12 Things You Didn’t Know About The Alien Movies

“In space, no one can hear you scream.” A tagline that has never spoken as true as these seven words did for the release of the first of the Alien movies back in 1979. Screaming (quite loudly) is something that we have all done while watching Ridley Scott’s classic, especially during the infamous “chestburster” sequence. The sequel, Aliens, had audiences all over the world not only discussing which movie was better but had them noticing that this was a franchise not to be messed with. Aliens instantly became a Hollywood classic and was a hit with critics and audiences straight away which lead to two more sequels and, unfortunately to die hard Alien movie fans, Prometheus.

To celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the US release of Aliens aka the greatest sequel that ever was, we’re taking a look at the interwebs top 12 things that you didn’t know about the Alien movies.

In the first Aliens movie there is no dialog for the first six minutes, talk about tension building!

There are never more than six Aliens on-screen in 'Aliens' at any one time, because James Cameron only had six actors to play Aliens.

The background sound that is heard in the laboratory where Kane has the face hugger attached to his head can also be heard in Deckard’s room in Blade Runner.

Ridley Scott originally wanted a much darker ending to the first movie. His initial thoughts were for the Alien to bite off Ripley’s head in the escape shuttle, sit in her chair and send a message back to earth using her voice. As amazing as that ending would’ve been were happy that it didn’t happen as we would’ve missed out on one of the best sci-fi franchises of all time.

The set where the Alien nest is found was used in Tim Burton’s Batman. The defunct power station appeared as Axis Chemicals in the caped crusaders first outing, the setting in which Jack Napier fell into the acid and became all Joker-fied.

Carrie Henn who played “Newt” was cast due to her lack of acting ability as the casting director wanted a child who could emote a solemnness that most acting experienced children did not possess. She went on to receive a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Young Actor but chose not to continue a career in acting and became a teacher.

Sigourney Weaver's Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role in Aliens was the first ever for an actress in a role in an action movie.

A Spydor toy from the He-Man franchise was bought as a reference to test how the “Facehuggers” would move.

James Cameron struggled to win over the respect of the British crew as many of them were loyal to Ridley Scott having worked with him on the original Alien movie. To try and show off his talents James invited the crew to a private screening of a movie he had just finished working on, a little film called The Terminator, hoping that this would sway their opinions. However most of the crew ignored the invite and missed the screening.

When designing the overall look of the “Xenomorphs” H.R. Giger designed the creatures without eyes. He knew that doing this would make them appear even more menacing, chilling and soulless. His designs for the creatures were so disturbing that at one time his sketches were held up in customs at LAX and someone had to go to the airport and explain that the sketches were for an upcoming horror movie.

During the opening sequence of the first of the Alien movies, the camera wanders around the corridors of the Nostromo and the viewer can clearly see a Krups coffee grinder mounted to a wall. This is the same model that became the “Mr. Fusion” in Back to the Future six years later.

Despite Ridley Scott’s hesitance at having the Alien in the Alien movies be played by a man in a suit, the role eventually went to Nigerian born Bolaji Badejo. At six foot ten and described as long and lean he was found in a pub in London and was offered the role. As an unknown this was quite the shock considering that Chewbacca himself (Peter Mayhew) had tested for the role a few weeks earlier.

So there they were 12 facts about the Alien movies franchise that will have a better impact to your life than a “Facehugger” to the well erm… face. We want to hear your facts about the movies, you may not be heard if you scream in space but we can hear you at 8ball HQ! Let us know in the comments below or head on over to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and lets start a discussion.

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