Having no idea that his 1979 classic Alien would go on to spawn a hugely successful franchise of it's own, filmmaker Ridley Scott originally wanted to kill off the film's protagonist to close the movie. Casting Sigourney Weaver as one of Hollywood's pioneer heroine's before seeing the actress go forward with the character for future editions, the director told Entertainment Weekly that the initial idea to end the title left Scott searching for an alternative.
"I felt that when she gets onboard the shuttle, that's where the film ended. I said, 'you can't, you can't end it there - it's flat,'" he recalled. "So she gets onboard. I had to sell the idea. I said, 'this is what's going to happen. She is going to get inside the shuttle. She's going to arm the shuttle and get away.' She's got to get away fast because the ship itself is going to blown up - blown up by mother. And the evolution would be - wouldn't have got that far. She'd have flown away, the ship would have blown up and that's the end of the movie. Flat."
Ripley Ripe For The Picking
Shooting a number of conclusions to have up his sleeve, Scott ran through an ambiguous ending that could have been utilized.
"So instead I had her going inside the ship... 'Got you you son of a bitch.' Jay Goldsmith starts the music. You know it's not stopped yet. Everybody goes, 'oh no!' And then she goes to the wall, starts dabbing in the thing because she's going to go into hyper sleep. And the hand comes out and you're all over again. I thought that was pretty good. That cost a half a million dollars, the whole week of shooting."
Then there was the alternative version where the antagonist gets the upper hand, seeing Ripley served a dose of justice akin to a beloved Game of Thrones character.
“I thought that the alien should come in, and Ripley harpoons it and it makes no difference, so it slams through her mask and rips her head off," he remarked. "It would mimic Captain Dallas (Skerritt) saying, ‘I’m signing off.' I'm pitching this to the studio. I could feel the tension over the phone."
Quizzed if he was happy in hindsight that ending did not make the final copy, Scott replied,"Yeah exactly, well Sigourney is as well."
Ridley To Helm Fresh World War II Epic
Yet to have a title, Ridley Scott is reported to have agreed terms on a new project that will focus on the Battle of Britain. The 20th Century Fox production is believed to have Matthew Orton developing the script as Scott transitions from his upcoming prequel Alien: Covenant to a narrative based in history.
The Battle of Britain was embarked over the skies of England and is regarded as one of the main turning points in the outcome of the war against the Nazi regime. Scott's compatriot Christopher Nolan is fresh from his own World War II biopic with 2017's Dunkirk to be released on July 21.
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