a) Vidocq released in 2001
Pitof's movie "Vidocq" was released in 2001. It
featured the 19th
Century detective Vidocq hunting down an ancient alchemist who was
using magical means to kill various people. Vidocq tracked the alchemist to his
layer where hung many dozens of bodies inverted from
the rafters and their blood dripped down a network of pipes and ducts into an iron womb like tank below to feed this
strange featureless mirror mask inside.
There was an idea from a script by Joss
Whedon for Alien Resurrection in which in there was in the queen alien's lair , many the victims upside
down in cocoons with their blood dripping down into the pool where the
Queen lay with her womb about to give birth to the Newborn and the blood was feeding the Newborn creature.
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| Sylvain Despretz conceptart for the queen's layer in Alien Resurrection |
b)
Pitof, worked on Alien Resurrection
Pitof worked in the special effects
department for Alien Resurrection and was a well known collaborator of
Jean-Pierre Jeunet's having worked in his previous films. In fact there
were talks with Pitof with the idea that he would be directing the fifth
installment for Alien, but he bowed out and made his detective action
movie Vidocq. Seeing the movie, one might wonder if he
actually borrowed at least one idea from the Alien Resurrection
production and expanded on it. The film enabled the director to have a
brief stint with Hollywood with his ill received movie Catwoman. Vidocq
over the years, despite not being a film much talked about years later
did retain a cult following.
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| hanging dead bodies in Vidocq |
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| inverted head of hanging dead body in Vidocq |
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| visible arms of a hanging dead body in Vidocq |
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| inverted hanging dead body in Vidocq |
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| blood trickling down into bowls |
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| bowls collect blood that enter an iron womb |
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| the alchemists lair |
c) The Alchemist mask leading to the Deacon?
And then looking at the
ways ideas flowed further into the distance of time, one might look at
the possibility that this film Vidocq might have been a noteworthy movie
to take notice of when it came to exploring the future of Alien
concepts as much as it did for me. I personally had the idea of having
an alien with this creature's featureless face because it got to the
point where thinking about the face of the Alien, one had to step back
and realise that there was no way to make any further impact beyond what
Giger had given us with the Alien's face in cinema.
In
2012, the images of the Proto-Alien are revealed as designed by a group
of designers followed Ridley Scott's ideas and the head is seen by
numerous people to resemble a cycling helmet with a smooth featureless
face. This creature was nicknamed by Ridley Scott as the Deacon and he
thought that the point of the head was the evil Deacon's mitre. I
thought that the answer I had for designing a new face seemed to reach a
similar situation. And this mask of the alchemist ended at the top in a point slightly like that of the Deacon's but not at long
d)
Vidocq in Giger's video collection
Amongst the many films that Giger has watched or could wish to store on his shelfs at home, Vidocq was one of these movies and he had a videotape copy of the movie. Giger collected many things and perhaps it is impossible to say how much interest he gave many of the things in his DVD and video collection, but there it remained
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| detail from above |
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