50 Fun Facts About Alien

Who directed the original 1979 film Alien?

The producers hired him after being impressed by his debut feature The Duellists.

Which actress plays Ellen Ripley across the first four films?

She was a Broadway performer relatively unknown in film when she won the part with her audition.

Which phrase completes Alien's famous tagline: 'In space no one can hear you ___'?

The line was written by Barbara Gips, whose husband Philip designed the poster.

What is the name of the Nostromo crew's pet cat?

Four identical cats were used to play the part, and Ripley puts him into stasis alongside her at the end of the film.

Which member of the Nostromo crew turns out to be an android?

Parker knocks his head off, revealing him to be a machine acting on secret orders to bring the creature home.

What sort of vessel is the Nostromo?

It is hauling a refinery platform back to Earth when it is diverted by the signal.

Which Swiss artist designed the creature for the 1979 film?

He shared in the film's Academy Award for visual effects and later got a museum devoted to his 'biomechanical' style.

Which existing artwork by the creature designer became the basis for the alien's look?

Scott saw the 1976 print in the book Necronomicon and chose it for its beauty and strong sexual overtones.

What was the working title of the film before it became Alien?

O'Bannon disliked it and switched to Alien after noticing how often the word appeared in his script.

Which 6-foot-10 Nigerian design student, discovered in a London pub, wore the alien suit?

It was his only acting credit; he moved back to Nigeria in 1980 and later ran an art gallery in Lagos.

The chestburster's design was inspired by a 1944 painting by which artist?

Screenwriter Dan O'Bannon also credited his own Crohn's disease for inspiring the scene.

Which Academy Award did Alien win?

It also took three Saturn Awards and a Hugo Award despite initially mixed reviews.

In which year was Alien added to the United States National Film Registry?

It went in alongside fellow 1979 films Apocalypse Now, All That Jazz and Manhattan.

The Nostromo takes its name from a 1904 novel by which author?

The escape shuttle was named after another of his works, the 1897 novella about the ship Narcissus.

Who wrote the screenplay for Alien, working from a story he developed with Ronald Shusett?

He wanted a scary version of his student film Dark Star, and wrote it while sleeping on Shusett's couch, broke.

Whose idea was it to give the creature acidic blood, to make it 'unkillable' with ordinary weapons?

The logic was that shooting it aboard ship would let its blood eat through the hull.

What did the production team nickname the giant fossilised creature found in the derelict ship?

Fox balked at building an expensive set for a single scene, so only one wall was built and the figure sat on a rotating disc.

Alien held its world premiere as a midnight screening at which film festival?

It opened in limited US release the following day, May 25, 1979.

How many years has Ripley been drifting in stasis when she is found at the start of Aliens?

She learns that her daughter Amanda died of old age in the meantime, a scene cut from the theatrical version.

Which actor delivers Hudson's line 'Game over, man! Game over!'?

He landed the part after a chance meeting with Cameron at Los Angeles airport where he mentioned he wanted a role.

Which schoolgirl with no acting experience was cast as Newt after being scouted in Lakenheath, England?

She never acted again and became a teacher, and still keeps a framed photo Weaver gave her after filming.

What is the name of the Colonial Marines' spaceship in Aliens?

Filming the dropship descent shook the set so hard that the roof collapsed onto the cast and crew.

Weaver's Aliens nomination was a first for sci-fi. Who beat her to Best Actress?

The winner starred in Children of a Lesser God; Weaver did win the Saturn Award that year.

Which effects artist designed the alien queen with Cameron, replacing the original creature designer?

He also gave the chestburster arms so it could plausibly drag itself out of a host's chest.

Which real Vietnam veteran, cast as Sergeant Apone, trained the Marines actors to handle firearms?

The training mattered because the blanks the actors fired were still hazardous.

Which character is the first in the films to use the word 'xenomorph'?

He uses it generically for extraterrestrial life; the credits of Alien: Covenant later adopted it as the creature's official name.

Alien 3 (1992) was the feature directorial debut of which filmmaker?

He has since disowned the film, telling The Guardian 'no one hates it more than me'.

Ripley's escape pod crash-lands on which planet in Alien 3?

Nicknamed 'Fury', it houses a foundry and a maximum-security prison for male inmates.

The inmates finally kill the creature in Alien 3 by dousing it in what?

Dillon sacrifices himself to hold the creature in place beneath the mould as it is poured.

Elliot Goldenthal said Alien 3's score sounded so disturbing partly because it was recorded during which event?

The making-of documentary was originally titled after one of his cues, 'Wreckage and Rape', until Fox renamed it.

Which French director made Alien Resurrection?

He brought over collaborators from The City of Lost Children, including cinematographer Darius Khondji.

Which future Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator wrote the screenplay for Alien Resurrection?

He later said the film did 'everything wrong' with his script, which originally ended with a battle on Earth.

What is the name of the mercenaries' ship that docks with the Auriga in Alien Resurrection?

Its crew includes Ron Perlman's Johner and Winona Ryder's Annalee Call.

What stunt did Weaver suggest to show off the clone's new abilities in Alien Resurrection?

The film also staged the first underwater sequence in the series in a 548,000-gallon tank.

Who plays the android David in Prometheus (2012)?

He deliberately avoided rewatching earlier Alien androids and studied the replicants of Blade Runner instead.

David's look and manner in Prometheus were partly modelled on Peter O'Toole's performance in which film?

He also borrowed the walk of Olympic diver Greg Louganis and the voice of HAL 9000.

What does the Prometheus crew call the humanoid race they believe created humanity?

Scott later established this race as that of the fossilised pilot the Nostromo crew found in 1979.

Which Lost co-creator rewrote Jon Spaihts's Prometheus script?

He and Scott reshaped it into a story that precedes Alien without directly connecting to it.

In Covenant, David wrongly credits the poem 'Ozymandias' to which poet?

Walter uses the slip to argue that David's grasp of human history is as flawed as his conclusions.

Who directed Alien: Romulus (2024)?

He co-wrote it with Rodo Sayagues and pitched it as a story set between the first two films.

What is the name of Cailee Spaeny's orphaned colonist in Alien: Romulus?

She sets out to escape the mining colony after the company forcibly extends her work contract.

The damaged android Rook in Romulus was built with the likeness of which late actor from the 1979 film?

An animatronic head was based on a scan he had made for The Lord of the Rings, and the choice drew heavy criticism.

The towering 'Offspring' in Romulus was played by a former basketball player from which country?

Its resemblance to the ancient race from Prometheus was intentional, to bridge the prequels and the original films.

Who created the 2025 television series Alien: Earth?

It is the franchise's first television series, with the original film's director on board as an executive producer.

In Alien: Earth, Boy Kavalier is the world's youngest trillionaire and CEO of which corporation?

He is played by Samuel Blenkin, with Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh, the company's synthetic chief scientist.

In Alien vs. Predator (2004), the buried pyramid lies beneath which island?

It sits about 1,000 miles off the coast of Antarctica, and Lance Henriksen returns as Charles Bishop Weyland to fund the expedition.

Which studio developed the 2014 survival-horror game Alien: Isolation?

It was originally planned as a third-person game before switching to first-person for intensity, and sold over two million copies.

On which date do fans celebrate Alien Day each year?

The date comes from LV-426, the planetoid where the eggs are found, read as 4/26.

Weaver took her first name at 14 from a minor character in which novel?

She was born Susan Alexandra Weaver in October 1949.

When Cameron was hired to write Aliens in 1983, his only directing credit was which film?

The studio was reluctant to let him direct until The Terminator became a hit in 1984.