Bolaji Badejo from the Gold Coast

 from

Ridley Scott's Alien Monster

1. Ridley Scott:The alien had to be 7ft 2in. We found a man Bolaji Badejo from the Gold Coast who when stripped had a figure like a Giacometti sculpture and was 9in. taller than the height of the door. But where do you find a woman like that? (David Lewin, Daily Mail)
2. Giler : "We used a 6'10" native of the Gold Coast inside the monster suit designed by Giger" (CFQ 9:1 p19)
3.  Ivor Powell: "...and then this kind of choreographer friend of mine who, I'm not sure he was looking out for women in a particular dimension, he said, "I was at a bar the other night, and it was a sort of students bar, lots of students there and I saw this guy and I don't know what he was, whether he was Somalian, or some, he was some African and he was impossibly tall and skinny, you want to see him?' And so he sent him in and this quite sort of timid kind of guy, never been in front of a camer before and he ended up being our, you know, Alien." (Alien Makers II documentary)

   

   "“Homme qui Marche” by Giacometti

4. The Alien you don't get to see in ALIEN was played by 6'10", 26-year-old Nigerian Bolaji Badejo. Bolaji is a student of graphic arts in London, and has traveled extensively with his parents, to Ethiopia where he studied Fine Arts, and to the United States, including a three year stay in San Francisco. He landed the role of "The Alien" purely by accident, a turn of events that reads like a publicity agent's tall tale. The production had apparently put out a casting call for a very tall, very thin actor. Bolaji bumped into agent Pete Archer while having a drink in a London West End pub. Archer thought of Alien as soon as he spotted Bolaji, and offered him the chance to try out for the part. "As soon as I walked in, " said Bolaji " Ridley Scott knew he'd found the right person." Scott had been looking at basket ball players, and he tested Peter Mayhew for the alien., but it was Badejo's combination of height, slimness and an erect posture that cinched him the part. Bolaji was signed for the role in May, manufacture of the suit began, and the filming of the ALien started in August at Shepperton.Ridley Scott originally intended Bolaji to be part of a team of three artists needed to play the Alien, including a mime specialist and a karate expert. When other experts of Bolaji's unique proportions could not be found, a stuntman was substituted for the dangerous and physically gruelling action and Bolaji began to take miming lessons. (Cinefantastique 9:1)