10 Facts You Probably Didn't Know About 'Alien'

No. 10 - The “Alien” franchise would most likely not even exist without the success of “Star Wars.”

“Alien” was written, but not greenlit, until “Star Wars” hit the scene and blew up at the box office. And seeing as how “Alien” was the only other sci-fi script 20th Century Fox had in the can at the time, it was a no-brainer. Coincidentally, “Alien” was initially titled “Star Beast”. We're glad they opted for the name change.

No. 9 - The film’s iconic opening titles were originally supposed to spell out “Alien” with body parts like bones and flesh.

However, this was deemed too gory, so Ridley Scott came up with the new, more suspenseful hieroglyphic style title card layout we see in the film today. Yes, in a film where a creature literally rips through a man’s sternum to escape his body, the equivalent of doing a bloody rendition of the YMCA was apparently just too much for 1979 censors.

No. 8 - Two key roles in the movie were almost played by different actors.

Due to scheduling conflicts, the role of Kane (aka the chestburster victim) was almost played by Jon Finch instead of John Hurt. But when Jon Finch got sick on the first day of shooting only to discover he had an extreme case of diabetes, it just so happened that John Hurt’s other film had fallen through, leaving him available for the role.

The lead role of Ripley came down to a choice between Meryl Streep, hot off her role in “The Deer Hunter,” and Sigourney Weaver, a relative unknown. But as soon as Ridley Scott saw Weaver in person for the first time, he knew she was perfect. Ironically, Veronica Cartwright had also auditioned for the role of Ripley and thought she had the part until showing up for a costume test and being told she would actually be playing Lambert, the ship’s navigator. A similar situation exists with “Prometheus,” as Charlize Theron had to pass on the title role of Elizabeth Shaw for her lead role in “Mad Max: Fury Road.” She will now play Meredith Vickers in “Prometheus,” and Noomi Rapace will play Shaw. To Theron’s credit, she said she’d “rather be a smaller character in a great film than the lead in a shitty movie.” (Source: Entertainment Weekly)

No. 7 - The famous chestburster scene was shot in only one take with four cameras.

Even more amazingly, only Tom Skerritt (Dallas) and obviously John Hurt had any clue what the scene would entail. The rest of the actors in the scene were left in the dark, not being told much at all before shooting began in order to get a more natural response. For instance, Veronica Cartwright knew she would be getting a little blood on her face, but judging from her reaction, this was clearly not what she’d imagined. However, in a film where the dialogue was developed largely through improvisation, this was all par for the course.

No. 6 - A German shepherd was used to illicit hissing from Jones the cat.

Speaking of natural responses, in order to get the proper reaction from Jones the cat when the alien is descending upon Harry Dean Stanton (Brett), a German shepherd was used. A screen was placed between the cat and dog at first so they couldn’t see each other, and then pulled at just the right time to make it appear Jones sees the alien. Turns out that a seven-foot-tall man in a giant monster suit doesn’t strike fear into housecats as much as their natural enemy.

No. 5 - The only known link between "Alien" and the "Prometheus" trailers is the "space jockey."

In “Alien,” the crew of the Nostromo discover a fossilized humanoid creature that is nicknamed the “space jockey.” Not much is known of its origins, and according to Ridley Scott himself, “Something that had stayed with me ever since 'Alien,' was the mystery behind [the space jockey].” And out of that seed of mystery seems to have been born “Prometheus.” However, this was almost not so, as budget cuts nearly forced the famous scene to be cut from the original movie. However, Scott thought on his toes and used his own children in spacesuits as the actors in order to make the scale of the set seem bigger by comparison.

No. 4 - The blue laser lights seen in the alien egg chamber were borrowed from the band The Who.

Roger Daltrey and the boys were testing the lasers for an upcoming show in a soundstage next door to the “Alien” set.

No. 3 - Early "Alien" scripts had Ripley as a male character.

While screenwriters Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett initially wrote the characters of the story as asexual so that the parts could be played by either gender, early drafts of the screenplay eventually had the Ripley character as a man. But in the long run, that role would go to a very female Sigourney Weaver. And this was not the only time she has played a role originally written as male. It happened twice more, in fact, with her roles in “The TV Set” and “Vantage Point.”

No. 2 - In a deleted scene, the alien does a very non-scary crab walk.

In a deleted scene where Lambert discovers that the alien is not only alive and well, but right behind her, the creature makes a rather peculiar approach in her direction. While the crab walk is a very effective core exercise, this is surely not the time or the place. It’s difficult to say that this scene would have taken us completely out of the movie and ruined any sense of fear and dread we felt toward this hideous being, but it’s even more difficult not to say it. Judge for yourself.