In 1979 director Ridley Scott and writer Dan O’Bannon introduced what is widely considered the most frightening science fiction/horror movie of all time. In Alien, the crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo receive a distress call from an unknown source. Upon investigating the other vessel, one crewmember is attacked by an alien lifeform. Then it makes its way through the crew and continues to grow into a full-size monster. Alien introduced two very important characters to the now-historic sci-fi/horror franchise: Sigourney Weaver as enduring survivor Ellen Ripley and the titular Alien.

H.R. Giger was hired to design the creatures once O’Bannon and Scott saw his artwork. He sculpted the creature using plasticine and incorporated a variety of other materials like snake vertebrae and cooling tubes from a car. When 20th Century Fox saw his initial designs, the executives believed they were too extreme and grisly. However, the production team insisted that his work needed to be as frightening as it was to produce their vision of the film.

Crafting the Alien

Carlo Rambaldi, who had worked on the aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, made the head separately. Part of the head design was based on the human skull, and it was covered in jelly to appear slimy. The jaw and inner mouthpiece were animated with moving parts. The tongue moved via hinges and cables that came out of the mouth. A second mouth with movable teeth was connected to the tip. The final construction of the head had roughly 900 moving parts.

Bolaji Badejo was the Alien suit actor who wore a latex costume based on a full-body plaster cast. He took mime and t’ai chi classes to create the Alien’s movements.

Scott decided to keep the full Alien appearance hidden for most of the movie. Audiences were left to imagine how frightening the Alien was and the depths of horror that would be unleashed from the creature. This stylistic choice heightened the level of suspense significantly. It is considered a masterful move that had a great impact on the movie’s success.