The goofy deleted scene that was thankfully cut from Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’
The sci-fi horror genre would never be the same without Ridley Scott’s incredible 1979 magnum opus Alien. Pushing the boundaries of the medium forward with innovative special effects and a masterclass in crafting cinematic tension, Alien became an integral part of American cinema as it was trying to redefine itself and find a new identity. As the years go by, the legacy of Scott’s achievement only seems to expand as newer generations of aspiring artists continue to be inspired by its brilliance.
Starring the likes of Sigourney Weaver and Harry Dean Stanton, Alien is a frenetic film about a terrifying extraterrestrial entity that wreaks havoc on the crew of a commercial spaceship. Forcing the audience to confront the inevitability of human mortality as well as deconstructing some of our more romantic fantasies about space exploration, Scott takes us on a unique journey that is simply unparalleled when it comes to sci-fi horror storytelling.
Alien, which has become a significantly successful franchise, became a central part of popular culture because of Weaver’s fantastic rendition of Ripley. During a conversation with the LA Times, Scott revealed that the idea of having a female protagonist never really occurred to any of them until Alan Ladd, the President of 20th Century Fox, suggested it. However, that was all they needed to capitalise on the opportunity.
Scott recalled: “And there was a long pause, that at that moment I never thought about it. I thought, why not, it’s a fresh direction, the ways I thought about that. And away we went… And I found Sigourney by word of mouth. Somebody had been told that Siourney was on an off-Broadway stage doing something, that I should meet. And I did. And there it was, she was perfect. In terms of scale, size, intelligence, her acting is just fantastic. And so it was made for her, really.”
Several scenes from the 1979 film have become iconic, but none more so than the chilling segment when an alien bursts out of someone’s chest. The filmmaker revealed that it was a well-kept secret from the cast to retain the shock value: “I kept it very much from the actors, and I kept the actual little creature, whatever that would be, from the actors. I never wanted them to see it. Remember, there was no digital effects in those days at all. I’m going to somehow bring that creature out of his chest.”
While that scene has been immortalised in film history, there’s another one that was so goofy that it was fortunately removed from the final cut. It features the Xenomorph engaging in a strange crab walk as it approaches its targets, creating a comedic effect instead of anything resembling horror. If this had ended up in the film, it would have immediately taken the audience out of the horror immersion.
Watch the scene below.
