."
2747
02:45:21,000 --> 02:45:24,700
I was also coming off Terminator,
so there would be guns.
2748
02:45:24,800 --> 02:45:25,900
There must be guns.
2749
02:45:28,560 --> 02:45:31,430
At that point in my life,
in my career at least,
2750
02:45:31,460 --> 02:45:35,480
I was more than happy to fetishize
good weapon handling
2751
02:45:35,520 --> 02:45:37,690
and peace through superior firepower.
2752
02:45:37,720 --> 02:45:38,760
10 millimeter.
2753
02:45:38,940 --> 02:45:42,840
With an over-and-under 30 millimeter
pump-action grenade launcher.
2754
02:45:43,230 --> 02:45:44,230
Feel the weight.
2755
02:45:45,440 --> 02:45:48,540
{\an8}The sound the Pulse Rifles make,
that popping sound.
2756
02:45:50,660 --> 02:45:52,960
-Come on, come on.
-Get up!
2757
02:45:53,040 --> 02:45:55,840
It's a Thompson machine gun, isn't it,
attached to a shotgun
2758
02:45:55,880 --> 02:45:57,780
with a little sci-fi coating on it.
2759
02:46:00,100 --> 02:46:01,520
So it's quite a basic thing.
2760
02:46:01,760 --> 02:46:04,680
But in changing the sound of it,
in changing the grammar
2761
02:46:04,840 --> 02:46:07,400
of what we perceive as a modern firearm,
2762
02:46:07,560 --> 02:46:09,610
it makes a slightly
high pitch popping sound.
2763
02:46:09,640 --> 02:46:11,600
It's an irregular popping sound,
it stutters.
2764
02:46:14,680 --> 02:46:16,720
It made it feel special.
2765
02:46:16,760 --> 02:46:18,000
It made it feel distinct in a way
2766
02:46:18,030 --> 02:46:20,120
that I don't think any sci-fi weapon
ever really has.
2767
02:46:22,580 --> 02:46:25,340
Every time they fired the machine gun,
the strobes went off.
2768
02:46:25,580 --> 02:46:29,060
So it became very stroboscopic
and impressionistic.
2769
02:46:30,900 --> 02:46:33,300
It was great
how they held the weapons too.
2770
02:46:33,580 --> 02:46:35,220
Because there was weight to those weapons,
2771
02:46:35,260 --> 02:46:37,220
you could tell how the actors
were carrying them.
2772
02:46:38,740 --> 02:46:40,800
{\an8}Those weapons they came up with,
2773
02:46:40,880 --> 02:46:44,180
the prop department did
such a beautiful job with all that.
2774
02:46:44,920 --> 02:46:47,430
I got to hold some of those weapons
as a young boy,
2775
02:46:47,460 --> 02:46:49,260
{\an8}and that'll really puff out your chest.
2776
02:46:49,320 --> 02:46:53,120
{\an8}Hold one of those Pulse Rifles. Yeah. Woo!
2777
02:46:53,200 --> 02:46:55,120
I mean, it was awesome.
2778
02:47:02,100 --> 02:47:05,860
{\an8}In terms of the look of the film
and the cinematography, lighting,
2779
02:47:06,160 --> 02:47:09,260
like everything on the film,
it all went through Cameron.
2780
02:47:11,860 --> 02:47:13,400
We hired Adrian Biddle.
2781
02:47:13,580 --> 02:47:15,560
He had worked with Ridley
on a lot of commercials,
2782
02:47:15,900 --> 02:47:19,740
{\an8}so I figured he would know
the kind of the DNA of the style,
2783
02:47:20,140 --> 02:47:22,920
{\an8}but he'd never made a feature,
so it was a bit of a bold move.
2784
02:47:24,720 --> 02:47:26,130
And he said, "How are we gonna do this?"
2785
02:47:26,200 --> 02:47:29,820
I said, "I've built a lot of lighting
into the set.
2786
02:47:30,320 --> 02:47:31,940
Can you just use that?"
2787
02:47:33,060 --> 02:47:37,180
Instead of lighting every shot perfectly,
painting every shot.
2788
02:47:37,320 --> 02:47:39,200
He said,
"All right, we'll go with the source."
2789
02:47:39,720 --> 02:47:41,320
There's movement all over the place.
2790
02:47:41,420 --> 02:47:42,820
Get back to operations.
2791
02:47:43,840 --> 02:47:45,080
It's game time.
2792
02:47:45,720 --> 02:47:49,460
{\an8}Jim's style, he calls it tech noir.
2793
02:47:50,000 --> 02:47:51,280
{\an8}I think that's appropriate.
2794
02:47:51,540 --> 02:47:54,300
{\an8}The Terminator has sort of set that tone.
2795
02:47:54,580 --> 02:47:56,240
{\an8}There was something fresh about it,
2796
02:47:56,280 --> 02:47:58,980
{\an8}something right
on the cutting edge about it.
2797
02:48:00,200 --> 02:48:03,800
Jim's color palette choices are very Jim.
2798
02:48:04,120 --> 02:48:07,840
The blues and also some great deep reds.
2799
02:48:08,270 --> 02:48:09,300
What are you doing, Harry?
2800
02:48:09,760 --> 02:48:11,480
Just giving her a little assignment.
2801
02:48:13,980 --> 02:48:18,730
He plays a lot with color
and the noir aspect.
2802
02:48:18,980 --> 02:48:22,520
He does go into the darker
realms of things.
2803
02:48:44,620 --> 02:48:47,570
{\an8}The music is almost everything to this.
2804
02:48:49,040 --> 02:48:53,880
Horner makes the strings feel
strange and alien and ethereal,
2805
02:48:53,920 --> 02:48:55,300
and it adds to a sense of unease.
2806
02:49:01,120 --> 02:49:03,840
You have that very military percussive.
2807
02:49:03,880 --> 02:49:05,360
In fact, the Special Edition soundtrack
2808
02:49:05,440 --> 02:49:07,640
has the percussion only versions
of a couple of the tracks,
2809
02:49:07,800 --> 02:49:08,960
and they're absolutely beautiful.
2810
02:49:16,740 --> 02:49:18,760
And it has that constant rhythm to it.
2811
02:49:24,820 --> 02:49:27,280
The Horner score for this is one
of my all-time favorite scores.
2812
02:49:27,320 --> 02:49:30,360
And it blows my mind that
when Cameron heard it, he didn't like it.
2813
02:49:30,640 --> 02:49:32,820
The idea that he was
sitting there chopping it up.
2814
02:49:39,920 --> 02:49:43,040
{\an8}I was the re-recording mixer
at Pinewood Studios.
2815
02:49:44,840 --> 02:49:47,990
We actually did some night work
in another theater
2816
02:49:48,020 --> 02:49:53,000
with another Pinewood mixer
who actually mixed down the musics
2817
02:49:53,200 --> 02:49:57,380
because James had made a lot of changes
to James Horner's music.
2818
02:49:58,880 --> 02:50:03,300
I think it's fairly common knowledge
he was not happy with the score,
2819
02:50:03,540 --> 02:50:05,940
and he in fact, repeated a lot of it.
2820
02:50:08,680 --> 02:50:11,420
The most dramatic action piece,
which we called Anvils
2821
02:50:11,640 --> 02:50:13,880
is played several times.
2822
02:50:20,960 --> 02:50:21,840
But it works.
2823
02:50:25,000 --> 02:50:26,330
He moved it around a lot.
2824
02:50:26,680 --> 02:50:28,360
I think he fell out with James Horner.
2825
02:50:28,500 --> 02:50:31,620
James Horner was nominated
for his music on Aliens.
2826
02:50:32,040 --> 02:50:34,000
So it couldn't have been that bad.
2827
02:50:34,100 --> 02:50:36,650
The nominees
for the best original score are,
2828
02:50:36,680 --> 02:50:38,560
I think I'll stand up
straight for this one.
2829
02:50:39,500 --> 02:50:41,460
For Aliens, James Horner.
2830
02:50:41,680 --> 02:50:44,510
{\an8}Oh, one of my all time favorite interviews
I ever conducted was with James Horner
2831
02:50:44,540 --> 02:50:48,020
{\an8}because he was so eloquent
and candid about the whole experience.
2832
02:50:48,680 --> 02:50:51,500
And he basically said, "Look,
given the situation he was in,
2833
02:50:51,780 --> 02:50:54,290
it wasn't even creative anymore,
it was mathematical."
2834
02:50:54,320 --> 02:50:56,340
It's like he had to make his notes
2835
02:50:56,620 --> 02:50:58,780
work for the cuts
that were happening in the film.
2836
02:51:02,820 --> 02:51:08,130
Having said that, he created
one of the most iconic pieces of music
2837
02:51:08,440 --> 02:51:11,900
that's been used in trailers
so many times.
2838
02:51:11,940 --> 02:51:13,010
Bishop's Countdown.
2839
02:51:15,360 --> 02:51:16,520
We might be in trouble.
2840
02:51:20,480 --> 02:51:21,670
I know you've been out.
2841
02:51:21,700 --> 02:51:23,530
Somebody tell me
what the hell is going on.
2842
02:51:23,560 --> 02:51:25,690
There's got to be something speeding this.
2843
02:51:25,720 --> 02:51:27,340
We're gonna punch through.
2844
02:51:27,500 --> 02:51:31,440
That is such an amazing piece
of not only action music,
2845
02:51:31,480 --> 02:51:33,520
but it is cathartic, it's climactic.
2846
02:51:40,560 --> 02:51:47,220
There's another bit that was taken from
the first Alien – Jerry Goldsmith cue
2847
02:51:47,340 --> 02:51:50,200
where the mother appears
at the bottom of the lift.
2848
02:51:55,360 --> 02:51:57,680
A lot of the atmospheres
were created by the music.
2849
02:51:57,760 --> 02:52:01,100
And the great thing was that James
allowed us to go quiet.
2850
02:52:07,620 --> 02:52:12,970
Silences or near silences
can be so powerful.
2851
02:52:13,000 --> 02:52:15,980
I think of two instances in the film
2852
02:52:16,320 --> 02:52:21,300
when Newt is stuck under the floor
and her fingers come through the grate.
2853
02:52:21,960 --> 02:52:25,400
There are about four or five frames
of almost silence there,
2854
02:52:27,980 --> 02:52:29,060
Ripley!
2855
02:52:29,200 --> 02:52:32,460
And similarly,
when she's being carried by Ripley.
2856
02:52:36,280 --> 02:52:39,710
{\an8}As a 15-year-old boy
2857
02:52:40,500 --> 02:52:43,580
{\an8}discovering that your dad
is going to be doing the sequel
2858
02:52:43,640 --> 02:52:47,720
to one of the great horror films
of all time, it's pretty exciting.
2859
02:52:48,560 --> 02:52:53,420
I was so thrilled to have
the opportunity to work at the studio
2860
02:52:53,880 --> 02:52:56,820
in Los Angeles
before the crew moved to London.
2861
02:52:58,340 --> 02:53:00,800
I was working
in the mold shop sweeping up,
2862
02:53:00,920 --> 02:53:04,180
and I got to see the new xenomorphs
2863
02:53:04,280 --> 02:53:07,360
and the Alien Queen and all those
other characters come to life.
2864
02:53:08,720 --> 02:53:11,600
And then Stan told the family,
"Hey, we're all moving to London.
2865
02:53:11,700 --> 02:53:12,850
This is gonna be a long shoot."
2866
02:53:14,960 --> 02:53:16,740
From what I understand of James Cameron,
2867
02:53:16,840 --> 02:53:20,000
he didn't use
H.R. Giger's design in Aliens
2868
02:53:20,480 --> 02:53:22,080
because it simply didn't occur to him.
2869
02:53:22,360 --> 02:53:26,080
He almost didn't want
to have any objections.
2870
02:53:26,180 --> 02:53:29,110
{\an8}It's my movie and I'm an artist,
I'm a designer myself.
2871
02:53:29,140 --> 02:53:31,680
{\an8}I had such very specific and clear ideas
2872
02:53:33,080 --> 02:53:36,120
and I did manage to ultimately
sort of apologize for that.
2873
02:53:36,320 --> 02:53:37,660
Because I had heard
through the grapevine
2874
02:53:37,690 --> 02:53:40,500
that he was pretty upset
that he wasn't asked back.
2875
02:53:45,900 --> 02:53:50,360
So Stan and James Cameron met
and collaborated together
2876
02:53:50,440 --> 02:53:51,980
on the first Terminator.
2877
02:53:52,600 --> 02:53:55,460
There was an instant, instant connection,
2878
02:53:55,820 --> 02:53:59,120
an instant understanding
that went both ways.
2879
02:53:59,620 --> 02:54:03,660
Here was someone who had
very high artistic standards,
2880
02:54:03,740 --> 02:54:07,000
great ambition, and had giant cojones.
2881
02:54:08,940 --> 02:54:11,620
The thing I loved about Stan
was his enthusiasm.
2882
02:54:11,920 --> 02:54:14,700
When he saw an idea that he liked,
2883
02:54:15,480 --> 02:54:17,720
man, nothing would stand in his way.
2884
02:54:20,360 --> 02:54:23,020
Whenever you would come
to Stan Winston studio,
2885
02:54:23,100 --> 02:54:25,860
you wouldn't see reference
images of monsters.
2886
02:54:26,060 --> 02:54:31,060
You'd see reference images of insects
and creatures from the real world.
2887
02:54:31,680 --> 02:54:34,960
Of course, H.R. Giger's reference
was the primary reference.
2888
02:54:35,320 --> 02:54:40,140
But for example,
with the facehugger autopsy scene,
2889
02:54:40,340 --> 02:54:44,120
they used actual chicken livers
and chicken skin.
2890
02:54:45,810 --> 02:54:50,480
{\an8}We got one of the original
facehuggers to use as reference.
2891
02:54:51,040 --> 02:54:54,120
And this was a little puppet
that was built by Roger Dicken.
2892
02:54:55,420 --> 02:54:59,520
Roger Dicken I think is an unsung hero
on the Alien films,
2893
02:55:00,300 --> 02:55:05,020
and maybe that's okay
because Giger was the genius behind it.
2894
02:55:05,100 --> 02:55:07,840
But Roger Dicken was certainly a demigod,
2895
02:55:08,280 --> 02:55:10,580
and the way he built it
was very effective.
2896
02:55:10,620 --> 02:55:12,840
He used a lot of untinted latex.
2897
02:55:13,160 --> 02:55:15,420
Our job was to make it much more active.
2898
02:55:16,440 --> 02:55:18,160
When I look at my sculpture,
2899
02:55:18,760 --> 02:55:22,700
I think it's a less elegant
version of what was in the first film.
2900
02:55:24,620 --> 02:55:28,320
The facehuggers in Aliens can do way more
2901
02:55:28,580 --> 02:55:31,600
than the facehugger did in Alien.
2902
02:55:31,820 --> 02:55:33,860
Facehugger in Alien
didn't do much of anything.
2903
02:55:37,160 --> 02:55:39,180
It popped out of the egg.
2904
02:55:39,300 --> 02:55:42,940
And then we see it static
on John Hurt's face.
2905
02:55:43,100 --> 02:55:47,220
There's a moment where they try
and take it off and the the tail tightens.
2906
02:55:47,460 --> 02:55:49,500
It's tightening its tail.
2907
02:55:49,540 --> 02:55:50,580
I know.
2908
02:55:50,800 --> 02:55:55,140
The facehuggers in Aliens
were all over the place.
2909
02:55:55,380 --> 02:55:56,620
They were leaping,
2910
02:55:58,140 --> 02:55:59,170
scurrying,
2911
02:56:01,060 --> 02:56:05,480
terrorizing Sigourney Weaver
and Carrie Henn
2912
02:56:05,600 --> 02:56:07,840
in that medical laboratory scene.
2913
02:56:09,520 --> 02:56:12,880
And that required an enormous
amount of ingenuity.
2914
02:56:18,000 --> 02:56:19,840
We wanted to go the next step
2915
02:56:19,920 --> 02:56:23,660
towards some kind of realism or some
kind of performance that wasn't expected.
2916
02:56:26,420 --> 02:56:28,480
What they did is they built
a bunch of puppets
2917
02:56:28,520 --> 02:56:30,240
that could each do a different thing.
2918
02:56:31,960 --> 02:56:35,570
That horrible inseminator organ
starts sucking
2919
02:56:35,580 --> 02:56:37,140
and the tail's whipping around.
2920
02:56:37,420 --> 02:56:41,840
That was one puppet that was
primarily cable operated.
2921
02:56:43,520 --> 02:56:45,300
In terms of the lifecycle,
2922
02:56:45,840 --> 02:56:47,420
going back to Cameron's script,
2923
02:56:47,460 --> 02:56:50,740
now we get to see the tubule come out.
2924
02:56:50,880 --> 02:56:52,700
And I think it likes you at that moment.
2925
02:56:53,220 --> 02:56:55,620
It looks like love at first sight to me.
2926
02:56:56,160 --> 02:56:59,230
{\an8}Working with the facehuggers
was interesting.
2927
02:56:59,260 --> 02:57:01,820
{\an8}They're almost like remote control cars,
2928
02:57:02,220 --> 02:57:04,000
but they were a little bit
more intricate than that.
2929
02:57:04,100 --> 02:57:06,220
I was really lucky because Stan Winston,
2930
02:57:06,280 --> 02:57:09,940
he went out of his way to make sure
I knew how everything worked.
2931
02:57:10,940 --> 02:57:14,500
Same techniques that be used to pull off
one of these old school pull toys.
2932
02:57:14,740 --> 02:57:18,020
You pull along
your toy and the the legs move.
2933
02:57:18,760 --> 02:57:22,780
A series of legs will move
in a very organic way on either side.
2934
02:57:23,900 --> 02:57:28,160
{\an8}And then we saw a facehugger jump up on
a piece of an overturn table or something.
2935
02:57:28,320 --> 02:57:30,940
It jumps up, it pauses,
and then it jumps forward.
2936
02:57:34,480 --> 02:57:37,160
Beautiful choreography
for some weird creature.
2937
02:57:42,140 --> 02:57:45,280
{\an8}The Company wanted this creature
back for their weapons division.
2938
02:57:45,560 --> 02:57:47,300
{\an8}And they didn't care how they did it.
2939
02:57:47,500 --> 02:57:48,610
They didn't care.
2940
02:57:49,220 --> 02:57:52,340
And that was embodied
in the character of Carter Burke.
2941
02:57:54,480 --> 02:57:56,920
{\an8}By all reasonable measures
2942
02:57:57,060 --> 02:57:59,280
{\an8}I had no business being in the movie.
2943
02:58:00,020 --> 02:58:02,980
My friends would say,
"Really? They got you?"
2944
02:58:03,300 --> 02:58:06,040
What's your interest in all this?
Why are you going?
2945
02:58:06,300 --> 02:58:09,880
Corporation co-financed that colony
along with colonial administration.
2946
02:58:09,980 --> 02:58:13,070
I had seen the first Alien
and I had seen Terminator,
2947
02:58:13,100 --> 02:58:15,280
so I knew this was gonna be great.
2948
02:58:15,380 --> 02:58:18,820
Then I read the script
and it was breathtaking to read.
2949
02:58:19,120 --> 02:58:23,020
It's the only script I can
ever remember feeling moved
2950
02:58:23,160 --> 02:58:25,530
as if I was watching something
but just from the page
2951
02:58:25,560 --> 02:58:32,280
because he wrote it very cinematic
and almost haiku.
2952
02:58:32,980 --> 02:58:35,720
He wouldn't use a sentence
if a word would suffice.
2953
02:58:35,800 --> 02:58:37,840
And I thought,
"Well, this is gonna be a huge hit,
2954
02:58:37,940 --> 02:58:41,740
and it's ridiculous
that I've been even considered."
2955
02:58:42,010 --> 02:58:43,460
I think it's great
that you're keeping busy.
2956
02:58:44,060 --> 02:58:46,020
And I know it's the only thing
that you could get.
2957
02:58:46,480 --> 02:58:47,700
There's nothing wrong with it.
2958
02:58:48,010 --> 02:58:51,460
{\an8}The fact that they let Cameron
cast a comic, essentially,
2959
02:58:51,660 --> 02:58:54,460
{\an8}to play this villainous character,
this corporate goon,
2960
02:58:54,560 --> 02:58:57,080
and everyone just knows him from comedy,
he was a standup.
2961
02:58:57,220 --> 02:58:59,240
Because you do it all day,
you have plans for lunch?
2962
02:58:59,330 --> 02:59:00,370
I don't know.
2963
02:59:00,400 --> 02:59:01,880
How about supper? I don't know.
2964
02:59:01,920 --> 02:59:04,560
What are you doing this weekend?
Stop asking me. You're killing me.
2965
02:59:04,600 --> 02:59:07,240
When I met Jim Cameron,
I think he had seen
2966
02:59:07,580 --> 02:59:09,680
the little bit that I did
in Beverly Hills Cop.
2967
02:59:09,730 --> 02:59:10,820
-You want my advice?
-No.
2968
02:59:10,850 --> 02:59:11,830
You know what I would do if I was you?
2969
02:59:11,860 --> 02:59:14,240
-No, I don't.
-Go in there, talk and be right back.
2970
02:59:14,500 --> 02:59:16,060
Get away from me.
I'm gonna shoot you, all right?
2971
02:59:16,220 --> 02:59:19,240
And my understanding of his logic was
2972
02:59:19,460 --> 02:59:23,540
he wanted somebody to play Burke
who would not look suspicious,
2973
02:59:23,700 --> 02:59:25,180
somebody who was amiable.
2974
02:59:25,360 --> 02:59:28,450
But I think people looked at the film
and the minute I came on,
2975
02:59:28,480 --> 02:59:29,800
they go, "This is not right."
2976
02:59:29,840 --> 02:59:30,870
Hey, come here.
2977
02:59:30,920 --> 02:59:32,400
Because he was the company guy.
2978
02:59:32,540 --> 02:59:35,840
And so we were all conditioned
to not trust The Man
2979
02:59:36,340 --> 02:59:39,430
as young and unctous as he may have been.
2980
02:59:39,460 --> 02:59:42,200
They tell me that all the weakness
and disorientation should pass soon.
2981
02:59:42,240 --> 02:59:46,440
That's just natural side effects
of such an unusually long hypersleep.
2982
02:59:46,680 --> 02:59:48,380
{\an8}And he's a very eighties character.
2983
02:59:48,420 --> 02:59:53,560
{\an8}The way he looks,
the vests and the collar up and the hair,
2984
02:59:53,820 --> 02:59:55,380
he's very eighties.
2985
02:59:55,580 --> 02:59:57,890
And that's probably one of the things
that maybe dates the film
2986
02:59:57,920 --> 02:59:59,230
a little bit is just the way Burke looks.
2987
02:59:59,260 --> 03:00:02,900
He almost looks like
he could hang out with Marty McFly.
2988
03:00:05,040 --> 03:00:07,000
To him, it's a hunting trip.
2989
03:00:07,340 --> 03:00:10,820
So he's got a flannel shirt
and some sort of vest
2990
03:00:10,940 --> 03:00:13,870
and he should be dressed
ridiculously wrong,
2991
03:00:13,900 --> 03:00:16,900
compared to all the other guys
with their gear.
2992
03:00:17,040 --> 03:00:18,280
All these guys had their stuff
2993
03:00:18,620 --> 03:00:21,290
and I was envious
like they're getting to play cowboys
2994
03:00:21,320 --> 03:00:23,840
and they got guns and dings
and I had nothing.
2995
03:00:24,000 --> 03:00:26,120
{\an8}And I said,
"Well, I'm gonna carry a Filofax,"
2996
03:00:26,150 --> 03:00:27,960
which sounds so dated now
2997
03:00:28,960 --> 03:00:31,880
from the prop department,
and we picked this would be the right size
2998
03:00:31,920 --> 03:00:32,850
and the right color.
2999
03:00:32,980 --> 03:00:36,320
And before I shot my first scene,
I remember Jim Cameron going,
3000
03:00:36,680 --> 03:00:37,740
"Think really careful,
3001
03:00:37,900 --> 03:00:42,100
do you want to carry this, because you're
gonna be holding it every scene."
3002
03:00:42,380 --> 03:00:44,070
To me it was just the funniness of it
3003
03:00:44,100 --> 03:00:48,640
that everyone's going to battle,
I have, "Well, I'm gonna take some notes."
3004
03:00:51,520 --> 03:00:54,550
{\an8}If you look
at the Alan Dean Foster novelization,
3005
03:00:54,580 --> 03:00:58,040
{\an8}we get a sense of what's
going on in Ripley's mind
3006
03:00:58,300 --> 03:01:00,030
and she actually makes a point of thought
3007
03:01:00,060 --> 03:01:02,300
to recognize Burke
as being kind of handsome
3008
03:01:02,460 --> 03:01:04,820
and she kind of pushes that thought away.
3009
03:01:05,020 --> 03:01:08,060
Another interesting way the novelization
3010
03:01:08,320 --> 03:01:10,640
plays with her perception of Burke
3011
03:01:10,960 --> 03:01:15,260
is that he's not even perceived
as a human by the end of it.
3012
03:01:15,640 --> 03:01:19,880
He's actually only referred to
as The Company representative.
3013
03:01:33,940 --> 03:01:36,330
Word got around in the publishing industry
3014
03:01:36,360 --> 03:01:39,220
{\an8}that I apparently could do a good job
with these things.
3015
03:01:39,980 --> 03:01:43,040
The Star Trek Logs,
that was the animated Star Trek.
3016
03:01:43,440 --> 03:01:46,140
John Carpenter's first film, Dark Star,
3017
03:01:46,900 --> 03:01:50,060
a little thing called Star Wars
that nobody knew anything about.
3018
03:01:51,200 --> 03:01:54,580
{\an8}When Warner Books got the rights
to do the book version
3019
03:01:54,610 --> 03:01:57,900
of a new horror-science
fiction film called Alien,
3020
03:01:58,340 --> 03:02:01,480
I said, "Yes." I was asked to do Aliens.
3021
03:02:01,580 --> 03:02:03,180
And then I got the screenplay
and I thought,
3022
03:02:03,220 --> 03:02:05,300
"Well, this makes perfect sense."
3023
03:02:05,620 --> 03:02:07,460
The first film is about atmosphere.
3024
03:02:07,880 --> 03:02:09,500
The second film is about action.
3025
03:02:09,600 --> 03:02:12,340
And it was much easier
to do the novelization.
3026
03:02:14,200 --> 03:02:15,940
The screenplay was much more descriptive.
3027
03:02:16,660 --> 03:02:18,280
It didn't just say "spaceship."
3028
03:02:19,180 --> 03:02:21,240
Somebody at Warner Books at that time
3029
03:02:21,460 --> 03:02:23,720
had decided
that the book would sell better
3030
03:02:24,120 --> 03:02:27,520
among teenagers
if the curse words were taken out.
3031
03:02:28,360 --> 03:02:30,630
I suppose the logic being that teenagers
3032
03:02:30,660 --> 03:02:32,960
never heard such words
and would be shocked by them
3033
03:02:33,040 --> 03:02:34,680
Pendejo jerk-off.
3034
03:02:35,140 --> 03:02:36,840
All of that was taken out of the book.
3035
03:02:37,260 --> 03:02:39,640
And the ultimate scene in the book,
3036
03:02:39,700 --> 03:02:42,400
which is Ripley's great line to the Queen,
3037
03:02:42,430 --> 03:02:43,680
"Get away from her, you bitch,"
3038
03:02:44,040 --> 03:02:46,600
was changed to something
entirely innocuous,
3039
03:02:47,360 --> 03:02:50,080
which really hurts the scene.
3040
03:02:51,480 --> 03:02:55,380
My feeling is if the reader doesn't get
at least a third original material,
3041
03:02:55,790 --> 03:02:57,160
then they're wasting their money.
3042
03:02:59,380 --> 03:03:02,020
One of the main things
is the thoughts of the characters.
3043
03:03:02,980 --> 03:03:05,600
I can go inside Ripley's head
and inside Newt's head
3044
03:03:05,640 --> 03:03:08,860
and inside the heads
of all of the main characters
3045
03:03:09,390 --> 03:03:11,180
and also with our major villain, Burke.
3046
03:03:11,720 --> 03:03:14,980
Why is he such a bad guy?
He's obviously just a corporate shill.
3047
03:03:15,560 --> 03:03:18,420
And why is a corporate shill
a corporate shill?
3048
03:03:18,820 --> 03:03:21,980
Is he inherently evil?
Is he just doing it for his job?
3049
03:03:22,160 --> 03:03:24,880
I thought you'd be smarter than this.
3050
03:03:26,200 --> 03:03:27,720
I'm happy to disappoint you.
3051
03:03:30,740 --> 03:03:33,990
Burke is really more
a symptom of the problem
3052
03:03:34,020 --> 03:03:35,250
rather than the cause of it.
3053
03:03:35,660 --> 03:03:37,840
There are a thousand different Burkes
3054
03:03:37,940 --> 03:03:41,820
that could have made
their way onto planet LV-426.
3055
03:03:42,180 --> 03:03:44,130
There are a million
different company reps
3056
03:03:44,160 --> 03:03:46,320
that would've done
exactly the same as him.
3057
03:03:46,650 --> 03:03:49,500
It's ultimately more about this company
3058
03:03:49,860 --> 03:03:55,320
and the attitude that it has
towards finding this specimen.
3059
03:03:55,460 --> 03:03:57,120
You're crazy Burke. Do you know that?
3060
03:03:57,280 --> 03:03:59,740
And I remember vividly
when the film came out,
3061
03:04:00,200 --> 03:04:03,620
{\an8}how much people hated him.
3062
03:04:03,930 --> 03:04:05,730
{\an8}They didn't hate Paul Reiser.
Paul Reiser was great.
3063
03:04:05,760 --> 03:04:07,420
These people are dead, Burke!
3064
03:04:07,720 --> 03:04:09,660
Don't you have any idea
what you've done here?
3065
03:04:09,700 --> 03:04:11,970
It's just like everyone
really had it out for Burke
3066
03:04:12,000 --> 03:04:13,040
but that was his job.
3067
03:04:13,280 --> 03:04:14,300
It was Burke.
3068
03:04:17,300 --> 03:04:20,500
I say we grease this rat fuck
son of a bitch right now.
3069
03:04:20,580 --> 03:04:25,760
{\an8}And I still don't think that Burke went
up there with necessarily bad intentions.
3070
03:04:25,840 --> 03:04:29,740
In the heat of the moment,
you make horrendously wrong moral choices.
3071
03:04:29,900 --> 03:04:32,620
But I don't think
that was necessarily his intent.
3072
03:04:32,860 --> 03:04:34,850
-You sent them to that ship.
-You are wrong.
3073
03:04:34,880 --> 03:04:38,680
I just checked the colony log,
directive dated 6-12-79,
3074
03:04:38,720 --> 03:04:40,180
signed Burke, Carter J.
3075
03:04:40,340 --> 03:04:41,850
For years, my running joke was,
3076
03:04:41,880 --> 03:04:43,740
people say,
"How was it to play a bad guy?"
3077
03:04:44,120 --> 03:04:47,320
And my joke was, "You say bad,
I say misunderstood."
3078
03:04:47,640 --> 03:04:50,740
I think he was young
and hustling and trying to
3079
03:04:50,920 --> 03:04:54,020
climb up the corporate ladder
and do what you gotta do.
3080
03:04:54,240 --> 03:04:58,380
And in that frame of mind,
people often stray down the wrong path.
3081
03:04:59,380 --> 03:05:00,480
It was a bad call.
3082
03:05:00,730 --> 03:05:02,340
It was a bad call.
3083
03:05:02,820 --> 03:05:04,400
It was a bad call, Ripley.
3084
03:05:04,560 --> 03:05:07,120
{\an8}Burke is sitting in the chair
and everyone's standing around him
3085
03:05:07,160 --> 03:05:08,780
{\an8}and everyone's talking about him.
3086
03:05:08,820 --> 03:05:12,080
He figured that he could get
an alien back through quarantine
3087
03:05:12,840 --> 03:05:15,640
if one of us was impregnated.
3088
03:05:16,540 --> 03:05:22,000
{\an8}There's this realization between everyone
who's really the alien in the midst.
3089
03:05:23,540 --> 03:05:28,320
The one lie that I felt was so evil,
because it was so not evil sounding
3090
03:05:28,430 --> 03:05:29,450
was he goes-
3091
03:05:29,500 --> 03:05:31,040
This is so nuts.
3092
03:05:31,260 --> 03:05:33,880
I mean, listen,
listen to what you're saying.
3093
03:05:34,380 --> 03:05:35,980
It's paranoid delusion.
3094
03:05:36,120 --> 03:05:40,880
It's like, "Oh, my god, that's so bad."
3095
03:05:41,060 --> 03:05:42,100
It's really sad.
3096
03:05:44,520 --> 03:05:45,570
It's pathetic.
3097
03:05:45,620 --> 03:05:48,360
He's just lying. He's just lying.
3098
03:05:48,720 --> 03:05:50,840
And at what expense?
3099
03:05:51,220 --> 03:05:53,820
-All right, we waste him. No offense.
-No!
3100
03:06:06,400 --> 03:06:07,500
Seven.
3101
03:06:09,590 --> 03:06:10,610
Six.
3102
03:06:10,640 --> 03:06:12,300
It can't be, that's inside the room.
3103
03:06:12,400 --> 03:06:14,560
{\an8}There's movement in the corridors,
signal's clean.
3104
03:06:14,630 --> 03:06:15,700
Signal's clean.
3105
03:06:15,760 --> 03:06:18,350
{\an8}Range 20 meters,
and it's like, "Five meters, man."
3106
03:06:18,380 --> 03:06:21,560
"Four. What the hell?"
And you are so afraid.
3107
03:06:21,820 --> 03:06:22,820
So afraid.
3108
03:06:23,000 --> 03:06:24,080
Let's go.
3109
03:06:25,760 --> 03:06:27,420
-13 meters.
-That's right outside the door.
3110
03:06:27,460 --> 03:06:30,080
-Hicks, Vasquez, get back.
-And it's a big fucking signal.
3111
03:06:30,280 --> 03:06:32,200
{\an8}The idea of these location trackers
3112
03:06:32,240 --> 03:06:35,540
{\an8}becoming almost characters
as the aliens creep up on them.
3113
03:06:35,700 --> 03:06:36,860
Classic horror movie riff.
3114
03:06:36,940 --> 03:06:39,140
-Then they're right on us.
-9 meters.
3115
03:06:39,840 --> 03:06:41,560
Remember short controlled bursts.
3116
03:06:41,640 --> 03:06:45,660
{\an8}It obviously had its own
language of tension
3117
03:06:45,880 --> 03:06:50,140
and it was a sound that was such
that it cut through everything else
3118
03:06:50,180 --> 03:06:52,660
so we didn't have to make holes for It.
3119
03:06:52,840 --> 03:06:54,200
{\an8}The motion tracker is very simple.
3120
03:06:54,580 --> 03:06:55,600
Ridley did it.
3121
03:06:56,620 --> 03:06:59,280
Oh, God, it's moving right towards you.
3122
03:06:59,480 --> 03:07:01,120
Micro changes in air density.
3123
03:07:01,460 --> 03:07:04,120
Micro changes in air density.
3124
03:07:04,280 --> 03:07:05,580
Now you see the thing getting closer.
3125
03:07:05,740 --> 03:07:09,200
I just took it and incorporated
the idea of thermal imaging.
3126
03:07:09,240 --> 03:07:11,480
So I went to the idea of military optics.
3127
03:07:12,130 --> 03:07:13,380
To me, that's a motif.
3128
03:07:13,680 --> 03:07:17,780
That's a strand of DNA that just flowed
directly out of Alien into Aliens.
3129
03:07:22,560 --> 03:07:24,860
Hicks goes up and he looks
through the dropped ceiling
3130
03:07:24,900 --> 03:07:27,120
{\an8}and aliens are crawling
and that shot of aliens
3131
03:07:27,660 --> 03:07:31,140
{\an8}crawling above the ceiling
was shot vertically.
3132
03:07:32,660 --> 03:07:35,260
It's such a cool shot
that totally enhanced
3133
03:07:35,620 --> 03:07:37,140
the reality of their predicament.
3134
03:07:40,720 --> 03:07:42,780
The audience never got a chance to see
3135
03:07:43,020 --> 03:07:45,260
something that might
have looked fake to them.
3136
03:07:46,370 --> 03:07:50,720
It was just an image that they had
to tweak themselves to make it work.
3137
03:07:52,660 --> 03:07:55,020
{\an8}That's the thing more than anything
3138
03:07:55,500 --> 03:07:59,880
{\an8}that sets apart the xenomorphs
from Aliens from the original film.
3139
03:08:00,000 --> 03:08:03,920
They move in a way
that a human never could.
3140
03:08:08,600 --> 03:08:13,580
{\an8}This script had so much stunt work,
so many active aliens
3141
03:08:14,170 --> 03:08:17,440
that Stan looked at it and said,
3142
03:08:17,500 --> 03:08:21,970
"I need to go as far the opposite
direction as what Giger did
3143
03:08:22,040 --> 03:08:23,420
in terms of flexibility."
3144
03:08:23,620 --> 03:08:25,400
So in terms of construction technique,
3145
03:08:25,840 --> 03:08:29,780
it was literally black catsuits – unitards
3146
03:08:30,130 --> 03:08:33,700
with cast rubber pieces attached to it,
3147
03:08:33,940 --> 03:08:35,780
floating on it, hung on it,
3148
03:08:36,040 --> 03:08:38,520
ribcage buckled on, that sort of thing
3149
03:08:39,060 --> 03:08:42,190
so that these stunt men
could do wire work and flip
3150
03:08:42,220 --> 03:08:45,180
and do all the insane stuff
that you saw in the film.
3151
03:08:47,600 --> 03:08:51,860
{\an8}I'm very grateful
that I didn't make these movies
3152
03:08:52,260 --> 03:08:55,420
{\an8}when there was computer graphic imaging
3153
03:08:55,460 --> 03:08:59,100
because I always
had something real to work off.
3154
03:09:00,740 --> 03:09:04,220
Ripley had real things to fight.
3155
03:09:06,040 --> 03:09:10,280
They didn't even have
to look for six-foot-ten guys
3156
03:09:10,320 --> 03:09:14,360
like Bolaji Badejo was in the first Alien.
3157
03:09:14,740 --> 03:09:17,220
They just got guys
that were about six feet tall.
3158
03:09:18,200 --> 03:09:21,090
To us, when we suited them up,
they looked like dumpy aliens.
3159
03:09:21,600 --> 03:09:23,790
But Cameron would say,
"Don't worry about it.
3160
03:09:23,950 --> 03:09:25,360
You'll see how I'm gonna shoot it."
3161
03:09:28,380 --> 03:09:30,660
Instead of a big shoot out at a nightclub,
3162
03:09:30,740 --> 03:09:33,240
{\an8}it's the ceiling coming in
and all of a sudden these
3163
03:09:33,280 --> 03:09:36,580
{\an8}hideous creatures are leaping all over
the room coming straight at you.
3164
03:09:37,840 --> 03:09:41,260
I don't think we were able to do it
quite the way I saw it in my mind,
3165
03:09:41,300 --> 03:09:43,260
but when we chopped it all together,
3166
03:09:43,740 --> 03:09:46,460
it actually had this
kind of crazy kinetic,
3167
03:09:46,640 --> 03:09:48,560
almost hallucinatory quality that
3168
03:09:48,770 --> 03:09:51,900
kind of just emerged out
of almost the limitations.
3169
03:09:54,820 --> 03:09:59,460
{\an8}Well, I know as an actor
that you always use what's happening.
3170
03:10:01,400 --> 03:10:07,690
If it's a stressful, noisy, frightening,
smoke-filled situation with guns,
3171
03:10:07,720 --> 03:10:09,460
which I'm terrified of,
3172
03:10:09,800 --> 03:10:13,500
then I don't pretend
that she's not terrified.
3173
03:10:16,440 --> 03:10:20,360
I literally cut clear frames
every time that gun went off
3174
03:10:21,060 --> 03:10:24,260
so the whole image would
go white for one frame,
3175
03:10:24,670 --> 03:10:27,620
and then on some
of the strobe explosions and so on,
3176
03:10:27,940 --> 03:10:32,030
there were 50 clear frames
in that sequence,
3177
03:10:32,320 --> 03:10:33,500
and everybody thought I was nuts.
3178
03:10:33,680 --> 03:10:36,220
In my mind it was experimental cinema.
3179
03:10:42,020 --> 03:10:43,940
{\an8}The next phase, which is the infirmary,
3180
03:10:44,140 --> 03:10:46,620
{\an8}And when the aliens come in
and they're dropping down,
3181
03:10:47,060 --> 03:10:49,560
{\an8}that to me is a really, really,
really intense moment.
3182
03:10:53,680 --> 03:10:56,460
But it's also one of the most
heartbreaking scenes in the film.
3183
03:10:58,520 --> 03:11:01,920
It's the end of some of our most
sacred characters like Hudson.
3184
03:11:02,180 --> 03:11:04,780
You see him meet his end
yelling and screaming,
3185
03:11:05,000 --> 03:11:06,160
doing the best he can.
3186
03:11:23,630 --> 03:11:25,620
{\an8}When the aliens
are coming out of the ceilings
3187
03:11:25,660 --> 03:11:28,390
and he's like, "You want some,
you want some? You son of a bitch,"
3188
03:11:28,420 --> 03:11:29,550
and all this sort of stuff.
3189
03:11:32,280 --> 03:11:36,480
They went back afterwards
months later to do the looping.
3190
03:11:36,900 --> 03:11:38,400
They didn't know what he was saying.
3191
03:11:38,840 --> 03:11:43,410
The guns were going off
and Jim hadn't written some of the lines,
3192
03:11:43,440 --> 03:11:46,900
but he wanted to keep some
of the stuff that Bill had said.
3193
03:11:47,100 --> 03:11:52,400
So I think that they had a heck of a time
trying to figure out what he was saying.
3194
03:11:59,920 --> 03:12:03,080
Jim was moaning at him
because he didn't know what he said
3195
03:12:03,480 --> 03:12:04,930
and Bill was moaning back at him,
3196
03:12:04,960 --> 03:12:07,960
"Well, don't put it in the movie,
if you can't figure it out."
3197
03:12:31,960 --> 03:12:35,780
{\an8}I think it's a real mark of the quality
of Paul Reiser's performance.
3198
03:12:35,860 --> 03:12:38,840
{\an8}That the moment when Burke,
the despicable Burke
3199
03:12:39,240 --> 03:12:42,050
is finally confronted by a xenomorph,
3200
03:12:42,800 --> 03:12:46,440
the look on his face,
the pure terror in that moment,
3201
03:12:46,740 --> 03:12:48,640
you really feel sympathy for him.
3202
03:12:49,560 --> 03:12:51,780
Well, Burke died.
I go, "Well, did he die?"
3203
03:12:53,040 --> 03:12:54,080
Who's to say?
3204
03:12:56,120 --> 03:12:58,620
I dunno if you're aware of this
Marvel comic that's out now.
3205
03:12:58,700 --> 03:13:00,180
I don't even know if Jim knows about it.
3206
03:13:00,500 --> 03:13:02,100
And it's called What If: Aliens.
3207
03:13:02,190 --> 03:13:03,880
And it's literally,
what if Burke had lived.
3208
03:13:03,920 --> 03:13:06,320
And it jumps to the future,
35 years to the future,
3209
03:13:06,420 --> 03:13:10,660
and you find out there actually
might have been a noble reason
3210
03:13:10,900 --> 03:13:13,660
that he wanted to bring this thing back.
3211
03:13:14,470 --> 03:13:16,460
It went bad, no question.
3212
03:13:16,510 --> 03:13:18,500
But he wasn't intentional.
3213
03:13:19,200 --> 03:13:21,460
I find it very validating
3214
03:13:21,520 --> 03:13:25,280
because I thought, "Yeah, I told you
Burke was not necessarily a bad guy."
3215
03:13:26,640 --> 03:13:30,280
Well, we'll learn later on
a Blu-ray edition of the film
3216
03:13:30,320 --> 03:13:36,300
in a cut scene that Burke
was impregnated and was in the nest.
3217
03:13:36,330 --> 03:13:40,980
There's a whole shot of Ripley
coming through and seeing him.
3218
03:13:43,260 --> 03:13:46,800
I remember shooting that scene
and sort of dreading it
3219
03:13:47,180 --> 03:13:50,240
because just on a really physical level,
I wasn't sure
3220
03:13:50,340 --> 03:13:53,480
how gooped I was gonna be,
how creeped I was gonna be,
3221
03:13:53,640 --> 03:13:55,180
how confined I was gonna be.
3222
03:13:55,220 --> 03:13:58,060
So I was a little nervous about that.
3223
03:13:58,380 --> 03:14:01,900
But I think Jim had actually allocated
that to the second unit.
3224
03:14:01,940 --> 03:14:03,510
He was off shooting miniatures.
3225
03:14:03,540 --> 03:14:05,960
I went, "No, this is my big death scene."
3226
03:14:06,000 --> 03:14:07,980
You know, you can't, you know. All right.
3227
03:14:08,300 --> 03:14:10,260
He came, and action.
3228
03:14:16,300 --> 03:14:18,290
"Ah. Ah, cut. Okay, you're happy?"
3229
03:14:18,320 --> 03:14:20,660
There wasn't much meat.
3230
03:14:23,400 --> 03:14:24,400
Oh, God.
3231
03:14:27,140 --> 03:14:28,170
It's inside.
3232
03:14:28,220 --> 03:14:33,020
I'm sure I didn't talk him into it,
but I was disappointed
3233
03:14:33,220 --> 03:14:35,620
and I felt a little bit shunned,
just like,
3234
03:14:36,060 --> 03:14:37,660
"You're not gonna be there
for this scene?"
3235
03:14:42,040 --> 03:14:46,420
And of course being Ripley,
she's such a human character.
3236
03:14:46,520 --> 03:14:48,900
She gives him mercy,
she hands him a grenade.
3237
03:14:50,760 --> 03:14:53,160
There's no vengeance there,
she doesn't leave him to it,
3238
03:14:53,760 --> 03:14:56,220
even though he's done
all these terrible things,
3239
03:14:56,260 --> 03:14:57,620
he had this terrible plan,
3240
03:14:58,040 --> 03:15:01,020
she lets him die mercifully.
3241
03:15:06,900 --> 03:15:08,320
And it's a powerful little moment,
3242
03:15:08,520 --> 03:15:12,040
but Cameron cut it
for understandable pace reasons.
3243
03:15:12,080 --> 03:15:14,800
It just slowed down that sequence
of her getting to Newt.
3244
03:15:35,260 --> 03:15:38,100
{\an8}It was a brutal day
because everybody's in full squat
3245
03:15:38,300 --> 03:15:39,900
{\an8}in these air con ducts.
3246
03:15:42,210 --> 03:15:44,840
-Which way?
-Straight ahead and left.
3247
03:15:45,200 --> 03:15:49,180
So Gale Anne Hurd, she doubled me,
3248
03:15:49,340 --> 03:15:51,350
{\an8}they cut her in because she was very good.
3249
03:15:51,380 --> 03:15:53,370
{\an8}She knew how to shoot
and she was small like me
3250
03:15:53,400 --> 03:15:55,460
and she could wear my wardrobe.
3251
03:15:55,620 --> 03:15:59,160
There's a close-up
where she's shooting the alien.
3252
03:16:00,220 --> 03:16:04,460
{\an8}Now, when you're shooting
close-ups of a gun firing,
3253
03:16:04,500 --> 03:16:07,820
{\an8}you need to get the recoil exactly right.
3254
03:16:08,040 --> 03:16:12,060
And Jenette Goldstein
had never fired a handgun before.
3255
03:16:12,520 --> 03:16:17,080
Jim and I used to go
to shooting ranges all the time
3256
03:16:17,620 --> 03:16:21,500
and I was very good with a handgun.
3257
03:16:22,420 --> 03:16:26,840
So Jim came to me and said, "I need you to
3258
03:16:27,060 --> 03:16:32,320
put on Vasquez's wardrobe
and I need you to do a close-up."
3259
03:16:33,240 --> 03:16:39,090
So I went and did that
and I think we only did a couple takes.
3260
03:16:39,120 --> 03:16:40,260
I got it right.
3261
03:16:46,500 --> 03:16:48,940
Going back to save Vasquez.
3262
03:16:51,080 --> 03:16:52,120
What are my thoughts?
3263
03:16:52,180 --> 03:16:54,740
I did as I was told
and did the whole scene.
3264
03:16:54,940 --> 03:17:00,280
And then when you watch it and see it
in hindsight and through all these years,
3265
03:17:00,340 --> 03:17:03,080
it's an amazing moment of redemption.
3266
03:17:06,000 --> 03:17:07,980
I have friends who are veterans,
3267
03:17:08,360 --> 03:17:11,100
it's very common that people freak out
3268
03:17:11,400 --> 03:17:14,580
the first time under fire,
and Gorman got his shit together
3269
03:17:14,680 --> 03:17:16,370
and he was now a full-blown marine
3270
03:17:16,400 --> 03:17:19,300
and he was gonna go back
and rescue his fellow marines.
3271
03:17:19,360 --> 03:17:21,920
He was gonna do what a marine had to do.
3272
03:17:24,260 --> 03:17:25,410
Oftentimes in films,
3273
03:17:25,650 --> 03:17:28,220
the incompetent person
is turned into the asshole
3274
03:17:28,280 --> 03:17:30,580
{\an8}or they're kind of a running joke
for the rest of the film
3275
03:17:30,620 --> 03:17:32,440
{\an8}and they'll always be
the incompetent person.
3276
03:17:32,520 --> 03:17:35,380
{\an8}Whereas at the end
of Gorman's life in Aliens,
3277
03:17:35,760 --> 03:17:39,020
he's there with Vasquez
who wanted to kill him earlier
3278
03:17:39,300 --> 03:17:41,200
and he's there and he sticks with her
3279
03:17:41,360 --> 03:17:44,640
and he sees his mission through
to the best of his ability.
3280
03:17:44,680 --> 03:17:46,470
And I think it's a really beautiful thing.
3281
03:17:46,500 --> 03:17:49,640
You always were an asshole, Gorman.
3282
03:17:53,100 --> 03:17:57,040
To have a great death scene
is such a gift.
3283
03:17:58,820 --> 03:18:02,920
I truly wanted it to matter,
3284
03:18:04,260 --> 03:18:06,800
but of course,
you can't make something matter.
3285
03:18:07,440 --> 03:18:10,850
I just had to trust all the work
that me and William Hope
3286
03:18:10,900 --> 03:18:13,600
and everybody had done up to that point
3287
03:18:13,820 --> 03:18:19,700
would coalesce in those who were watching
the story to have it matter to them.
3288
03:18:22,860 --> 03:18:25,820
It was intense, but every day was intense.
3289
03:18:26,100 --> 03:18:29,020
And you think, "Yep, another intense day,
let's just get on with it."
3290
03:18:43,680 --> 03:18:44,840
-Help!
-Gotcha.
3291
03:18:45,660 --> 03:18:46,800
I gotcha.
3292
03:18:50,580 --> 03:18:53,160
Newt! No!
3293
03:18:53,240 --> 03:18:56,680
{\an8}My friends are often really surprised
because I don't like scary movies.
3294
03:18:59,800 --> 03:19:04,220
It was different with filming
because here's the alien right here.
3295
03:19:04,570 --> 03:19:08,480
But two seconds before
it was my friend who was in stunt
3296
03:19:08,720 --> 03:19:11,730
we're talking and joking around
and then he puts it on
3297
03:19:11,760 --> 03:19:13,380
and I have to be scared of it.
3298
03:19:15,480 --> 03:19:19,020
And I remember when Jim was talking
with her and saying that
3299
03:19:19,300 --> 03:19:24,000
in the scene when the alien warrior
rises up behind her in the water,
3300
03:19:24,460 --> 03:19:27,560
now there's going to be this monster.
3301
03:19:28,040 --> 03:19:33,540
And she looked at him and she said,
"Jim, it's a guy in a rubber monster suit.
3302
03:19:34,780 --> 03:19:36,780
And we were just speechless.
3303
03:19:37,080 --> 03:19:42,760
She understood that it was acting and yet
her performance, she looks terrified.
3304
03:19:43,320 --> 03:19:45,660
She was far more resilient
than the rest of us.
3305
03:19:48,020 --> 03:19:52,840
I'd like to say that I had worked
really hard on my scream, but I didn't.
3306
03:19:52,920 --> 03:19:56,640
And it wasn't even in the script
for me to scream.
3307
03:19:56,840 --> 03:20:02,420
There was a time and James Cameron said,
"Well, after you deliver this line,
3308
03:20:02,660 --> 03:20:03,760
I want you to scream."
3309
03:20:04,460 --> 03:20:05,600
So I said, "Okay."
3310
03:20:05,780 --> 03:20:07,980
So I delivered the line and I screamed,
3311
03:20:09,060 --> 03:20:11,900
and I just kept screaming and screaming
and screaming and screaming
3312
03:20:11,940 --> 03:20:13,940
and nobody said to cut or anything.
3313
03:20:14,160 --> 03:20:16,400
So finally I just stopped
and I looked at him and he's like,
3314
03:20:16,440 --> 03:20:18,530
and everyone was just staring at me,
3315
03:20:19,040 --> 03:20:20,630
and I really didn't know
what was going on.
3316
03:20:20,660 --> 03:20:24,360
And he's like,
"Wow, we're gonna use that more."
3317
03:20:45,480 --> 03:20:48,760
{\an8}One of the greatest things
about Aliens is that it completes
3318
03:20:48,900 --> 03:20:51,840
{\an8}the story of the xenomorph lifecycle.
3319
03:20:54,420 --> 03:20:57,660
This was all Jim Cameron
coming up with that,
3320
03:20:58,160 --> 03:21:01,900
he was inspired by that image
3321
03:21:02,020 --> 03:21:05,360
from the original Alien,
of the acres of eggs.
3322
03:21:08,560 --> 03:21:12,840
That got Jim to thinking
about a hive structure.
3323
03:21:15,300 --> 03:21:19,150
{\an8}From Alien, certainly as often is the case
when you start doing sequels,
3324
03:21:19,180 --> 03:21:23,140
the people who do the original story
have no idea they're going to be sequels.
3325
03:21:23,380 --> 03:21:26,980
So they don't think about maintaining
a lot of the internal logic.
3326
03:21:27,440 --> 03:21:30,960
Nobody in Alien, for example,
Dan O'Bannon or Ron Shusett,
3327
03:21:31,160 --> 03:21:34,780
set up anything like a biological history
of the alien species.
3328
03:21:36,750 --> 03:21:42,280
{\an8}We talked a fair amount as artists
about the lifecycle of the alien.
3329
03:21:42,680 --> 03:21:44,960
And it was something
that was being developed.
3330
03:21:45,000 --> 03:21:47,500
You saw some of it in the first film
3331
03:21:47,740 --> 03:21:50,600
that brilliantly parasitic symbiosis.
3332
03:21:55,080 --> 03:21:57,100
But you're like,
where do the eggs come from?
3333
03:21:58,300 --> 03:22:02,620
Thank God that scene
that was in the original
3334
03:22:02,960 --> 03:22:06,090
where Dallas was,
I think turning into an egg,
3335
03:22:06,120 --> 03:22:10,400
the concept was that a human being
turns into an egg.
3336
03:22:10,540 --> 03:22:12,820
If that had been in there,
you could have had no Queen
3337
03:22:13,200 --> 03:22:15,420
or it would've been quite a stretch
to put a Queen in there.
3338
03:22:19,140 --> 03:22:21,560
This opens the way for a hierarchy
3339
03:22:21,600 --> 03:22:24,460
and this big Queen mama who is gonna,
3340
03:22:24,560 --> 03:22:26,560
be the big third act of the film.
3341
03:22:29,620 --> 03:22:32,350
There was also an interesting thing
that Cameron had
3342
03:22:32,380 --> 03:22:33,560
in one of the early scripts,
3343
03:22:33,620 --> 03:22:36,100
which were these drone characters.
3344
03:22:36,340 --> 03:22:40,920
They were small versions,
three, four-foot tall aliens,
3345
03:22:41,210 --> 03:22:43,720
and their job was to move the eggs.
3346
03:22:43,860 --> 03:22:47,040
And for budgetary reasons
and other reasons, it was never done.
3347
03:22:47,080 --> 03:22:48,500
But we were very excited about that.
3348
03:22:48,540 --> 03:22:52,900
Like, "Ooh, we get to make these
albino drone characters."
3349
03:22:57,960 --> 03:23:00,980
It was a very logical,
almost engineering way to look at it.
3350
03:23:01,080 --> 03:23:03,840
{\an8}It takes a lot of the mystery out of it
and just says, "There's a Queen.
3351
03:23:04,100 --> 03:23:08,020
She lays hundreds of eggs,
thousands of eggs, they hatch,
3352
03:23:08,220 --> 03:23:09,980
they need something to breed in.
3353
03:23:10,140 --> 03:23:11,680
And so there's hosts,
3354
03:23:12,160 --> 03:23:14,990
and there you go,
they're essentially parasites."
3355
03:23:17,640 --> 03:23:23,260
{\an8}I would say the Queen
in the script was the one element
3356
03:23:23,290 --> 03:23:28,640
{\an8}that I thought was really weird
because it was so insect-like.
3357
03:23:29,260 --> 03:23:32,660
And to me coming from the first film
where Ridley had
3358
03:23:32,760 --> 03:23:38,720
introduced us to this creature who had,
we didn't know what kind of origin
3359
03:23:38,880 --> 03:23:41,340
and it was so elegant
and it was so deadly.
3360
03:23:41,380 --> 03:23:46,170
And suddenly making a female
out of it and choosing to use
3361
03:23:46,200 --> 03:23:49,600
a structure
that we can recognize on Earth
3362
03:23:49,620 --> 03:23:52,580
as kind of a Queen bee structure.
3363
03:23:53,160 --> 03:23:54,610
It made a lot of sense,
3364
03:23:54,940 --> 03:23:57,940
{\an8}at the same time,
I'm not sure I accepted it right away.
3365
03:23:58,600 --> 03:24:02,590
{\an8}She's young, she's only been there
for a couple of years.
3366
03:24:03,020 --> 03:24:06,560
{\an8}Whatever emerged on that colony planet
emerged quite rapidly.
3367
03:24:06,930 --> 03:24:09,760
So she's a young inexperienced Queen
3368
03:24:10,200 --> 03:24:12,690
who's already in her reproductive cycle.
3369
03:24:12,860 --> 03:24:16,120
And I created a whole story
for this female character,
3370
03:24:16,160 --> 03:24:17,860
just like I did for Ripley.
3371
03:24:18,940 --> 03:24:23,570
The marines, they make the mistake
of thinking of the aliens as animals,
3372
03:24:23,600 --> 03:24:27,640
as being unsophisticated,
as being less conscious than humans.
3373
03:24:28,720 --> 03:24:32,540
Ripley finds out at the end that
they're just as conscious as humans,
3374
03:24:32,580 --> 03:24:34,780
possibly just as smart as humans.
3375
03:24:37,160 --> 03:24:40,840
I explored a little bit of that
in the comics I did,
3376
03:24:41,220 --> 03:24:44,100
just trying to understand further
3377
03:24:44,240 --> 03:24:46,060
what the alien actually is.
3378
03:24:46,500 --> 03:24:50,620
I think I suggest there's a little bit of
a telepathic sort of thing they emit.
3379
03:24:51,240 --> 03:24:53,460
And the idea for that came
from the sense
3380
03:24:53,490 --> 03:24:57,180
that the Queen could kind of speak
to its hive a little bit.
3381
03:25:02,140 --> 03:25:07,540
That was about as far as I took it
in terms of expanding the alien mythology
3382
03:25:07,580 --> 03:25:09,600
that was in the Alien and Aliens movies.
3383
03:25:21,540 --> 03:25:24,270
{\an8}And it's one of these things where can you
ever have too much of a good thing?
3384
03:25:24,300 --> 03:25:26,820
{\an8}Like, I wanna be back in that world.
I wanna see what happens.
3385
03:25:28,260 --> 03:25:31,970
So I read the Dark Horse comics,
which came out in the wake of Aliens
3386
03:25:32,000 --> 03:25:34,460
and obviously was swiftly
undone by Alien 3.
3387
03:25:39,860 --> 03:25:41,840
I've listened to the radio production,
3388
03:25:41,980 --> 03:25:43,690
which Michael Biehn
returned to do in 2019,
3389
03:25:43,720 --> 03:25:46,020
which kind of dramatizes
what a sequel could have been
3390
03:25:46,060 --> 03:25:47,320
if Alien 3 hadn't happened.
3391
03:25:47,600 --> 03:25:49,290
I've played pretty much, I think every
3392
03:25:49,320 --> 03:25:51,460
Alien related game that's ever come out.
3393
03:25:53,840 --> 03:25:55,720
The world that James Cameron has created,
3394
03:25:55,760 --> 03:25:57,380
{\an8}it is so rich and so vast.
3395
03:25:57,420 --> 03:26:00,300
{\an8}It feels like from a fan's perspective,
3396
03:26:00,760 --> 03:26:05,430
in the extended universe,
in comics, in novels,
3397
03:26:05,460 --> 03:26:10,280
even video games, it would be
a sin to not explore it further.
3398
03:26:12,220 --> 03:26:17,500
It's something that has enriched
a lot of what we see in the film
3399
03:26:17,900 --> 03:26:21,700
and explained missing gaps.
3400
03:26:21,760 --> 03:26:25,060
For example, there's Alien: River of Pain,
3401
03:26:25,180 --> 03:26:30,370
which takes a look at the entirety
of the Hadley's Hope situation
3402
03:26:30,400 --> 03:26:31,440
from beginning to end.
3403
03:26:32,380 --> 03:26:33,620
Sometimes it doesn't work,
3404
03:26:33,650 --> 03:26:37,560
we have a video game
like Aliens: Colonial Marines,
3405
03:26:38,800 --> 03:26:41,800
{\an8}Michael Biehn, we had Lance Hendrickson
back for that
3406
03:26:41,900 --> 03:26:45,270
{\an8}what was to be a groundbreaking
video game experience.
3407
03:26:45,300 --> 03:26:46,320
{\an8}Didn't turn out that way.
3408
03:26:50,260 --> 03:26:51,860
{\an8}Alien: Isolation is fantastic.
3409
03:26:52,460 --> 03:26:53,800
Absolutely fantastic game.
3410
03:27:00,180 --> 03:27:03,920
{\an8}Initially, like in the nineties,
there was a video game that came out.
3411
03:27:09,180 --> 03:27:12,760
{\an8}And it was actually oddly enough
at our local bowling alley,
3412
03:27:16,440 --> 03:27:18,170
and my brother used
to love to go over there
3413
03:27:18,200 --> 03:27:21,010
and he'd not play like normal people,
3414
03:27:21,040 --> 03:27:22,940
but his goal was to try
to shoot at my character.
3415
03:27:27,000 --> 03:27:30,960
There's so much stuff out there,
which some of it enriches the experience,
3416
03:27:31,000 --> 03:27:32,880
some of it's just absolute nonsense.
3417
03:27:34,100 --> 03:27:36,580
I've read Judge Dredd versus
Aliens versus Predator.
3418
03:27:36,740 --> 03:27:38,490
I've read Batman versus Aliens.
3419
03:27:38,520 --> 03:27:40,840
The amount of stuff out there is wild.
3420
03:27:41,000 --> 03:27:44,540
Terminator versus Aliens is a thing
you can find a Dark Horse comic for.
3421
03:27:46,360 --> 03:27:48,300
There's a reason why Alien has persisted,
3422
03:27:48,540 --> 03:27:52,500
and I think it's because the xenomorph
itself captured people's attention.
3423
03:27:52,660 --> 03:27:56,380
But more than that, I think Aliens
in particular just awakened something
3424
03:27:56,680 --> 03:27:59,620
in the zeitgeist that we are not willing
to kind of let go of.
3425
03:28:03,380 --> 03:28:05,700
-Ripley.
-I don't wanna hear about it, Bishop.
3426
03:28:06,120 --> 03:28:07,680
She's alive. There's still time.
3427
03:28:07,740 --> 03:28:12,180
{\an8}I remember something happened
to me in the elevator scene
3428
03:28:12,340 --> 03:28:15,600
where she starts getting ready
to go to the Queen.
3429
03:28:15,900 --> 03:28:18,380
Putting her arms together
and getting herself together,
3430
03:28:18,420 --> 03:28:20,580
it was almost
like a samurai getting ready.
3431
03:28:20,620 --> 03:28:26,200
You now have 14 minutes to reach
minimum safe distance.
3432
03:28:27,820 --> 03:28:33,060
{\an8}We have a klaxon going,
which is always emergency.
3433
03:28:35,500 --> 03:28:37,580
We have an emergency announcement.
3434
03:28:37,740 --> 03:28:42,780
Emergency.
All personnel must evacuate immediately.
3435
03:28:43,900 --> 03:28:46,330
And then when she gets down
to the bottom of the lift,
3436
03:28:46,360 --> 03:28:48,240
we are taken over by the tracker.
3437
03:28:52,580 --> 03:28:55,390
And there's this effects beat
of the power station.
3438
03:28:55,420 --> 03:28:58,400
Vrum, vrum, vrum,
going on, driving us along.
3439
03:29:01,340 --> 03:29:04,340
And we mixed in a bit of the heartbeat.
3440
03:29:05,660 --> 03:29:06,760
There's always heartbeats
3441
03:29:12,580 --> 03:29:17,160
In a movie chockfull
of jaw dropping moments,
3442
03:29:17,880 --> 03:29:22,430
the sequences with the Alien Queen
take it to a whole new level.
3443
03:29:26,500 --> 03:29:29,410
The Alien Queen was an idea that I had.
3444
03:29:29,440 --> 03:29:32,300
{\an8}I took it to Stan,
I showed Stan my sketches.
3445
03:29:32,720 --> 03:29:34,740
We spent a lot of time trying
to figure out how to do it.
3446
03:29:34,780 --> 03:29:36,560
And Stan is gung-ho.
3447
03:29:38,940 --> 03:29:41,260
Before tackling the real Queen,
3448
03:29:41,400 --> 03:29:45,080
Stan felt it was very important
to prototype this thing
3449
03:29:45,560 --> 03:29:47,180
that they knew they could execute it.
3450
03:29:48,560 --> 03:29:55,320
They actually used foamcore to build
this full-sized Alien Queen prototype.
3451
03:29:55,660 --> 03:30:00,080
It was ski poles for arms, foamcore legs,
3452
03:30:00,320 --> 03:30:02,450
foamcore body, foamcore head.
3453
03:30:02,480 --> 03:30:03,940
And action.
3454
03:30:06,740 --> 03:30:09,410
Cameron came over,
he brought his video camera
3455
03:30:09,440 --> 03:30:11,900
and they shot it
from a lot of different angles.
3456
03:30:13,080 --> 03:30:15,000
Okay, arms full out, full width.
3457
03:30:15,740 --> 03:30:20,080
{\an8}We're just shooting out there
in the sunlight, in San Fernando Valley.
3458
03:30:20,220 --> 03:30:21,920
It was very hard to put the idea together.
3459
03:30:22,320 --> 03:30:25,760
Stan or Jim, I think this one was Stan.
3460
03:30:25,860 --> 03:30:29,200
He covered the whole thing
with plastic trash bags, wrapped tight.
3461
03:30:29,480 --> 03:30:31,460
And so we had this big shiny black thing.
3462
03:30:33,620 --> 03:30:39,100
And thus was born the very first garbage
bag test at Stan Winston's studio.
3463
03:30:39,500 --> 03:30:45,460
The term "garbage bag test" after Aliens
became a synonym for prototyping.
3464
03:30:49,640 --> 03:30:51,220
Okay, that's a cut.
3465
03:30:53,600 --> 03:30:57,990
If you look at James Cameron's artwork,
you can see the feminine touches.
3466
03:30:58,020 --> 03:31:04,640
{\an8}It's got a very wasp waist
and its hip girdle is sort of broader.
3467
03:31:06,240 --> 03:31:09,880
One of the things that makes it most
female is she's wearing high heels.
3468
03:31:09,980 --> 03:31:12,580
I mean, she's wearing high heels.
3469
03:31:12,640 --> 03:31:14,240
Look at that design again.
3470
03:31:15,960 --> 03:31:19,190
And if you really look
at the line work in the leg,
3471
03:31:19,220 --> 03:31:21,380
there's muscular striations,
3472
03:31:21,660 --> 03:31:24,260
but there's also strapping
that looks like garter belts.
3473
03:31:25,760 --> 03:31:31,600
This goes back to my first job
in the movie business with Jim
3474
03:31:31,800 --> 03:31:33,530
{\an8}for Roger Corman
on Battle Beyond the Stars.
3475
03:31:33,560 --> 03:31:35,900
{\an8}And Jim designed a spaceship for that.
3476
03:31:38,400 --> 03:31:42,340
It was a female spaceship that,
well, it has boobs,
3477
03:31:42,560 --> 03:31:44,540
and if you look at it from the side,
3478
03:31:44,780 --> 03:31:49,080
it's a female torso, twisted a little bit.
3479
03:31:53,520 --> 03:31:57,280
{\an8}What's interesting as a maker,
when you take your work
3480
03:31:57,360 --> 03:32:00,380
from the workshop onto the stage,
3481
03:32:00,660 --> 03:32:04,720
or in the creature case from the creature
workshop onto the shooting stage,
3482
03:32:05,120 --> 03:32:06,800
your work becomes something else.
3483
03:32:08,340 --> 03:32:11,050
When you put it
on a film set and it's lit,
3484
03:32:11,080 --> 03:32:12,960
it becomes what it's meant to be.
3485
03:32:16,940 --> 03:32:21,000
The scene where she runs into
the Queen's chamber with all the eggs,
3486
03:32:21,540 --> 03:32:22,680
that was from a dream.
3487
03:32:23,020 --> 03:32:24,120
Now it wasn't eggs,
3488
03:32:24,680 --> 03:32:29,380
it was a dark room where the walls were
a hundred percent covered by wasps
3489
03:32:29,540 --> 03:32:32,240
that could instantly take off
and attack me and kill me.
3490
03:32:33,480 --> 03:32:38,360
I was frozen, and there was that slow
motion moment of realizing where you are
3491
03:32:38,400 --> 03:32:41,700
and the stillness, the silence,
the moment before the storm
3492
03:32:46,480 --> 03:32:48,800
when she turns in slow motion
and you hear
3493
03:32:49,260 --> 03:32:52,220
that kind of big labored, raspy breathing.
3494
03:32:59,880 --> 03:33:01,900
{\an8}She is formidable,
3495
03:33:02,710 --> 03:33:07,060
{\an8}just so overwhelmingly scary,
3496
03:33:07,230 --> 03:33:09,820
daunting, and intelligent.
3497
03:33:09,900 --> 03:33:12,420
She is having a conversation with Ripley.
3498
03:33:12,620 --> 03:33:19,060
They interact at this interspecies level
that is without words,
3499
03:33:19,280 --> 03:33:24,420
but is probably one of the most tense,
cinematic moments I can recall.
3500
03:33:27,980 --> 03:33:33,440
{\an8}That to me is where
the mother theme really is established.
3501
03:33:33,880 --> 03:33:40,200
At this point, I am Newt's mother
and she has her offspring.
3502
03:33:41,680 --> 03:33:44,940
I certainly knew as Ripley
what I was thinking,
3503
03:33:45,060 --> 03:33:49,580
and yet they'd created for me a character
of the Queen who was shrewd,
3504
03:33:50,430 --> 03:33:53,660
who was unstoppable,
3505
03:33:54,840 --> 03:33:58,010
much more powerful than a little human.
3506
03:33:58,040 --> 03:34:03,340
And just the reality of her
pumping out these eggs,
3507
03:34:03,860 --> 03:34:09,360
which is I think for Ripley, so awful
3508
03:34:09,940 --> 03:34:12,040
to see that there's a life force
3509
03:34:12,450 --> 03:34:16,360
that's reproducing these things,
these evil things.
3510
03:34:16,640 --> 03:34:18,560
So all of that I think is going on.
3511
03:34:18,840 --> 03:34:20,930
It's great fun to play a character again
3512
03:34:20,960 --> 03:34:24,320
because you bring in the first movie too,
you can't help it.
3513
03:34:25,380 --> 03:34:28,720
These are castaways,
they have a biological mandate.
3514
03:34:28,750 --> 03:34:31,860
They don't recognize anything,
they're just trying to survive.
3515
03:34:31,960 --> 03:34:35,060
I don't think of the aliens as evil,
I think of them as pure.
3516
03:34:39,220 --> 03:34:43,440
{\an8}Let's just talk about the underlying
themes of the whole thing.
3517
03:34:44,300 --> 03:34:46,280
First of all, it's all sex.
3518
03:34:47,240 --> 03:34:52,760
It's penis, vagina,
the Playboy in the mouth.
3519
03:34:55,360 --> 03:34:57,420
It's all sexual items.
3520
03:34:57,460 --> 03:35:00,560
And then the second one,
of course, is mother-daughter.
3521
03:35:00,600 --> 03:35:02,160
It's the result of that.
3522
03:35:02,560 --> 03:35:03,780
Grab onto me!
3523
03:35:04,800 --> 03:35:07,820
And the cost of it
and what it really means.
3524
03:35:14,500 --> 03:35:17,660
{\an8}What I love,
being a mother of three children
3525
03:35:17,900 --> 03:35:21,060
at the end when she
throws the kid on her hip,
3526
03:35:21,360 --> 03:35:23,900
and the gun on the other.
3527
03:35:23,940 --> 03:35:26,860
I think about how many women,
you throw the toddler on your hip
3528
03:35:26,900 --> 03:35:30,560
and you're shopping on one side
and you're trying to get in the car,
3529
03:35:31,520 --> 03:35:35,320
but she's got the gun
and the flamethrower and the kid.
3530
03:35:35,880 --> 03:35:36,960
It's brilliant.
3531
03:35:39,080 --> 03:35:44,000
You now have four minutes
to reach minimum safe distance.
3532
03:35:44,480 --> 03:35:49,700
{\an8}And there was times when I really
felt like it was coming after me,
3533
03:35:49,980 --> 03:35:52,320
{\an8}especially in the egg laying scene.
3534
03:35:52,360 --> 03:35:55,880
because It was so dark
and it was so dramatic.
3535
03:35:56,380 --> 03:36:00,440
You knew it had to be done just right for
Sigourney's part of it and my part of it.
3536
03:36:00,800 --> 03:36:04,020
And I think to some extent
it was very realistic acting
3537
03:36:04,060 --> 03:36:07,160
because we were just
like trying to be safe.
3538
03:36:08,260 --> 03:36:11,200
She's obviously
very protective of the eggs.
3539
03:36:11,320 --> 03:36:13,000
Obviously, she wants nothing
to happen to them
3540
03:36:13,030 --> 03:36:16,280
because essentially they are her children,
they're her babies.
3541
03:36:16,560 --> 03:36:20,280
And even as they get older
and you see the xenomorphs,
3542
03:36:20,620 --> 03:36:22,040
those are also her children.
3543
03:36:23,680 --> 03:36:31,600
{\an8}There's a moment where it seems like
Ripley is willing to leave the nest intact
3544
03:36:32,230 --> 03:36:34,700
and to make her way out of there.
3545
03:36:35,260 --> 03:36:39,940
I think we know that the plan
is to blow up the entire colony,
3546
03:36:40,320 --> 03:36:45,440
but in that moment, it's almost a sense
of understanding one another
3547
03:36:45,500 --> 03:36:51,260
or forgiving the Queen for doing
what's natural in her world and her life.
3548
03:36:55,060 --> 03:36:57,780
I love the confrontation scene
between Ripley and the Queen.
3549
03:36:58,260 --> 03:37:02,820
{\an8}Ripley holds the flamethrower to the eggs
and communicates to the Queen.
3550
03:37:03,680 --> 03:37:05,760
"I'm gonna destroy these eggs
if you don't back off."
3551
03:37:06,240 --> 03:37:08,370
But then she reneges on the deal
and has an egg open
3552
03:37:08,400 --> 03:37:11,480
and Ripley gives her that look of,
"All right, here we go."
3553
03:37:17,860 --> 03:37:19,800
Of course we have sympathy for her.
3554
03:37:20,220 --> 03:37:22,640
Even Ripley has a little sympathy for her,
3555
03:37:22,980 --> 03:37:24,980
but not so much that I'm not gonna do it.
3556
03:37:25,560 --> 03:37:31,100
But it is that recognition of the others'
priorities and that we are the same.
3557
03:37:31,720 --> 03:37:35,120
And who's to say whose child
is more important.
3558
03:37:39,340 --> 03:37:41,960
{\an8}In the story,
the mother alien is threatened,
3559
03:37:42,040 --> 03:37:47,600
{\an8}and particularly when she can see what
Ripley can do with the flamethrower,
3560
03:37:48,640 --> 03:37:50,000
she is reacting.
3561
03:37:50,480 --> 03:37:57,140
We had a whole mixture of pigs
and human sounds and tigers.
3562
03:38:02,540 --> 03:38:07,120
And they were treated,
processed to make them
3563
03:38:07,600 --> 03:38:09,850
not only sound as if
they were coming from her,
3564
03:38:09,880 --> 03:38:12,010
but actually blended with each other
3565
03:38:12,040 --> 03:38:16,700
so that they could be taken
as a vocalization.
3566
03:38:22,400 --> 03:38:25,800
{\an8}There are some critics
of the logic of Aliens.
3567
03:38:26,040 --> 03:38:28,900
{\an8}Specifically, how does she know
how to use an elevator?
3568
03:38:30,160 --> 03:38:35,560
Well, my answer to that is,
these xenomorphs are very smart, okay?
3569
03:38:35,920 --> 03:38:37,720
It's just a button. It's not a big deal.
3570
03:38:42,920 --> 03:38:44,500
Close your eyes, baby.
3571
03:38:44,600 --> 03:38:47,680
I think a lot of the horror
elements that Cameron
3572
03:38:48,020 --> 03:38:50,960
{\an8}either consciously or unconsciously
brought to The Terminator,
3573
03:38:51,280 --> 03:38:53,850
he brought to full view in Aliens.
3574
03:38:53,880 --> 03:38:58,800
And it really became
this horror action film
3575
03:38:58,840 --> 03:39:01,450
that's built upon what
we saw in The Terminator.
3576
03:39:01,480 --> 03:39:03,580
And at the head of it all is the Queen.
3577
03:39:06,180 --> 03:39:12,420
Which much like with The Terminator,
we get these almost false endings.
3578
03:39:18,380 --> 03:39:20,590
{\an8}And I remember Roger Ebert's
original review of the film
3579
03:39:20,620 --> 03:39:23,710
{\an8}where he just came out and he was like,
"I can't say I enjoyed that film."
3580
03:39:23,740 --> 03:39:25,280
I felt physically ill.
3581
03:39:25,380 --> 03:39:27,650
Aliens were so strong, it was overkill.
3582
03:39:27,680 --> 03:39:29,420
It really did upset me.
3583
03:39:29,490 --> 03:39:30,710
And you can understand why.
3584
03:39:30,860 --> 03:39:32,710
You have all the build-up to where
3585
03:39:32,740 --> 03:39:35,290
Ripley and Newt go to sleep
in the med lab.
3586
03:39:35,340 --> 03:39:37,560
And from that moment on, that's it.
3587
03:39:37,760 --> 03:39:39,740
There is no stop.
It's a sprint for the finish line.
3588
03:39:39,880 --> 03:39:42,140
They cut the power, you have the run,
3589
03:39:42,180 --> 03:39:43,600
you have the Newt gets caught.
3590
03:39:43,820 --> 03:39:45,020
We're not leaving. We're not?
3591
03:39:45,080 --> 03:39:47,040
-We're not leaving.
-We're not?
3592
03:39:47,120 --> 03:39:48,440
I think I've heard it described
as a kind of
3593
03:39:48,480 --> 03:39:50,840
jab, jab, cross, pause, uppercut ending,
3594
03:39:51,140 --> 03:39:52,300
which is perfect for me.
3595
03:39:52,340 --> 03:39:54,040
It does not let you rally,
3596
03:39:54,100 --> 03:39:56,900
it doesn't give you time to catch
your breath and it just knocks you flat.
3597
03:40:19,000 --> 03:40:21,180
Get away from her, you bitch!
3598
03:40:22,520 --> 03:40:25,270
{\an8}There is that visual element
of the Queen tail
3599
03:40:25,340 --> 03:40:27,650
{\an8}that rips through Bishop's chest
3600
03:40:27,760 --> 03:40:30,060
just when we think that
everything's been finished.
3601
03:40:32,380 --> 03:40:36,120
{\an8}Sort of a spin on the chestburster scene
from the first film.
3602
03:40:41,520 --> 03:40:46,140
A dummy that Alec Gillis and I had built
of Lance Henriksen as Bishop
3603
03:40:46,540 --> 03:40:49,920
is on a turning plate that unwinds.
3604
03:40:49,960 --> 03:40:53,780
So it spins the body in two different
directions and throws him apart
3605
03:40:53,840 --> 03:40:55,980
while we still had Queen hands attached.
3606
03:40:56,020 --> 03:40:58,920
So it's a very effective practical effect.
3607
03:41:01,340 --> 03:41:06,060
The white blood that comes out was
established with Ash in the first movie.
3608
03:41:06,100 --> 03:41:09,000
So that was something
that Jim was sticking to.
3609
03:41:11,800 --> 03:41:13,840
{\an8}Oh, I got sick as a dog with that.
3610
03:41:14,020 --> 03:41:17,580
It was actually milk and cream
and yogurt and all that mixed.
3611
03:41:17,940 --> 03:41:20,000
It had been left out a couple of days.
3612
03:41:22,040 --> 03:41:23,400
So they gave it to me,
3613
03:41:24,120 --> 03:41:27,280
and it basically came in one end
and out the other,
3614
03:41:29,780 --> 03:41:36,600
There's no shortage of fresh,
delicious, and viscous creams in London.
3615
03:41:37,760 --> 03:41:40,930
I had it on ice and we were
using it during the day,
3616
03:41:41,200 --> 03:41:45,700
and we just shot so much that I ran out,
I ran out it
3617
03:41:46,140 --> 03:41:48,060
and we had more shots to do.
3618
03:41:48,460 --> 03:41:50,290
So I went to the tea trolley,
3619
03:41:50,890 --> 03:41:54,720
and I grabbed cream
off of the tea trolley.
3620
03:41:55,120 --> 03:41:59,120
I didn't really think that the tea trolley
had been sitting out for a while.
3621
03:41:59,180 --> 03:42:02,500
So the milk was bad, I didn't know it,
Lance didn't know it.
3622
03:42:06,460 --> 03:42:08,890
He came in,
he looked terrible, he was pale.
3623
03:42:08,920 --> 03:42:12,600
He said he was up all night puking
because the cream was bad.
3624
03:42:12,690 --> 03:42:15,840
And I thought,
"Holy fuck, I'm gonna get fired."
3625
03:42:17,480 --> 03:42:19,860
As I'm putting the costume back on him,
3626
03:42:20,040 --> 03:42:26,760
the ripped in half costume,
which smelled of bad curdled milk.
3627
03:42:27,280 --> 03:42:28,560
And I said, "I'm so sorry."
3628
03:42:28,740 --> 03:42:31,560
And he said,
"Don't worry buddy, I'll use it."
3629
03:42:43,820 --> 03:42:46,520
{\an8}For me, one of the greatest
action moments ever
3630
03:42:46,560 --> 03:42:48,360
{\an8}is when she's in that skip loader deal.
3631
03:42:48,800 --> 03:42:52,180
And how they did all that, I don't know.
It's so fantastic.
3632
03:42:55,560 --> 03:42:59,370
{\an8}I kind of didn't spend a lot of time
watching how they did it
3633
03:42:59,400 --> 03:43:05,660
{\an8}because it was exciting for me just
to have her as a rival, as an opponent.
3634
03:43:07,440 --> 03:43:10,100
{\an8}There's a scene early through the movie
3635
03:43:10,480 --> 03:43:13,020
that I think
is just wonderful scriptwriting
3636
03:43:13,260 --> 03:43:16,840
When the marines are getting prepared
and Ripley asks, "How can I help?"
3637
03:43:17,200 --> 03:43:18,880
She says,
"I can work one of those loaders."
3638
03:43:19,160 --> 03:43:20,700
Well, I can drive that loader.
3639
03:43:22,360 --> 03:43:24,580
It's such tight scriptwriting.
3640
03:43:25,400 --> 03:43:28,160
You establish that Ripley
doesn't wanna just sit around.
3641
03:43:29,920 --> 03:43:33,540
You begin to establish that connection
between her and Hicks.
3642
03:43:33,660 --> 03:43:35,460
And you also establish the loader
3643
03:43:35,500 --> 03:43:38,060
as something that exists and something
she knows how to control.
3644
03:43:41,200 --> 03:43:45,900
{\an8}The thing that blew me away the most,
I saw his sketches and storyboard
3645
03:43:45,970 --> 03:43:50,640
{\an8}for when Sigourney is in the power loader
and she's fighting the Queen.
3646
03:43:50,920 --> 03:43:54,100
He had drawn exactly the framing
3647
03:43:54,180 --> 03:43:57,420
that you see in the finished
product on the film
3648
03:43:57,480 --> 03:44:00,120
months, probably years before that.
3649
03:44:00,300 --> 03:44:04,380
He had it in his head
and he created it on the screen
3650
03:44:04,500 --> 03:44:08,940
exactly the way he had
envisaged it in his psyche.
3651
03:44:13,580 --> 03:44:16,920
{\an8}Aside from the tears in the rain sequence
at the end of Blade Runner,
3652
03:44:17,020 --> 03:44:19,700
{\an8}you can't get more iconic than Ripley
in the power loader.
3653
03:44:26,580 --> 03:44:29,880
{\an8}At that moment, it's not just Ripley
in the power loader,
3654
03:44:30,080 --> 03:44:32,680
it's everything we care about
in that power loader.
3655
03:44:32,930 --> 03:44:36,000
It's everything we've suffered
through in Alien and Aliens
3656
03:44:36,180 --> 03:44:37,780
and the loss of all of these characters
3657
03:44:38,040 --> 03:44:41,480
and the loss of all of these marines
is embodied in this one person
3658
03:44:41,880 --> 03:44:45,880
who is there in this machine
to give us the ending that we need.
3659
03:44:50,120 --> 03:44:52,320
Get away from her, you bitch!
3660
03:44:53,960 --> 03:44:55,700
{\an8}Get away from her, you bitch!
3661
03:44:55,820 --> 03:44:58,740
{\an8}Straight out says it, it's incredible.
3662
03:44:58,840 --> 03:45:01,430
{\an8}If you've ever seen a theater,
round of applause every time.
3663
03:45:01,460 --> 03:45:03,950
{\an8}Obviously it needed as much
clearance as possible
3664
03:45:03,980 --> 03:45:05,980
{\an8}and as much of an impact as possible.
3665
03:45:07,380 --> 03:45:10,300
I didn't know at the time how
important it did become,
3666
03:45:10,340 --> 03:45:12,800
but it was a great line.
3667
03:45:15,940 --> 03:45:17,300
Ripley's in charge now.
3668
03:45:19,060 --> 03:45:20,880
{\an8}The line is so badass.
3669
03:45:20,940 --> 03:45:28,080
{\an8}It's taking control, it's taking your
own power and asserting oneself.
3670
03:45:30,560 --> 03:45:32,280
Well, I knew it was an important line.
3671
03:45:32,320 --> 03:45:34,560
I only got to do it a couple of times
3672
03:45:35,540 --> 03:45:38,790
because it was all to do
with the door going up
3673
03:45:38,820 --> 03:45:41,210
and me coming out as fast as possible.
3674
03:45:41,240 --> 03:45:43,980
And then the whole thing was a big deal,
it was a big shot.
3675
03:45:44,090 --> 03:45:46,040
And I remember the second time I did it,
3676
03:45:46,090 --> 03:45:48,040
because I'd been to drama school,
3677
03:45:48,240 --> 03:45:51,040
I went, "Get away from her, you bitch."
3678
03:45:51,610 --> 03:45:56,080
Up, you were supposed to go down
if you wanna sound powerful.
3679
03:45:56,460 --> 03:46:00,210
And I went up and Jim said,
"Great, I love it. Let's go on."
3680
03:46:00,240 --> 03:46:01,940
And I went, "Oh, but I went up."
3681
03:46:02,240 --> 03:46:05,560
So that to me is funny
because I think it works very well.
3682
03:46:05,600 --> 03:46:07,440
I accept it. I think he was right.
3683
03:46:07,600 --> 03:46:08,660
It is a great line.
3684
03:46:09,060 --> 03:46:10,150
Absolutely.
3685
03:46:10,200 --> 03:46:12,600
And certainly motivated.
3686
03:46:13,240 --> 03:46:16,580
{\an8}Honestly, I think
that the number of actual
3687
03:46:16,760 --> 03:46:19,140
{\an8}what we would call visual effect shots now
3688
03:46:19,290 --> 03:46:23,030
is about 200, a little over
200 shots in Aliens.
3689
03:46:23,060 --> 03:46:26,020
That means miniatures or opticals
or what have you.
3690
03:46:30,060 --> 03:46:32,140
And that film still feels huge.
3691
03:46:32,460 --> 03:46:34,020
And by today's comparisons,
3692
03:46:34,080 --> 03:46:38,240
every shot in a Marvel movie
is a digital shot, basically.
3693
03:46:39,140 --> 03:46:42,680
There are thousands and thousands
and thousands of shots.
3694
03:46:47,240 --> 03:46:50,040
{\an8}Every movie is a creature
of its time and a snapshot
3695
03:46:50,100 --> 03:46:53,640
{\an8}or a cross section
of its time and its technology.
3696
03:46:53,980 --> 03:46:56,700
Today we do it all CG
and it would be much,
3697
03:46:56,740 --> 03:46:58,330
the physics of it would be better.
3698
03:46:58,360 --> 03:47:02,210
And the Alien Queen would've leaped
on that power loader and flipped it
3699
03:47:02,240 --> 03:47:05,000
and thrown the Queen against the wall
and she'd have sprung back.
3700
03:47:05,300 --> 03:47:09,400
It would've been much more dynamic,
but it wouldn't have been as atmospheric
3701
03:47:09,720 --> 03:47:12,430
because we were hiding
so much of our technique
3702
03:47:12,460 --> 03:47:14,960
and our cables and our rigs
and everything behind,
3703
03:47:15,440 --> 03:47:19,300
steam and framing and crazy camera moves.
3704
03:47:24,140 --> 03:47:26,100
{\an8}It's very aggressive, it's very violent.
3705
03:47:30,720 --> 03:47:32,980
{\an8}You had another puppet on set,
3706
03:47:33,650 --> 03:47:36,340
you had the Alien Queen
and you had the power loader.
3707
03:47:38,690 --> 03:47:41,000
John Richardson and his team
get full credit
3708
03:47:41,080 --> 03:47:43,840
for that fantastic power loader suit,
3709
03:47:44,900 --> 03:47:47,270
but there was actually
a performer inside it
3710
03:47:47,650 --> 03:47:49,400
directly behind Sigourney Weaver.
3711
03:47:53,300 --> 03:47:56,220
Once Jim and Gale gave me
the mandate that I had to bulk up,
3712
03:47:56,820 --> 03:48:00,400
{\an8}they had hired this amazing trainer,
3713
03:48:00,900 --> 03:48:04,780
{\an8}a man called John Lees,
who was from Northern England,
3714
03:48:04,840 --> 03:48:06,340
and he was a farmer.
3715
03:48:07,420 --> 03:48:12,860
And this guy, I mean, he had guns
the size of my thighs.
3716
03:48:12,900 --> 03:48:15,100
I mean, honestly, I mean massive.
3717
03:48:15,980 --> 03:48:19,780
He was like the engine that moved
Sigourney in the power loader,
3718
03:48:20,360 --> 03:48:24,020
that's John dressed in black like kabuki
theater and moving her around.
3719
03:48:24,260 --> 03:48:25,340
So he was a beast.
3720
03:48:25,860 --> 03:48:31,980
Every lunchtime for weeks
I would work with John Richardson.
3721
03:48:32,760 --> 03:48:35,520
I'd go up and I'd get in the power loader,
3722
03:48:35,700 --> 03:48:37,820
and we would practice moving
3723
03:48:38,460 --> 03:48:42,460
so that I could move as fast
as possible without tipping over.
3724
03:48:46,820 --> 03:48:49,080
I did a lot of processing work on,
3725
03:48:49,240 --> 03:48:51,480
particularly the footsteps
of the power loader
3726
03:48:51,780 --> 03:48:55,430
and the sound editors did
a brilliant job of all the little whizzes
3727
03:48:55,460 --> 03:48:57,600
of all the hydraulics going on.
3728
03:49:02,940 --> 03:49:07,180
And then we had
Sigourney's brilliant vocals.
3729
03:49:08,520 --> 03:49:11,000
Come on. Come on!
3730
03:49:12,900 --> 03:49:14,880
Again, our animals in the Queen.
3731
03:49:17,700 --> 03:49:18,740
And it all works.
3732
03:49:22,600 --> 03:49:25,200
It's the close-ups
that sell everything else.
3733
03:49:25,260 --> 03:49:27,890
Like Sigourney firing up the torch
3734
03:49:27,920 --> 03:49:31,720
or the jaws coming very close
to Sigourney's face.
3735
03:49:32,960 --> 03:49:35,580
Those are the things
that are the emotional pillars.
3736
03:49:35,760 --> 03:49:38,910
And then in between
you have the wider shots
3737
03:49:38,940 --> 03:49:41,510
that bring the awe
and the spectacle to it.
3738
03:49:45,040 --> 03:49:49,420
I was almost as surprised
as anyone watching it in the theaters.
3739
03:49:49,640 --> 03:49:53,600
I was there for the full
scale aspects of shooting,
3740
03:49:53,980 --> 03:49:59,460
but the miniature stuff happened
in London shortly after we wrapped.
3741
03:49:59,540 --> 03:50:03,060
I think Cameron went on a vacation
for a little while and then came back,
3742
03:50:03,100 --> 03:50:06,320
and they had probably edited some
of the scene together so he knew
3743
03:50:06,680 --> 03:50:07,780
exactly what he needed.
3744
03:50:08,280 --> 03:50:12,200
But those miniature effects shots
were so flawless
3745
03:50:12,640 --> 03:50:16,020
that in the theater, I remember saying,
"I don't remember doing that.
3746
03:50:16,100 --> 03:50:18,080
How did we drop the Queen?"
3747
03:50:24,860 --> 03:50:26,560
The other thing I think
people need to remember is
3748
03:50:27,240 --> 03:50:29,420
that Queen is just a bunch of rubber
and fiberglass.
3749
03:50:31,340 --> 03:50:33,360
Sigourney, she's seeing something.
3750
03:50:33,540 --> 03:50:35,900
You're seeing her see it
and you believe it.
3751
03:50:36,080 --> 03:50:39,460
We'd have had to really mess it up
with the performance that Sigourney gave.
3752
03:50:39,880 --> 03:50:44,300
The work of Stan Winston and everyone
who had anything to do with the Queen,
3753
03:50:44,960 --> 03:50:47,910
they made her come alive.
3754
03:50:48,480 --> 03:50:50,840
If you talk to Jim, he will say
3755
03:50:50,860 --> 03:50:54,880
that it was my work
that made her come alive.
3756
03:50:54,930 --> 03:50:55,940
No.
3757
03:50:56,320 --> 03:50:58,860
It was what they did
to make me believe it.
3758
03:51:08,100 --> 03:51:12,140
I remember the great makeup artist
Dick Smith, after that movie came out,
3759
03:51:12,360 --> 03:51:14,360
he called us on the phone,
3760
03:51:14,760 --> 03:51:18,980
Stan put him on the speaker phone
and he was just raving about it.
3761
03:51:19,140 --> 03:51:23,780
And he was stunned to hear that
that power loader was not an existing
3762
03:51:24,340 --> 03:51:25,700
industrial machine.
3763
03:51:27,180 --> 03:51:28,780
It was a very heady time.
3764
03:51:40,750 --> 03:51:42,820
{\an8}Have you ever seen this really
old movie Aliens?
3765
03:52:00,140 --> 03:52:03,200
Jesus, I look like the robot from Aliens.
3766
03:52:05,860 --> 03:52:08,460
Stop. Not so fast, y'all.
3767
03:52:09,810 --> 03:52:10,870
Hey!
3768
03:52:12,980 --> 03:52:14,100
Die, motherfucker.
3769
03:52:27,180 --> 03:52:29,660
In 1986, we reenacted
the knife game from Aliens
3770
03:52:29,700 --> 03:52:30,980
and I stabbed you in the middle finger.
3771
03:52:35,270 --> 03:52:36,350
Purging now.
3772
03:52:50,020 --> 03:52:52,760
-Aw, what the ...
-That's right, babe.
3773
03:52:57,380 --> 03:52:59,160
{\an8}I do not want another single
3774
03:52:59,200 --> 03:53:01,260
pop culture reference outta you
for the rest of the trip.
3775
03:53:07,120 --> 03:53:08,860
I think it's about her healing,
3776
03:53:09,120 --> 03:53:11,700
finding that missing piece
that Newt gives her.
3777
03:53:11,860 --> 03:53:15,680
{\an8}And I know Sigourney Weaver was
particularly unhappy when that early scene
3778
03:53:15,820 --> 03:53:19,920
was cut when she finds out
that her daughter's died.
3779
03:53:20,620 --> 03:53:23,300
That's the beginning of the arc,
which ends at the end
3780
03:53:23,520 --> 03:53:24,760
when Newt calls her mommy.
3781
03:53:25,400 --> 03:53:27,300
-Mommy!
-Oh, God.
3782
03:53:30,920 --> 03:53:34,300
It's the hope of Aliens
that's really behind everything.
3783
03:53:34,400 --> 03:53:36,880
{\an8}And I think we as a species
and we as fans,
3784
03:53:36,940 --> 03:53:38,160
{\an8}we love hope, don't we?
3785
03:53:38,440 --> 03:53:40,280
-Sleep tight.
-Affirmative.
3786
03:53:42,720 --> 03:53:46,290
Despite all of the turmoil and the trauma
3787
03:53:46,320 --> 03:53:52,180
that Ripley and Newt and Hicks and Bishop
and everyone in the film goes through,
3788
03:53:52,380 --> 03:53:56,120
there's this shining beacon of hope
pushing them forward
3789
03:53:56,240 --> 03:53:57,680
that we can survive this.
3790
03:54:00,780 --> 03:54:03,080
{\an8}The final image of the film,
I think is critical,
3791
03:54:03,380 --> 03:54:05,920
{\an8}where the little girl's
also a victim of trauma,
3792
03:54:06,440 --> 03:54:08,840
probably much more so even than Ripley.
3793
03:54:10,260 --> 03:54:13,580
You feel a sense of healing
in the last moment of the film.
3794
03:54:13,680 --> 03:54:14,720
Can I dream?
3795
03:54:17,020 --> 03:54:19,380
Yes, honey. I think we both can.
3796
03:54:19,980 --> 03:54:22,710
It's a little on the nose,
but I think it's satisfying.
3797
03:54:22,740 --> 03:54:25,820
You've just been on a pretty horrific
heart pounding journey.
3798
03:54:46,240 --> 03:54:51,260
{\an8}I remember seeing the trailer
and I was blown away because
3799
03:54:51,640 --> 03:54:54,420
{\an8}first of all, it was very, very
reminiscent of the trailer for Alien.
3800
03:54:59,720 --> 03:55:02,150
With that very pulse pounding base
3801
03:55:02,180 --> 03:55:05,680
and then the weird screechy
siren sound and all that.
3802
03:55:08,620 --> 03:55:11,640
I saw it where it premiered
at the Avco Theater in Westwood.
3803
03:55:11,680 --> 03:55:13,890
That's where they had the world premier
with the cast and the crew there.
3804
03:55:13,930 --> 03:55:14,980
And it was packed.
3805
03:55:15,680 --> 03:55:18,640
It was just so infectious seeing it
with that packed house,
3806
03:55:18,760 --> 03:55:21,840
everyone screaming
and cheering and rooting
3807
03:55:22,140 --> 03:55:25,340
for these characters that it was hard
not to be swept up in it.
3808
03:55:30,600 --> 03:55:33,480
{\an8}I was in New York City, the cast was there
3809
03:55:33,720 --> 03:55:37,840
{\an8}and Jim was showing the press,
3810
03:55:37,940 --> 03:55:41,260
New York Times, LA Times,
Siskel and Ebert,
3811
03:55:41,300 --> 03:55:43,920
all of those people
that were gonna review the movie,
3812
03:55:44,000 --> 03:55:45,920
he wanted to show them the movie first
3813
03:55:46,080 --> 03:55:49,500
and he didn't want any of the actors
to be in that screening.
3814
03:55:50,400 --> 03:55:53,040
So Bill Paxton and I
3815
03:55:53,340 --> 03:55:57,840
decided to go up into the projection booth
3816
03:55:58,620 --> 03:56:02,920
and we watched the movie, just Bill and I
3817
03:56:03,340 --> 03:56:08,340
watched the movie through the little
projection booth box up at the top
3818
03:56:08,900 --> 03:56:12,700
and we were just so excited,
3819
03:56:13,000 --> 03:56:16,880
jumping up and down
and high-fiving each other.
3820
03:56:16,940 --> 03:56:21,200
{\an8}The first time I ever saw Aliens
was at the premier in Westwood.
3821
03:56:21,340 --> 03:56:22,770
We were all dressed to the nines,
3822
03:56:22,800 --> 03:56:24,770
and of course, there was
all the studio executives
3823
03:56:24,800 --> 03:56:26,230
in their penguin suits.
3824
03:56:28,440 --> 03:56:31,860
We ended up at the Beverly Hills
3825
03:56:32,050 --> 03:56:36,320
Wilshire Hotel in Sigourney's suite.
3826
03:56:37,280 --> 03:56:40,540
And she had cases of champagne,
3827
03:56:40,580 --> 03:56:43,260
and we just sat there
drinking champagne together.
3828
03:56:45,220 --> 03:56:50,380
Actually, I'd never seen myself
on film on screen.
3829
03:56:50,640 --> 03:56:51,560
{\an8}It was overwhelming.
3830
03:56:51,600 --> 03:56:55,800
{\an8}I went back to see it the next day.
I think all of us went back,
3831
03:56:56,120 --> 03:56:59,300
me and Bill Paxton and Lance and Mark,
we went back
3832
03:56:59,620 --> 03:57:03,040
to just like a regular showing
and sat in with the audience.
3833
03:57:04,960 --> 03:57:08,920
{\an8}I could feel the reaction
of people I knew around me
3834
03:57:09,940 --> 03:57:11,760
{\an8}who were amazed by the film.
3835
03:57:12,480 --> 03:57:16,680
I remember seeing the film
at a premier in New York,
3836
03:57:17,340 --> 03:57:20,540
and I remember it
because my family came with me,
3837
03:57:21,210 --> 03:57:24,700
and my parents and my older sister.
3838
03:57:25,490 --> 03:57:29,820
And I remember,
without any kind of hesitation
3839
03:57:29,860 --> 03:57:33,280
when Burke is revealed
to be as nasty as he was.
3840
03:57:33,660 --> 03:57:35,980
I mean, my sister punched me and went,
3841
03:57:36,100 --> 03:57:38,140
like, she just couldn't separate.
3842
03:57:38,260 --> 03:57:45,160
{\an8}We all came down to LA
and we were all so excited.
3843
03:57:45,300 --> 03:57:49,300
Again, Jim had not told me
what he had cut out,
3844
03:57:50,020 --> 03:57:51,840
and that was very hard for me actually.
3845
03:57:52,070 --> 03:57:56,940
I think probably,
that was distracting to me.
3846
03:57:57,460 --> 03:57:59,680
It was hard for me to judge the film.
3847
03:58:00,500 --> 03:58:05,180
With that gone, our relationship is
3848
03:58:05,620 --> 03:58:08,320
I'm able to say what I want to Jim
3849
03:58:08,680 --> 03:58:10,380
and we get over it pretty quickly,
3850
03:58:10,680 --> 03:58:15,540
but I think he could tell how upset I was
and he was sorry he'd taken it out.
3851
03:58:17,880 --> 03:58:22,100
I mean, we torment each other
with these things.
3852
03:58:26,160 --> 03:58:28,400
My memory of first seeing Aliens is
3853
03:58:28,620 --> 03:58:33,840
{\an8}a lot like other people's and seeing it
in the basement on tape,
3854
03:58:34,340 --> 03:58:38,140
I was a little kid, maybe 12 years old,
sitting alone in the dark,
3855
03:58:38,820 --> 03:58:41,540
experiencing the film,
terrified outta my mind.
3856
03:58:41,820 --> 03:58:44,400
Just becoming enamored
with this whole world.
3857
03:58:45,940 --> 03:58:49,820
Aliens. This time it's war.
3858
03:58:50,360 --> 03:58:52,560
{\an8}I would've seen it
when it first came out on VHS.
3859
03:58:52,760 --> 03:58:55,760
{\an8}I'm gonna say that was
probably what, '87 maybe?
3860
03:58:56,820 --> 03:58:59,500
And randomly it was my mom who rented it.
3861
03:58:59,560 --> 03:59:01,970
So we went down to a local video store
where I was probably looking
3862
03:59:02,000 --> 03:59:03,460
for the NeverEnding Story
or something like that,
3863
03:59:03,660 --> 03:59:06,340
and she was like, "Oh, Aliens."
I'm 11 years old.
3864
03:59:06,800 --> 03:59:08,630
We go home, we watch the film,
3865
03:59:08,660 --> 03:59:13,160
I distinctly recall watching most of it
from behind my fingers, just terrified.
3866
03:59:14,860 --> 03:59:18,540
I then rented this film
in excess of 50 times
3867
03:59:18,570 --> 03:59:19,350
over the next couple of years.
3868
03:59:19,380 --> 03:59:20,990
So much so that I literally
went in once and they said,
3869
03:59:21,020 --> 03:59:23,740
"Honestly, it would be cheaper
for us to sell you the tape
3870
03:59:24,000 --> 03:59:25,960
than for you to keep coming
back here and getting this film."
3871
03:59:28,830 --> 03:59:32,150
To this day, you are still pulled,
you're still drawn,
3872
03:59:32,180 --> 03:59:33,860
you still want the good guys to win.
3873
03:59:33,950 --> 03:59:36,380
{\an8}It's 1:00 AM, you gotta
get up early the next day,
3874
03:59:36,500 --> 03:59:39,560
{\an8}and there you are an hour
and a half later still watching it.
3875
03:59:43,540 --> 03:59:45,830
All I know is that when I rewatch it,
3876
03:59:45,860 --> 03:59:50,420
I always find something interesting
in every single frame.
3877
03:59:50,860 --> 03:59:54,840
There's a certain respect
that the camera is giving everyone.
3878
03:59:54,880 --> 03:59:58,720
It's not just focused on the lead
or just focused on the monster.
3879
04:00:00,410 --> 04:00:01,230
For what it's worth.
3880
04:00:02,300 --> 04:00:06,420
{\an8}The first thing that you have
to remember is that
3881
04:00:06,700 --> 04:00:10,290
{\an8}the studio needs to have
enough confidence in a film
3882
04:00:11,060 --> 04:00:14,520
to do a Academy marketing campaign.
3883
04:00:18,740 --> 04:00:23,480
And we were blown away
and so gratified that 20th Century Fox
3884
04:00:24,100 --> 04:00:29,790
really went after it in every category,
and especially with Sigourney.
3885
04:00:29,820 --> 04:00:35,150
And there was not a history of actors
from science fiction films,
3886
04:00:35,180 --> 04:00:38,800
much less horror films
being rewarded by the Academy.
3887
04:00:38,830 --> 04:00:42,460
So when we were nominated
for seven Academy Awards,
3888
04:00:43,580 --> 04:00:44,640
it blew our minds.
3889
04:00:44,740 --> 04:00:46,320
Absolutely blew our minds.
3890
04:00:46,640 --> 04:00:48,560
Sigourney Weaver in Aliens.
3891
04:00:50,920 --> 04:00:56,850
I think it's wonderful that the Academy
was able to be very open-minded
3892
04:00:56,880 --> 04:00:58,920
about the genre.
3893
04:00:59,640 --> 04:01:01,580
I've always loved visiting other genres.
3894
04:01:01,620 --> 04:01:03,060
To me it's all about the story.
3895
04:01:03,440 --> 04:01:07,100
But the Academy could
have been really snobby, but they weren't.
3896
04:01:11,020 --> 04:01:16,020
{\an8}Thinking back on Jim Cameron's career,
which is just stellar.
3897
04:01:16,960 --> 04:01:23,400
{\an8}I'd have to say that Aliens
was perhaps his work of passion.
3898
04:01:27,200 --> 04:01:32,160
{\an8}His filmography isn't super extensive,
but it's monumental.
3899
04:01:34,540 --> 04:01:38,240
Given that Aliens was really
a low budget movie,
3900
04:01:38,400 --> 04:01:40,360
{\an8}it's amazing how high it ranks
3901
04:01:40,380 --> 04:01:43,100
{\an8}or it seems to rank
in terms of popularity.
3902
04:01:46,760 --> 04:01:50,200
I always wish he'd done a second Aliens
movie or whatever it would've been,
3903
04:01:50,700 --> 04:01:52,810
{\an8}I respect him for not doing that
and moving on.
3904
04:01:52,840 --> 04:01:57,240
{\an8}But I always would've loved to have
seen where he would've taken that.
3905
04:01:59,360 --> 04:02:01,760
I remember asking Jim when
we were about to finish,
3906
04:02:01,800 --> 04:02:03,520
I said, "Jim, are you gonna
do another one of these?"
3907
04:02:03,560 --> 04:02:05,640
And he was adamant,
he was like, "Nope, that's it."
3908
04:02:06,000 --> 04:02:07,780
Nope, my signature. That's it.
3909
04:02:08,380 --> 04:02:10,340
And I'm sure Fox begged him.
3910
04:02:10,960 --> 04:02:12,800
I'm sure they begged him to do more.
3911
04:02:13,020 --> 04:02:18,080
This is the only film that
Jim was a director for hire on.
3912
04:02:18,640 --> 04:02:19,820
He's a creator.
3913
04:02:19,960 --> 04:02:21,480
He created Aliens,
3914
04:02:21,540 --> 04:02:26,940
yes, they're characters
that existed before like Ripley,
3915
04:02:27,640 --> 04:02:29,900
but he crafted it from whole cloth,
3916
04:02:30,540 --> 04:02:32,760
yet was not the rights holder.
3917
04:02:34,600 --> 04:02:37,460
From that point on, he did not want
to be a director for hire.
3918
04:02:37,500 --> 04:02:39,240
It makes absolute sense.
3919
04:02:39,740 --> 04:02:43,860
Aliens is a unique film, I think,
3920
04:02:43,940 --> 04:02:48,000
in that it came on the tails
3921
04:02:48,550 --> 04:02:51,660
of another unique film as a sequel,
3922
04:02:53,350 --> 04:02:55,060
but it was so beautifully built on
3923
04:02:55,420 --> 04:02:57,000
from the first film that was established
3924
04:02:57,020 --> 04:03:00,280
by geniuses like Ridley Scott
and H.R. Giger,
3925
04:03:00,820 --> 04:03:02,500
but yet it was its own thing.
3926
04:03:02,780 --> 04:03:05,020
Tonally, it was its own thing.
3927
04:03:16,120 --> 04:03:17,920
{\an8}I mean, I love Alien. I really love Alien.
3928
04:03:17,960 --> 04:03:20,060
{\an8}It's a perfect organism, if you will.
3929
04:03:20,540 --> 04:03:22,040
Perfect organism.
3930
04:03:22,800 --> 04:03:24,890
But it's not Aliens to me.
3931
04:03:24,920 --> 04:03:27,170
And it didn't speak to me
in the same way that Aliens did.
3932
04:03:27,200 --> 04:03:28,880
And I know there's an age old
debate about which is better,
3933
04:03:28,920 --> 04:03:29,750
the first one or the second one.
3934
04:03:29,780 --> 04:03:31,670
But for me, nothing tops Aliens
3935
04:03:31,700 --> 04:03:35,180
because nothing about the first one quite
made me feel the way the second one did.
3936
04:03:35,860 --> 04:03:37,800
Looks like it's grown out of the chair.
3937
04:03:38,100 --> 04:03:44,180
{\an8}Alien was perfect in and of itself,
and Aliens is perfect in and of itself.
3938
04:03:47,720 --> 04:03:50,740
The creature's easier to kill,
and then maybe that feels a little
3939
04:03:50,900 --> 04:03:53,120
{\an8}convenient to move the plot along.
3940
04:03:53,620 --> 04:03:58,180
But I think over time
those objections have subsided.
3941
04:03:58,220 --> 04:04:00,630
And really
what you're left with is a movie
3942
04:04:00,660 --> 04:04:03,940
{\an8}that it is its own standalone piece.
3943
04:04:11,760 --> 04:04:13,840
{\an8}Well, Alien 3.
3944
04:04:18,040 --> 04:04:20,820
{\an8}I knew nothing about that movie
when I went to see it.
3945
04:04:21,600 --> 04:04:24,210
Oh, I went all pumped up
for another great Aliens film,
3946
04:04:24,240 --> 04:04:30,200
and then they killed Newt and Hicks
almost off camera in the credits.
3947
04:04:32,760 --> 04:04:33,860
I couldn't even believe it.
3948
04:04:34,120 --> 04:04:37,940
Not just because it did something
to my comic stories.
3949
04:04:38,420 --> 04:04:44,380
It's like you took this heroic journey
of Hicks and Newt and you just snuffed it.
3950
04:04:45,980 --> 04:04:47,360
{\an8}So thank you, David.
3951
04:04:47,520 --> 04:04:50,050
{\an8}Much as I love David
and I know why he did it,
3952
04:04:50,080 --> 04:04:52,100
{\an8}which is this has to be my movie,
goddamn it.
3953
04:04:52,320 --> 04:04:53,810
I want to tell a completely
different story,
3954
04:04:53,840 --> 04:04:55,620
I don't care about these characters. Yeah.
3955
04:04:55,860 --> 04:04:58,420
Except that the fan base did. Yeah.
3956
04:05:01,820 --> 04:05:03,900
{\an8}One of the interesting things
about all the Alien films
3957
04:05:04,560 --> 04:05:08,260
{\an8}is that they are so all over
the place in terms of the genres
3958
04:05:08,360 --> 04:05:09,680
that they riff on.
3959
04:05:11,420 --> 04:05:15,300
Even though you could say that, "Okay,
Alien is a haunted house in space.
3960
04:05:15,800 --> 04:05:17,610
Aliens is a war movie in space.
3961
04:05:17,640 --> 04:05:20,860
Alien 3 is more of an existential,
3962
04:05:21,360 --> 04:05:25,560
almost religious journey
for Ripley in a way."
3963
04:05:26,820 --> 04:05:27,920
It's not possible.
3964
04:05:28,300 --> 04:05:32,680
All the films have a slight different
tweak to how they enter the world
3965
04:05:32,720 --> 04:05:33,960
and then what they get out of the world.
3966
04:05:38,180 --> 04:05:42,480
{\an8}There's a version of PTSD
that has gone on in fandom
3967
04:05:42,700 --> 04:05:44,160
since the release of Alien 3,
3968
04:05:44,420 --> 04:05:47,280
where we've been let down time
and time and time again.
3969
04:05:54,770 --> 04:05:56,650
It is easy to look
at the first three films
3970
04:05:56,670 --> 04:05:59,140
as Alien is about birth,
3971
04:05:59,420 --> 04:06:02,140
Aliens is about life or survival,
3972
04:06:02,320 --> 04:06:03,440
and then Alien 3 is about death.
3973
04:06:03,500 --> 04:06:06,130
I mean, it's a pretty clean arc
between those three movies.
3974
04:06:08,590 --> 04:06:09,850
You're probably gonna hate me saying this,
3975
04:06:09,880 --> 04:06:13,860
but I really think Ripley in Alien 3
is probably the most developed
3976
04:06:13,900 --> 04:06:15,060
that character ever became.
3977
04:06:22,860 --> 04:06:27,640
The journey of the Alien films was filled
with controversy even with Aliens.
3978
04:06:27,680 --> 04:06:31,540
Because I remember James Cameron had
to write a letter into Starlog Magazine
3979
04:06:31,980 --> 04:06:36,240
basically addressing all the fans'
criticisms and questions
3980
04:06:36,300 --> 04:06:39,300
because there was
a lot of controversy about Aliens
3981
04:06:39,440 --> 04:06:41,640
that people don't remember now
because it's so beloved.
3982
04:06:46,320 --> 04:06:50,580
{\an8}But it is like an itch that won't go away
with these guys, these studio guys.
3983
04:06:51,460 --> 04:06:53,060
{\an8}What about another Aliens?
3984
04:06:57,660 --> 04:07:00,480
That was a wonderful part of my life.
3985
04:07:00,730 --> 04:07:01,850
{\an8}It still is.
3986
04:07:01,900 --> 04:07:04,640
{\an8}Fortunately, thanks to the cons,
thanks to the fans,
3987
04:07:04,880 --> 04:07:07,360
I get to see my buddies
every now and again.
3988
04:07:07,410 --> 04:07:09,440
I mean, we love it.
We love going to those
3989
04:07:09,500 --> 04:07:11,360
because we get to hang out
with each other again.
3990
04:07:11,460 --> 04:07:13,210
That's how much we care about each other.
3991
04:07:15,560 --> 04:07:19,120
So it's given me that existing legacy
3992
04:07:19,600 --> 04:07:24,320
and these people that I love
that I get to see, it'll always be there.
3993
04:07:24,760 --> 04:07:26,360
And that's kind of special.
3994
04:07:27,160 --> 04:07:30,740
{\an8}We were at the San Diego Comic-Con,
and Jim and Gale threw us all
3995
04:07:30,770 --> 04:07:32,980
like a really fabulous party.
3996
04:07:33,230 --> 04:07:34,700
It was like sushi forever.
3997
04:07:36,080 --> 04:07:39,600
Jim gave a really, really heartfelt
speech to all of us.
3998
04:07:39,660 --> 04:07:41,320
Something he'd never shared before,
3999
04:07:41,760 --> 04:07:44,300
just about how grateful he and Gale were
4000
04:07:44,740 --> 04:07:47,690
for all the work
that we all did collectively
4001
04:07:47,720 --> 04:07:51,180
and how at that time we really had no idea
4002
04:07:51,720 --> 04:07:55,980
what this birthing
was going to mean to all of us.
4003
04:07:58,370 --> 04:08:00,500
Where fandom becomes valuable
4004
04:08:00,840 --> 04:08:03,010
is that when a film
gets an aura around it,
4005
04:08:03,040 --> 04:08:04,400
people approach it with respect.
4006
04:08:05,020 --> 04:08:08,500
They propagate that sort
of myth of the film.
4007
04:08:11,500 --> 04:08:16,360
{\an8}The people are really,
really enthusiastic about
4008
04:08:16,580 --> 04:08:18,400
that adventure that they had
4009
04:08:19,260 --> 04:08:21,940
and that I'm still here
and I'm still a piece of it.
4010
04:08:22,080 --> 04:08:24,400
I mean, I'm the real deal.
4011
04:08:25,760 --> 04:08:29,340
Early on, they used to come up
and poke me in the legs,
4012
04:08:30,080 --> 04:08:31,260
say, "Where's your legs?"
4013
04:08:35,920 --> 04:08:39,160
We went to Comic-con
and I had never been to this world.
4014
04:08:39,520 --> 04:08:42,080
{\an8}People dressed as characters,
people dressed as the marines,
4015
04:08:42,120 --> 04:08:44,840
{\an8}people dressed as Sigourney,
not a lot of people dressed as Burke.
4016
04:08:45,100 --> 04:08:46,280
Not as much of a draw.
4017
04:08:47,860 --> 04:08:49,280
People would often come over to me and go,
4018
04:08:49,320 --> 04:08:51,980
"Oh, man, it took me
a long time to trust you again."
4019
04:08:52,020 --> 04:08:53,080
Burke!
4020
04:08:55,220 --> 04:08:59,180
{\an8}What makes it this film that we keep
coming back to time and time again,
4021
04:08:59,380 --> 04:09:02,380
{\an8}it's less about the movie itself
4022
04:09:02,520 --> 04:09:04,940
and more about what it's
doing for us emotionally.
4023
04:09:05,200 --> 04:09:07,680
It's the campfire
that we all sit around at night.
4024
04:09:07,880 --> 04:09:09,990
It's that conversation at midnight
4025
04:09:10,020 --> 04:09:11,400
we're having
with some of our best friends.
4026
04:09:11,440 --> 04:09:12,880
That's what Aliens is.
4027
04:09:15,020 --> 04:09:17,210
There aren't a lot of things
that you get to do
4028
04:09:17,240 --> 04:09:22,600
that become part of people's lives
on an ongoing basis.
4029
04:09:22,800 --> 04:09:27,360
{\an8}What really astonishes me,
and it's something I'm very grateful for,
4030
04:09:28,020 --> 04:09:29,720
is the number of girls and women
4031
04:09:29,750 --> 04:09:32,060
who've come up to me
in my life and just said,
4032
04:09:32,670 --> 04:09:35,100
"Ripley means so much to me.
4033
04:09:35,180 --> 04:09:39,840
I had the poster of Aliens
in my bedroom growing up."
4034
04:09:39,880 --> 04:09:43,320
It's unbelievable
how many times that happens to me.
4035
04:09:43,720 --> 04:09:46,820
{\an8}There's a concept called
"parasocial relationships."
4036
04:09:47,060 --> 04:09:52,060
{\an8}And this is essentially
the non-delusional connection
4037
04:09:52,200 --> 04:09:55,280
that we have to fictional stories,
fictional characters,
4038
04:09:55,580 --> 04:10:01,150
beings, creatures, humans that we identify
and we even relate to,
4039
04:10:01,180 --> 04:10:03,740
but we know fundamentally
they're not real.
4040
04:10:04,320 --> 04:10:07,420
There are some research studies that show
that when we're not hanging out
4041
04:10:07,460 --> 04:10:10,850
with these fictional buddies,
we yearn for their companionship.
4042
04:10:10,880 --> 04:10:12,680
We wanna go back and hang out with them.
4043
04:10:12,860 --> 04:10:15,260
Yeah, the one that you had was male.
4044
04:10:15,320 --> 04:10:19,260
I think the science fiction fan
is a very special fan.
4045
04:10:19,960 --> 04:10:25,320
First of all, they're really smart,
they're really open, curious,
4046
04:10:25,880 --> 04:10:27,720
maybe somewhat scientific,
4047
04:10:28,220 --> 04:10:34,320
are fascinated by all the aspects
of making this film in this kind of world.
4048
04:10:35,040 --> 04:10:38,180
And I guess what really moves me
is how passionate they are.
4049
04:10:38,460 --> 04:10:40,690
I know that there are Star Wars fans
4050
04:10:40,720 --> 04:10:44,240
and then there are Marvel fans,
but the Aliens fans are really different.
4051
04:10:44,300 --> 04:10:45,930
They're like Jim Cameron,
4052
04:10:45,960 --> 04:10:48,120
they're really caught up
in all the details,
4053
04:10:48,780 --> 04:10:51,460
and they're kind of nerdy
in the most wonderful way.
4054
04:10:51,860 --> 04:10:53,980
And so I feel like, honestly,
4055
04:10:54,140 --> 04:10:57,600
all of us who are working on these films,
we're all the same.
4056
04:10:57,760 --> 04:10:59,700
We're all like the fans.
4057
04:11:01,980 --> 04:11:06,780
{\an8}There's a lot of factors to it,
but it definitely is movie history.
4058
04:11:06,900 --> 04:11:11,260
{\an8}Everyone can quote Bill Paxton,
every line he said in that film.
4059
04:11:11,640 --> 04:11:13,640
Now, what the fuck are we supposed to do?
4060
04:11:13,700 --> 04:11:16,460
Everyone can quote
Carrie Hern and Sigourney,
4061
04:11:16,700 --> 04:11:19,200
Michael Biehn, Jenette, and Mark.
4062
04:11:19,400 --> 04:11:21,520
-It is too bad.
-Fuck.
4063
04:11:21,660 --> 04:11:25,280
They all have classic lines,
they all have classic moments.
4064
04:11:28,940 --> 04:11:32,940
{\an8}It's one of those films when you
could be with a friend and you'd say,
4065
04:11:33,000 --> 04:11:34,550
{\an8}"Well, you've seen Aliens, of course."
4066
04:11:34,580 --> 04:11:35,860
{\an8}They'd go, "No, I've never seen Aliens."
4067
04:11:35,980 --> 04:11:38,200
It's like, "Well, we have to watch."
4068
04:11:42,440 --> 04:11:45,560
I think that it will speak to people
for many more generations.
4069
04:11:46,480 --> 04:11:47,540
Work fast.
4070
04:11:49,020 --> 04:11:52,540
{\an8}You see yourself and struggle
the human condition
4071
04:11:53,020 --> 04:11:54,260
{\an8}to be highfalutin.
4072
04:11:54,400 --> 04:11:56,040
{\an8}There is a magic dust,
4073
04:11:56,080 --> 04:12:01,260
{\an8}whether it's the movie dust
or the sculpture dust or the jazz dust.
4074
04:12:03,280 --> 04:12:06,620
When chemistry happens, it is a mystery.
4075
04:12:10,060 --> 04:12:12,080
{\an8}You can like Aliens just
because it's an action movie.
4076
04:12:12,320 --> 04:12:15,200
You can like it because
it's got the great emotional story.
4077
04:12:15,240 --> 04:12:17,180
You can like it because it has monsters.
4078
04:12:17,640 --> 04:12:20,000
You can like it for the marines,
you can like it for anything
4079
04:12:20,060 --> 04:12:21,840
or you can like the entire thing together.
4080
04:12:26,260 --> 04:12:28,550
Jim Cameron knocked it outta the park.
4081
04:12:28,660 --> 04:12:32,180
I mean, he made one of the most gripping
4082
04:12:32,620 --> 04:12:36,640
sci-fi adventure war movies ever, ever.
4083
04:12:38,280 --> 04:12:41,380
It's so memorable, so seminal,
4084
04:12:41,720 --> 04:12:46,100
and such a milestone
filmmaking achievement.
4085
04:12:48,420 --> 04:12:51,940
The organic lifecycle they came up with,
4086
04:12:52,380 --> 04:12:56,640
and it never stops, it's just kicking
your the whole time.
4087
04:12:58,180 --> 04:13:00,280
The casting is tremendous.
4088
04:13:00,620 --> 04:13:01,700
Check it out.
4089
04:13:02,020 --> 04:13:04,520
-I am the ultimate badass.
-Yeah, right.
4090
04:13:04,680 --> 04:13:08,440
Great world, great story,
brilliant execution.
4091
04:13:08,920 --> 04:13:11,760
That's what makes Aliens
stand the test of time.
4092
04:13:12,140 --> 04:13:14,080
And that's why we're
still talking about it today.
4093
04:13:14,620 --> 04:13:18,680
Aliens is important to me
for so many reasons.
4094
04:13:18,710 --> 04:13:24,540
It was the beginning of my working
relationship with Jim Cameron,
4095
04:13:24,860 --> 04:13:28,160
and that has been
such a great collaboration.
4096
04:13:28,200 --> 04:13:35,000
And if anything, the Avatar films make me
realize even more acutely how lucky I am.
4097
04:13:35,940 --> 04:13:38,840
He's so passionate
about the stories he's telling
4098
04:13:39,140 --> 04:13:41,560
and he sees it so clearly and he feels it,
4099
04:13:41,600 --> 04:13:43,660
and he's so uncompromising.
4100
04:13:44,140 --> 04:13:47,620
Now he has a little more fun making
these movies, I'm happy to say.
4101
04:13:48,000 --> 04:13:50,740
{\an8}I'm not sure that anyone of us
would've thought
4102
04:13:50,770 --> 04:13:55,140
{\an8}that 40 years later that we'd be
still talking about it to people.
4103
04:13:56,980 --> 04:13:58,970
And it was a fun movie to make just as far
4104
04:13:59,000 --> 04:14:03,120
as all the relationships
and the guns and the sets
4105
04:14:03,150 --> 04:14:04,930
and the monsters and everything,
4106
04:14:06,380 --> 04:14:10,060
It was a great time in my life.
4107
04:14:11,700 --> 04:14:14,420
When it was opening night
here in Los Angeles,
4108
04:14:14,540 --> 04:14:18,740
{\an8}Jim and I went all out,
we hired a car and driver
4109
04:14:19,360 --> 04:14:21,500
{\an8}and we went to a number
of different theaters.
4110
04:14:22,540 --> 04:14:24,380
The one that we really remember
4111
04:14:24,400 --> 04:14:27,060
was Hollywood Boulevard
midnight screening.
4112
04:14:27,980 --> 04:14:31,820
We went into the theater
and we stood in the back
4113
04:14:32,320 --> 04:14:34,280
and we watched a lot of the film.
4114
04:14:35,020 --> 04:14:41,000
And it was literally
an audience participation film.
4115
04:14:42,200 --> 04:14:46,980
Everyone gasped, everyone laughed
at Hudson's lines.
4116
04:14:47,060 --> 04:14:49,780
And I remember one woman was so scared
4117
04:14:50,440 --> 04:14:56,900
that she managed to pull off
the armrest from her seat.
4118
04:14:57,800 --> 04:14:59,040
Luckily it was padded,
4119
04:14:59,460 --> 04:15:02,680
and on the padded side,
she was hitting her boyfriend with it.
4120
04:15:02,720 --> 04:15:04,460
She was so afraid.
4121
04:15:06,200 --> 04:15:08,780
People remember, when they first saw it,
4122
04:15:08,960 --> 04:15:11,810
they remember
when their parents showed it to them
4123
04:15:11,950 --> 04:15:13,630
and the impact that it had.
4124
04:15:14,860 --> 04:15:17,240
There aren't a lot of films like that
4125
04:15:17,280 --> 04:15:20,580
where you've had
a life changing experience.