Alien The Original Xenomorph Was A Shaved Orangutan

Alien: The Original Xenomorph Was A Shaved Orangutan

Whatever Happened To Baby Jane’s director was once attached to Alien, and wanted to shave a great ape to create the titular villain of the series.

You Are Reading :[thien_display_title]

Alien The Original Xenomorph Was A Shaved Orangutan

Alien was originally set to be directed by Robert Aldrich, and the genre legend had a fascinating plan for the eponymous Xenomorph. Released in 1979, the “haunted house in space” horror Alien was a massive hit that combined sci-fi and horror to impeccable effect. Still seen as a highpoint in the sci-fi horror pantheon, Alien gave a star-making role to Sigourney Weaver as the resourceful but relatable Ripley, gave director Ridley Scott the chance to go on to make the bigger-budget Blade Runner, and gave rise to a franchise that continues to go strong with 2017’s underrated Alien: Covenant.

However, the success of Alien was jeopardized numerous times throughout the movie’s lengthy production. Various directors were considered before Scott got the job, and one had a legendarily absurd idea for casting the titular threat. The extraterrestrial monster featured in Alien ended up being the blood-curdling Xenomorph, whose terrifying HR Giger design remains one of the franchise’s most recognizable images.

However, during the troubled process of Alien, one of the helmers who was up for the job had an entirely different vision for the eponymous monster. Genre veteran Robert Aldrich was no stranger to horror, having helmed the famous gothic potboiler Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. The Grissom Gang director was at one point slated to direct Alien and had an interesting alternative to the Xenomorph for the monster design. According to Walter Hill, a co-writer of Alien’s script, Aldrich said the entire movie hinged on a unique monster—so he proposed shaving a trained orangutan and making that the franchise-defining, title-providing beast.

See also  10 Best Christmas Movies For RomCom Fans

Hill immortalized the story in an appearance on comedian Marc Maron’s podcast WTF, recounting that: “(Robert Aldrich) said the movie will succeed or fail on the conception of the beast. He said, ‘we’ve gotta come up with something really unique.’ And he said, ‘I don’t know, just off the top of my head…. this may not be a good idea but… maybe we could get, like, an orangutan… and shave it”. As proven by screenwriter Dan O’Bannon almost ruining the monster by making the Xenomorphs intelligent, scholarly creatures, many elements of Alien were rearranged throughout filming. However, luckily Aldrich’s idea for the film’s villain was summarily dismissed early on in the production process. The design the filmmakers eventually used took inspiration from wasps, reptiles, and deep-sea crustaceans, but fortunately, not great apes.

Aldrich did not end up working on Alien, with the director instead directing the same year’s Gene Wilder comedy The Frisco Kid. The famously gregarious and outspoken director died in the early ‘80s and went on to be immortalized onscreen by Alfred Molina in the acclaimed miniseries Feud: Bette and Joan. Meanwhile, the Alien franchise went on to release a string of sequels, some successful and some less so, but never revisited the shaved-orangutan monster design that the director had proposed. That said, some fans would have preferred a shaved ape over the clunky, unscary Predalien that later letdown Alien Vs Predator: Requiem introduced to the Alien franchise.

Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies and TV online since 2020. His obsessions include The Simpsons, Stephen King, the Scream series, and the horror genre in general. He has spent more time thinking about Stranger Things than the writers of Stranger Things, and he has never seen a Star War.

See also  10 Best Bingeworthy TV Shows According To Reddit

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/alien-early-original-monster-design-shaved-orangutan-xenomorph/

Reviews -