INSIDE ALIEN

ALIEN Written by Mark Ramsey

EPISODE 1 1 OPEN Audio: STILLNESS implying space. Gentle LILT of subtle electronic sounds. As if we’re on some CRAFT in space. This is reminiscent of the opening scene of ALIEN when everything on board begins to WAKE UP. NARRATOR This is not a documentary. It’s not an oral history. This is a movie made of sound, and you are in it. [From XXXX] I’m Mark Ramsey, and this is INSIDE: ALIEN. Inspired by the true story. Episode One. CUT TO: 2 INT./EXT. AMBULANCE - NIGHT Chaotic sound of an AMBULANCE bumping along, siren BLARING. Inside, sound of DAN O’BANNON WRITHING IN PAIN. EMT Dan? Dan? WRITHING. EMT (CONT'D) Dan, can you hear me? Breathe! I need you to BREATHE! Ambulance CAREENS down the road. EMT (CONT'D) Listen to me...You’re gonna be fine. Just fine! Ambulance SQUEALS to a stop in front of Hospital E.R. entrance. EMT’s EXIT. Doors FLY OPEN. Dan is REMOVED on CART and moved to GURNEY. Gurney MOVES RAPIDLY through hospital, hospital NOISE all around. Doors FLY OPEN every so often as gurney heads to E.R. DOCTOR and EMT are MOVING RAPIDLY with the gurney. DOCTOR (moving) What do we got? 2. EMT (moving) Severe abdominal pain and distention, fever, inflammation, diarrhea, rectal bleeding. DOCTOR (moving) Maybe fistula. Or bowel obstruction. Beat. DOCTOR (CONT'D) (to staff) Let’s get him into the E.R. stat! Last set of DOORS THROWN OPEN. We’re now in the E.R. Cart STOPS moving. Medical personnel SWARM around. Sounds of Dan

being STRIPPED, POKED, and PRODDED. Familiar sound of EKG beeps. Dan MOANS and GROANS in BG. NURSE Heartbeat is irregular...B.P. through the roof - 195 over 120. Dan falls SILENT. DOCTOR Wait...Dan? System FLATLINES. EKG becomes a steady DRONE. NURSE Flat line! DOCTOR Code blue! Now things are REALLY moving chaotically all around the surgical table. DOCTOR (CONT'D) Paddles! NURSE Get me gel! Ready! DOCTOR Alright, charging...CLEAR! EKG begins beeping again. 3. DOCTOR (CONT'D) Wait! NURSE B.P. rising... Dan starts WRITHING and SCREAMING again. DOCTOR Dan? Dan can you hear me? Beat. Dan begins to RUMBLE; his body is VIBRATING, then THRASHING on the gurney. DOCTOR (CONT'D) (to staff) Hold him down! SNAP. The sound of ribs breaking. The screaming becomes DESPERATE NOW. Dan’s CHEST EXPLODES. He stops screaming, stops moving. Only TREMBLNG. Everyone STOPS MOVING and is SILENT - STUNNED. Only the EKG noise in background. DOCTOR (CONT'D) (shocked) What the... EKG flat-lines. SCREECH of something monstrous... Mixing directly into... 3 INT. O’BANNON HOME - NIGHT Dan is rudely awakened from a NIGHTMARE. The previous screech is mixing into his SCREEEEAAAAMMMMM. DIANE Dan, are you okay? DAN (hyperventilating) Oh my God...Oh my God. 4. DIANE (embracing him) It’s okay...Is it your stomach? It’s okay... DAN (hyperventilating) Oh my God... NARRATOR It was more than his stomach. And it was more than a nightmare. It was real. Dan WRENCHES in pain.... NARRATOR (CONT'D) The misery was constant and unrelenting. Doctors told him it would pass, but it didn’t. It’s

your appendix, they said, but it wasn’t. Surgery didn’t stop it. More WRENCHING. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Eating was terrifying. It could mean hours of pain. Years later, it would be diagnosed as Chrohn’s disease, but for most of Dan O’Bannon’s life, it was a torturous mystery ailment, an incurable condition that blocked his digestion and inflamed his gut. The pain was excruciating. More... NARRATOR (CONT'D) He would say it feels like something’s inside, chewing its way out. WRENCHING segues to... 4 EXT./INT. MOVIE THEATER - LONDON - DAY A RAINY London day. CARS slicing through puddles. NARRATOR It was too late for lunch and too early for tea on this gloomy day in London. 5. Another car SLICES through a puddle. NARRATOR (CONT'D) It was 1968, and Ridley Scott was already one of the hottest directors in TV advertising. RUMBLE of thunder. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He was overworked. He deserved a break. And so, he stared up at the marquee over the Casino Cinerama. 2001: A Space Odyssey, it read. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Everyone was talking about this movie. But science fiction, it’s such rubbish, he thought. In esteem it was one notch up from sex movies. RIDLEY (to himself) Hmmm. NARRATOR And not a big notch at that. But Ridley Scott had a secret: He dreamed one day he would direct his own feature film. RIDLEY (at ticket counter) Ticket for one, please. He ENTERS the theater. The OUTSIDE noises fade to the sound of 2001 projected on the big screen.

NARRATOR His expectations were minuscule. After all, the spaceships, the monsters, nothing he had ever seen - even as a kid - looked real. Science fiction was fake - and worse, boring. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) And then...2001: A Space Odyssey swept him away. (MORE) 6. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The sets, the direction, the story, the ballet of starships drifting through space. It was...mesmerizing. It was more than science fiction, it was real. It was convincing. It was...magical. 5 INT. USC MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT Sound of FILM PROJECTOR and a RAUCOUS student-filled screening room. NARRATOR That’s a student film you’re listening to. It’s 1969. This is USC. And the filmmaker is a 23- year-old Dan O’Bannon. VOICEOVER My face looks like an armpit. NARRATOR The voiceover was Dan’s. The character, a melancholy bearded man smoking a cigarette and slumped over a bed, was surrounded by trash and empty beer cans. VOICEOVER My mouth tastes like the inside of a locker room. NARRATOR Dan was in the audience, and he was beaming with pride. This was going over great - so far. That’s when his leading man took a shave...and by accident, cut his wrists. SLICE. NARRATOR (CONT'D) So he begins bleeding...and bleeding...and bleeding some more. He sits in a bathtub as the blood swirls down the drain, Psycho- style. His final words, as his life slips away. VOICEOVER Mmmm. Sexy. 7. Beat. NARRATOR Well, it didn’t go over well. STUDENT (calling out) That’s disgusting! Chorus of BOOS begins. NARRATOR

Dan was confused by the reaction. More than confused, he was disappointed and depressed. No one in that screening liked his very first movie. CARPENTER Hey, Dan, right? NARRATOR Well, almost no one. DAN (discouraged) Yeah. I’m Dan. CARPENTER Man, that was great. I love your movie! NARRATOR Dan was tickled. He was flattered. He was encouraged. And he had a new friend. A friend who shared many of his interests, including his love of a classic Howard Hawks creature- feature set in Antarctica, The Thing from Another World. CARPENTER Listen, Dan. You and I should make a movie together. NARRATOR And so they did: Dan O’Bannon and his new friend, a tall, shaggy- haired rebel who loved sci-fi and horror. His name... CARPENTER John. John Carpenter. 8. 6 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY Sound of a baby’s butt being SLAPPED. Followed by the CRIES of a newborn. NARRATOR When Dan O’Bannon came into this world, his father was nowhere to be found. CRIES. NARRATOR (CONT'D) It was 1946 and there was a Marx Brothers movie playing. Yeah, Old Man O’Bannon was having a baby, but...the Marx Brothers! He had Ozark blood coursing through his veins. He was a hillbilly, his son would say. A hillbilly with a sense of mischief. Sound of LAWN CLIPPERS. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Like the time he cut circles in the grass - and called the newspaper to tell them he was visited by a UFO. UFO noises - cue the THEREMIN. NARRATOR (CONT'D)

Dan grew up quirky. He was smart, clever, artistic. He was also a devotee of paranoid conspiracy theories, part survivalist, part anarchist. But more than anything, he loved science fiction and movies. 7 INT. O’BANNON APARTMENT AT USC - DAY NEEDLE dropping on RECORD - it’s some obscure ROCK track that sounds era-appropriate. KNOCK at door. Door OPENS. CARPENTER Dan. Nice place. DAN Really, John? 9. CARPENTER No. NARRATOR At USC, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship for Dan O’Bannon and John Carpenter. Neither could know it at the time, but O’Bannon would go on to write ALIEN while Carpenter’s career would explode with movies like Halloween and The Thing. CARPENTER You live here, Dan? Is this an attic? I can barely stand up. DAN You’re too tall, John. CARPENTER There’s stuff everywhere, Dan. Where can I sit? DAN Right over there. CARPENTER On that stack of Playboys? DAN Why not? Just move the gun. CARPENTER (for emphasis) Move...the...gun. DAN Let’s get started. NARRATOR What they were starting was a film. Their classmate George Lucas had just made a student sci-fi flick on a shoestring. It would later become THX1138. DAN If George can do it, so can we, damnit. 10. NARRATOR And so began the wild exchange of ideas for what would eventually become a psychedelic and satirical twist on 2001, a cult classic called Dark Star. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) This would not be a clean and colorful version of a wholesome spaced-out future. No Star Trek

here. The story followed the bumbling hippie crew of a broken- down starship called Dark Star, years into their mission to destroy unstable planets. The romance of space was replaced with the mundane drudgery of day to day chores. Forget the heroism of exploration; we’re talking satirical laugh lines and absurd plot twists. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) It would be the first feature film for Dan O’Bannon, and the first time the world would see the title “directed by John Carpenter.” 8 INT. DARK STAR SET - DAY CROWD of film students doing their level best to make a movie on almost no budget. CARPENTER Dan, you wrote a monster. DAN Yeah? CARPENTER So we need a monster. DAN Okay, John, what do we have in the budget for... CARPENTER We need a monster on NO budget, Dan. 11. Beat. DAN Okay. Sound of TIME PASSING. NARRATOR O’Bannon came back to the set with all the ingredients of a credible monster. DAN Hey John, what do you think of this? NARRATOR Actually, he came back with a beach ball with toilet plungers attached on each side. Crew LAUGHS. But Dan is serious. DAN We’ll swap the plungers for some rubber Creature From the Black Lagoon hands, we’ll paint them like chicken feet, and we’ll shoot the ball jumping around and squeaking. NARRATOR Well, conditions being what they were, Carpenter went with it. The beach ball was operated like a puppet by Carpenter and O’Bannon’s

buddy Nick Castle - a man who would later become famous behind a mask in Carpenter’s Halloween. You would know him as Michael Myers. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Meanwhile, the monstrous beach ball with claw feet would become, for better or worse, part of movie monster history. DAN (to himself) It works, John, but I’m not thrilled with it. (MORE) 12. DAN (CONT'D) Some day, I want to make a monster so frightening, so real, people will run from the theater screaming. SCREAMS suddenly STOPPING. Beat. DAN (CONT'D) (to himself) Some day. 9 INT. DARK STAR SET - LATER Sound of someone HANGING in a harness in an elevator shaft. NARRATOR Besides sharing writing duties with Carpenter, O’Bannon also ran visual effects, production design, and editing on Dark Star. STRUGGLING in a harness. NARRATOR (CONT'D) And he was in the cast as Sergeant Pinback. When the renegade beach ball with clawed feet escapes from the storage room, it is Pinback who has to track it down and eventually kill it. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The chase between Pinback and a mysterious beach ball was crafted for creeps. There it was, at the far end of a hallway, staring. If you turn away and turn back, it’s gone. It’s a style of hide and seek Carpenter would use to great effect later in his classic Halloween. STRUGGLING still. NARRATOR (CONT'D) There’s a sequence where Pinback is hanging in a harness, upside down in an elevator shaft. O’Bannon was draped there for days. (MORE)

13. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He could feel the harness squeeze his body - his guts. He developed an excruciating pain in his side. It stole his appetite and sent him to the hospital for days. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) This was the beginning of gastric troubles which would plague him for the rest of his life. It would lead to numerous surgeries. Portions of his stomach and intestines would be removed. None of it would work. Complications from the disease would one day kill him. But for now, he was plagued with debilitating, wrenching pain, day and night. It would sneak into his nightmares. It would be the stuff of cinematic monsters to come. DAN It feels like there’s something evil, deadly, living inside me, trying to rip me open from inside out. My body is the host...for something frightening. 10 INT. HOLLYWOOD OFFICE - DAY Sounds of a Hollywood producer’s office, decidedly low rent. TYPEWRITERS in distance. NARRATOR Making Dark Star was only half the battle. Now Carpenter and O’Bannon had to sell it to a distributor if they ever expected it to see a real audience. DOOR opens. Jack HARRIS steps out. HARRIS Come on in, guys. They enter. Harris CLOSES door behind them. 14. NARRATOR Not surprisingly, nobody - not even the exploitation houses - wanted an absurdist comedy in space. HARRIS Have a seat. NARRATOR O’Bannon and Carpenter sat in tiny seats opposite the massive throne of Jack Harris. Harris was famous -

or rather, infamous - as the producer of the drive-in shlock- classic The Blob. O’Bannon and Carpenter reasoned that Dark Star was no less distinguished. DAN CARPENTER We hope. We hope. HARRIS Would you guys like a cigar? DAN CARPENTER No, thank you. Not for me. HARRIS Good. Cigars are expensive. Like movies. NARRATOR Not an auspicious beginning. But O’Bannon and Carpenter were hungry, desperate, and willing to do anything to launch their careers. For Jack Harris, these were the perfect suckers...er...partners. DAN So you’ve seen the movie, Mr. Harris. What do you think? Beat. Harris blows a SMOKE RING as O’Bannon and Carpenter anxiously await an answer. HARRIS Too long. Beat. 15. DAN Anything else? Beat. HARRIS Too boring. Beat. HARRIS (CONT'D) For seven minutes, you hear snoring and farting. Get rid of it. DAN But those seven minutes... HARRIS Get rid of it. Beat. HARRIS (CONT'D) How about adding some women in bikinis on a beach? Beat. DAN In space? Beat. HARRIS Look, boys, you want to create art take your tin cup to Graumann’s Chinese. My money, my deal. NARRATOR Well, they took the deal. This was how business was done. Dan O’Bannon would never like it. And he would never forget it. 11 EXT./INT. MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT Busy LA street outside theater. CARS buzzing by. NARRATOR This was it. Opening night for Dark Star. And already, everything had gone wrong. (MORE) 16. NARRATOR (CONT'D) O’Bannon and Carpenter stepped up

to the box office at a Hollywood movie theater. DAN John, did they actually misspell Dark Star on the marquee? CARPENTER I think Dark should have only one “r.” DAN So should Star. NARRATOR Harris had sold the film to another distributor, a small company less interested in distributing films than in laundering money for gangsters. The result: A bungled release. Dark Star was dropped like a steaming pile of crap on 40 theaters in the Los Angeles area with zero marketing. Even a bomb...needs to explode. BOX OFFICE Can I help you? NARRATOR That was the box office in front of the theater. Can you ever. DAN How’s the audience? Beat. BOX OFFICE What audience? NARRATOR Uh oh. Carpenter and O’Bannon held their breath and stepped inside. Transition to sounds INSIDE THEATER. Movie running, but audience is STRANGELY SILENT. NARRATOR (CONT'D) They stood in the back, watched, and listened. 17. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The problem wasn’t just how few people were there - and there were few. The problem was also what they heard. Beat. SILENCE in the theater. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Nothing. They heard nothing. No laughter, no nothing. This was supposed to be funny. No laughter. DAN (under his breath) Holy crap. NARRATOR Nobody got the joke. And that means the joke was squarely on Dan O’Bannon and John Carpenter. 12 INT. DINER - DAY Sounds of a DINER. NARRATOR The dismal box office performance of Dark Star was the end of the beginning of the relationship

between O’Bannon and Carpenter. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) And it was also the beginning of the end. Two men joining each other at the diner. CARPENTER Dan. DAN John. They take SEATS. Long and awkward BEAT. 18. DAN (CONT'D) So how are you, John? Beat. CARPENTER Dan, thanks for coming. He has something important to say. CARPENTER (CONT'D) Dan, when you say things to people, do you really think it won’t get back to me? DAN What are you talking about? CARPENTER You know what I’m talking about. DAN (getting testy) Actually I don’t, John. CARPENTER I’m the director of Dark Star. It says so right on the screen. DAN Yeah? CARPENTER Yeah. And you’ve been telling people that you did as much work on the film as I did. You’ve been telling them you’re as responsible for what’s on the screen as I am. DAN John, I worked just as hard on this movie as you did... CARPENTER I’m the director, Dan. You’re not, I am. Get that through your thick head. DAN Look, John. All the credit’s yours. Everyone’s describing this movie as “John Carpenter’s Dark Star,” and it’s not. 19. CARPENTER Yes it is, Dan. Yes it is. I’m the director. I’m the auteur. I’m the guy in charge. And that’s how it is. Beat. CARPENTER (CONT'D) Why do you look so stunned? Beat. DAN We did this together, John. As friends. You and me, together. We poured our life-blood into this. CARPENTER

A movie has only one director, Dan. Beat. DAN John, my dream is to direct. I want to be the “Hitchcock of Science Fiction.” CARPENTER Not this time. Beat. DAN I’ve learned a lot from you, John. CARPENTER Yeah, like what? DAN I’ve learned that when it comes to a career, there’s never enough credit to go around. CARPENTER Don’t be naive, Dan. DAN I thought that good friends will be loyal to each other forever. But I’ve learned that’s not true. CARPENTER Come off it, Dan. This is business. 20. DAN I’ve learned that some people will just cut your head off, run away, and not look back. Carpenter PUSHES BACK the chair and gets up to leave. CARPENTER I’m not listening to this. I’ve made my point. Have a good day, Dan. He leaves. WAITRESS (arriving) Sir, would you like something to eat or drink? DAN No, thanks. Is it okay if I just sit here for a minute? WAITRESS Sure, sweetie. Beat. NARRATOR Dan could feel the rumble in his gut. This would be another long and painful day. The badness inside was churning, scraping, clawing, and chewing. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) And he was alone. Beat. DAN (to waitress) Excuse me, Miss? WAITRESS (arriving) Yes sir. Can I get you... DAN Do you like poetry? Beat. 21. WAITRESS Poetry? I don’t know. DAN (reciting Poe) From childhood’s hour I have not been / as others were - I have not

seen / as others saw - I could not bring / My passions from a common spring - / From the same source I have not taken / My sorrow - I could not awaken / My heart to joy at the same tone - / And all I lov’d - I lov’d alone. Beat. WAITRESS I like it. It’s sad, but I like it. NARRATOR It’s sad, but I like it. Those words hung in the air like early morning dew. In that diner, absorbing that dew, Dan O’Bannon sat alone and cried. 13 INT. MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT Dan is watching Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 in a crowded theater. NARRATOR A couple of opportunities came O’Bannon’s way. He was invited to Paris to work on special effects for a new adaptation of DUNE. It would never be made. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Back home, George Lucas called to invite O’Bannon to help with computer graphics on a pet project of his to be called Star Wars. Dan worked on the project for three months. Nobody really noticed, but it paid the bills. For a while. Beat. 22. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Now he was here in a theater watching Assault on Precinct 13. It was the latest project by the hot young director John Carpenter. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Dan O’Bannon was still suffering with that ferocious pain in his gut. Always suffering. And he was no closer to directing than he had been at USC. But here was John

Carpenter, living his dream. DAN (to himself) Why can’t I just be happy for him? NARRATOR O’Bannon was out of money and out of opportunities. He was also homeless. Since his return to LA he was crashing on the couch of his friend Ron Shusett. Together they dreamed of collaborating on a new monster movie. 14 INT. RON SHUSETT’S HOUSE - DAY Sound of TYPEWRITER clicking along. NARRATOR At Ron’s place, Dan would set up a desk and on that desk was his most important possession... CARRIAGE RETURN. NARRATOR (CONT'D) ...his typewriter. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) O’Bannon was developing an idea - it was similar to Dark Star, but without the humor. Sound of TYPEWRITER clicking along. 23. DAN (to himself) If I can’t make them laugh, maybe I can make them scream. More TYPEWRITER clicking along. NARRATOR His host Ron was trying to break into the business, too. Who wasn’t, right? He had a great idea he was working on, but he was stuck. Maybe Dan could help him? And in return, he would help Dan. NARRATOR (CONT'D) O’Bannon needed the help. He had written only about twenty pages. Sound of PAPER being pulled OUT of a typewriter - one good page. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Another sci-fi story. It began with an alien transmission. Was it an emergency call? Or a warning? A small mining ship answers the message and lands on a planetoid. The crew would be awakened from hypersleep to investigate. They would encounter an alien force, and then...

DAN (sighs) ...I have no idea what happens next. Beat. NARRATOR What would happen next is that Ron would help Dan and Dan would help Ron. Ron’s story would become the foundation for the Arnold Schwarzenegger epic Total Recall. And Dan’s? TYPEWRITER. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He would call that story Star Beast. It’s a name that would not stick. (MORE) 24. NARRATOR (CONT'D) It was a B movie idea that would receive A movie production. It was a sci-fi concept destined to become legendary. It would prove itself one of the scariest and most influential movies of all time. Generations to come would know this movie by its new title... Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) ALIEN. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Next time...On INSIDE ALIEN. 25.

EPISODE 2 15 OPEN Audio: STILLNESS implying space. Gentle LILT of subtle electronic sounds. As if we’re on some CRAFT in space. This is reminiscent of the opening scene of ALIEN when everything on board begins to WAKE UP. NARRATOR This is not a documentary. It’s not an oral history. This is a movie made of sound, and you are in it. [From XXXX] I’m Mark Ramsey, and this is INSIDE: ALIEN. Inspired by the true story. Episode Two. CUT TO: 16 INT. DOCTOR’S OFFICE - DAY We are in an EXAM ROOM. NURSE Mr... DAN O’Bannon. NURSE Mr. O’Bannon, the doctor will be right in. CLOSES door. He’s alone. It’s quiet. And he is in EXCRUTIATING pain. DAN (Groans) Jesus Christ... Door OPENS. DOCTOR (examining his chart) Dan? Beat. DOCTOR (CONT'D) I’m Doctor Ash. What seems to be the problem. 26. DAN (in pain) The problem is I’m in pain. Doctor reviews CHART. DOCTOR It looks like you’ve been diagnosed with appendicitis. And you had surgery. DAN Right. DOCTOR But you’re still in pain. DAN Right. Every time I eat anything. I feel like it’s scraping inside me, trying to get out. Like there’s something...alive in there. DOCTOR And when you visit the bathroom... DAN It’s like torture. And it can go on for hours. I can’t eat. I am in constant fear of something... exploding inside me. DOCTOR I’d like to tell you I know what it is, Dan. But I don’t. It looks like nobody does. Starts WRITING.

DOCTOR (CONT'D) I’m going to give you a scrip. TEARS it off his pad. DOCTOR (CONT'D) Something for the pain. Beat. DOCTOR (CONT'D) Thanks for coming in. DOOR CLOSES as Doctor leaves. 27. NARRATOR Dan was alone, in that office. Alone with a prescription. Alone with his pain and his thoughts. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) When he was in Paris, his career was crystal clear - he had it made. He would become a famous “Director of Special Effects,” thanks to DUNE. Then DUNE fell apart. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He came home to LA, but had no home to return to. Everything he owned - and it wasn’t much - was in storage. He had no car, no job, no money, and no prospects. And he was plagued with a mysterious illness no doctor could treat. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) It was the lowest moment of his life. DAN (to himself) I wanted to direct a movie. Who am I kidding? I have nothing. I will always have nothing. I will always be nothing. 17 INT. RON SHUSETT'S HOUSE - DAY Sound of SQUIRMING on a couch. NARRATOR Every day, he would wake up on his buddy Ron Shussett’s couch and stare at the ceiling. Until one day... Sound of STORAGE SHED DOOR opening. Dan PATS the dirt of both hands. 28. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Ron gave him an empty spot in his front room. And so, from the storage shed, he salvaged... Sound of MOVING THINGS. NARRATOR (CONT'D)

...A desk, a file cabinet, a chair, and an old IBM traveling typewriter. He TESTS SOME KEYS. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Hollywood could ignore him. His friends could turn on him. The universe could deny him everything. But nobody - nobody - could stop him from writing. His setup is COMPLETE. DAN Ron, you ready? RON Ready, Dan. NARRATOR All day, they’d brainstorm, and all night, Dan would write. TYPING. NARRATOR (CONT'D) And write...and write. TYPING. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Together, they whipped up a story. And they devised a creature. DAN It’s a man in a rubber suit, Ron. It’s cheap! They’ll make it! SCREECH. DAN (CONT'D) But how do we get the creature on the ship? 29. RON I dunno, Dan. But if we can solve that one, the whole movie will fall into place. Beat. RON (CONT'D) Look, Dan, it’s 2:30 in the morning. Why don’t you sleep on it - we both will. Maybe we’ll come up with something in the morning. 18 INT. RON SHUSETT'S HOUSE - NIGHT Sounds of CRICKETS and NIGHT NOISES outside. Dan is TOSSING AND TURNING on the couch. NARRATOR Dan slept. And in that sleep, he had dreams of spaceships and planets, of pilots and aliens, of a cavern full of enormous eggs... SPOOKY SOUNDS of a field of eggs. EGG OPENS. NARRATOR (CONT'D) ...of a spaceman who leans in for a closer look. Sound of something WHIPPING OUT OF THE EGG and ATTACHING to the spaceman’s helmet.

Sound of Dan FALLING OFF THE COUCH. DAN (out of breath) That’s it! Walks to Ron’s bedroom. OPENS door. DAN (CONT'D) (out of breath) Ron! RON (barely awake) Dan, this is my bedroom... 30. DAN Ron! I have it! The alien screws one of them! It jumps on his face and plants its seed inside him! RON’S WIFE We’re in bed, Dan. RON (waking up) Okay, Dan, but how does it give birth? Does it come out while they operate on him? Stomach GROWL. RON’S WIFE Ron... DAN No, not while they operate. Another GROWL. RON Is that your stomach, Dan? RON’S WIFE Guys... DAN Not while they operate. It just bursts out. It comes bursting out of his stomach - or his chest. RON’S WIFE (gets out of bed) Okay, guys, I’m sleeping on the couch. Have fun. Door SLAMS closed. 19 INT. RON SHUSETT'S HOUSE - DAY TYPING. NARRATOR No bath, no shower, no shave. Just the same ratty clothes from yesterday. TYPING. 31. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Who gives a crap. There’s writing to do. STOPS TYPING. Fumbles through ROLODEX for a number. DIALS. GIGER (groggy) Hello. DAN H.R. Dan O’Bannon. GIGER (groggy) Who? NARRATOR H.R. Giger was a Swiss artist who specialized in creating inspired and strange art. His work was dark: Grotesque monsters with bodies that resembled skeletons and giant phallic heads. He was already famous and notorious for his cold biomechanical figure designs - they were gruesome, provocative, erotic and slick. And O’Bannon thought

they were at once nightmarish and remarkable. DAN Dan O’Bannon. We worked together on DUNE. GIGER Oh, O’Bannon! I’m sorry, Dan, I’ve been embracing a warm blanket of opium all night. DAN Opium, why? GIGER I’m afraid of my visions, dear boy. DAN H.R., I want to hire you. I want you to make me a monster. 32. GIGER My boy, the world is full of them already. DAN This creature should be a profane abomination. Maybe something like an over-sized, deformed baby. GIGER Hmm. What’s your budget for this escapade, young man? Beat. DAN We’re working on the script now. I don’t have any money. NARRATOR At least he didn’t tell Giger that he was living on his buddy’s couch. DAN I’m living on my buddy’s couch. GIGER How nice for you. Beat. DAN Look, H.R., I’ll send you a thousand dollars. I’ll find it - somewhere. I don’t know where, but I’ll find it. Please, just send me some sketches, some conceptual designs. I know they’ll help sell this project. GIGER I don’t know, my boy. I’m so busy. DAN H.R., that’s more than all the money I have. NARRATOR What else can you say, when there’s nothing left to say, when there’s nothing left to give? DAN H.R., please. 33. 20 INT. BOWLING ALLEY - DAY Sounds of BALLS and STRIKES. RON How does it end, Dan? DAN How does what end, Ron? RON Come on Dan. You know what I’m talking about. Beat. DAN

Who’s winning, Ron? RON I am. So how does it end? DAN Why can’t I ever win? RON How does it end, Dan? DAN Have you ever read The Andromeda Strain? Michael Crichton’s book? RON No, why. DAN It ends with the hero having to disarm an atomic bomb. RON That’s cheap and tropey. You’re up. DAN (rising to bowl) What if...the last surviving crewmember has to deal with a self- destruct sequence during the story’s climax? RON Like I said, cheap and tropey. Dan ROLLS his ball toward the pins. It’s a STRIKE! 34. RON (CONT'D) Strike, Dan! Nice! DAN Today's trope is tomorrow's franchise, Ron. If it’s good enough for Michael Crichton, it’s good enough for me. 21 INT. ROGER CORMAN’S OUTER OFFICE - DAY Bustle of OUTER OFFICE. NARRATOR The script was done. Time to sell. Unfortunately, nobody was buying. DAN (to assistant) Dan O’Bannon to see Mr. Corman. NARRATOR The script was everywhere. And everyone hated it. O’Bannon made a list of his favorite rejection comments: “This is worthless...Six People will come to see it.” Even 20th Century Fox, the studio that was making Star Wars and would one day make Alien turned up their nose: “Gratuitously violent,” they said. O’Bannon and Shusett couldn’t even get an agent. Dan O’Bannon’s great hope was a great big stiff. ASSISTANT Mr. Corman will see you now. NARRATOR Everything about this picture was perfect for Roger Corman. It could be made cheap, the creature was a

guy in a costume. It smelled like a Corman film. He ENTERS Roger’s office. DAN (greeting him) Roger. CORMAN Dan. Have a seat. 35. NARRATOR Roger Corman was the ultimate independent producer. Nobody launched more great careers and did it for less money than Roger Corman. Beat. CORMAN Coffee? DAN No, thanks, Roger. CORMAN I mean did you bring me any coffee? DAN Oh, no. NARRATOR Yeah, Roger was notoriously tight. Shlock classics like Attack of the Crab Monster, Teenage Caveman, Little Shop of Horrors, and budget epics like Pit and the Pendulum all owe their existence to Roger Corman. Martin Scorcese, Francis Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard, James Cameron - all of them got their start by working their asses off for next to nothing. Just for Roger. DAN So you read it? CORMAN Well, it needs at least one chase scene in the first 15 minutes. Beat. DAN There’s no chase scene. CORMAN The lead actress must show her breasts twice - once near the beginning of the film and once near the end. 36. DAN There are no breasts. CORMAN The ideal length for this movie is 82 minutes. That’s the maximum amount of film that can go into four film cans. If you go 83 minutes, then that extra film can increases your shipping cost by 20 percent. DAN This is longer than 82 minutes. CORMAN What about the director? DAN There’s nothing I want more in this world than to direct ALIEN. Beat. CORMAN Hmm.

How much money do you need to make this picture? And direct it? DAN $750,000. CORMAN (as if he’s granting a favor) I’ll give you $100,000. DAN Roger, I don’t think you heard me. CORMAN No. You didn’t hear ME. DOOR CLOSING. The door to this deal, that is. Dan has just been kicked out of Corman’s office. NARRATOR Dan O’Bannon was distraught. His stomach was in knots, as usual. This was his Hail Mary pass, and it was a fumble. What next? What now? Beat. 37. NARRATOR (CONT'D) O’Bannon didn’t know it, but this ALIEN still had a pulse, and it was in a surprising place. Star Wars had just opened. And it was a blockbuster. The suits at FOX - the studio that financed Star Wars - knew a good thing when they had it, and suddenly sci-fi was a good thing. The search was on for something fresh. Even if they had already passed on it. 22 INT. GOLDWYN STUDIOS - DAY Sunny day, BIRDS singing, sweet BREEZE. Outside the window of BRANDYWINE Productions. NARRATOR It was a hot summer day in 1976. The windows were propped open at Brandywine Productions. A bird could fly in. Anything could fly in. Sound of SCRIPT SAILING into the office and landing with a THUD on a desk. HILL What was that?! NARRATOR That was a script, and it was tossed through the window. MAN’S VOICE (distant) Read it! NARRATOR It wasn’t every day that scripts

sailed through the window at Brandywine, a company that had a first look deal with FOX. But this wasn’t every day. And this wasn’t just any script. HILL (thumbing through script) Oh my God, this is terrible. 38. NARRATOR Walter Hill was a hot writer and director. Hill READS SCRIPT - page by page. HILL ...REALLY terrible. It’s JAWS in space. NARRATOR And then, he got to one particular scene. 23 INT. DAVID GILER HOME - DAY PHONE RINGS... GILER Hello. HILL (other side of phone) David, did you read it? NARRATOR David Giler was Walter Hill’s production partner. GILER So far it’s terrible. HILL Keep reading. CLICK PHONE RINGS... GILER Walter? HILL Well? GILER I see what you mean. We gotta see if we can get this. NARRATOR Giler hadn’t finished the script yet. He had to stop - and compose himself. (MORE) 39. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He had just read the scene where the alien bursts from a character’s chest. GILER Talk about big grossing movies. This may be the grossest of them all. HILL Meet with O’Bannon. GILER What’s an O’Bannon? 24 INT. GOLDWYN STUDIOS - DAY Door OPENS DAN I’m Dan O’Bannon. GILER (greeting him) David Giler. They SIT. DAN So you guys like the script. GILER We’ve read 300 scripts and this is the first one we’ve all agreed on. DAN That’s great! GILER We’ll option it for $2,500. You and your partner will split it. DAN And if the movie gets made? GILER

Then you guys split $150,000. NARRATOR O’Bannon’s guts were in a twist and doing somersaults. (MORE) 40. NARRATOR (CONT'D) There was one more issue on the table, and it was dear to him. DAN David, I wrote this with the intention of directing it. Is that part of the deal? Beat. GILER You have never directed anything... DAN At USC - Dark Star. Beat. GILER USC...And I thought John Carpenter directed Dark Star. DAN David... GILER Listen, Dan. You can pass on this if you want. This script has been making the rounds for a while, and nobody has bought it. You know that. You can make this like The Blob and direct if you want, but not with our money. Beat. GILER (CONT'D) Our vision is to make this high class, slick, stylish, scary, expensive, and quality. We’re not trusting it to a hack. DAN A hack?! GILER ...I mean, an amateur. Beat. DAN (discouraged) An amateur. 41. Passing O’Bannon a piece of paper. GILER Sign here. And Walter and I will start a rewrite. NARRATOR O’Bannon’s gut was piercing with pain. He was sick to his stomach. He could barely breathe. He had always been insecure about his work - his abilities. And here he was, about to sign a deal that meant more to him than anything else ever had. And it would cost him the thing he wanted most: A chance to direct. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He needed this deal. And he needed this money.

The medical expenses for his ailments were overwhelming. The charges went unpaid. Every other call was from a bill collector. It was worse than depressing, it was discouraging. SIGNING sound. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He grit his teeth. He closed his eyes. And he signed. Puts DOWN PEN. And SIGHS. 25 INT. 20TH CENTURY FOX EXECUTIVE OFFICES - DAY Bustling OFFICE environment...We’re in the office of Alan Ladd Jr. BUZZ LADD (answering) Yes. ASSISTANT (other side of buzzer) Mr. Ladd, Walter Hill is here to see you. 42. Door OPENS. LADD Walter! Have a seat. Beat. NARRATOR Walter Hill was visiting the head of production at FOX - Alan Ladd Jr. This was the man who held all the cards - the man who made Star Wars - the man who could make or break ALIEN. Beat. HILL Laddie thanks for seeing me. You read the script? LADD I did. HILL And? Beat. LADD You know, we’ve got a sci-fi movie in the market right now, and it’s very successful. HILL Laddie, that’s the understatement of the century. Congratulations on Star Wars. LADD Thanks. But this...this is a horror picture in space. How are the parents who took their kids to Star Wars going to embrace a monster with a head that looks like a penis? HILL Well, it doesn’t exactly look like... LADD It looks like a penis. You know what a penis looks like. 43. HILL I've seen them, yes. LADD Well? HILL (surrendering) Okay.

It does look like a penis. Beat. LADD Walter, when I invited you here, it was to tell you we’re passing on ALIEN. HILL (confused) I don’t understand... LADD But something changed my mind. HILL (puzzled) What? LADD I got a call. From one of the potential directors who read the script. Someone I trust. He liked it. A lot. “It will be huge,” he said. “You should make it right away.” Beat. HILL Well, I hope he’s right. LADD He’s usually right. He made JAWS. His name is Steven Spielberg. Beat. LADD (CONT'D) You know you’ll need a rewrite. HILL Already working on it. 44. LADD What about a director? HILL We don’t know yet. LADD If you’re going to make this for us, it needs to be very well made. HILL We agree. LADD Not a low budget picture. HILL Agreed. Beat. LADD Okay, let’s go forward... HILL Great! LADD ...tentatively. HILL Oh, okay. Beat. LADD Walter, one thing on this script. All of the characters are gender neutral. None are specified as male or female. HILL Right. LADD What about the last survivor? HILL What about him? Beat. LADD What if you make him...a her? 45. 26 EXT./INT. MANN’S CHINESE THEATER - HOLLYWOOD - NIGHT Sound of a MAN entering a BUZZING theater from outside, LINES snaking around the block. He TAKES HIS SEAT in a PACKED room. The ENTHUSIASM in the room is palpable. NARRATOR It was Ridley Scott’s first time in

the legendary and palatial Mann’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He was here to see a movie. A movie that had fans lined up for blocks waiting to jam into this theater for their second or third viewing. This was more than a movie, this was a phenomenon. Sound of STAR WARS rises as the audience bursts into APPLAUSE. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Ridley Scott had never experienced anything like this before. And as Star Wars unspooled on that massive, brilliant screen, he was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the originality and the sheer audacity of the story, the sets, the music, the characters, and the visual effects. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) “I have never felt audience participation like that in my life,” he thought to himself. The theater shook. The audience quaked. It was thrilling. The movie FINISHES. Audience APPLAUDS and FILES OUT. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He sat there, motionless, as the audience exuberantly filed out of the movie house. Beat. 46. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He just...sat there. It was stunning. He was dazzled. He was humbled. And he was devastated. RIDLEY (to himself) Fuck George! NARRATOR There, he said it. RIDLEY (louder) Fuck George! NARRATOR This was the highest compliment he could give. RIDLEY (to himself) What am I doing? What am I doing as a filmmaker, if I’m not making something...like this?! Beat. RIDLEY (CONT'D) (louder now) FUCK GEORGE! He LEAVES his seat and goes to a PAY PHONE. He begins DIALING. NARRATOR Walter Hill had passed on the

opportunity to direct ALIEN. So had about 29 other big name directors. One veteran rejected the offer in no uncertain terms: “It’s a stupid monster movie,” he shouted. DIALING finishes. RINGS. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Another veteran was intrigued, but for all the wrong reasons. “We gotta come up with something unique for the creature,” he said. “Maybe we can get an orangutan - and shave it. And we could train that son-of- a-bitch.” 47. RINGS. NARRATOR (CONT'D) No. RINGS. NARRATOR (CONT'D) In desperation, the studio made an offer to a newcomer, a man with a sharp and stylish visual sense who had never before made a big budget film. It was a risky move, and they knew it. Someone PICKS UP. RIDLEY (into phone) It’s Ridley. Listen mate... NARRATOR That man was Ridley Scott. RIDLEY ...accept the offer. Tell them I’m in. 27 INT. LAX AIRPORT - DAY Sound of a BUSY TERMINAL. Sounds of DOORS OPENING and a man STEPPING THROUGH THEM. ASSISTANT Can I help you sir? DAN Yes, Dan O’Bannon for a package. ASSISTANT ...O’Bannon... DAN It’s from Switzerland. H.R. Giger. It’s just some airbrushed drawings but for some reason they’re being held up here at Customs. ASSISTANT (stops cold) Oh, the drawings. Just a moment. 48. CUSTOMS AGENT returns. CUSTOMS AGENT Mr. O’Bannon? DAN Yes. CUSTOMS AGENT We inspected your package. And those pictures. Who made them? DAN (this is very unusual) Um, an artist in Switzerland, why? CUSTOMS AGENT (appalled) These pictures are disgusting. He

is a very sick man. A penis with arms and legs!? DAN I hope so. CUSTOMS AGENT Here. HANDING HIM the pictures. Dan SNAPS them up, THUMBS through them. DAN Thank you. Dan LEAVES. Traveling through airport... DAN (CONT'D) (to himself) Wait until Ridley Scott sees these. His eyes will pop out of his head. Airport Doors CLOSE. 28 INT. ETHEL WALKER SCHOOL FOR GIRLS - DAY PERIOD BELL RINGS signaling movement of girls INTO the hallways and to their next class. MAN WALKS through hallway. OPENS door. ENTERS. CLOSES door. SITS. 49. NARRATOR A proud man. A noble man. Striding through the Ethel Walker School for Girls in Connecticut. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He was as close as Americans get to royalty. His father rose from nothing to found his own roofing company, one that was said to have roofed nearly all the suburbs fast emerging around Los Angeles. His father even ran for LA mayor once. ASSISTANT Yes sir? NARRATOR He snuffed a cigarette into an ashtray. He had grown up in LA society, a man about town. He went to high school with Carole Lombard, he dated Loretta Young. He cocktailed with a who’s who of film and TV. And now he was president of the hottest new television network: NBC. WEAVER Pat Weaver to see the headmistress. NARRATOR And what is a TV network chief doing in a waiting room at a girls’ school in Connecticut? He’s here about his pride and joy. He’s here

about his daughter Susan. DOOR OPENS, Headmistress comes out. HEADMISTRESS Mr. Weaver. It’s a great pleasure to meet you. Susan has told me so much about you. WEAVER Is she alright? HEADMISTRESS Yes, of course. Her welfare is not why I wanted to see you. Instead... 50. WEAVER Instead what? HEADMISTRESS It’s her attitude. Susan is a headstrong girl. She is not always one to follow the rules. We are trying to teach our girls to be young ladies. And Susan can be a... rebel. WEAVER (irritated) Really? How so? HEADMISTRESS (thinking about this) Well, for example, do you permit Susan to use that ridiculous name she made up? Beat. WEAVER (pissed) Are you talking about our daughter, Sigourney? 29 INT. RON SHUSETT'S HOUSE - NIGHT NARRATOR Dan O’Bannon was back home. He was stretched out on the couch - his bed - at Ron Shussett’s house. O’Bannon could feel his jaw clench. A mixture of pain and anxiety, anxiety and pain. The swelling torture in his gut wouldn’t quit. And stress always made it worse. Beat. DAN (to himself) This pain, it’s gonna kill me. NARRATOR Against all odds, the wheels were finally turning. ALIEN was happening. But Dan O’Bannon’s dream would soon become a nightmare. His script would be rewritten. (MORE) 51. NARRATOR (CONT'D) His conflicts with Hill and Giler would become so vicious, O’Bannon would be thrown off the set and removed from any conversation regarding sequels. A director had been chosen, and it would not be

Dan. He was, now and always, an outsider playing an insider’s game, and forever on the verge of a losing hand. Dan O’Bannon had made his deal with the devil. He had birthed this ALIEN from deep inside his chest. And now, it would take everything in him to escape this monster alive. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Next time...On INSIDE ALIEN. 52.

EPISODE 3 30 OPEN Audio: STILLNESS implying space. Gentle LILT of subtle electronic sounds. As if we’re on some CRAFT in space. This is reminiscent of the opening scene of ALIEN when everything on board begins to WAKE UP. NARRATOR This is not a documentary. It’s not an oral history. This is a movie made of sound, and you are in it. [From XXXX] I’m Mark Ramsey, and this is INSIDE: ALIEN. Inspired by the true story. Episode Three. CUT TO: 31 INT. 20TH CENTURY FOX EXECUTIVE OFFICES - DAY BUSTLE of an office on a busy lot. WRITING. Sound of PENCIL BREAKING. LADD Damnit. Calling to assistant... NARRATOR Alan Ladd Jr. could boss around an entire studio, but when it came to a number two pencil, he was helpless. LADD Millie, can I get a fresh pencil, please. ASSISTANT (from a distance) Yes sir. LADD And a sharpener! Phone RINGS. ASSISTANT (from a distance) Yes sir. That’s your private line. 53. He PICKS UP. LADD Alan Ladd Jr. WARREN Laddie. It’s Warren. NARRATOR In all of Hollywood, there always was and always shall be only one Warren: Warren Beatty. WARREN What are you doing right now? LADD Hi Warren. Right now? Right now I’m replacing a broken pencil. WARREN Ah the drudgery of a studio production head. LADD Oh? And where are you, poolside in Malibu? It DOES sound like he’s poolside in Malibu, actually. WARREN Wherever there’s a pool, I’m in Malibu, Laddie. Listen, I hear

you’re casting for a sci-fi picture. A tough female for a leading role. LADD That’s right. But we really need a woman for the role, Warren. WARREN Very funny. It’s not me. No, there’s this girl who’s doing theater on Broadway. She’s very interesting, and she’s a giant - 6’1”. She’s smart, attractive, and very physical. LADD Warren, do you know every attractive ingenue in the world? 54. WARREN It’s my gift, Laddie. LADD (laughs) Your gift and my curse. Okay. What’s her name. We’ll bring her in. 32 EXT./INT. LOEWS REGENCY HOTEL, PARK AVENUE - DAY BUSTLE of TRAFFIC. TAXI pulls up. SIGOURNEY hurriedly exits and slams door. SIGOURNEY (to cabbie) Keep the change. She is RACING into the hotel, through the lobby. She is OUT OF BREATH. She is LATE. SIGOURNEY (CONT'D) (to front desk) Excuse me. Is this the Loews Regency hotel? DESK CLERK Yes, it is. SIGOURNEY Are you sure? DESK CLERK Quite sure. SIGOURNEY Can you tell me how to get... PULLS PAPER out of her purse. SIGOURNEY (CONT'D) ...to this suite? NARRATOR Sigourney Weaver had been on time. But at the wrong hotel. Now she was late. Very late. Sound of ELEVATOR button. Elevator DOOR. BEEPING as it rises several floors. 55. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Her acting career got off to a bad start when the producer of a play she was in realized her romantic partner was only half her height. She was replaced. She was crushed. She phoned her mother in tears.

“Welcome to the business,” her mother told her. “Your heart will be broken a hundred times.” Elevator door OPENS. Sigourney is STILL OUT OF BREATH as she RACES DOWN A HALL. NARRATOR (CONT'D) She had graduated from Yale Drama School, where she was rarely cast. “You have no future as an actor,” she was told. And sure enough, all the good roles went to her classmate, a young woman who had all the advantages Sigourney seemed to lack. Her name was Meryl Streep. She has REACHED the suite. She KNOCKS on the door. NARRATOR (CONT'D) She had turned down a role in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. Movies were fine, she thought, but her heart belonged to the theater. She KNOCKS again. NARRATOR (CONT'D) And science fiction movies? Well, she read the ALIEN script and she didn’t particularly like it. But this was an audition. She had accepted it. And she was a professional. If only she hadn’t been so late. KNOCK again. NARRATOR (CONT'D) No answer. Maybe they’re done. Maybe it’s over. Maybe she missed it. Maybe she should just turn around and... DOOR OPENS. 56. RIDLEY Sigourney! SIGOURNEY Hi. I’m so sorry I’m late! NARRATOR In that open doorway, she stood. Over six feet tall in long boots. All eyes turned her way. She was extraordinary-looking, commanding. She was a presence. Even then, everyone in that room - the producers, director Ridley Scott - they all knew: This was her. This was Ellen Ripley. SIGOURNEY I’m so sorry! RIDLEY

No, no, it’s okay. Sit down. Have a seat. SIGOURNEY Thanks. Beat. RIDLEY So...What did you think about the script? NARRATOR Just be positive, Sigourney. SIGOURNEY Well, it’s a very bleak picture where people don’t relate to each other at all. LONG Beat. RIDLEY You’re right about that. It IS bleak. And the characters ARE shallow. That’s why we want interesting actors to bring them to life. Beat. RIDLEY (CONT'D) That’s why we want you. 57. 33 INT. FOX SCREENING ROOM - DAY Sound of PRIVATE SCREENING at FOX. NARRATOR FOX flew Sigourney Weaver to LA to shoot a screen test. And Alan Ladd Jr. watched it play on the big screen at FOX. Sound of SCREENING ENDING. LIGHTS COME UP. ASSISTANT Laddie, what did you think? Beat. LADD It doesn’t matter what I think. How many women are in this building right now? ASSISTANT Secretaries? I don’t know, why? LADD Get them all in here. ASSISTANT All of them? LADD All of them. Right now. Sound of WOMEN GATHERING in screening room. SCREEN TEST PLAYS...and ENDS. LADD (CONT'D) Well ladies? What did you think? WOMAN1 I think she’s like Jane Fonda. WOMAN2 No, she’s more like Faye Dunaway. Sounds of LIVELY DEBATING among the women. LADD (to assistant) Okay, Ridley Scott can have her. She’s in. Beat. 58. LADD (CONT'D) (to assistant) Oh, and tell him not to let her smoke - she looks ridiculous. 34 INT. SCREENING ROOM - DAY Sound of a SCREENING in progress. NARRATOR

Meanwhile, Ridley Scott was in a FOX screening room. It was Dan O’Bannon’s idea. Dan and Ridley were screening a film O’Bannon knew would make a deep impression on Ridley and heavily influence his style on ALIEN. Sound of CHAINSAW MURDER. SCREAMING. NARRATOR (CONT'D) That movie was Texas Chainsaw Massacre. CHAINSAW. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Ridley Scott was captivated. And terrified. Here was a movie where the killer was faceless and relentless. The victims were slaughtered one by one. The pacing was patient, deliberate. The tension was palpable. The impact was devastating. CHAINSAW. NARRATOR (CONT'D) And so it was that a stylish, neophyte director with no particular interest in Sci-Fi or horror came to create a classic that was both. RIDLEY (to himself) That film was utterly relentless - a real heart-stopper. I can do this. It can work. 59. NARRATOR This would be more than Sci-Fi. This would be more than horror. ALIEN would be a film...about terror. 35 INT. STUDIO WORKSHOP - DAY Sounds of HAMMERING - SETS and PROPS being manufactured. NARRATOR Dan O’Bannon had his fingers in every aspect of pre-production on ALIEN. And so did every suit at FOX. The friction was as inevitable as it was severe. HILL Dan. DAN Walter. HILL Can I talk to you. They go ASIDE as the SOUNDS diminish in the distance. DOOR CLOSES for privacy. HILL (CONT'D) Dan, you’re trying to do too much. Beat. DAN What do you mean I’m trying to do too much. This is our story.

This is my script. HILL Dan, you’ve been handling visual effects. We need to bring in someone with more experience. Beat. DAN Why? HILL That’s what FOX wants. 60. DAN That’s always an easy answer, isn’t it? Because FOX wants it. HILL Don’t make this any harder, Dan. DAN Walter, I’ve been central in getting set designs, spaceship designs, creature designs. I’ve been working with Ridley on how to approach genres he doesn’t like or understand. HILL This isn’t up to me, Dan. DAN You and Giler are producing. It’s totally up to you. I know FOX has the money so every suit at FOX wants to change everything their way, but they don’t care about making good movies - that’s supposed to be YOUR job. HILL Dan, you don’t get it. If you keep fighting this battle you will lose. Your ideas will be ignored. Your designs will not be used. Your script... Beat. DAN What about my script? Hill UNSNAPS his briefcase and pulls SCRIPT out. Hands it to O’Bannon. HILL Your script...will be changed. DAN What’s this? HILL It’s what FOX wanted. And it’s what makes them happy. Beat. 61. HILL (CONT'D) I’m sorry, Dan. Hill OPENS the door and LEAVES. NARRATOR O’Bannon was left stunned. A revised script in his hand. Fumbles with script. NARRATOR (CONT'D) There, on the title page, were its writers. Two names only: Walter Hill and David Giler. Dan O’Bannon had been erased from ALIEN. 36 EXT./INT. AMBULANCE - DAY

Ambulance SCREAMS through city. We alternate INSIDE and OUTSIDE the ambulance. NARRATOR Stress always made O’Bannon’s guts hurt more. And stress like this left him reeling in pain. He would spend days in the hospital. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) That script, it was on his mind. And heavy on his gut. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Some of the changes to his work - they were improvements. The ship’s name would be changed to Nostromo - after the Joseph Conrad tale of a commercial company involved in the corrupt business of extracting wealth from colonies for a distant empire. There would no longer be “first contact” with alien civilizations. The crew would be working class stiffs - “truckers in space,” not military. The character Ash would be more than mysterious. Hill and Giler imagined a scene where Ash’s head is whacked off and - surprise - he’s a robot! 62. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) These were genuine improvements. O’Bannon knew it, even if his stomach boiled over at the thought of admitting it. He didn’t mind improvements. What he minded was all credit being removed. He was nowhere. He was invisible. They would tell him it was an oversight. Oversight or not, he was determined: It would never happen again. 37 INT. RIDLEY SCOTT’S OFFICE - DAY DOOR OPENS. O’Bannon enters. RIDLEY Dan, come on in. NARRATOR O’Bannon was back. He had something to show Ridley Scott. Something that would make or break ALIEN. RIDLEY What’s that? Hands Ridley a BOOK. DAN Open it.

Ridley FLIPS THROUGH the book. RIDLEY Oh my God. Beat. RIDLEY (CONT'D) OH MY GOD! NARRATOR It was the most frightening thing Ridley Scott had ever seen. He was looking at a half-page painting in a book called The Necronimicon. A book by H.R. Giger. 63. RIDLEY Good God, I don’t believe it! That’s it! NARRATOR “That” was an image titled “Necronom IV” - a nightmare skeleton with pipes bulging out of its back. RIDLEY It’s gothic, it’s pornographic, it’s disturbing: A demon with a jutting face and long, extended, phallic-shaped head. Dan, if we can build this, that’s it. THAT is our ALIEN. Ridley CLOSES the book and hands it back to O’Bannon. RIDLEY (CONT'D) You know what that means, Dan? DAN No, what? RIDLEY Either my problems are over, or they’ve just begun. 38 EXT. GIGER HOME - ZURICH - DAY Sound of AIRPLANE TEARING ACROSS THE SKY. Sound of CAR ARRIVING in a quiet district of Zurich. NARRATOR Job number one was to secure the services of the man who would design the ALIEN: H.R. Giger. STEPS to a door - and then a DOORBELL. One of those BIG and EXOTIC doorbells. RIDLEY That sounds weird. NARRATOR That’s Ridley Scott. It would get weirder. The DOOR CREAKS OPEN and they STEP INSIDE. 64. NARRATOR (CONT'D) There were few walls and fewer windows. Everything was black. The walls, the ceiling, the furniture. Even the black leather, black hair, and black eyes of an otherwise pale H.R. Giger.

Dark drawings and candles were everywhere. Giger’s bed was lined in skulls. Was this the home of an eminent Swiss artist? Or of Dracula, himself? Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Giger’s girlfriend had committed suicide a few years earlier. Rumor had it that somewhere in his home her skull remained. When he first heard mumbles of this, Ridley Scott had only one word to say... RIDLEY Perfect. Beat. NARRATOR Ridley outlined the challenge: We need designs - sets, spaceships, and three versions of an ALIEN: A face-hugger, a chest-burster, and an adult. Oh, and, as Ridley put it... RIDLEY H.R., we shan’t have much time. STEPS leading to exit. DOOR CLOSES. NARRATOR The strange men from Hollywood had gone, and the even stranger artist from Zurich remained, his head buzzing. He had no experience with movies, no experience with Hollywood, and little appreciation for pressing deadlines. Beat. Sound of TRUCKS ARRIVING. BOXES offloaded - filled with BONES. 65. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He would work day and night, a padlock on his door. He would fill his studio in the corner of a soundstage with raw materials: Clay and medical supplies and bones and bones and more bones. Slaughterhouses were emptied of bones. Trucks carted them in all day long. A rhinoceros skull. Three of the most perfect human skulls ever seen, every tooth intact. Lacy snake skeletons. It was grim and repulsive and sublime. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) With countless designs to finish and three aliens to model, Giger

had his work cut out for him. And we shan’t have much time. 39 INT. PRODUCTION OFFICES - DAY We’re in a WAITING ROOM. Lots of MUMBLED VOICES. The occasional COUGH. NARRATOR So there was a sense of what the adult Alien would look like, but how would he move? And who would be the actor in the suit? ASSISTANT (opening door) Okay, the contortionists can come in now. NARRATOR Yes, Ridley Scott was casting for contortionists. And audition they did. Sound of RUNNING on hands and feet. NARRATOR (CONT'D) One man scurried across the floor of the production office on his hands, his head tucked in and his feet sticking out. Sound of JUMP on hands to desk. 66. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Even across the top of Ridley’s desk. RIDLEY NEXT. NARRATOR A family of contortionists. The idea was to strap two very small children to one man and cover them all with a suit. RIDLEY It will scare the shit out of you in the hallway but it will look ridiculous on film. NEXT. ASSISTANT What about a mechanical robot adult Alien. Like in Dino De Laurentis’ KING KONG? RIDLEY NEXT. ASSISTANT Stop-motion animation? RIDLEY NEXT. NARRATOR This wasn’t working. Then Ridley recalled a book of striking photos of a native African tribe. GRABBING BOOK from shelf. FLIPPING THROUGH. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The tribesmen were very tall and thin and powerful and striking. They were graceful, sensual, ethereal, and strong. RIDLEY There! POINTING to photo. RIDLEY (CONT'D) Someone like THAT.

Beat. 67. NARRATOR They tested basketball players. RIDLEY Not tall enough. NARRATOR They tested mime artists. RIDLEY Too much mime. NARRATOR They even tested Peter Mayhew, Chewbacca from Star Wars. RIDLEY Too much Chewie. NARRATOR This was hopeless. And then the fates interceded and lightning struck. Sound of DOOR OPENING and MAN STEPPING inside. RIDLEY Good God almighty. NARRATOR Into Ridley Scott’s office strolled a graphic arts student from Nigeria, 7-foot-tall Bolaji Badejo. An agent had literally plucked him from a pub with that most famous of agent lines: “How would you like to be a movie star?” Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The production team took a full body cast of the actor and Giger began to build a monster around him: Clay and bones, screws, an air conditioning duct... Giger took one of his precious real-life human skulls and... JAMMING NOISE... NARRATOR (CONT'D) ...JAMMED it right into the cast. And riveted it into place. 68. Sound of HACKSAW at work. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Then he used that hacksaw to saw off and extend the jawbone. BONE BITS FALL to the floor. NARRATOR (CONT'D) It was grotesque. It was repulsive. And it was frightening. It was, in other words, perfect. 40 INT. CASTING OFFICE - DAY People COMING AND GOING. NARRATOR ALIEN had a monster and it had a leading lady. Now Ridley Scott had to fill in one of the best casts in any horror movie ever. Beginning with the Captain of the Nostromo, Tommy Lee Jones. JONES

Yeah, no, I don’t want to play that part. But if you want me for the monster, call me. NARRATOR I mean, Tom Skerritt, whose career was blossoming and who was a fan of Ridley’s first movie, The Duelists. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Yaphet Kotto - Parker - had hit big time as the villain in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die. When he was a teenager he was sweeping up a stage when one of his actor friends mentioned his salary. “They pay you that much for doing nothing?” Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Veronica Cartwright - Lambert - had been a child actress in Hitchcock’s The Birds. (MORE) 69. NARRATOR (CONT'D) She was called in to audition three times - for the leading role of Ripley. When she finally got the call, they invited her to come in for wardrobe for Lambert. VERONICA (oh the phone) Oh no, I’m not playing Lambert. I’m playing Ripley. CHECKING... ASSISTANT No no. You’re Lambert. Beat. NARRATOR Nobody bothered to tell her. VERONICA (on the phone) Lambert?! All she does is cry!! Beat. NARRATOR Veteran actor Harry Dean Stanton came aboard - barely. He wasn’t attracted to this story at all. “Pretty bleak,” that’s how he described it. HARRY Ridley, I don’t like science fiction. RIDLEY Neither do I, Harry. But I like this one. NARRATOR Actor Ian Holm, a legend of English theater, came to the cast with a chip on his shoulder. His agent described ALIEN as “a very

expensive B movie,” and Ian didn’t disagree. HOLM It’s hardly Chekhov or Shakespeare, but that’s okay. (MORE) 70. HOLM (CONT'D) I had done my share of flimsy, meaningless films. This was...intriguing. NARRATOR John Hurt, another English actor, was Ridley Scott’s first choice for Kane, the character who becomes the host for the Alien. Hurt was unavailable so shooting began with another actor in the role. When that actor suddenly became ill on set and was diagnosed with Diabetes, the word went out, and this time John Hurt said yes. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Meanwhile, the sets were coming together - weeks of building with pipes and wires and tubing and switches - primarily aircraft and jet engine parts. It was a maze of claustrophobic, gritty realism. Fake stains were painted everywhere. The sets had four walls and a ceiling. More than once the actors banged their heads on exposed beams. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The planet’s surface occupied an entire soundstage. “Giger’s sets were so erotic,” said Veronica Cartwright, “like big vaginas. The whole thing looked like you were going inside some giant womb.” Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Sigourney Weaver gave her parents a tour around the set. “It was like wandering through some Playboy orgy room,” she said. Her parents kept gulping - “Very interesting, Sigourney. Very interesting.” Beat. 71. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Meanwhile, Giger was making progress on designs for the three types of aliens, the face-hugger, the chest-burster, and the adult. Even the alien eggs.

Sound of PLANS being laid upon a table. GIGER What about this design for the egg, Ridley? Beat. RIDLEY Hmm. Make it more vaginal. GIGER More vaginal? RIDLEY More vaginal. NARRATOR And then there was the most important part of the adult Alien - its enormous phallic head. Designing it is one thing, building it is another. For that, Ridley Scott called on the only man in the world who could make it work. RIDLEY Carlo Rambaldi? I’m Ridley Scott. Carlo, you are the only man who can make this thing work. NARRATOR Rambaldi was the man who made the notorious 40-foot King Kong robot for the 1970’s remake - notorious because it never worked. He was also the man who would charm the world just a few years later with his timeless creation of a character called E.T The Extraterrestrial. RIDLEY Carlo, thoughts? LAYING out and REVIEWING plans. 72. RAMBALDI I am the only man who can make this thing work. NARRATOR The cast was locked, the sets were building, the designs were progressing. Now it was time for lights...camera...and action. 41 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY Sound of someone SIPPING a can of Coke. NARRATOR As production got underway, everyone had a role to play. SIP... NARRATOR (CONT'D) Everyone except Dan O’Bannon. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Dan was the writer, but now Walter Hill and David Giler were re- writing. There were warring factions - some liked O’Bannon’s versions better, some preferred Hill and Giler’s. There was turf

war. There was screaming and shouting. O’Bannon sat on that chair on the set at Shepperton Studios, sipping his fifth Coke of the day. And it wasn’t even noon. Beat. DAN Don’t make a fuss, don’t antagonize anybody, they told me. It would be bad for your career. NARRATOR Dan had brought them the script. They changed it. He had brought them Giger. They had forgotten that. He had a contract that named him “Director of Special Effects.” And they ignored his input. (MORE) 73. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He worked on designs for the ships and the planet. Those were often forgotten. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Don’t make a fuss, they told him. Sound of Coke can being CRUSHED in a hand. DAN Screw it. NARRATOR He was going against all the advice. He had had enough. KNOCK on production office door. HILL (from inside) Come in. OPENS Door and ENTERS. DAN Walter can I talk to you? HILL (uncertain) Uh..yeah, sure. Quickly. Dan CLOSES door behind him. Beat. HILL (CONT'D) What, Dan? DAN I want to apologize. HILL Why? DAN Walter, there’s so much confusion around here - the babble of voices is so loud that I have to be obnoxious to make myself heard. Beat. 74. HILL That’s an apology?! DAN I feel like I’m in the middle of everything here, but nobody is listening to my opinions. Beat. HILL Dan, what do you want from me? DAN Some credit. Some respect, for starters. Beat. HILL

Dan, how many movies have you made? DAN That’s not the point... HILL (interrupting) You don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know anything about making a movie. You know what you are? You’re part of the deal, Dan. That’s what you are. You’re a high- paid fly on the wall. Beat. HILL (CONT'D) Is there anything else, Dan? DAN Yeah. Beat. DAN (CONT'D) You’re right. I haven’t done what you’ve done. I probably never will. But ya know, there’s a reason why I meddle, there’s a reason why I fight. There’s a reason why I shout and scream. It’s because I care so Goddamn much, Walter. (MORE) 75. DAN (CONT'D) It’s because it’s my blood, my sweat, poured onto those pages which made this movie, you, and all of this possible. Beat. DAN (CONT'D) I know the suits and bean counters don’t understand this, but everything begins with somebody who loves something. And in this room, on this set, that somebody is me. He LEAVES, OPENING/CLOSING door behind him. Sounds of DAN WALKING down a LONELY HALL. NARRATOR On Walter Hill’s desk was another revised draft of ALIEN. The title page: “Written by Walter Hill and David Giler.” No Dan O'Bannon. 42 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY ACTIVE SET - Production sounds abound. NARRATOR Ridley Scott was famous for not directing his actors. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) There was one moment of direction. It came during the breakfast scene - full of banter and good cheer. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D)

Ridley Scott pulled his face back from the camera and stared at the cast for one long moment. RIDLEY Interesting. NARRATOR That was it. “Interesting.” 76. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Another scene with one of the actors contemplating their motivation. RIDLEY If this thing catches you, it’s going to take your head off and stick it in a dark place. That’s your motivation. NARRATOR Okay then. 43 INT. GIGER BEDROOM - NIGHT NIGHT NOISES outside a window. NARRATOR All day long, H.R. Giger worked in his morbid corner of the studio - designing and building, building and designing. The pressure was enormous. The execs from FOX were convinced there were a dozen people in Hollywood who could do what Giger was doing faster, cheaper, and with much more probability of success. And they let him know it. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The result was an artist in a rush. An artist in a panic. Giger was restless and nervous. He was certain he wouldn’t get it all done on time. Sound of him FIDDLING with PILLS on NIGHTSTAND. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Sleep was as imperative as it was impossible. That suit he was making - it WAS the ALIEN. It was the STAR of the film. If the star was no good, the film would be lost. And so would H.R. Giger. Beat. 77. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Ah, he found what he was looking for. A sheet of perforated blotting paper. TEARS OFF a tab. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Just one tab is plenty. This one

has a little yellow smiley on it. PUTS IT in his mouth. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Right under the tongue. Much faster that way. Ah the magic of LSD. FLIPS ON TV. NARRATOR (CONT'D) In a few minutes, he’ll be laughing his head off, no matter what’s on the tube. It will sound like gibberish anyway. And the TV will probably float out his hotel room window like it did the last time. And what’s not funny about that? Sound of UNCONTROLLABLE LAUGHTER trailing off.... 44 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY Sounds of an active set. NARRATOR ALIEN hadn’t been shooting long and it was already three weeks behind schedule. The execs from FOX were on set, and they were nervous. They watched Ridley Scott, and they watched the clock. The schedule was tight, the sets were still unfinished but the film was shooting anyway. Beat. RIDLEY More smoke! NARRATOR That was Ridley Scott. More smoke - always more smoke. (MORE) 78. NARRATOR (CONT'D) There was so much smoke on set the crew needed to wear masks. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Every FOX exec knew Ridley was a risky choice. Here was a 10 million dollar picture with a release date bearing down, and the director, who knew more about making commercials than making movies, was accustomed to blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars on a few seconds of film. Beat. THROATS CLEAR and BODIES SQUIRM in seats. NARRATOR (CONT'D) It gave the money men heartburn. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D)

And it didn’t help when they watched Ridley give performance tips to their leading lady. RIDLEY You know, Sigourney, it’s better if you don’t look at the camera. SIGHS from the FOX crew. NARRATOR The FOX execs didn’t need to see that. Time is money. And money is everything. Ridley was going slow - TOO slow. This could be a problem - a BIG one. 45 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY WINDS rage over the planet set. IMMENSE WIND MACHINES spraying dust everywhere. NARRATOR The Nostromo crew landed on a planet that occupied an entire soundstage. Huge wind machines sprayed the area with grit. (MORE) 79. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Meanwhile the actors were stuffed into bulky nylon suits draped in painted football gear. Breathing was difficult. Each outfit weighed more than 50 pounds and the temperature in the studio under those hot lights could exceed 100 degrees. The CO2 gas plumes coming from the space suits sometimes leaked into the helmets, suffocating the actors. It was uncomfortable - they fainted. A nurse was hired to standby with oxygen. And they needed it, more than once. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) To make everything look larger in the long shots, children of the cast and crew stood in for the astronauts. They wore miniature versions of the same suits. And they passed out, too. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Up next was the most important and riskiest sequence in the entire film, the one where a monster tears out of John Hurt’s chest and

explodes blood over everyone and everything on set. It was a scene that surprised even the actors. It would become one of the landmark shock scenes in motion picture history. It could be done only once. And it would have to be done right. Or else. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Next time, on INSIDE: ALIEN. 80.

EPISODE 4 46 OPEN Audio: STILLNESS implying space. Gentle LILT of subtle electronic sounds. As if we’re on some CRAFT in space. This is reminiscent of the opening scene of ALIEN when everything on board begins to WAKE UP. NARRATOR This is not a documentary. It’s not an oral history. This is a movie made of sound, and you are in it. [From XXXX] I’m Mark Ramsey, and this is INSIDE: ALIEN. Inspired by the true story. Episode Four. CUT TO: 47 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY Busy SET noises. NARRATOR This was the scene. The entire movie would rise or fall on this scene. It could only happen...once. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Five cameras were stationed to cover every angle. Each camera covered with clear plastic tarps. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Ridley Scott and every member of the crew were wearing coveralls up to their necks. Four hours had been spent rigging the stunt. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Huge hydraulic machines with hoses and power lines leading to a man on a table. Beat 81. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Once it was over, the room would be covered in blood. The white set would be decimated and would require weeks to clean up. It could only happen...once. Sound of CAST entering. NARRATOR (CONT'D) In walked the cast. They hadn’t watched the prep. They knew the script, but they didn’t know exactly how it would all happen. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Sigourney Weaver looked at the tarps and overalls and machinery and pipes and tubes. She gulped.

She was shaky. Just how big of an explosion was this going to be? Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Ready for use was a huge vat of slaughterhouse intestines, liver, lungs, kidneys. It looked disgusting and the stench was rank. And it sat there - rotting - for two days. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) John Hurt was lying on the table, strapped under an artificial chest. To make him more comfortable, the crew stocked a supply of his favorite cigarettes and served him white wine from a plastic beaker. He finished off a bottle before lunch. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Ridley Scott literally crossed his fingers. Beat. 82. RIDLEY Action! Beat. Almost nothing happens. RIDLEY (CONT'D) CUT! CUT! CUT! NARRATOR They saw a bump in the t-shirt. And then it disappeared. Whatever-it- was was stuck. RIDLEY CLEAR THE SET! NARRATOR Out went the actors, as Ridley Scott grabbed a razor blade and climbed on top of John Hurt. The shirt fibers were too strong, but nothing a few strokes with a blade can’t fix. Sound of CAST re-entering. NARRATOR (CONT'D) In came the cast - again. Someone in the crew muttered, “if this scene doesn’t work, we’re screwed.” Beat. RIDLEY Action! NARRATOR Ridley Scott crossed his fingers again. This was it. Sound of the CHEST-BURSTER scene. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The ALIEN burst from John Hurt’s chest and tore through the t-shirt on cue. Blood exploded from the gaping chest cavity. A LOT of blood. Everywhere. Over everything. And everyone. Sound of STARTLED cast TRAUMATIZED. 83.

NARRATOR (CONT'D) Sigourney Weaver screamed. Harry Dean Stanton got sick to his stomach, Tom Skerritt threw himself back against a wall. Veronica Cartwright was drenched from head to toe. A hose had been pointed at her face. She was so shocked she screamed and fell backwards over a chair. Her clothes were sticking to her. Her hair was matted. She was hysterical. Understandably. Beat. HYSTERIA. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The crew lifted her, weak-kneed, and helped her off the set. Beat. SIGH from Ridley Scott. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The scene...was perfect. Thank God. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The cast showered. New wardrobe. Returned to set. Dan O’Bannon bee- lined to Veronica Cartwright. DAN Veronica, that was fantastic. What you did was incredible. VERONICA (not mean-spirited) Fuck you, Dan. 48 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY Sound of O’Bannon going to his DESK on set. SITTING at his chair. NARRATOR Every day, more script revisions for ALIEN. Dan O’Bannon worked hard to maintain his vision and still satisfy notes from every corner of the production team and every executive at FOX. 84. Beat. DAN (noting something wrong) Where is it? Starts SQUIRMING in his chair, LOOKING around his office. NARRATOR And to make those changes he needed one tool - one tool only. DAN Where the fuck is it?! NARRATOR His typewriter. Dan STORMS out of his office and KNOCKS on Walter Hill’s door. KNOCK KNOCK - loud ones. DAN Walter! It’s Dan. Dan OPENS door. HILL Dan, you can’t just barge in... DAN

Where’s my typewriter? Beat. HILL What? DAN My typewriter. Somebody took my typewriter. HILL Oh, I think a PA used it for something and probably forgot to put it back. It’s no big deal, Dan. DAN NO BIG DEAL? Beat. Here comes the litany of grievances.... 85. DAN (CONT'D) I have no authority to do anything here. Nobody is listening to me. YOU’RE not listening to me. We revise the script and then end up revising it back, closer to the first version I wrote. I ask to watch filming, but you ban me from the set. I ask to see the dailies, and they say I’m not allowed to. The crew is actively shunning me. I literally don’t know why I’m here. He takes a breath. HILL Are you done? Beat. DAN I don’t know if I’m done. HILL I do. You’re done. Go back to LA. Go home. Beat. DAN What do you mean... HILL Go home, Dan. I don’t want you on this set anymore. Sound of Dan SHUFFLING to door, OPEN/CLOSING it. Silence... NARRATOR Dan O’Bannon had co-created ALIEN. The original script was his. The essence of the plot, it was all there. Giger - that was because of him. He had touched every facet of this movie. And now - the final straw - he was being thrown off the set. He was being sent home. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Dan went back to his hotel room...and packed. (MORE) 86. NARRATOR (CONT'D)

What he didn’t tell Walter Hill was that when he was denied access to the dailies, he snuck into the projection booth. What he saw impressed him so much, it brought tears to his eyes. This was his thing - come to life. And it was beautiful. 49 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY Another day, another day of production sounds. NARRATOR The producers and studio execs had just seen the dailies of the chest- burster scene. They were staggering out of the screening room, numb. But if there’s one thing money men like less than a monster bursting from a man’s chest, it’s decapitation, and ALIEN would have both. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) When you cut off a head, it’s not blood pouring out of that neck, it’s dollars. Precious dollars. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The scene: Ripley discovers science officer Ash is actively working to save the Alien at the expense of everything else, including the lives of the crew. A violent brawl follows. Parker and Lambert arrive. Parker knocks off Ash’s head, revealing him to be man-made. Sound of HEAD being knocked off in ALIEN. NARRATOR (CONT'D) A fake head was too small, but time was short and money was tight. Oh well. It was too small, and too unsteady. (MORE) 87. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The crew had to balance the fake head on a table long enough to get the shot before it tipped over. CUT TO: Ian Holm’s actual head with his body hiding under the table. Beat.

NARRATOR (CONT'D) But before Ridley calls “Action,” Ian’s head needed some dressing: A latex neck skirt, vein-like rubber tubes, clear glass marbles, caviar and pasta. All soaked in condensed and real milk. Yumm. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Naturally, Ian Holm detested milk - then and forever more. But always the trooper, he spent hours chewing milk capsules and drooling his dialogue. Sound of FLAME THROWER and FIRE. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Relief finally came. It was over. And Ian Holm was able to enjoy the strange sensation of watching his likeness go up in flames. As he would describe it, “a chunk of burning rubber filled with onions.” 50 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY More set noises. YAPHET Hey Ridley, can I have a minute? NARRATOR That’s Yaphet Kotto. As rewrites continued, Yaphet was sure of one thing: His character, Parker, was the one who should kill the alien. YAPHET Ridley? 88. RIDLEY (breezing by) Not now, Yaphet. NARRATOR Ridley had to hide from him. YAPHET Hey Ridley, I’m not a pussy! I’m going to fight this thing! NARRATOR Ridley would call ahead to the set... RIDLEY (on the phone) What door is Yaphet standing outside today? YAPHET Hey Ridley, I just have a few ideas. RIDLEY Yaphet, you have a million ideas - every day! And they all mean your character kills the Alien. I’ve gotta go. He LEAVES... YAPHET (calling after him) I’m not a pussy! 51 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY We’re in the MIDDLE OF A TAKE.

So this is more QUIET. The scene where Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) searches for the missing cat, Jones. HARRY Here, kitty, kitty, kitty. NARRATOR Jones the cat was missing. And Harry Dean Stanton’s character needed to find him. HARRY Fucking cat. 89. NARRATOR Jones had burst out of a locker and disappeared. At least that’s how it was supposed to happen. The door swings open and slams. Out runs the cat. The DOOR swings open and SLAMS. NARRATOR (CONT'D) But Jones just sat there. RIDLEY Do it again. The DOOR swings open and SLAMS. NARRATOR Uh uh. Jones is just staring up at you. The DOOR swings open and SLAMS. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Jones is testing your patience now. The DOOR swings open and SLAMS. NARRATOR (CONT'D) (Sigh) So the special-effects team blew CO2 at the cat from behind. The DOOR swings open and SLAMS. CO2 noise....Nothing. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Okay, enough of this. One of the crew wrapped the cat’s tail around his fingers... The DOOR swings open and SLAMS. NARRATOR (CONT'D) ...and KINKED it. Sound of cat LEAPING out with a SNARL and a SCREECH. NARRATOR (CONT'D) A grumpy H.R. Giger wrote in his journal, “Today the adult alien was to have his first performance, but the cat that has to play along didn’t really want to. (MORE) 90. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Tomorrow I’m going to be standing on the set again like an ass, having to make decisions on this shit.” 52 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY

Sound of ALIEN body pieces being fit together. NARRATOR The first appearance of the adult Alien. Bolaji Badejo had been getting dressed for the past hour. Once the head went on, six operators were needed nearby to jog the levers that moved its jaws and muscles. Sound of ELECTRONIC MOTORS moving Alien body parts. NARRATOR (CONT'D) He could barely see out of that giant head. In the hot lights, it could be worn for no more than 20 minutes. And when it was removed, the actor’s head would be soaking wet. More ELECTRONIC NOISES. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The gooey monster drool? That was KY Jelly. Gallons of it. When supplies ran low, a driver was dispatched to the airport to pick up a giant box of KY. Nearby hospitals and pharmacies were raided. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The total effect - the actor in costume - was less than director Ridley Scott had hoped for. RIDLEY (disappointed) It looked so great on paper. 91. NARRATOR Fortunately, Ridley knew that what you see is less important than what you imagine. And the more you see, the more it resembles a guy in a suit. He would never show the creature for more than a few seconds. It would be the devil in your mind’s eye. And as in Psycho and JAWS, the result would be terrifying. 53 INT. ALAN LADD JR’S OFFICE - DAY Sound of TYPING in background. Assistant BUZZES through on desk phone. ASSISTANT (through intercom)

I have Ridley Scott for you, Mr. Ladd. LADD Thanks. He PICKS UP. NARRATOR Changes were still happening to the script. How would ALIEN end? That’s what production head Alan Ladd Jr. wanted to know. LADD Ridley. RIDLEY (other end of phone) Laddie. LADD The ending.... Beat. RIDLEY Well, we have a great idea. Ripley gets into the escape shuttle. She lures the creature to her. (MORE) 92. RIDLEY (CONT'D) She’s in her helmet ready to pop him out the door, but before she hits the button - his hand flashes out, goes straight through her helmet, and wrenches her goddamn head off. Beat. RIDLEY (CONT'D) Laddie? Are you there? LADD What’s your second best idea, Ridley? RIDLEY (rattled) Well, Ripley’s at the pilot seat in the shuttle when the Alien bites her head off. Then you hear him take the seat, he starts to press the buttons, and he perfectly mimics Captain Dallas’s voice when he says “hopefully, the network will pick me up” as he heads for Earth. Beat. RIDLEY (CONT'D) Laddie? Are you there? LADD Ridley are you out of your mind?! This woman is going to be a big star! You can’t kill her! Do you want to get fired this close to wrapping production?! 54 INT. SET OF ALIEN - DAY The following is PUNCTUATED with appropriate sound effects and EXERTION from Ripley, throughout. NARRATOR Well, that answer was no. And the ending was different. Beat. 93. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Ripley, feeling safe, settles into

the shuttle. She discovers the Alien stowing aboard. We can HEAR her anxiety. SIGOURNEY (Singing as RIPLEY) You...are my...lucky star.... NARRATOR She carefully crawls into a space suit. She reaches for a harpoon grappling gun. Sound of GAS.... NARRATOR (CONT'D) She flushes out the creature by blowing gas into the shuttle. Creature SQUEALS. Ripley HYPERVENTILATES. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Where is it? It’s...right... She SCREAMS. Hits BUTTON. Airlock OPENS NARRATOR (CONT'D) The oxygen blows out of the shuttle, taking the creature with it...almost. Sound of GRAPPLING HOOK slamming into the creature as it FLIES out of the shuttle. Airlock CLOSES. NARRATOR (CONT'D) It’s still there - outside, holding onto the frame of the shuttle, crawling into an engine exhaust. She SLAMS down a button which BLASTS the engines. Music gets PEACEFUL. Beat. 94. NARRATOR (CONT'D) That...is a wrap. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) H.R. Giger took Ridley Scott’s hand. “You have killed our son,” he said. “Can we go home now?” 55 INT. DINER - DAY Sounds of a DINER. NARRATOR Back home, Dan O’Bannon tried to go about his life. Pretending that ALIEN wasn’t happening without him. Pretending that this monster which had exploded from his head and heart was still, somehow, in his tender embrace. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Dan was depressed. This film - his big break - it would be a disaster. He was sure of it. Beat. WAITRESS What can I get you? NARRATOR This was the same diner and the same waitress he remembered from

that fateful meeting with John Carpenter years before. DAN Just a coffee. WAITRESS (without malice) Big spender. Okay. She TAKES MENU away. 95. NARRATOR Dan remembered reciting the beginning of his favorite poem to her. Now, he could finish it. Alone. DAN (to himself) From the thunder, and the storm - and the cloud that took the form; (When the rest of Heaven was blue); Of a demon in my view... 56 INT. O'BANNON HOME - DAY Sound of Dan O’Bannon opening MAIL. NARRATOR Filming may have ended, but the fights weren’t over. Letter OPENED. DAN (reading) What?! NARRATOR Back home, Dan O’Bannon was being notified that he would receive story credit, but the writing credits would go to Walter Hill and David Giler. Exclusively. Sound of PAPER being CRUMPLED and TOSSED AWAY. Phone is DIALED and RINGS.... HILL (on the phone) Walter Hill. DAN Walter, it’s O’Bannon. I just got the credit notice. You know that credits are everything when you’re trying to build a career in this town. Please include me in the screenplay credits. Beat. 96. HILL Dan... DAN I’m begging you, Walter. Beat. HILL Dan, if you want arbitration, go for it. You win some, you lose some. CLICK. NARRATOR This was war. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) O’Bannon DID go to arbitration. He would say he worked harder to scrape back that credit than on any script or movie in his life. DAN The film they shot was basically the one I wrote. NARRATOR

His effort was successful. But he didn’t just earn back a writing credit, he won sole screenwriting credit. For all time, ALIEN would be “screenplay by Dan O’Bannon, from a story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.” 57 EXT./INT. MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT Busy HOLLYWOOD street. A THRONG of people in a long line. NARRATOR ALIEN was finished. Without Dan O’Bannon. The publicity machine geared up. The makers of ALIEN were everywhere. All of them - except Dan. Either he refused to promote the film or the producers wanted to be free of him. Or both. Beat. 97. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Advance screenings? Dan didn’t go. On opening night he stood in line at Mann’s Chinese Theater and bought a ticket like everyone else. He was with his buddy, the co- creator of ALIEN, Ron Shusett. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Oh, God, the line was long. This would be embarrassing. The movie was going to be terrible, he was sure of it. His script, the film, everything - it was compromised beyond recognition. Simply spoiled. Transition INSIDE theater. OPENING of ALIEN on the big screen in the background. NARRATOR (CONT'D) The credits rolled. And the audience was dead silent. They inched forward. They were literally on the edges of their seats. Right up until THAT scene. Alien BURSTS from John Hurt’s chest. Audience SCREAMS!!! NARRATOR (CONT'D) The noise was deafening. The theater was in a panic. Did that really just happen?! As the screams died down, another noise. Nervous LAUGHTER. NARRATOR (CONT'D)

It was a release. A vivid and powerful catharsis. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) An excited Ron Shussett turned to O’Bannon. But Dan wasn’t screaming or laughing. He wasn’t excited. He was weeping. RON Dan, what’s wrong? 98. NARRATOR It was the moment Dan had been waiting for. It was exactly what he wanted. After all the politics, all the fights, all the drama...After having his credits challenged...After being kicked off set and uninvited from any participation in potential sequels, this moment, at least, was his. He was so proud. This moment was perfect. 58 EXT./INT. MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT Audience BUZZ, Traffic, HUBBUB. NARRATOR ALIEN debuted on May 25, 1979. Two years to the day after Star Wars. And once again, the lines stretched for blocks. Transition INSIDE...The movie is ROLLING on the big screen. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Inside the theater, something was wrong with John Hurt... Sound of CHEST BURSTER blasting out of his chest. PANDEMONIUM in the theater. NARRATOR (CONT'D) People leapt from their seats. They scurried to the back of the theater, hiding behind the curtains. People were running from the screen, screaming. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) In one theater, a manager confessed “the women’s bathroom is like a battleground. There are 40 of them in there - there’s vomit everywhere, and one of them is stuffing a towel into the speakers to shut out the sound.” Beat. 99. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Alan Ladd Jr. witnessed an usher bursting through a door and collapsing. THUD on tile. NARRATOR (CONT'D)

His manager lifted him up to carry him outside for fresh air. MANAGER (to the usher) Do you feel alright? USHER I’m okay. That scene with the robot - he got his head knocked off! Who thinks of this stuff!?” NARRATOR On the screen, Ripley is searching for Jones. MAN’S VOICE (Shouting at the screen) LEAVE THE FUCKING CAT! Beat. NARRATOR Word of mouth for ALIEN was extraordinary. But despite the buzz - or perhaps because of it - the box office grosses were good, but not great. By the sky-high standards of JAWS and Star Wars, ALIEN was a disappointment. It would be the sixth highest box office grosser of the year. It would earn two Oscar nominations. But it was not enough for FOX. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Meanwhile, many of the reviews...weren’t kind. Even those coming from fellow filmmakers: Beat. 100. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Terry Gilliam, writer and director of the movie Brazil: “Alien is just a ghost train where something jumps out and you don’t know who’s going to die next. When I watched it, all I kept saying was, ‘Just kill them all and be done with it,’ because you just know that they’re all going to die along the way. In the end, Sigourney Weaver, who we’ve established is a really tough military officer, is running around in her underwear trying to find a cat. Give me a f**king break." Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Even Dan O’Bannon’s old partner John Carpenter: “Well, it’s

stylish, but it’s more repulsive than scary.” Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Time would be kinder than critics. ALIEN would spawn sequels, including the direct followup ALIENS, written and directed by an up-and-coming young filmmaker named James Cameron. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) To date, the franchise has generated almost 2 billion dollars in global box office. And it's not close to over. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Recently, Sigourney Weaver received a 50-page treatment from producer Walter Hill. It was a new take on ALIEN - a fifth Ripley film. Weaver was unimpressed. SIGOURNEY I don’t know. Ridley Scott has gone in a different direction. (MORE) 101. SIGOURNEY (CONT'D) The franchise has moved on. Maybe Ripley has done her bit. She deserves a rest. 59 INT. O'BANNON HOME - DAY Sound of LIFE outside the window. Birds, breeze, etc. NARRATOR Dan O’Bannon wanted to direct more than anything. Despite the debilitating and progressive effects of the mysterious disease eating him alive from inside out, that dream came true. Among his other achievements, he wrote and directed Return of the Living Dead, the original rock-and-roll zombie comedy and a cult classic today. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Time and disease took its toll, however. Toward the end of his life, Dan’s wife, Diane, brought him a gift. Sound of GIFT UNWRAPPING...BOX OPENING... NARRATOR (CONT'D) It was a plush toy. A plush ALIEN face-hugger. Dan CHUCKLES happily. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Dan placed the plush doll on his head and sat back in his chair. For a long time.

He just sat there. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) From his heart and soul had come this idea and into the world it sprang. One movie had become several. And video games and graphic novels and action figures and theme park experiences...and a plush toy. He had a lot to be grateful for. 102. Beat. NARRATOR (CONT'D) Dan O’Bannon would pass away in 2009 from complications of Crohn’s disease. He would die hours before the opening of James Cameron’s epic AVATAR, a $400 million blockbuster which can trace its origins and inspiration to the imagination of Dan O’Bannon and his lifetime commitment to science fiction and film. 60 INT./EXT. AMBULANCE - NIGHT This is virtually a CARBON COPY of the opening scene. Chaotic sound of an AMBULANCE bumping along, siren BLARING. Inside, sound of DAN WRITHING IN PAIN. Instead of EMT’s voice, we here DIANE’s voice. DIANE Dan? Dan? WRITHING. DIANE (CONT'D) Dan, can you hear me? Breathe! I need you to BREATHE! Ambulance CAREENS down the road. DIANE (CONT'D) Listen to me...You’re gonna be fine. Just fine! MONTAGE blends into sound of HEART RATE MONITOR...BEEPING SLOWS....FLAT LINE. FADE OUT. 61 INT. HOSPICE ROOM - NIGHT Dan awakes with a START. DAN Wha? What happened? Where... He comes to grips with the fact that this is a DARK and EMPTY room. SOUND from the corner of the room, in the DARK. 103. DAN (CONT'D) (sensing something) Is someone there? In the corner... Sound of someone BLOWING SMOKE from a cigarette. DAN (CONT'D)

I can hear you! ALIEN Are these your books? DAN (still alarmed) What books? Who are you?! ALIEN (shuffling through books) “How to win a bar fight,” “Weapons manufacture manual,” “Changing your Identity”... DAN Yes, those are mine. Stay out of those books. Who are you? Why can’t I see you? ALIEN I prefer the shadows, but I’ll step out if you like. Steps out. DAN Is this a joke? You’re an alien. ALIEN Not AN Alien, bub - THE Alien. And not the one from Alien vs. Predator. DAN Not my idea. ALIEN TWICE! DAN Not my idea. ALIEN (unconvinced) Hmmm. 104. Blows more smoke. DAN Are you...smoking? Isn’t this a hospital room? ALIEN Hospice. And yes, I’m smoking. DAN And just how does an Alien smoke? ALIEN (blows another puff) Very carefully. DAN (sniffing) Wait...is that...weed? ALIEN (holding in smoke) You're harshing my buzz, Dan. Beat. DAN (getting used to the idea) I didn’t know you could talk. ALIEN Nobody ever asked me a question. Beat. Alien RISES.... ALIEN (CONT'D) Okay, Dan. Come on. Let’s go. Beat. DAN What do you mean let’s go? ALIEN I mean let’s go, let’s leave. DAN I can’t get up, I need my cane. ALIEN No you don’t. Don't be a wiener. Just get up. Beat. Dan easily gets out of bed. 105. DAN Wow. I’m up. That was easy. How in the Hell... ALIEN Just open that door. DAN What, YOU can’t open it? ALIEN

Smoke in one hand, Coke in the other, Dan. DAN (mutters) Sounds perfect. He OPENS the door. Scene immediately changes as they are TRANSPORTED somewhere else. 62 EXT. MEMORIAL SERVICE - DAY COOL Los Angeles day. Slight BREEZE. BIRDS. This is a peaceful place. A CROWD has gathered for a memorial service. Sounds of a somber CROWD. DAN What is this? Where are we? Beat. DAN (CONT'D) Hey wait, I know all those people. My wife, Diane. My buddy Ron Shussett. ALIEN This is what happens, Dan. Friends gather...when somebody dies. DAN Hey where am I? Oops. DAWNING on him. DAN (CONT'D) Wait...this is for me. ALIEN All for you, baby. 106. Beat. DAN There’s like...only fifty people here. Where’s Sigourney Weaver? Where’s John Carpenter? There’s almost no industry people here at all. ALIEN Shut up, Dan. One of your friends is speaking. Voice of SPEAKER is at some distance. NICK Dan O’Bannon was the funniest person I knew. He was the smartest person I knew. He was the most creative person I knew. And he was the most misunderstood. When I was working on a film for Roger Corman in the 70’s, I remember telling the special effects team that I went to school with Dan, that I knew him. I will never forget how impressed one of those guys was. “YOU know Dan O’Bannon?” That guy was James Cameron. Beat. DAN (touched) I never knew that. I never heard that before. ALIEN Hey Dan, you remember the alternate

ending to ALIEN - the one they never made? DAN No. ALIEN Ripley is in the shuttle. She has just blasted me out into space. DAN Sorry about that. 107. ALIEN It’s okay. Bygones. Anyway, the camera pans down the exterior of the craft, and there, gripping the side of an engine, is a face- hugger. DAN I don’t like that ending. The real ending is just as it should be. Beat. ALIEN They all are, Dan. Beat. ALIEN (CONT'D) You remember the real ending, right? DAN Of course. I wrote it. Ripley relaxes into the pilot’s seat, Jonesy in her lap. She stares out the window into space. “Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo. Third officer reporting. The other members of the crew are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about 6 weeks.... Sound BLENDS to the dialogue of the character as if in the movie. In case it’s useful, the theme there is Hanson’s “Romantic Symphony No. 2.” SIGOURNEY ...With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley – last survivor of The Nostromo – signing off.” FADE TO BLACK.