{480}{585}Dan came to my door one day, was a fan|of my cartoons, and wanted to meet me. {600}{699}It didn't take long to discover|that Dan was a cinema student at USC... {720}{825}..and was involved in doing fantastic cinema,|which I was very interested in. {840}{906}And after an exchange of enthusiasms... {915}{1003}..and the fact that I had|this other secret love of film,... {1050}{1168}..I ended up assisting them in a small way by|doing some designs for their student film... {1230}{1319}..which they called Dark Star,|directed by John Carpenter,... {1320}{1380}..who was Dan's friend at the time. {1380}{1451}Dark Star, of course, was a student film,... {1455}{1528}..which ended up getting a theatrical release. {1560}{1635}And Dark Starwas a comedy -|certainly meant to be. {1635}{1741}I saw this work. I knew Dan had cowritten it|and designed the special effects. {1770}{1875}It was done for a ridiculously small... even|by Corman's standards... I said "He's great." {1875}{1944}On its first release, people didn't laugh. {1980}{2072}John and I went to some theatres to see|and nobody was laughing. {2085}{2145}I found the experience traumatic. {2160}{2263}We worked so hard to get a particular|audience response. There was nothing. {2265}{2340}So I scooted way back from comedy|after that... {2400}{2497}..cos I realised that, among other things,|comedy is individualistic. {2520}{2587}Everybody laughs at something different. {2595}{2655}But they're all afraid of the same thing. {2655}{2715}So a couple of years down the line... {2715}{2772}..the idea came to me to do... {2790}{2879}..what essentially was a Dark Star|stood on its head - scary. {2925}{3015}I told him that I wanted to work with him.|I liked his work a lot. {3015}{3114}He was very suspicious of me|cos I had something to look at - his film. {3120}{3207}And I'd never gotten a movie made|at that point in my life. {3210}{3299}I'd been struggling|I don't know how many years at that time. {3300}{3360}Five, six years? Something like that. Seven? {3360}{3435}He said "Have you got|some scripts you developed?" {3435}{3531}So I sent him two scripts|that I had either cowritten or co-storied. {3570}{3645}Sometimes I'd do the story,|sometimes the screenplay. {3645}{3720}He was impressed.|He said "Let's have a meeting." {3720}{3764}Ron Shusett is... {3765}{3815}He's a force of nature. {3825}{3871}He's a feral child. {3885}{3955}And he's a very brilliant and creative man. {4005}{4050}I went down to see him... {4050}{4153}..and it was weird cos on that day|was born both Alien and Total Recall,... {4155}{4245}..because I had an option|on the short story by Phil Dick then,... {4245}{4365}..and I couldn't get a script on it, so I told him|about it and he knew the story immediately. {4365}{4455}He said "l love that story -|We Can Remember it For Your Wholesale." {4455}{4500}"I'd like to develop that with you." {4500}{4560}He said "I've got this idea for a project, too." {4560}{4650}He says "Monster movie."|I said "I've never gravitated towards those." {4650}{4719}So I pitched it to him, the idea of Alien. {4740}{4794}I had the first haIf of it. {4800}{4875}He said|"l can't make a breakthrough from here,... {4875}{4950}..but I'll help you do Total Recall,|you help me do Alien." {4950}{5051}That's why it's amazing - both movies|were born in that second, you know? {5055}{5096}And so we did. {5100}{5175}Since he had a start,|we were gonna tackle that first. {5175}{5271}And we put aside Total Recall|and tried to do something about Alien. {5310}{5425}I tried to help him get further with it,|but before we ever could we got sidetracked... {5430}{5541}..because Dan was hired to do the special|effects on the first incarnation of Dune. {5565}{5665}And I was brought in to manage|all of the special effects in general,... {5730}{5832}..which was quite a challenge|in a foreign country and a foreign language. {5880}{5942}And when we were well under way,... {5985}{6081}..and a lot of stuff was designed|some months into preproduction,... {6120}{6220}..Jodorowski went to an exhibit of|Giger's paintings at some art museum. {6315}{6373}And he was very enthusiastic... {6390}{6473}..and he then contracted with Giger|to do some designs. {6495}{6538}And I was moved. {6555}{6619}I was impressed at his originality... {6630}{6700}..and I found the paintings disquieting,... {6705}{6760}..disturbing in the extreme. {6765}{6839}That was how I first encountered|Giger's work. {6870}{6930}After Jodorowski's movie closed down,... {6930}{7020}..Dan had spent his money,|because he'd been making a salary,... {7020}{7095}..but we all know your biggest money|comes in making a movie. {7095}{7155}So he'd used up all his money and was broke. {7155}{7233}I ended up with|no money, no apartment, no car,... {7245}{7329}..and all my belongings in storage|and no place to stay. {7350}{7413}One of those desperate situations... {7440}{7530}..and I asked Ron if I could stay with him|till I got back on my feet. {7530}{7635}Called me from Paris, said "Can I stay|on your couch? I'm broke." I said "Yeah." {7635}{7680}Then we resumed our relationship. {7680}{7730}It was quite a setback. {7740}{7815}I moved into Ron's,|moved in on his sofa, slept for a week - {7815}{7875}..that was my depressive response. {7875}{7965}Then, at the end of the week,|I got up off Ron's sofa and said... {7965}{8083}.."All right. Now I'm gonna do something to|get myseIf off of Ron's emergency rolls here." {8130}{8237}And so I went to where my belongings|were in storage up in Lyon in Hollywood... {8280}{8382}..and I got out my desk and my typewriter,|set 'em up in Ron's front room. {8385}{8459}And we addressed ourselves|to finishing Alien. {8460}{8568}And it took us, I'm not sure how long,|but we worked from that first act he had. {8580}{8655}And we got...|The breakthrough was the "chest burster". {8655}{8700}I said "What d'you think?" {8700}{8785}He said "It depends on|what you do with the second half." {8790}{8865}I said "Yeah,|and I don't know where to go with it." {8865}{8949}Little while later|Ron comes back into the front room... {8955}{9042}..and he said "Do you remember|you told me about a script?" {9045}{9125}"An idea you had|about monsters getting on a B-17... {9165}{9215}..during World War ll?" {9225}{9263}"Gremlins?" {9270}{9315}I said "Oh, yeah." {9345}{9451}Basic idea there was that during a bomb|raid some gremlins jump off a cloud... {9540}{9599}..and get on the tail of a B-17. {9645}{9705}Then, as it's on its way back to base,... {9705}{9828}..these little monsters start working their way|forward through the plane, toward the front,... {9840}{9892}..killing men as they go. {9900}{10022}And the trick is to try to barricade them back|there until they can get back to base and land. {10080}{10155}And he said "Yeah."|Well, his point was obvious. {10155}{10245}His point was why don't you do that|for the second haIf in the spaceship? {10245}{10290}I said "That's a good idea." {10290}{10356}The rest of the structure wrote itself. {10365}{10470}I remember it was three weeks and we had it|just exactly as you see it with one exception. {10470}{10527}We didn't have the robot idea. {10530}{10634}That was later contributed by Giler and Hill,|either jointly or one of them. {10665}{10781}Other than that, the script you saw, which|we wrote based on that three-week outline,... {10785}{10860}..was almost exactly|the movie you saw on the screen. {10860}{10956}Ronnie and I made the deal with|an independent production company... {10995}{11054}..called Brandywine Productions. {11055}{11098}It took a while. {11115}{11190}There were many rewrites,|and people, you know,... {11190}{11265}As I said,|the robot-head idea emerged from them. {11265}{11370}We didn't know who the director would be.|There were ten directors before Ridley Scott. {11370}{11458}We were in little, tiny offices|in Ridley's place in Soho... {11475}{11528}..and this script came in. {11535}{11655}As it was science fiction with a title like Alien,|I remember the two of us wrestled with it... {11655}{11726}..so that it was a me-first, me-first thing. {11730}{11820}But anyway, Ridley won,|so I had to sit for an hour and a half... {11820}{11898}..while Ridley sat in the next room|reading it,... {11910}{12013}..screaming out "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!"|as he came to certain bits in it. {12030}{12101}Anyway, it was a good, fast, fantastic read. {12105}{12221}And the thing which gave it a green light was|that just at that moment Star Wars opened. {12255}{12340}I went and saw Star Wars,|I think, in the opening week... {12360}{12446}..and, of course, that,|like everybody else, blew me away. {12480}{12543}And it completely set me off course. {12570}{12675}That freaked him out like it did many people|who saw that for the first time,... {12675}{12765}..and I think he again saw|the opportunity of science fiction. {12780}{12894}As soon as the science fiction came through|the door I was on the plane in 17 hours... {12900}{12945}..into Hollywood... {12945}{13024}..and met with the guys -|Giler, Gordon Carroll,... {13050}{13094}..Walter Hill,... {13095}{13167}..Dan O'Bannon|and Ron Shusett and Ron Cobb. {13200}{13275}They did hire Cobb|to work on a weekly basis... {13290}{13378}..to see what he could do,|if his designs would be feasible. {13380}{13466}So all during that year|when we first optioned from Fox... {13470}{13560}..they employed Cobb, and he was on|a weekly salary, working on many designs. {13560}{13670}I found myseIf working with the English|science-fiction illustrator Chris Foss,... {13725}{13812}..and just turning out drawings|in an old rehearsal hall... {13860}{13965}..above one of the old stages on the Fox lot|for m...
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