Alien Resurrection
It's already too late.
Alien Resurrection (1997)
Production
Budget
$75 000 000
Revenue
$161 376 068
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
Sigourney Weaver
Ripley
Winona Ryder
Call
Dominique Pinon
Vriess
Ron Perlman
Johner
Gary Dourdan
Christie
Michael Wincott
Elgyn
Kim Flowers
Hillard
Dan Hedaya
General Perez
Short description
Set two centuries after Ellen Ripley's death, Alien Resurrection brings the character back through an experiment aboard a military science vessel. Scientists clone her in an attempt to recover the alien queen carried inside her, but the process leaves Ripley with alien traits mixed into her own biology. The creatures they breed soon break loose and begin killing the crew, and Ripley joins forces with a group of smugglers and pirates aboard the ship to stop the aliens from reaching Earth.
The film was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, his third feature after Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children and the one that followed before Amélie. Joss Whedon wrote the screenplay, and David Giler, Walter Hill and Gordon Carroll produced. Sigourney Weaver returns as Ripley, with Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman, Gary Dourdan and Michael Wincott among the main cast. It is a co-production between the United States and France.
Made for 70 million dollars, the film took in about 162 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.2 out of 10 from roughly 291,000 votes, and on TMDB it also sits at 6.2 from about 5,800 votes. A critics' rating of 5.9 from 163 reviews places it close to the audience scores rather than clearly apart from them.
What's left behind the scenes
- The first draft of the script included a scene set in a botanical garden aboard the Sulaco. In this scene, Ripley drove a jeep while the other passengers fought off a horde of Xenomorphs. This scene followed the chapel scene but preceded the appearance of the Newborn. However, the scene was never filmed due to budget constraints.
- The role eventually played by Winona Ryder was offered to Angelina Jolie.
- Initially, the fourth installment of the film series was intended to be an adaptation of the popular comic book 'Alien vs. Predator'.
- During pre-production, it turned out that no life-size Queen Alien models had been preserved. Fortunately for the producers, a copy of the Queen model was found… with a fan of the film series.
- The budget of $50-60 million was much less than the director and screenwriter had hoped for. Therefore, the sets were not as large-scale as planned, and the film used a lot of close-up shots.
- The first shot of the Ripley clone, resembling a little girl, was created based on childhood photographs of Sigourney Weaver, which she kindly shared with the special effects team.
- Initially, Jean-Pierre Jeunet wanted the main villain to be a woman. However, the producers rejected this idea, believing that the film already had two main female characters.
- It might seem that an entire labyrinth of endless corridors was built specifically for the film. However, only two corridor sets were made for the picture.
- The longer the film's characters wander through the endless corridors of the spaceship, the darker and more ominous the locations become.
- Milk was specially added to the water during the filming of the underwater scene, as the water was too clear and viewers might think the action wasn't taking place underwater.
- The underwater scene was filmed over three weeks.
- Distinctly defined eyes were deliberately added to the design of the 'Newborn' to disprove those who claimed that the aliens couldn't see because they had no eyes.
- The underwater scene was filmed in a water tank specially built for the film at 20th Century Fox Studios. It took a week to fill it with water.
- The actors underwent a full course of preliminary training before filming the underwater scene. Sigourney Weaver missed most of it, as she was performing in a Broadway play at the same time.
- The code that Elgin recites for boarding the 'Dropship' is 'EA-TM-E'.
- For the release of the special edition of all four films on DVD, the 'Alien Quadrilogy,' Frantic Films was tasked with adding a beetle's mandibles to the beginning of the film, resembling the jaws of the Xenomorph.
- Ripley's costume was originally supposed to be different. But when Sigourney Weaver saw Kim Flowers' costume, she demanded that her character be dressed in exactly the same attire.
- Ron Perlman performed the stunt himself in the scene where his character hangs upside down on the stairs and fires two pistols.
- David Gayler initially refused to make a fourth film.
- 'Alien: Resurrection' was the only Alien film not shot in England. One of the reasons for moving the filming location was that Sigourney Weaver did not want to leave her home country.
- The film crew faced a problem finding a location to shoot the film. This was because 'Titanic' (1997), 'Starship Troopers' (1997), and 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' (1997) were all being filmed at the same time, using almost all available sound stages.
- Initially, the face of the 'Newborn' was supposed to resemble Ripley, but the filmmakers had to abandon this idea because a similar approach to creating a monster had already been used in 'Species' (1995).
- The android names in this film series go in alphabetical order: in 'Alien' (1979) the android was named Ash; in 'Aliens' (1986) – Bishop; the third android in 'Alien: Resurrection' (1997) is called Call. Thus, the sequence of the English alphabet – ABC (Ash-Bishop-Call) is maintained.
- Sigourney Weaver largely agreed to star in the film because of the scene where Ripley 8 destroys her seven failed clones.
- In an early version of Joss Whedon's script, the Newborn was a four-legged creature, eyeless, with white skin and red veins along its head. It had an inner jaw just like the other Xenomorphs. It also had claws on its head, which were used to hold the victim while it sucked their blood with its inner jaw.
- Nigel Phelps designed 'Betty' based on a jackhammer. 'The Coachman' was originally intended to be a vertical structure, but this idea was abandoned due to the difficulties in developing and building sets for such a structure.
- Ron Perlman nearly drowned during the filming of an underwater scene. As he tried to surface, he hit his head on a rain machine, lost consciousness, and was rescued by nearby crew members.
- Joss Whedon wrote five versions of the final battle with 'The Newborn'. In four of them, the action took place on Earth in the following locations: a hospital maternity ward, a giant waste dump, a snowy forest, and a desert.
- The computer in "Woznichy" is called "Father". In "Alien" (1979), the computer was called "Mother". Both films feature similar scenes in which characters yell at "Mother" or "Father" for not responding to their orders.
- Winona Ryder nearly drowned while filming an underwater scene.
- Joss Whedon wrote the role of Christie specifically for Chow Yun-Fat. However, the latter turned down the role.
- When the film was in theaters, H.R. Giger's name was absent from the end credits. This error was corrected upon the film's release on video. Giger performed certain design work on the aliens.
- The film's screenwriter faced a difficult task – somehow returning Sigourney Weaver's character to the film series. An early version of the script suggested that Ripley wakes up aboard the "Sulaco" and realizes that all the events that happened to her in "Alien 3" (1992) were a dream.
- Jean-Pierre Jeunet wanted to include a scene in the film where a mosquito bites Ripley, but then literally dissolves into the air due to her blood, which contains acid. He eventually abandoned this idea after learning how much time and money it would take to make the scene.
- Sigourney Weaver's fee for this film was a larger amount than the entire budget of "Alien" (1979).
- The role of Dr. Ren was specifically written for Bill Murray, with the intention of reuniting Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver on set after "Ghostbusters" (1984).
- Winona Ryder agreed to participate in the film without even reading the script. She stated that she would play any role, even if her character was destined to die in the first scene of the film.
- Sigourney Weaver actually made that fantastic behind-the-back basketball shot. To achieve this, she needed two weeks of training under the guidance of a basketball coach. At the end of the training course, she averaged one basket out of six. During the filming of the scene, she made the shot on her first attempt, while being approximately six feet (about 183 cm) beyond the three-point line. During the film's editing, Jean-Pierre Jeunet wanted to remove the scene from the film because he believed audiences would find the shot too unbelievable. At Sigourney's request, the scene was kept. She herself calls this shot one of the most wonderful moments in her life, of course, after her wedding and the birth of her daughter.
- During final editing, the studio wanted to cut the scene preceding the confrontation between Ripley and the Alien Queen. The reason was that the scene could be interpreted as a love scene. However, the scene was preserved after Sigourney Weaver threatened to not participate in the film's promotional campaign if it was removed.
- During filming, Jean-Pierre Jeunet barely knew English.
- Jean-Pierre Jeunet wanted to shoot an additional scene in which the Newborn chases Ripley as she flees on the 'Betty'. This scene was intended to show the Newborn entirely computer-generated. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's idea was not to be realized due to budgetary constraints.
- The studio initially planned for John Hodge to write the screenplay and for Danny Boyle to direct. However, both declined to join forces on 'A Life Less Ordinary' (1997).
- At an early stage of the project's development, David Cronenberg was considered for the director's position.
- “Alien Resurrection” was the first film in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s filmography where he didn’t have to share the director’s chair with anyone else.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
