a) Giger the Eager
Giger was very eager to be involved in David Lynch's production of Dune. Through friends he asked Lynch if he was interested in his cooperation but he never heard from him after that. Later Giger came to know that David Lynch was upset because he thought that they had copied the chestburster in Alien from his monster baby named Spike in Eraserhead and it was filmed exactly as his was. Ridley Scott and HR Giger had not seen the film at the time and it was only afterwards that Giger saw the movie in New York, and at some point Giger told Ridley that he should see the film but Ridley never did.
b) Parallel ideas?
David Lynch would later speak of his own sort of connection with Giger's art, that one night, in his dreams or reveries. he went to the place where Giger's ideas came from. And also David Lynch thought that the feeling that he got from his time at Philadelphia was close to Giger's art. David Lynch came to understand the experience that David Cronenberg and Dan O'Bannon talked about which was the idea that more than one person would have the same idea at the same time, although it seemed that Cronenberg found it hard to distangle himself from the experience of Alien having close parallels with his own movie Shivers.
c) Alternate explanations?
It wasn't HR Giger who came up with the final idea for the chestburster and he didn't come up with the initial concept as it was presented in Dan O'Bannon's script either. Perhaps Dan had seen Lynch's film since he was a keen movie goer and this sort of thing was the sort of thing he might have seen, but a fair amount of the discussion about who thought what and why remains in a blur . Dan O'Bannon died without being interviewed about the matter, but if he had, there were numerous other inspirations for Dan's creation. ( See: Birthing the chesburster)
- Giger: I have just seen a movie in New York called Eraserhead. This is one of the best films I have ever seen. (Quote from an unnamed American magazine in Giger's Biomechanics)
- Giger: He told me that he was convinced that we had been inspired by his movie Eraserhead to do Alien! The fact is that during the shooting of Alien, we acknowledged Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a movie which Ridley Scott wished had a larger audience. I like this movie a lot, by the way. It's really strange to find myself working on Poltergeist II which happens to be the sequel to a Tobe Hooper film (Giger's Biomechanics)
- Cinefantastique: You made designs for DUNE(CFQ9:1:35 and CFQ14:4/5:33) for two aborted productions, but when David Lynch finally filmed it, you were not involved. Why? HR Giger: Sometimes elements in my paintings resemble the technology of the last century, similar to Lynch. I use tubes, pipes, and broken down machinery.HR Giger: I was very eager to be. Through friends I asked Lynch if he was interested in my co- operation. I never heard from him. Later I came to know that he was upset because he thought we copied the chestburster in ALIEN from his monster baby in ERASERHEAD, which was not so. Ridley Scott and I hadn't even seen that film at the time. If one film influenced ALIEN it was THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. I would have loved to collaborate with Lynch on DUNE but apparently he wanted to do all the designs by himself. I think he did a great job. I admire Lynch tremendously. I think he's one of the greatest film- makers and I would very much like to work for him some time.
Cinefantastique: Do you see any points of comparison between your work and Lynch's oeuvre as a director?
Cinefantastique: Can you name yourfavorite films and directors?
HR Giger: Lynch's BLUE VELVET. Ridley Scott. I'm not crazy about fantastic films. I prefer reality.(Cinefantastique, vol 14, no 4, May, 1988, p35) - Swiss artist and designer H R Giger, who toiled on Alexandro Jodorowsky and Ridley Scott versions of Dune (1984), denied the alleged influence of the Eraserhead baby on the baby alien Œchestburster¹ in Alien (1979), for which Giger won an Academy Award. "I¹ve been told that [Lynch] thinks we stole his Eraserhead baby the the alien chestburster, but that¹s not true," Giger, whose designs for Dune were rejected by Lynch, told Fear magazine. "I told Ridley Scott that he should see [Eraserhead], though he never did. David Lynch said that it was filmed exactly as his was, but it couldn¹t have been, because Ridley hadn¹t seen it!" (The Complete Lynch, David Hughes, 2001)
- HR Giger: He was not pleased because he thought we had stolen his "Eraserhead" baby creature for "Alien." But it can't be true because Ridley Scott had never seen "Eraserhead." I saw it, but I don't know. Maybe he was jealous. But, I think, it's unnecessary for him to make such statements because he's so good. I like all of his films so much. I am a great admirer of David Lynch and I would very much like to work for him.(EasyReader_14Jul1988)
- Pre-production had begun much earlier, in May 1981, with one of Lynch¹s first decisions being to reject Giger¹s designs. "I didn¹t like [his approach], I didn¹t like the design in the book, and I didn¹t like any designs that I¹d seen," says Lynch. "It was a problem." (The Complete Lynch, David Hughes, 2001)
robot9000: Mr. Lynch, what do you think of HR GIGER and his work and the fact that Hollywood gives the man no props!
DAVIDLYNCH [8:20 PM PST]: ONE NIGHT I WENT TO THE PLACE WHERE GIGER GETS HIS IDEAS
johnnyz [8:21 PM PST]: david - Giger has seen the depths .... his work is quite extraordinary .... (davidLynch.com, chatroom, 12th February 2002)- wmmvrrvrrmm [6:57 PM PST]: I thought about the comment you made last night that you once went to the place where Giger got his ideas from. But then Giger when he first saw Eraserhead thought it was a homage to his own paintings. Maybe you've been there more than you realised. although Giger's world has nothing to do with Philadelphia.
DAVIDLYNCH [6:59 PM PST]: PHILADELPHIA IS VERY CLOSE TO GIGER'S WORLD
wmmvrrvrrmm [7:00 PM PST]: That's a nice thing to say. I want to tell Giger something in his guestbook that will make him smile when he hears your name in an interview (davidLynch.com, chatroom, 13th February 2002) (comment had been entered into the guest book but it was unlikely to have grabbed the attention of anyone associated with GIger) - Vice:What ever happened with Dune?
HR Giger: Dune never happened with me. I was asked to do it two times. Once with Jodorowsky and then another time with Ridley Scott, but the daughter of Dino de Laurentiis had the rights for Dune and she gave them to David Lynch. And David Lynch was not very happy with me.
Vice: Why’s that?
HR Giger: He said that I had stolen his ideas, that I’d stolen his baby. I said I liked his baby from Eraserhead. I always said very nice things about him but he was a little strange. And he was jealous because I exhibited in a New York gallery and he couldn’t. He was sour. But I like him.
Vice: Do you have a favorite Lynch movie?
HR Giger: Yes, I mean all of Twin Peaks. That was really fabulous. And of course it all started with Eraserhead. All the films he did were wonderful. (http://motherboard.vice.com/ 2009) - Fear: You've said before that David Lynch's Eraserhead is one of your favourite films, and that you'd like to work with him. A lot of your rusty, steamy machinery is reminiscent of his work
HR Giger: Yes, that's true. People have asked him about me, but he isn't really enthusiastic about my work. I've been told that he thinks we stole his Eraserhead baby for the Alien chestburster, but that's not true. I told Ridley Scott that he should see the film, though he never did. David Lynch said that it was filmed exactly as his was, but it couldn't have been because Ridley hadn't seen it! Lynch talked like it was some sort of homage to his work. I don't know why he's like that. Probably jealousy - I don't know. I worked on Dune and then finally he got it. He doesn't seem to want to be friendly to me, and I don't know why. It's stupid. (Fear, December 1990, p21)
0 comments:
Post a Comment