Alien Resurrection

Infobox Film
name = Alien Resurrection


caption = The original 1997 theatrical poster
writer = Characters:
Dan O'Bannon
Ronald Shusett
Screenplay:
Joss Whedon
starring = Sigourney Weaver
Winona Ryder
Ron Perlman
Dominique Pinon
Gary Dourdan
Michael Wincott
Brad Dourif
Leland Orser
Dan Hedaya
J.E. Freeman
Kim Flowers
Raymond Cruz
director = Jean-Pierre Jeunet
producer = Bill Badalato
Gordon Carroll
David Giler
Walter Hill
distributor = 20th Century Fox
released = November 26, 1997
runtime = Theatrical Cut:
109 min.
2003 Special Edition:
116 min.
rating = Restricted
country = United States
language = English
budget = $70,000,000 | gross = $161,295,658
music = John Frizzel
cinematography = Darius Khondji | amg_id = 1:158796
imdb_id = 0118583
preceded_by = "Alien 3"
followed_by = "Alien vs. Predator"

"Alien Resurrection" is a science fiction released in 1997 by 20th Century Fox. Directed by French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the film is based on a screenplay by Joss Whedon. With a budget of $70 million, "Alien Resurrection" was the first film in the Alien series to be filmed outside of England at Fox studios in Los Angeles, California.

Set 200 years after the preceding installment, "Alien 3", Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is cloned and an Alien queen is surgically removed from her body. The United Systems Military hopes to breed Aliens to study and research on the spaceship USM "Auriga", using human hosts kidnapped and delivered to them by a group of mercenaries. The Aliens escape their enclosures, while Ripley and the mercenaries attempt to escape and destroy the "Auriga" before it reaches its destination, Earth.

"Alien Resurrection" was released on November 26, 1997 and received mixed reviews from film critics. Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" felt "There is not a single shot in the movie to fill one with wonder," while Desson Thomson of "The Washington Post" said the film "satisfactorily recycles the great surprises that made the first movie so powerful." The film is the second most commercially successful in the "Alien" franchise, grossing $161.2 million, although it is the lowest earning in the domestic box office.

Plot

"Alien Resurrection" takes place 200 years after "Alien 3". Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has been cloned on the outer space military science vessel USM "Auriga" using "blood samples from Fiorina 'Fury' 161, on ice." The United Systems Military wants to extract the Alien queen embryo that was implanted in her before her death in "Alien 3". After successful extraction of the embryo, the scientists decide to keep the Ripley clone alive for further study. They raise the Alien queen and collect her eggs for further use. As a result of the cloning process, during which Ripley's DNA was mixed with the Alien's, she has developed abilities including enhanced strength and reflexes, acidic blood, and an empathic link with the Aliens.

The "Betty", a ship full of mercenaries, arrives delivering several kidnapped humans in hypersleep. The military scientists use them as hosts for the Alien facehuggers, raising several adult Aliens for study. The mercenaries encounter Ripley, and their youngest member Call (Winona Ryder) recognizes her name. She attempts to kill Ripley, believing she may be used to create more Aliens. Call is too late; the adult Aliens have already been created and quickly escape their confinement, damaging the ship and killing most of its crew. Dr. Wren (J. E. Freeman), one of the ship's scientists, reveals that the "Auriga"'s default command in an emergency situation is to return to Earth. Realizing that this will unleash the Aliens on Earth, Ripley, the mercenaries, Wren, a marine named DiStephano (Raymond Cruz), and a surviving Alien host, Purvis (Leland Orser), attempt to escape on the "Betty" and destroy the "Auriga".

As the group makes their way through the damaged ship several of them are killed by the Aliens. Call is revealed to be an android after Wren betrays the group. Using her abilities to interface with the damaged ship's systems, they set it on a collision course with Earth, hoping that the Aliens will be destroyed in the crash. Ripley learns that the Alien queen has gained a human ability from her DNA as well: it has grown a womb and can give birth to live offspring without the need for eggs and human hosts. The resulting offspring, which is a mixture of human and Alien traits, recognizes Ripley as its "mother" and kills the Alien queen.

Ripley and the surviving mercenaries arrive at the "Betty". As they launch, the human/Alien hybrid attacks Ripley and Call. Ripley kills it by using her own acidic blood to burn a hole through a viewing pane, causing the creature to be drawn violently through the small hole and into the vacuum of space. The survivors escape in the "Betty" as the "Auriga" impacts into Earth.

Cast

*Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, reprising her role from the previous three "Alien" films. After having committed suicide at the finale of "Alien 3", Ripley has been cloned using blood samples so that the military may extract the Alien queen growing inside her. As a result of the cloning process Ripley has been affected by the Alien queen's DNA. She has enhanced strength and reflexes, acidic blood, and can sense the presence of the Aliens.
*Dan Hedaya as General Perez. Perez is the commanding officer of the "Auriga" and supervises the experiments to clone Ripley and study the Aliens.
*J. E. Freeman as Dr. Wren. Wren is one of several scientists onboard the "Auriga" involved in cloning Ripley and studying the Aliens. After the Aliens escape he joins the protagonists in their attempt to flee the ship.
*Brad Dourif as Dr. Gediman, another of the scientists involved in cloning Ripley and studying the Aliens.
*Carolyn Campbell as Dr. Williamson, the third member of the science team responsible for cloning Ripley.
*David St. James as Dr. Sprague, another member of the "Auriga"'s science team.
*Raymond Cruz as DiStephano. DiStephano is soldier in the United Systems Military stationed onboard the "Auriga". When the Aliens break out he joins the protagonists in their attempt to escape the ship.
*Michael Wincott as Frank Elgyn, captain of mercenary ship the "Betty". Elgyn brings the "Betty" to the "Auriga" in order to sell kidnapped humans in cryostasis to General Perez. He is romantically involved with Hillard.
*Kim Flowers as Sabra Hillard, the assistant pilot of the "Betty" who is romantically involved with Elgyn.
*Gary Dourdan as Christie, the first mate and second in command of the "Betty".
*Ron Perlman as Johner, a mercenary and member of the "Betty"'s crew. Johner plays jokes and has a bad temper, and teases Vriess about his handicap.
*Dominique Pinon as Vriess, the "Betty"'s mechanic. He is disabled and confined to a motorized wheelchair. Vriess shares a close friendship with Call and an antagonistic relationship with Johner.
*Winona Ryder as Annalee Call, the newest crew member of the "Betty". She recognizes Ripley and has knowledge of the Aliens. Call is revealed during the course of the film to be an android and helps the surviving protagonists interface with the "Auriga".
*Leland Orser as Purvis. Purvis is one of several humans who have been kidnapped by the crew of the "Betty" while in cryosleep and delivered to the "Auriga" to serve as hosts for the Aliens. Despite having an Alien growing inside him, Purvis joins the surviving protagonists in an attempt to escape the "Auriga".
*Tom Woodruff, Jr. as the lead Alien. Woodruff had previously played the Alien in "Alien 3", and described the Alien in "Resurrection" as feeling "much more like a dog. It's got dog legs, a more pointed nose, and a more vicious mouth." Weaver praised Woodruff's work, saying that "working with him is like working with Lon Chaney Jr., only Tom's usually covered with K-Y Jelly." Woodruff also played the lead Alien in the sequels "Alien vs. Predator" and "".

Production

Origins

Impressed with his work as a screenwriter, 20th Century Fox hired Joss Whedon to write the film's script. The studio initially imagined that the film would center around a clone of the character Newt from "Aliens", as the Ellen Ripley character had died at the end of "Alien 3". Whedon composed a thirty-page treatment surrounding this idea before being informed that the studio, though impressed with his script, now intended to base the story on a clone of Ripley who they saw as the anchor of the series. [ [http://www.natoonline.org/infocus/05augustseptember/whedonuncut.htm In Focus | August/September 2005 | Serenity Now! Uncut] ] Whedon had to rewrite the script in a way that would bring back the Ripley character, a task he found difficult. The idea of cloning was suggested by producers David Giler and Walter Hill, who opposed the production of "Alien Resurrection" as they thought it would ruin the franchise.cite video|title=From the Ashes - Reviving the Story|location="Alien Resurrection", Quadrilogy edition|date=2003|publisher=Fox Home Entertainment]

Sigourney Weaver, who had played Ripley throughout the series, wanted to liberate the character in "Alien 3" as she did not want Ripley to become "a figure of fun" who would continuously "wake up with monsters running around". The possibility of an "Alien vs. Predator" film was another reason for the character's death, as she thought the concept "sounded awful". However, Weaver was impressed with Whedon's script. She thought that the error during Ripley's cloning process would allow her to further explore the character, since Ripley becoming part human and part alien would create uncertainty about where her loyalties lay. This was an interesting concept to Weaver, who thought the film brought back the spirit of "Alien" and "Aliens". Weaver received a co-producer's credit and was reportedly paid $11 million.

Direction and design

"Trainspotting" director Danny Boyle was intended to direct the film. Boyle and his producer met with effects supervisors to discuss the film, although he was not interested in pursuing the project. Peter Jackson was also approached, but declined as he could not get excited about an "Alien" film.cite web
title=Peter Jackson FAQ
author=Jackson, Peter
publisher=theonering.net
url=http://tbhl.theonering.net/peter/faq.html
accessdate=2008-02-23] In 1995, after the release of "The Usual Suspects", 20th Century Fox approached Bryan Singer to direct. [Bryan Singer, Tom DeSanto, The Secret Origin of The "X-Men", 2000, 20th Century Fox] Jean-Pierre Jeunet was asked to direct, as the film's producers believed he had a unique visual style. Jeunet had just completed the script to "Amélie" and was surprised he was offered the job for "Alien Resurrection", as he thought the franchise had finished with "Alien 3" and believed that making a sequel was a bad idea.Cite video|title=French Twist - Direction and Design|location="Alien Resurrection", Quadrilogy edition|date=2003|publisher=Fox Home Entertainment] Jeunet, however, accepted the project with a budget of $70 million.cite web
title=Sigourney Weaver Eludes the Image Police
author=Mcdonald, William
publisher="New York Times"
date=1997-12-07
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE3D7143DF934A35751C1A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
accessdate=2008-01-31] He required a translator as he did not speak much English when filming began."Alien Resurrection" - Audio Commentary]

Jeunet hired French special effects supervisor Pitof and cinematographer Daruis Khondji, both of whom he had worked with on "The City of Lost Children". Jeunet and his crew watched the latest science fiction and "Alien" films as reference material, and obtained production reports from the "Alien" films to study the camera setups. Jeunet was given creative control, contributing several elements to the script including five different endings, although the expensive ones were dismissed. He also opted to make the film a dark comedy and was encouraged to include more violence. In June 1996, conceptual artist Marc Caro had drawn rough sketches of characters' costumes, which were shown to character designer Bob Ringwood. Ringwood made several modifications for the final design, although he was not credited in the "Making of Alien Resurrection " book.

Creatures

Special effects company Amalgamated Dynamics Incorporated (ADI) was hired for the film, having previously worked on "Alien 3". ADI founders Tom Woodruff, Jr. and Alec Gillis also had experience working with Stan Winston on "Aliens". ADI based their designs and modifications of the Alien creatures on the film's script, which included the creatures having pointed tails for swimming, making their head domes and chins more pointed, and establishing them to appear more vicious using techniques of camera angles and shot duration. After receiving the director's approval, ADI began to create small sculptures, sketches, paintings, and life-size models.cite video|title=Unnatural Mutation - Creature Design|location="Alien Resurrection", Quadrilogy edition|date=2003|publisher=Fox Home Entertainment]

Jeunet asked ADI to lean towards making the human/Alien hybrid creature more human than Alien. An early concept was to replicate Sigourney Weaver's features, although the crew felt this design would be similar to the design of the creature Sil from the 1996 film "Species". Eyes and a nose were added to the hybrid to allow it to have more expressions and communicate more emotion than the Aliens, so that it would have more depth as a character rather than "just a killing machine". Jeunet was adamant about the hybrid having a genitalia which resembled a mix of both male and female sexes. 20th Century Fox was uncomfortable with this, however, and even Jeunet eventually felt that "even for a Frenchman, it's too much". The genitalia was removed during post-production using digital effects techniques. The animatronic hybrid required nine puppeteers and was the most complex animatronic in the film.

Filming

"Alien Resurrection" was filmed at Fox studios in Los Angeles, California, from October 1996 to February 1997. Jeunet had difficulty securing a studio, as the filming of Hollywood blockbusters such as "Titanic", "Starship Troopers", and "" were taking place at the same time. "Alien Resurrection" was the first installment in the "Alien" series to be filmed outside of England, a decision made by Weaver, who believed that the previous films' travel schedules exhausted the crew.

The underwater scene was the first to be shot, and for its filming Stage 16 at Fox Studios was reconstructed into a 36 by 45 meter tank, 4.5 meters deep, containing 548,000 gallons of water.cite web
title=Beauties and the Beast
author=Hochman, David
publisher="Entertainment Weekly"
date=1997-12-05
url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,290562,00.html
accessdate=2008-01-31] The decision was made to convert the stage rather than film the scene elsewhere, since moving the film crew to the nearest adequate facility in San Diego would have been too costly for a single scene, and by converting Stage 16 20th Century Fox would be able to use the tank for future films. Because of the aquatic filming, the ability to swim was a prerequisite for cast and crew when signing onto the film. The cast trained in swimming pools in Los Angeles with professional divers to learn how to use the equipment. An additional two and a half weeks of training took place at the studio with stunt coordinator Ernie Orsatti and underwater cinematographer Peter Romano. Weaver, however, was unable to participate in most of the training due to commitments on Broadway. Winona Ryder faced a challenge with the scene, as she had nearly drowned at age 12 and had not been in the water since. She suggested using a body double, but knew that it would be too obvious to audiences due to the difference in hair length. She filmed the scene, but suffered from anxiety on the first day of filming.cite video|title=Death From Below - Fox Studios Los Angeles 1996|location="Alien Resurrection", Quadrilogy edition|date=2003|publisher=Fox Home Entertainment]

Director Jeunet wanted to display Ripley's new powers, including a scene in which Ripley throws a basketball through a hoop while facing the opposite direction. Weaver trained for ten days and averaged one out of six baskets, although the distance required for filming was further than she had practiced. Jeunet was concerned about the time being spent on the shot and wanted to either use a machine to throw the ball or to insert it later using computer-generated imagery (CGI). Weaver, however, was determined to make the shot authentic, and got the ball in perfectly on the sixth take. The ball was out of frame for a moment during the shot, and Pitof offered to edit it so that the ball was on-screen for the entire scene, but Weaver refused. Ron Perlman broke character when she made the basket, and turned to the camera to say "Oh my god!" There was enough of a pause between Weaver's basket and Perlman's statement, however, for the film's editors to cut the scene accordingly during post-production.cite video|title=In the Zone - The Basketball Scene|location="Alien Resurrection", Quadrilogy edition|date=2003|publisher=Fox Home Entertainment]

Visual effects and miniatures

The film's script was laid out similar to a comic book, with pictures on the left and dialog and descriptions on the right. Jeunet planned every shot, which made it easier for visual effects artists to do their work. Blue Sky Studios was hired to create the first CGI Aliens to appear on film. Impressed with the company's work on "Joe's Apartment" creating CGI cockroaches, Jeunet and Pitof opted to hire the company to create 30 to 40 shots of CGI Aliens. The decision was made to use CGI Aliens rather than puppets or suited actors whenever the creatures' legs were in frame, as Jeunet felt that a man in a suit is easy to distinguish when the full body is seen.cite video|title=Virtual Aliens - Computer Generated Imagery|location="Alien Resurrection", Quadrilogy edition|date=2003|publisher=Fox Home Entertainment]

All of the spaceships in the film were miniatures, as visual effects supervisors believed CGI was not effective enough to create realistic spaceships. The USM Auriga was originally designed by artist Nigel Phelps and resembled a medical instrument. This design proved to be too vertical for the film's opening shot, in which the camera pans out to show the ship, and did not appear satisfactory in the film's 2:35 aspect ratio. Three days before the design had to be finalized, Jeunet rejected it. Phelps, production illustrator Jim Martin, and concept artist Sylvain Despretz were tasked to redesign the ship. Jeunet felt Martin's design was too much like a space station, while he accepted Despretz's design due to its streamlined and horizontal appearance.Cite video|title=A Matter of Scale - Miniature Photography|location="Alien Resurrection", Quadrilogy edition|date=2003|publisher=Fox Home Entertainment]

Music

Composer John Frizzel was encouraged by a friend to audition to compose "Alien Resurrection"'s film score. Frizzel sent in four cassettes and received a call from 20th Century Fox about the fourth, which contained music from "The Empty Mirror". Impressed with his work, Fox representative Robert Kraft had a short meeting with Frizzel and hired him.cite video|title=Genetic Composition - Music|location="Alien Resurrection", Quadrilogy edition|date=2003|publisher=Fox Home Entertainment] Frizzel spent seven months writing and recording the score, which Jeunet requested to be very different and unique from the previous films in the series. This included themes of romance and eroticism, incorporating sound effects such as a gong and rub rod. The cue "They Swim" took one month to complete as Jeunet was not pleased with Frizzel's original version, although the final result was a mix between the first and third versions he had composed.

Reception

Box office

A pre-screening of "Alien Resurrection" was held in Camarillo, California, and the film was released in North America on November 26, 1997.cite web
title= The Two Hollywoods; Harry Knowles Is Always Listening
author=Weinraub, Bernard
publisher="New York Times"
date=1997-11-16
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE3D91139F935A25752C1A961958260&scp=23&sq=Alien+Resurrection&st=nyt
accessdate=2008-01-31] Debuting at number two at the box office behind "Flubber", "Alien Resurrection" grossed $25 million in its first five days–$16 million over the weekend, for an average of $6,821 per 2,415 theaters. The film grossed $47.7 million in North America, the least successful of the "Alien" series on that continent. It was well received internationally, however, with a gross of $113.5 million, bringing its total gross to $161.2 million.cite web
title="Alien Resurrection" (1997)
publisher=Box Office Mojo
url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=alienresurrection.htm
accessdate=2008-01-23] It was the 43rd highest grossing film in North America in 1997.cite web
title=1997 Domestic Gross
publisher=Box Office Mojo
url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1997&p=.htm
accessdate=2008-01-29]

Critical response

"Alien Resurrection" received mixed reviews from film critics. The film scored 63% on Metacritic based on 21 reviews,cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/alienresurrection?q=Alien|title=Overview of "Alien Resurrection" reviews|accessdate=2007-02-04|publisher=Metacritic] and 53% on Rotten Tomatoes, higher than the previous film "Alien 3" (and also higher than the later sequels "Alien vs. Predator" and ""), although less than its predecessors "Alien" and "Aliens".cite web
title="Alien Resurrection" (1997)
publisher=Rotten Tomatoes
url=http://au.rottentomatoes.com/m/alien_resurrection/?critic=rotten&name_order=asc
accessdate=2008-01-24] Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film a negative review, stating "There is not a single shot in the movie to fill one with wonder."cite web
title=Alien Resurrection Roger Ebert review
author=Ebert, Roger
publisher="Sun Times"
date=1997-11-26
url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19971126/REVIEWS/711260301/1023
accessdate=2008-01-24] Jeffery Overstreet of "Looking Closer" commented "It's time they quit killing the aliens, and just killed the Alien series altogether. ... How the mighty have fallen."cite web
title="Alien Resurrection" Jeffrey Overstreet
author=Overstreet, Jeffery
publisher=Looking Closer
url=http://lookingcloser.org/movie%20reviews/quickglancesA-G.htm#Alien%20Resurrection
accessdate=2008-01-24] Joe Baltake of the "Sacramento Bee" stated that "This 'Alien' should never have been resurrected", while Tom Meek of Film Threat wrote "Weaver and Jeunet's efforts are shortchanged by the ineptness of Joss Whedon's script, that seems to find a way to make action sequences unexciting."

Not all reviews were negative, however. Mary Brennan of "Film" thought that the movie was "A lot of fun to watch, and easy to surrender to in the moment." "Houston Chronicle" editor Louis B. Parks said "The film is a marvel, a well-photographed feast of visual imagery",cite web
title=Ripley's back, stronger than ever
author=Parks, Louis
publisher="Houston Chronicle"
url=http://www.chron.com/cgi-bin/auth/story/content/chronicle/ae/movies/reviews/1126alien4.html
accessdate=2008-01-26] while Richard Schickel of "Time" wrote that it was "Less frightening, but as much fun as ever."cite web
title="Alien Resurrection" - "Time" review
author=Schickel, Richard
publisher="Time magazine"
url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987471,00.html
accessdate=2008-01-26] "Washington Post" contributor Desson Thomson felt it "satisfactorily recycles the great surprises that made the first movie so powerful. And most significantly, it makes a big hoot of the whole business."cite web
title="Alien Resurrection": She Lives
author=Howe, Desson
publisher="Washington Post"
date=1997-11-28
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/alienresurrectionhowe.htm
accessdate=2008-01-26]

Screenwriter Joss Whedon was unhappy with the final product. When asked in 2005 how the film differed from the script he had written, Whedon responded:

"It wasn't a question of doing everything differently, although they changed the ending; it was mostly a matter of doing everything wrong. They said the lines...mostly...but they said them all wrong. And they cast it wrong. And they designed it wrong. And they scored it wrong. They did everything wrong that they could possibly do. There's actually a fascinating lesson in filmmaking, because everything that they did reflects back to the script or looks like something from the script, and people assume that, if I hated it, then they’d changed the script...but it wasn’t so much that they’d changed the script; it’s that they just executed it in such a ghastly fashion as to render it almost unwatchable." [cite web|url=http://www.bullz-eye.com/mguide/interviews/2005/joss_whedon.htm|title=Joss Whedon on "Alien Resurrection"|publisher=Bullz-eye.com|accessdate=2006-12-15]

Releases

"Alien Resurrection" was released on VHS on June 1, 1998, with the novelization and the book titled "Making of Alien Resurrection" released on December 1.cite web
title="Alien: Resurrection - The Novelization"
author=A. C. Crispin
publisher=Amazon.com
url=http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Resurrection-Novelization-C-Crispin/dp/0446602299/ref=pd_bbs_sr_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203740262&sr=8-10
accessdate=2008-02-23] Dark Horse Comics also published a two-issue comic book adaptation. [Cite comic | Writer = Jim Vance | Artist = Eduardo Risso | Title = Alien Resurrection | Issue = 1-2 | Date = October – November 1997 | Publisher = Dark Horse Comics] In 2003, Jeunet included an alternate version of the film on the "Alien Quadrilogy" DVD box set with different opening and closing credits, which were originally cut due to budget restrictions. The deleted scenes included references to the character Newt from "Aliens", Vriess making a joke to Call, Ripley waking up in the middle of her operation, and extended dialogue between Call and Ripley's clone in the chapel.

"Alien Resurrection: Collector's Edition" was released on January 6, 2004, containing the two discs contained in the "Quadrilogy" set. The second disc, called "One Step Beyond: The Making of Alien Resurrection", features over two hours of footage relating to pre-production, production, post-production, screentests, concept art, and audio commentary by the cast and crew.

References

*"One Step Beyond: The Making of Alien Resurrection", Alien Quadrilogy – Disc 8, 2003, 20th Century Fox

Notes

External links

*imdb title|id=0118583|title=Alien Resurrection
*rotten-tomatoes|id=alien_resurrection|title=Alien Resurrection
*mojo title|id=alienresurrection|title=Alien Resurrection
*amg title|id=1:158796|title=Alien Resurrection