Alien: Simon Deering hops aboard

leading from

Alien: Creating The Nostromo

a) Earlier in the year, Simon Deering had been touring with a the well known electronic music band Tangerine Dream in Europe through February and March working as a member of the stage crew

 

See also: Steve Jolliffe of Tangerine Dream joins the Nostromo wiggeters

 

 

Someone who resembles Simon Deering.
Simon was working as a stage crew member for the tour.
Source: Tangerine Dream Cyclone live tour backstage 1978 on Youtube)

 

 

Detail of the man who resembles Simon Deering.
Simon was working as a stage crew member for the tour.
Source: Tangerine Dream Cyclone live tour backstage 1978 on Youtube)

 

 

b) Coming aboard
Some months later he came aboard the Alien production when his friend Dennis Lowe told him that they were looking for people on Alien.

Dennis said to Simon said "See Brian Johnson"

And so Simon did. Brian Johnson took a look at the top two pictures on his pack and said "When can you start?"

Simon replied "Monday week", and then went to Paris to celebrate and then came back to start two weeks later. 

 

Source: Alien Makers I documentary

Source: Alien Makers I documentary

 

c) Put to work on the Nostromo
They had a drawing by Ron Cobb on a yellow piece of paper on the wall to work from first. They didn't actually get a lot of directions in terms of adding the additional pieces such as the wiggets etcetera.

Simon didn't see a drawing plan of what they built and it was very different from the other ones. He never even got to see one of the vague sketches in pencil that Ridley did on the wooden bench. But having said that, during all of this, he was smoking a lot of weed.

From then on in Ridley's visits, as Simon Deering noticed, he would start making sketches on the bench to give the modelers some idea of what he wanted, look at the Nostromo and utter words such as "Fucking great! Fucking that! How about a few more bits sticking out here and a few more bits sticking out here!' and "can we try something like that?" before going off again.

It got to a point when someone said "Don't bother copying that picture any more"

 

 

Simon wearing a Laserium t-shirt.
Source: Alien Makers I documentary

 

 

 

Source Quotes

1. Simon Deering: My friend Dennis said they're looking for people on Alien, so I went along and he said see Brian Johnson which I did and Brian Johnson took er, just looked at the top two pictures on my pack and er and said, when can you start and I said, ah, Monday, er no, Monday week and then I went to Paris to celebrate and then came back and started two weeks later, but it was unusual and we were immediately, I was immediately put into one workshop with er, it's very hazy actually the beginning of that, who I was with, there was about three us and it was quite early pre-production and we went into, one of the ones, the studio workshop where we were building the refinery and there was I think, three or four of us and we took a tower each and I remember my tower, was covering it with red oxide part constructed girders, yeah, but the studio itself was a wonderful place to work in, never forget it, yeah.
   (Alien Makers I documentary by Dennis Lowe)
2. Simon Deering: Yeah, I remember the first er, the first instructions were, we had this yellow piece of paper, we had the Ron Cobb drawing I believe it was on the wall and we , we didn't get a lot of direction to start with, which was interesting and fun, you know. we used to have er, my favourite memory of it was Ridley Scott, who'd just come in every now and again, look at what we were doing, he'd start making sketches on the bench and look at it and go "fucking great! Fucking that! How about a few more bits sticking out here and a few more bits sticking out there", and "can we try something like this?' And then he'd go off again, and we'd just play and just make it up, and it was pretty soon that somebody said still "don't bother copying that picture any more" and then it was er, I believe that's when the cut went wrong in the carpenters, and I started building a frame, I'm not sure there were ever a drawing erm, of exactly what they built because because it was very different to the er, the other,  the other ones as I remember, yeah, (Alien Makers I documentary by Dennis Lowe)