Alien Nation
Short description
In a near-future version of Los Angeles, a spacecraft carrying a quarter of a million humanoid aliens has crashed on Earth, and after years of quarantine the newcomers are being absorbed into society, often to resentment and hostility. Detective Matthew Sykes despises them, but when his partner is killed during a confrontation with a gang of aliens, department pressure pairs him with Samuel Francisco, the first alien police officer in the city. The mismatched partners work the murder while uncovering something that could damage relations between the two peoples.
Graham Baker directed the film, which followed his 1981 debut The Final Conflict and preceded Beowulf in 1999. James Caan plays Sykes and Mandy Patinkin plays Francisco, with Terence Stamp as William Harcourt, Kevyn Major Howard as Rudyard Kipling, Leslie Bevis as Cassandra and Peter Jason as Fedorchuk. Rockne S. O'Bannon wrote the screenplay, and Gale Anne Hurd and Richard Kobritz produced for 20th Century Fox with Pacific Western and American Entertainment Partners II L.P. The film runs 91 minutes.
Made for about 16 million dollars, Alien Nation took in roughly 32 million worldwide, a modest return on the studio's investment. Its ratings sit in the middle: 6.3 out of 10 on IMDb from around 18,000 votes and 6.1 out of 10 on TMDB from roughly 348 votes. The 33 critics' reviews average 5.5 out of 10, a score close to, and slightly below, what audiences give it.
What's left behind the scenes
- Working titles for the film were “Future Times” and “External Irritation.”
- Mike Spatola supervised the artists working on the alien masks. Management decided that the aliens should have spots in areas where humans grow hair, and on their hands. The masks and hands of the aliens were hand-painted (they initially considered making gloves in the shape of alien hands, but later abandoned the idea).
- Applying the alien makeup took 4 hours.
- At the beginning of the film, you can notice a cinema showing 'Rambo 6'.
- James Cameron also contributed to the screenplay of the film, but his name does not appear in the final credits.
- Before the film's release, it was re-edited to make the narrative more dynamic. Originally, the film was scheduled for release in the summer, but due to the re-editing, it had to be postponed to October 1988.
- After William Harcourt's transformation, he was played by a different actor, not Terence Stamp, because Stamp categorically refused to wear the makeup required by the script.
- The film was shot in Los Angeles over three months – from October 12, 1987, to January 13, 1988.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
