a) Setting the scene in Aliens
There is a moment in aliens when Ripley's running through the station where everything's blowing up and it's on fire and she runs through what was near enough of wall of steam and she finds herself in a room, a big chamber surrounded by alien eggs and she finds herself looking at the egg laying creature itself, seeing its giant egg sack, seeing the creature itself, and everything goes very quiet.
Jim Cameron would compare this to a kind of a dream wthin the greater dream of the movie, as if it were a dream-like out of body moment where everything's in slow motion and it becomes quiet.
Even though one can know that explosions are going off and all sorts of things, one is suddenly in this subjective reality.
b) Dream of being in a wasp nest
As it went, the basis of that scene came from one of Jim Cameron's dreams.
In the dream he went into a dark room and walked to the centre.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realised that every square inch of the walls and the ceiling were covered by wasps.
He knew that he couldn't get to the door before they got to him, and so he just froze.
But they weren't attacking.
c) Wanting to translate this into a film
So there he found himself in an equipoise; and there was this moment to appreciate exactly how screwed he was.
He didn't know what happened next but it didn't matter but the point is that idea of suddenly realising that one is in an extremely threatening space and the only thing that one could do is freeze and think ones way out of it.
So he remembered that feeling and thought, ‘How can I translate that feeling to the moment in a horror film?"
This would become the nucleus of an idea that was turned into what ultimately became the first encounter with the alien queen in the egg chamber.
He found it to be stylistically an interesting scene because he wanted to capture that feeling
- Jim Cameron: Everything just kind of slows down as she realizes, kind of looking around, where she is and she starts to turn. And there’s a sense of imminence of something very, very bad in that moment before you see it,And then it cuts wide and you see she’s in the egg chamber. And then you start to realize that there’s this breathing presence in there with her. So she’s managed to, in her haste, project herself into the center of the most lethal environment that the film proposes."https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/james-cameron-aliens-xenomorph-queen-wasp-dream
- Jim Cameron: That comes from a dream in which I came into a room, the room was pitch-black [and] the only light was from the doorway. I walked into the center of the room and then realized that every square inch of the walls and ceiling were covered with wasps and if I moved, if I breathed, if I did anything, they would attack. But they weren’t attacking. So there was this equipoise; there was this moment to appreciate exactly how screwed I was. So, I remember that feeling and I thought, ‘How can I translate that feeling to the moment in a horror film?" https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/james-cameron-aliens-xenomorph-queen-wasp-dream
- Jim Cameron: The moment in aliens when Ripley's running through the station and everything's blowing up and it's on fire and she runs through a kind of wall of steam and she finds herself in a room, a big chamber surrounded by alien eggs and looking at the egg laying creature itself, seeing its giant egg sack, seeing the creature itself, and everything goes very quiet. And you're in this kind of a dream within the greater dream of the movie, this kind of very dream-like out of body kind of moment where everything's in slow motion, and it gets very quiet. Even though you know the explosions are going off and all sorts of stuff, you're suddenly in this subjective reality. That came from a dream where I went into a dark room, I walked to the center of the room, and I looked around. And as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I realized that every square inch of the walls and the ceiling were covered by wasps, and I knew I couldn't make it to the door before they got to me. So I just froze. And I don't remember what happened next doesn't matter, but the point is that idea of suddenly realizing you're in an extremely threatening space and the only thing you can do is freeze and think your way out of it was the nucleus of an idea that then got turned into what ultimately became the first encounter with the alien queen in the egg chamber, which stylistically is an interesting scene, because I wanted to capture that feeling. Know what it is that you're feeling, that you want the audience to feel, and then start talking to people and figuring it out and experimenting around and figuring out how to convey that feeling to your audience. (https://www.masterclass.com/classes/james-cameron-teaches-filmmaking/chapters/aliens-egg-chamber-breakdown)
"Aliens: Alien Queen in hive scene was inspired by dream of a wasp nest" was posted on 25th September 2022
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