Inventing the Facehugger

leading from

Early Development of the Alien Script

Facehugger on the face of Broussard drawn by Ron Cobb

a) i) Come on Ron, light up the board!
Ron Shusett was responsible for having the idea about how the alien life form gets aboard the humans' spacecraft without the creature getting in through an open vent in the space craft in the manner of "It! The Terror from beyond Space!". Dan's intention was that the monster had to get aboard in a way that would amaze everyone, he didn't want to do a repeat of, Ron remembered him saying to him in light of the way he came up with an idea for the end of an earler film script, possibly "They Bite",  "come on Ron, light up the board, I know you could help me crack this, I've seen how your mind work...., how does the alien get on board, how do they have to deal with it?".

ii)  Ron wakes up with an idea
They were still up at three o'clock in the morning and Ron was exhausted and had enough, he went to bed and awoke two hours later with an idea in his head. Ron's impression about this was that during dream state his mind was working out an answer and so he was able to access his creativity more closely. He suddenly got up and went over to Dan who was sleeping on the couch in the other room and woke him up.

iii) Ron tells his idea to Dan
And so from various impressions from Ron's own memory of the event, the conversation possibly went like this while at the time there are a large number of different words that could have been used.

Ron said "Dan, Dan, I got it, I got it, it's the solution to the whole movie"
   
Dan replied "what is it? How does he get on board?"

Ron said "the monster screws one of the people" 

Dan asked "what! what are you talking about? well, how in the hell, you know, how's that going to be, an alien impregnating..." 

iv) The rest of the idea
Ron said "Yuh" and then went on to describe it further, how there was some form of life left in an egg that was millions of years old, it could detect the human victim outside of the egg because it was translucent, and he imagined the creature to be a crab like thing that jumps on his face, plants a tube down into his throat and inserts his seed into him, then inside him the seed grows and gestates. With that Dan responded that "yes,  that it could go on his face, it could be a little creature" and at present they didn't even know what the creature looked like. Ron's idea continued that when they get it on board, the autodock can't see it, they obviously realised, that the thing was keeping the human victim alive but they don't actually know there's something growing there,  they can't tell because there's an inky substance that like an octopus secretes, and then Ron said  " Dan, what happens by this way, you'll have a human giving birth to an alien".

v)  Dan's response to the facehugger idea
Dan response covering his mouth with shock and surprise at the whole idea of this face rape impregnation ideas was "oh my god, that is the most amazing thing I've ever heard, nobody's ever seen anything like that," However Dan was very pleased about this, Ron remembered the gasp on his face, Dan loved the idea of interspecies rape because it touched on all the buttons dealing with unresolved feelings about sexuality.

vi) The face hugger and the chestburster idea coming together
For some years Ron claimed that part of his idea was that the creature would burst out and in 2012 Ron revealed on a radio show that his idea came without the creature being a chestburster, and that the first thought was that the crew would operate on him and take the creature out and but Ron general memory is that Dan said in response "No, No, what happens is that he doesn't have to operate, in the middle of the movie he comes bursting out of his chest."   (For more about the development of the chestburster idea, read:Birthing the Chestburster) 

vii)  Insect life cycle rather than alien human hybrid
The idea though was not to have a creature that was a product of a human and alien mating to create a hybrid, but something that would keep changing its form. They thought that they might pick up on it and say "Yeah, an alien life can be like an insect lifecycle.'  It was their idea that it would be the life cycle of an insect. The way a wasp will sting a spider, paralyze it, and lay its eggs in the spider; its eggs grow off the living spider, like a surrogate mother. One aspect of it, if it came out the size of a cat, it could keep changing and growing - and avoid the one bad feature of most great monster movies; they eventually become repetitive.

b) Reflecting on Tim Boxell's Defiled
One can go back to how at one stage a creature was to be found inside an alien skull that was very inspired by Tim Boxell's Defiled comic book story and wonder how this evolved into an egg found inside a pyramid as if they were playing with different ideas such as the ageless melon shaped organism in the tower from Simak's Junkyard being the container for the facehugger creature instead of the alien skull.  Another thing about Tim Boxell's Defiled, it's about a man retrieving an alien artifact that looks to be a bust of an alien head and then it transformed into a live organism which suddenly rapes and impregnates. (See Memory Surfaces and Tim Boxell's Defiled )

c) Reflecting on "They Bite"
Some element of this idea Ron had was already partially being explored in Dan's story for a movie called "They Bite" so Ron knew that it was derivative of that although that story was about giant bug implanting its pods like a wasp would plant its young in a spider and let it grow there and Dan had never thought about using it in this context on a human.

Source quotes 

1. Ron Shusett: So he said, "light up the board Ron, I got this first act, and you like it", and he says, "I know, I know, you have a good mind. From these, just weeks and weeks I've worked with you before I left, and, and what I saw you've done on Total Recall which you did with a short story", ah" , as far as you got it, I know you can make the breakthrough for me."(The Beast Within : Starbeast:  Developing the story documentary 8:10)    
2. Ron Shusett : "Dan said somehow, the monster has to get on board the ship in a way that will amaze everybody and so I wake up in the middle of the night I said "Dan, I have an idea", and he said "what?" I said "the monster screws one of the people" and he said "what! what are you talking about?" I said "he jumps in his face, plants a tube down him, inserts his seed in him and later it comes bursting out of his stomach" and Dan goes "oh" (covering his mouth with shock and surprise)  My god, that is the most amazing thing I've ever heard, nobody's ever seen anything like that," so we sat up all night and we wrote and within three weeks we had what I would say is 85% of the plot, the structure, we didn't write the screenplay right there of what you saw, became the Alien , 85%" (from "Beast Within" documentary,  Alien Quadrilogy DVD set 2003): 
3. Ron Shusett : "We started talking and he said "yeah, it could go on his face, it could be a creature, we don't even know what the monster looks like, it's a little creature and it jumps on his face." And I said "somehow the monster has to plant its' seed in him, but nobody will know that until it comes bursting out of his chest." (Dan O'Bannon responded):"Oh my god, i think we've got it, we've got the whole movie, nobody's ever seen anything like this" And it wrote itself within three weeks, we had the story structure completed, and it took us another three months to do the script"(Alien Saga documentary 04:17) 
4. Ron Shusett : And this was not a dream, this was the subsconscious, I was very aware of that, In other words, it was not… you're mind, you're closer to your subconscious, when you're in dream state and so I woke up in the middle of the night, I was very aware of the fact that I did not dream it but my brain was churning. and I said, ‘Dan, I have it: I have the solution, the monster. " He said 'What is it?" I said" the alien is like a crab like thing, and it jumps on his face and plants his seed inside him. And then it grows and gestates and comes bursting out of him in the middle of the movie!’ (Dan O'Bannon responded):'Oh my god, no one has ever seen anything like that" and within three weeks of that moment, the entire structure, just as you saw it, with one exception, not for now, fell completely into place. ( Executing Alien: Ronald Shusett, Cinefantastique website) 
5. Ron Shusett : Dan put his finger on the problem he said, I knows what happens, has to happen next, is the creature has to get on the ship in an interesting way. But I have no idea how and if we could solve that, if can't be just it snuck in, then I think the whole movie will unfold, come in to place. I went to sleep and I'm sure it isn't dreaming, it's a... the mind is functioning subconsciously, and in the middle of the night, so I woke up and I said, "Dan I think, i think i have an idea," and he said "what?" and I said "well, uh, the alien, the alien screws one of them" he said, "what are you talking about?"Well jumps in his face and plants the seed in "(Alien Evolution documentary, 4:57)
6. Ron Shusett : "So I went to sleep and I’m sure it is in dreaming, the mind is functioning subconsciously and that sort of gives you closer access here. And so in the middle of the night, I got up and I woke up and I said Dan, "I think I have an idea. He said "what?" I said, "well, the alien, the alien screws one of them."He said "what are you talking about?" "Well, jumps on his face and plants his seed in him." And Dan had talked to me about his other movie that had something about that, so it really was somewhat derivative of that, but it was a little bit different about a giant bug that implanted their pods, like a wasp will plant its young in a spider, and let it grow there. So it was really derivative of that idea, but he’d never thought of applying it for this. And for the alien to do this to one of the humans and then in the middle of the movie would come bursting out of his chest! He said, "well my God, that’s the most - nobody’s ever seen anything like it." I remember the gasp on his face. And it took us three weeks from that point to get the whole structure. "(see Alien Legacy documentary)
7. Ron Shusett: Dan , I have the idea . I know what the monster does. The monster screws the human being. It plants the seed, grows and emerges from the body of the human - a human hybrid monster. It's in there , and we don't know until it comes out and escapes in the ship, and all during the movie, it's chasing them and changing into different forms."( Alien - The Monster of all Monster Films by Dr. John L Flynn)
   
8. Ron Shusett: "We were working on some other projects when Dan brought out Alien. I didn't have any ideas to contribute. We both floundered around. Dan said "Ron, if you'd just put on your thinking cap , I'm sure we can turn this into hot property."  (Future Life#11, July 1979, p29)
9. Ron Shusett: "I came up with zero and went to bed. Now, at that time, Dan was sleeping on my couch. He counted on living off his Dune money which never materialized. He was broke and so was I. Nobody bit on They Bite. My wife was supporting both of us. I went to sleep and woke up with one sentence in my head. I can't tell you the sentence because it would give away the crux of the film. But I figured out how the creature would make contact with his first human. I ran in and told Dan and we started typing that night." (Future Life#11, July 1979, p29)
10. Dan O'Bannon :"As soon as I heard it, I thought, oh well, that, that's it. That was one of the ideas that made it possible to uhm, make this thing worth doing at all. This is a movie of alien interspecies rape, that's it, that's scary, that scaring because it hits all of our buttons, all of our unresolved feelings about sexuality, all of them."(Alien Evolution documentary 5:42)
11. MidnightTicket: You have been credited with creating the idea for the chest burster in Alien. How did that come about?
    Ron Shusett: I did come up with it but I did it in my sleep, if you can believe that. I think I wasn’t really sleeping. I was but I didn’t dream it. The best I can guess is that your subconscious, you’re closer to when your sleeping and therefore I was able to solve the problem we had. Dan said to me when I first read the script “I know what has to be done but I don’t know how to do it. If you can help me do it we’ll get this script done and it will be up to it’s potential. We need to figure out how the Alien gets on board in a way that nobody’s ever seen before.” We worked together for months and we just stared at the wall. We were so broke my wife was supporting us. Dan was sleeping on my couch. I said, “Dan, I don’t know. I thought I could help you fix this but so far I haven’t come up with anything.” He said “No, I feel you’re getting close on it. You’ve come up with possibilities. Let’s just go to sleep and we’ll start fresh start on it tomorrow.” So I go to bed and I wake up at three o’clock in the morning and I came into the living room and I said to Dan “I think I’ve cracked it. I think I know how it gets on board in a way that nobody’s ever seen in their whole life. It impregnates one of them. When they were down there looking they didn’t know what they would find. They find some almost primordial life. It’s prehistoric but it’s moving. That was the egg. They’re going to try and open it up.” We know what happened. Something jumps on his face and puts a tube down his mouth and impregnates him. They can’t see it on X-Ray because like an octopus produces ink it blocks out what’s growing in there. We know it’s breeding in there and then in the middle of the movie it comes bursting out his chest. Dan and I just looked at each other. We knew that would have to happen. Once implanted you have to operate or it comes bursting out the chest. Dan and I just pictured that and we were amazed. We looked at each other in shock. We said “Nobody’s ever seen that on screen.” Within three weeks we had the whole structure exactly as you saw it in the film once that one moment came to me. Dan was right. He knew that would unlock the rest of the movie. It seemed to write itself. It sounds crazy. It took us a couple months to get the dialog but that was easy once we had the roadmap. Most amazing is that we got it made almost immediately with no contacts, no nothing. (http://www.midniteticket.com/blog/interview-writer-ron-shusett-on-alien-dan-obannon-ridley-scott-and-prometheus-part-2)
12. Complication Ensue: Dan O'Bannon had been working on ALIEN for a year and a half before you met him, and he was on page 29, right?
    Ron Shusett: He couldn't figure out how to get the alien on the spaceship in a way that no one had done before. He didn't want them to just leave a vent open. We had all these film school peers, and I brought him TOTAL RECALL to work on together. And he showed me what he had on ALIEN. And I came up with the chest-burster. "He impregnates him. He injects something into him. And it just bursts out of his chest." And then we knew, now the story's gonna work. No one's seen something like that. After that moment it took us only three months to get the whole structure, and then maybe another 3 months to get the script written. And it was virtually exactly as you see on the screen, except for Ash being a robot, which was Walter Hill's idea. (http://complicationsensue.blogspot.co.uk/2012_11_01_archive.html)
13. Ron Shusett: People have read all kinds of things into it that we didn't intend, not even subconsciously. But there was one thing we did do. It was our idea that it would be the life cycle of an insect. The way a wasp will sting a spider, paralyze it, and lay its eggs in the spider; its eggs grow off the living spider, like a surrogate mother. That we did want it to be. We didn't want it to be a human mated with an alien and a hybrid. We thought we might pick up on it and say "Yeah, an alien life can be like an insect lifecycle.' One aspect of it, if it came out the size of a cat, it could keep changing and growing - and avoid the one bad feature of most great monster movies; they eventually become repetitive. With built-in device, it could keep changing shapes and sizes. (http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/09/executing-alien/)
14. See partial transcript from the Ask Mr Kern epsiode, relating to invention of the lifecycle)