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ALIEN The Director's Cut In Theaters on Halloween
This Digitally Remastered Special Edition Incorporates New Footage
Source: Twentieth Century Fox
Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2003
HOLLYWOOD -- For the first time in nearly a quarter-century, movie audiences will be able to experience ALIEN on the big screen, as Twentieth Century Fox releases ALIEN The Director's Cut, a special edition of director Ridley Scott's science fiction/horror classic, in theaters nationwide this Halloween.
For this digitally remastered special edition of what many have called the "scariest movie ever made," Ridley Scott has incorporated new footage never before seen in movie houses.
Working closely with Twentieth Century Fox, Scott oversaw a restoration of the original film's negative, as well as further digital enhancements. In addition, Scott and his team of archivists went through over 100 boxes of film footage, unseen in almost 25 years, which was discovered in a London vault. From this wealth of material, Scott selected new "Director's Cut" footage, which then underwent digital restoration, matching it to ALIEN's newly-"polished" negative. The film also features a brand-new six-track digital stereo mix.
Scott, a relatively new convert to the world of digital cinema, was thrilled with the results of these additional enhancements. "ALIEN looks today as good as it did 24 years ago - maybe better," he says. "The digital work is a great way to preserve the film for future generations."
Among the new material in this special edition of ALIEN is a scene Scott calls "The Nest," in which Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, finds the remains of Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) and Dallas (Tom Skerritt). Scott has always liked the scene, but in 1979 he opted not to include it because he had thought it interrupted the breakneck pace of the film's final 17 minutes. "It was a matter of dynamics," says the director. "I thought that the nest scene might interrupt the tension as Ripley races for the escape vehicle. But when I reexamined the scene, it seemed to work very well, so it's back in."
The additional material also includes a confrontation that turns physical between Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) and Ripley, and a shot of the Alien hanging from chains just prior to its capture of Brett.
ALIEN tells the story of five men and two women working on a battered commercial space vessel, far way in space and time, who encounter an awesome galactic horror. The members of the Nostromo crew are not stereotyped, heroic space explorers - they're interstellar truck drivers. The realism of the characters -and the performances of Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto - complements Scott's candid, almost documentary-like directing style, drawing the viewer into the action like an eighth member of the crew.
Fox released the original ALIEN in May 1979. The film was hailed by critics and audiences worldwide as a seminal work of science fiction, and went on to gross over $100 million worldwide, a remarkable number for that era. The film's success spawned a film franchise for the studio, with three adventures in the saga following in 1986, 1992, and 1997. The producers are Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill, and the screenplay was written by Dan O'Bannon from a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett.