Sigourney Weaver / production still from Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979)

Chris Foss concept art for 1979′s Alien

An alternate poster for Alien

ALIEN (1979)
dir. Ridley Scott

ALIEN (1979) — dir. Ridley Scott

Movie posters of the week, Matt Warren

In the original script by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the names of the characters were Standard, Roby, Broussard, Melkonis, Hunter, and Faust (there was no Ash character). Walter Hill and David Giler hated the names, and changed them multiple times during revisions. They finally settled on Dallas, Ripley, Kane, Lambert, Parker, and Brett, and added Ash. The script by O'Bannon and Shusett also had a clause indicating that all of the characters are “unisex”, meaning they could be cast with men or women. Consequently, all of the characters are only referred to by their last name, and the few gender-specific pronouns (he or she) were corrected after casting.

MONSTER KID SURPLUS

Topps Alien Trading Cards

Circa 1979

The Derelict Spaceship