Quentin Tarantino on Alien 

What made Alien work so well is that you pretty much don't see the Adult alien at all until almost the end. The malevolent darkness pervading the ship lets the imagination run riot, that and the growing sense of panic amongst the crew. It really is a perfect horror film and builds suspense marvellously.

Alien is a truly perfect film. Nearly 50 years old and STILL holds up on all levels

Tarantino could narrate his grocery shopping for an hour and I'd still be fully invested in everything he says.

Tarantino: “Alien? Classic. Five out of five toes.”

Man, seeing those clips shows how superior practical effects from 40 years ago are to most CGI from today. Everything looks so much more realistic.

I like how Tarantino gives us more info about the production than any of the making of docs I've seen

Tarantino should have his own 2hours podcast weekly just talking about movies

Alien finished filming in October of 1978, Empire Strikes Back began shooting in March 1979.

19 years old, I was accidentally in Copenhagen, and walked by a cinema which had just premiered Alien "In space no one can hear you scream". Only knowing that it apparently was some kind of space horror movie, a friend of mine and I walked in. The rest is history. The movie completely blew me away, and sparked a life long interest in movies. Thanks Ridley.

I wish Tarantino would get weird and give us a sci-fi horror of some kind. I think it would be gold!!

If you pick up a copy of the July, 1939 issue of "Astounding" magazine, it contains a short story by A. E. Van Vogt titled "Black Destroyer" where a spacecraft lands on an isolated planet and an almost supernatural killing animal gets aboard and starts killing every crew member. The creature is the last survivor of a predator species that has pretty much wiped out its primary food source. The parallels with "Alien" are very apparent. (That issue of "Astounding" also included Isaac Asimov's first story "Treads." The next issue included Robert E. Heinlein's first story, "Life-Lines," and the next issue Theodore Sturgeon's story "Ether Breather." This run of classic science fiction "first stories" by some of the most iconic writers of the genre is sometimes described as the beginning to science fiction's "Golden Age.")

The enthusiasm Tarantino has talking about ‘Alien’ here sorta makes me wonder how he’d direct a sci-fi movie 💭

Why on earth would you not have the rest of this interview? It just got to the good part !!!!!

I'm not even the hugest Quentin Tarantino fan, but I would love if he did a show talking about movies because he's got a lot of good stories and other knowledge about the film industry that I've never heard before and I think a lot of people would be interested in.

My Mom was pregnant with me at the time. My parents saw this movie in the theaters and it freaked her out so much she was shocked she didn't go into labor.

Just out of curiosity I googled "Shaved Orangutan". I ended up finding a news article with the headline: "Orangutan was shaved, made to wear jewellery and used as a prostitute"

The way Ridley shot the creature was fabulous. All lighting and angles.

Dude, Walter Hill doesn't get enough props. Dudes a titan.

Quentin is an encyclopedia of film. I heard RZA from Wu Tang saying that he was telling Quentin about all the rare Kung Fu movies he had trying to impress him. Quentin answered back by saying he had the first cuts and the original film reels from the movies he was talking about ,and then Quentin went on for the rest of the night talking about his collection which RZA got to see . Rza thought he had a really good rare collection but said his was nothing compared to what Quentin had. Brilliant. 🙏

Thank you for editing out Eli Roth.

It's getting more and more difficult to believe stories you hear or read online, mainly because it is so much easier to verify things online. His one big error here is when he said the set / studio for Alien was basically set up already because The Empire Strikes Back had just finished filming. The problem is that Alien finished filming in 1978, and The Empire Strikes Back started filming in 1979. That's a little more than forgetting a date, that's getting the story wrong. Or it is embellishing his story.

Actually, it seems Tarantino wasn't aware of this, but the art for Alien wasn't just Giger's art, but it was his art for the epic space opera that never came to be; Jodorowsky's DUNE.

This helps me understand why Prometheus was so different from Alien (1979). Ridley Scott directed Alien but he had nothing to do with its story concept or writing; he was a hired hand who got the job because other directors turned it down. But both Prometheus and Covenant were Ridley Scott projects from the beginning, and he used them to to explore his favorite existential themes that he takes up in his other films like Kingdom of Heaven, Noah, and Exodus: Gods and Kings. Ellen Ripley was just a woman trapped on a ship with a monster trying to kill her. But both Elizabeth Shaw and David are on religious quests to find out the purpose of existence. Unfortunately this shift in tone ruined the Alien franchise, I think. It moved the franchise away from the horror genre and closer to dark epics. I know Scott is good with epics but he should have kept this franchise strictly as a horror series. I think he understands that now. That's why he passed the baton to a new director who returned the franchise to its horror root in Alien Romulus.

H.R Giger made Alien weird and cool

O'Bannon and Shusett didn't write "Alien" for Corman: they simply sent the script to his studio because they were knocking on all the doors they could knock on and, at some point, they almost signed on with him.

This channel should be called “Tarantino on…”

Recognizing Alien's potential even without Giger's aesthetics is just amazing. Also at the time being described they haven't added an android yet either. They really had the eyes.

“Hello Mr. Aldrich. You have a call from someone named P.E.T.A. on line 2.” ☎️😂

Best interview ever. Please give the full version. Top ten greatest films. Still looks beautiful & devastating.

"Made Ripley a female" best move ever, Sorry "bloke in mind" but Sigourney smashed it ♥

"Shave an Orangutang?" Imaging showing up to work, being handed a pack of disposable razors, a can of shave cream, and being told to go shave an orangutang. That worthy of a Brett-level "Wait...whut?"

The cast and the surroundings were BELIEVABLE.

It’s my favourite film of all time. The world Ridley and designers created, the acting, the pacing and the rhythm of the thing… Impeccable. My only complaint is that Ridley should have used the original pieces Goldsmith composed for the end crawl and the vent sequence.

I live in Manhattan Beach where he worked at Video Archives. I walked in and asked him about movies. He knew we everything about films. Simply an incredible person.

Dan O’Banaon , the original writer of the script that apparently sucked, knew Geiger from his work on Jadowarski’s Dune. It was he that brought on Geiger.O’ Banon previously co-wrote John Caroenter’s great sci- fi comedy Dark Star. Give him his due.

All elements of this movie were spectacular but let's not forget Jerry Goldsmiths incredible score . He also won the Academy Award for The Omen.

Jack Gold directed The Medusa Touch: an underrated gem.

Nice to hear someone mention Walter Hill’s enormous contribution to this film. Hill’s rewrites to the O’Bannon’s original script were substantial.

Hill and Giler got the script because Giler and O'Bannon had a mutual friend named Mark Haggard. Haggard read the script when visiting O'Bannon one day and begged Shusett and O'Bannon to hold off on signing with Corman because he thought he could get it better backing. Gordon Carrol--Hill's partner at Brandywine--was sitting in the office when Haggard came by with the script to show them. Carrol read it first and then told Giler to read it. Giler, Hill, and Carrol rewrote it repeatedly and made it worse, but they did add the android spy and the corporate evil angle to it. And this was in 1976 probably because O'Bannon mentioned that the script didn't get much traction at Fox until STAR WARS hit it big. After that, ALIEN was the only major sci-fi script with any development that they had, so they had to have had it processed before STAR WARS came out, which was summer of '77.

The 4k transfer is the most impressive piece of physical media I own. Showed it to my 14 year old and he was blown away.

"Do you know what an orangutan without hair would look like?!" Looks like I'm about to find out

BTW, Alien was filmed between July 5th and October 21st 1978 so the period Quentin is talking about was literally right after Star Wars (May/June 1977) hit it big. It took that long to get the script nailed down, and find the director and the cast.

0:35 - That might be the Greatest, and most terrifying shot-in the history of the Genre.

"It's a gorilla in a Haunted House movie, in space" -Pauline Kael I don't even see this as a negative like she intended. Cult classics like The Gorilla (1939) and earlier ones that set the standard like The Monster (1925), The Bat (1926), The Old Dark House (1932), and later House On Haunted Hill (1959) are all great films with a similar concept. By her logic, putting a sci-fi spin on this sounds fantastic to me. Though I do know that Dan O'Bannon was inspired by the sci-fi cult film It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958) and Ridley was partly inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). At the end of the day, "Haunted House with Monster" movies are alright with me, outer space or otherwise. Alien is a masterpiece.

A shaved Orangutan in low light would actually look fucking terrifying. It was a really great idea tbh.

Even after 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars, Alien most profoundly proved how the darker areas of SF films set in the space age could make even bigger headway.

Best movie ever.

What makes Alien scarey is the horror you dont see. Thats how to make the audience scared. You had people leaving the Cinema in 1979 whilst watching the film. The trick worked. I seen Alien way to young when i was about 11 in 1993. It done it's job to scare the hell out of me.

If Tarantino had directed Alien, it would’ve been 2-1/2 hours long, and casual conversations like the one the crew has which introduced them to the audience would’ve happened twice more and taken up 1/2 the runtime. Anyone not around in 1979 when Scott’s 2nd feature film hit the big screen has NO idea how huge that landmark film was; sci-fi and horror and a thriller, game changer galore.

Someone on the team had read A. E. Van Vogt "Voyage of the Space Beagle" fixup novel. The similarities to one of the stories in that book are obvious. 1) The crew "stumbles" on the creature 2) The creature is unstoppable (almost invincible) 3) It puts its eggs in the body of crew members 4) It is a genetically engineered creature (we learn this is a sequel of the movie) I guess after the out of court settlement they felt safe to add number (4) in a sequel There are subtle differences. The original creature (named something like Ixtle) has the power to manipulate the atomic structure of matter and can go through wall. Alien has acid blood that can burn through any wall (has seen in a sequel) It is well worth reading the original. It is a golden age novel so you get atomic cannons (vibrators I think they are called) firing inside the spaceship. Great stuff ...

Greatest sci-fi movie ever made.

Dusk till dawn in the cinema without any idea of what's to come was a cinema experience ill never forget it, plus the old lady on the bed scene was again something ill never forget

Ridley Scott's prime years his work was amazing, the last 20 years or so not so much. Feels like Scott lost the passion & his intense strive for perfection & detail that he had in his early years, the quality of his work hasn't been of the same level. A number of filmmakers who were masters in the age of practical filmmaking fell off in this digital age, I feel that played a part in the decline in the quality of their work too.

According to the docs of Alien, what really got the attention of David Giler was the chestburster idea.

3:44 (orangutan)

This guy is so entertaining and he knows what everybody likes. Many people will not admit to liking what's in his mind but they really do

The Star Wars movies weren't shot at Pinewood, they were shot at Elstree and Shepperton. Alien was partially shot at Shepperton. And HR Giger's last name is pronounced "Gee-ger."

In the end, the actor on Alien suit is the same actor on Predator suit.

"It still holds up!" you don't say.

It's great to see so many classics coming out of Pinewood Studios London 👍

The shaved orangutan idea was later used to create the female cast of sex and the city

The moment you hear Quentin speak, you know you are up for some pulpy spicy story and not a second will be squandered without keeping you on the edge of the seat waiting to hear what happens next. This guy is a supernatural born story teller. I think he could narrate the phone book in such a fun way that you would give up movies and turn to audiobooks just from this experience.

The only disappointing thing I always felt about the Alien lifecycle is that it ceases to no longer be interesting one the alien is fully matured and it’s especially boring when Cameron made the Aliens into a bug hive. I always felt that in a similar way to the Thing the Alien should be constantly adapting to its environment and we keep seeing new and strange ways in its evolution. To me the most frightening thing about the original Alien is that you can’t understand how the creature works, it’s completely unpredictable that and the fact its defence mechanism makes it extremely hard to kill. It’s such a shame that the sequels really scrapped with the mystery of the Alien because to me that is why it was frightening, you should never have all the answers when it comes to that creature.

Tarantino's love of film comes through every time.

An orangatang without hair would look like Trump.

We don't need anyone let alone Quentin what's his name how good these films are 😢

not so smart there QT. Aliens was made before Empire Strikes Back. (1:18)

Like many kids at the time I went through my “space madness” phase during the late 70’s. Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and of course Alien. The one that has stayed with me is Alien. I appreciate it more now than I did years ago. So many have tried to imitate it and they can’t come close. It really was ahead of its time and is a touchstone film for similar stories. I hate the concept of having a “favorite” film because I have seen so many good movies, but if I have to choose one it would be Alien.

Tarantino is excruciating to listen to. Yes, he is passionate, but he is also close to overwhelming.

they weaved something together and created a genre

The first two Aliens are unmatched in the franchise. I loved Resurrection tho for what it was.

this is the first time i'm hearing about this. thank you for uploading it.

I imagine Tarantino would hate it. But I love the idea of the idea of a movie flowing through different minds, like it's travelling through alternate minds looking for it's final form.

It's just incredible what Quentin knows about film. He has a memory like an elephant. So great.

In my head, I always think its an 80s movie.. but no. The fact that it came out in 1979 just adds even more points to the overall score breaking excellentness of the movie Alien.. Everything about it...its JUST SO DAMN GOOD!!! Story, EFFECTS, suspense, acting, kick ass hero chick, dystopian future, weapons, Ai/Robots, Space & Spaceships, quotable as hell ... And, Bill Paxton.

That whole clip was worth it to hear Tarintino talk about a hairless ape. Awesome!

I am glad he mentioned that that others writers actually rewrote the script!!

I'm guessing the 'shaved orangutang' idea might have comes from E.A Poe's story 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'. If you read the script for Alien, I can see it popping in to someone's head, Alien dragging Brett into the ceiling vs the Orangutang in Rue Morgue shoving a victim up a chimney...

I love this stuff. Reminds me of that old science fiction film documentary called Watch The Skies. Just a bunch of famous directors talking about their favorite movies.

love this, feels good to finally have another new alien in romulus that makes the original even better

All those directors who turned it down HAD to be kicking themselves when this became such a huge hit and a classic sci fi film.

id love to see Quentin's take on Back to the Future Trilogy.. Robert Zemeckis nailed that time honered set of films and no continuity was missed.

Awsome video, saw this & Tarantino on Jaws too some minutes ago. Jaws & Alien are 2 of the MOST ultimate Monster-movies EVER! Hope we need Peter Jackson on Thunderbirds, Peter Jackson on Doctor Who, Peter Jackson on Jurassic Park & Peter Jackson on King Kong too, we need those videos too. 💙

And look what 'Cinema' has become..

It's funny hearing this backstory. It makes me wonder what reading the script would have been like. I bet far darker and scarier than the movie even was. I guess that's typical though. Original written sources that were later turned into movies are usually far more haunting or disturbing than the resulting film.

One small correction, Quentin--Star Wars was NOT shot at Pinewood but at Elstree.

After 45 years, this first movie doesn't age to me. Even today it's still scaring the living shit out of people.

"Alien" was the only movie I watched, which REALLY scared me.

I remember being 10 when this movie came out. Only the kids with the "cool" parents were allowed to see it. It had quite the buzz in the neighborhood. Now I know what they were talking about. This movie still holds up!

Alien works so well because the human drama comes before the horror sets in. It's good all around, but it's so good because of the actors and how they get along.

well thank God, Ridley Scott did the film and gave us a classic and one of the most iconic monster in scifi-horror film history!

You're not going to post the end of the story?

The time they made this movie with the technology back then was superb quality

It’s up there as the best science fiction movie ever. Romulus was amazing, they need to give the keys to Alvarez moving forward. It was what we’ve been missing since aliens, but more horror than action.

Amazing film and production for 79. 10 out of 10.

Wowzers great interview where is the rest please?

Tarantino can find a captivating story in anything.

Giler and Hill bought into Dan O'Bannon's not-so-well-written-B-movie-screenplay on the strength of the Chestburster scene. They also added Ash. H.R. Giger is pronounced "gee-ger" not "guy-ger". Dan O'Bannon worked with him on Jodorowsky's Dune that didn't get completed. He showed the Necronomicon art Book by H.R. Giger to Ridley Scott. He said that's it. That's the Alien. Ridley Scott made Ripley a woman and the hero. The original script made it interchangeable whether the characters were male or female. It's always fun listening to Tarrantino's enthusiasm and interesting that he talked to Walter Hill. It's on the voluminous Blu-ray's and magazines of that period.

ALIENS 1986 IS THE SECOND BEST SEQUEL OF ALL TIME NEXT TO TERMINATOR 2

Love QT but his dates and locations are all over the place. Filmed at Shepperton, not Pinewood, in 1978, and a year before Empire. O'Bannon wanted Giger's design from the outset. But he;s bang on about the quality of the original screenplay (it's pretty poor), and Hill and Giler's reaction to *that* scene being the spark to it all.