leading from
a) Enter Sandy Lieberson
Sandy Lieberson had left film producing which he had done for nine years, he had been David Puttnam's partner in producing "Melody" (19710 and "That'll be the day" (1973) and through David Puttnam he would know Ridley Scott who was directing the Puttnam produced "The Duellists", and so he took on a job at 20th Century Fox as Vice President in charge of production and marketing for mostly outside United States and primarily in Europe and the first thing he did when he went to work for Fox was of course go to Los Angeles to meet the other executives. He knew them but not very well, and what he would do was to trawl the hallways of the Twentieth Century Fox asking for projects that could be done in Europe. The second floor was where all of the producers, directors, and the writers had offices. He knew the likes of Mel Brooks and Paul Mazursky and down the hall from there was a company called Brandywine. Sandy knew David Giler and Gordon Carroll. He asked them his questions finding out what they were doing and what they were developing.
They said "Listen we got this script called Alien."
"Well" replied Sandy" let me read it, I'll take it away"
He saw the name Dan O'Bannon who he knew about already from his work from John Carpenter's Dark Star
"That sounds interesting already" he added.
The script that he read, Sandy thought was brilliant and perfect for something that could be done in the UK. He saw how he could market it, at that point the script was part of a package with a director and producer and indeed a Fox project. He took it to Alan Ladd Junior, they discussed it and Sandy flew out to LA when they agreed "Yes let's do it"
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| Sandy Lieberson |
b) Walter Hill drops out as director
They started to go into preproduction, budgeting, scheduling and looking for studios. Walter Hill, David Giler and Gordon Carroll came to london, everything looked as if it was really on the cusp of happening, they even had a provisional start date, they were beginning to think about casting and then suddenly Sandy got a call from Los Angeles from Gordon Carroll
Gordon said to him " Gee I'm really sorry, but Walter Hill is not going to be able to do the film, he's not going to be able to direct it"
Sandy replied "well that is bad news, because we've already invested a lot of money into developing it," and then left off with "well, let me think about it"
Walter Hill had lost interest in the script, he decided that he did not have the temperament for special effects, and had gone off to direct another movie and wasn't available, other directors also turned Alan Ladd down.
c) Other directors approached
There was a point when Gordon Carroll had talked to Robert Aldrich, but didn't like his take on the facehugger when he said "Oh no problem, I'll just go to the market and get a liver and throw it in the guy's face".
Peter Yates was a name that the studio offered, Yates had directed Bullitt starring Steve McQueen, Brandywine were not too happy about the idea but Yates turned it down anyway. Giler talked to Jack Clayton the director of the Great Gatsby about it and he didn't want to do it either. All the A-Level directors they approached mostly said "no" because they thought the project had no credibility but the idea was that the directors would make it have credibility, however they didn't have the vision. The choice of director was crucial because it is the director's vision that makes a movie a success or failure. Without a director who had the ability to use special effects for the futuristic space scenes and to scare a movie audience, "Alien" would have to be scrapped.
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| Robert Aldrich, director of Kiss Me Deadly, The Big Knife, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Flight of the Phoenix, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and The Dirty Dozen. |
d) Ridley of The Duellists
David Giler had seen The Duellists at Cannes that year and talked to Sandy Lieberson who also remembered how he had been impressed by this low budget movie based on a little known Joseph Conrad short story. The movie's 39-year-old British director, Ridley Scott, had previously directed television commercials. Gordon Carroll and Walter Hill had also screened the picture and we stunned by his control of the picture, mounting of the film and how extraordinary it was with lots of depths and richness. The idea was to present Ridley as a candidate
Sandy then called Alan Ladd, he said to him "Listen, there is a director here, I know him very well, Ridley Scott, he's done one film The Duellist, it looked fantastic, it didn't have any commercial success, got sort of mediocre to bad reviews to a couple of good reviews but I've got an instinct about this guy, I know him and he comes from production design art direction, BBC, commercials"
Within a day, Alan Ladd and the others obtained a print from Paramount Pictures so that they could view "The Duellists." Sandy had it sent along with Ridley's reel.
Alan liked Ridley's camera work and his ability to design and construct sets.
After the screening Alan Ladd said "Fine, we'll take a chance with Ridley Scott, we'll make it with him",
Once they got Ridley to agree to direct the film. Alan and his group decided that "Alien" didn't need major stars. The money could be better spent on perfecting special effects and sets than on big salaries. An $8 million budget was planned, a date to begin filming was set, and Ridley began constructing sets. Filming would be in London because creation of special effects and sets figured to be cheaper then.
Source quotes
- The next step in producing "Alien" was picking a director. The choice was crucial because it is the director's vision that makes a movie a success or failure. Without a director who had the ability to use special effects for the futuristic space scenes and to scare a movie audience, "Alien" would have to be scrapped. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Mr Hill had gone off to direct another movie and wasn't available, other directors also turned Mr Ladd down. The a London based Fox representative remembered how he had been impressed by a low budget film called "The Duellists," based on a little known Joseph Conrad short story. The movie's 39-year-old British director, Ridley Scott, had previously directed television commercials. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Alan Ladd: We had asked Walter at first place if he wanted to direct it, since he was part of the package. (Direction and Design: The Making of Alien, documentary)
- David Giler: Walter was originally gonna do it. Then he er, erm, decided that he did not have the temperament for special effects. (Direction and Design: The Making of Alien, documentary)
- Dan O'Bannon: Apparantly Gordon talked to Robert Aldrich, didn't like what Aldrich had to say. He asked Aldridge how he would handle the facehugging creature, Aldrich said "Oh no problem, I'll just go to the market and get a liver and throw it in the guy's face" Gordon didn't want to hear that. (Direction and Design: The Making of Alien, documentary)
- David Giler: Peter Gates the studio wanted, we weren't crazy with that idea , but I think he didn't want to do it finally. I talked to Jack Clayton about it and he didn't want to do it(Direction and Design: The Making of Alien, documentary)
- Sandy Lieberson: I said "that sounds interesting already" and I read the script, it was brilliant, perfect for what we could do in the UK, er, scifi horror movie, I could see how we would sell it, market it, erm, it fit into a genre and with it came an entire package, it was a screenplay, there was a producer, there was a director and it was a fox project. So, erm, I presented it all to Alan Ladd Junior who was the head of Twentieth Century Fox and we discussed it and flew out to LA, they agreed yes, let's make it, they set a cap on a budget, I think they said it was ten million dollars and took the project forward. Started to go into preproduction, budgeting, scheduling, looking at studios, Walter Hill and David Giler and Gordon Carroll came to London, and everything looked as if it was really on the cusp of happening and we even had a provisional start date, we were beginning to think about casting and I got a call from Los Angeles from Gordon Carroll saying Gee I'm really sorry, but Walter Hill is not going to be able to do the film, he's not going to be able to direct it, and so I said "well that is bad news, because we've already invested a lot of money into developing it, and I said well, let me think about it and I called Ladd, I said Listen, there is a director here, I know him very well, Ridley Scott, he's done one film The Duellist, it looked fantastic, it wasn't... it didn't have any commercial success, got sort of mediocre to bad reviews to a couple of good reviews but I said I've got an instinct about this guy, I know him and he comes from production design art direction, BBC, commercials, etcetera, sent his Duellists out to LA, sent his reel out to LA, got into discussions with his agent and Ladd said Fine, we'll take a chance with Ridley Scott, we'll make it with him, And the rest is the movie, that's the origins of it, that's how it happened actually. (Alien Makers 2, documentary)
- David Giler: I saw the Duellists at Cannes and talked to Sandy Lieberson who knew Ridley pretty well and was, Sandy was head of Fox in Europe and we kind of presented him as a candidate (Direction and Design : The Making of Alien, documentary)
- Gordon Carroll: Walter Hill and I went to screen the picture that he had done, and er The Duellist, we were absolutely stunned by his control of the picture, his mounting of the film, it really is an extraordinary film, lots of depths, richness. (Direction and Design : The Making of Alien, documentary)
- Ron Shusett: And everybody said "no" because they said we had no credibility and of course Directors would make it have credibility, but almost none of them wanted to do it. They thought it was a stupid monster movie, a dumb thing with something coming out of your chest like a Japanese horror movie, and none of them had the vision, none of the A-level directors we went to had the vision to see it. (Direction and Design : The Making of Alien, documentary)
- David Giler:You needed to have a director, a director that was gonna give it some kind of real, other-than-traditional science fiction look. Erm, you had to have real actors in it, you had to have all of that and never let on that it was a B monster movie, but make it deliver on that... at that level. (Direction and Design : The Making of Alien , documentary)
- 36) Former music agent Sanford (Sandy) Lieberson was David Puttnam's partner in producing Melody (1971) and That'll Be The Day (1973) before going on to head 20th Century Fox's UK operation at the time they back Alien (1979) (Gilliam on Gilliam, p34)
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