Alien Covenant: Wayne Haag's shell like cathedral entrance


leading from



Shell like entrance of the building by Wayne Haag, with mural on the inside wall.



a) The entrance of the domed cathedral without doubt references the Grmeč Monument to the Revolution, built in Yugoslavia and completed in 1979, to the point of it being used lock stock and barrel.

Grmeč Monument to the Revolution, completed in 1979, designed by Ljubomir Denković


b) When it came to the inside wall of the shell, Chris Seagers the production designer  near enough said "Can you get some artwork in there?", gave him some art, and into the composition Haag's inserted "The Body of Christ Borne to the Tomb", (1799-1800) by William Blake which is to be found at the Tate Britain.  People interested in the film might wonder what it all might mean, but for Wayne, it was a case of taking something and using it. Reflecting on the matter Ev Shipard wondered if there was something to the artwork being given to then as themes to reflect on in the film but he wasn't privy to that sort of information. The woman in a white veil has been pasted on either side of the door itself.


William Blake's illustrated on the inside wall of the entrance

"The Body of Christ Borne to the Tomb", (1799-1800) William Blake (Source: Tate Britain)

  1. Wayne Haag: It's a nice little homage to the erm, creative designer of the front door that opening sort of broken shells sphere, which is you know the er, over the stairway of the cathedral.

    Clara Fei-Fei:
    Oh yeah, the er er, er, it's from erm, former Yugloslavia, that was erm
    Grmeč sculpture.

    Wayne Haag: Yeah, some Soviet era you know sculpture which really is like lock stock and barrel.

    Ev Shipard
    : I'm quite proud of that, There is also the constellation on the on the walls on the door, the artist, um I can't remember the artist's name, ah.

    Wayne Haag: Ah um, Yeah, yeah.

    Ev Shipard: Such a long time.

    Wayne: Yeah it was on some of the reference.

    Ev Shipard: Yeah

    Wayne Haag:Things like, things like that for example, like the inside of that shell, that was, you know, one of the things I had to throw in there. Chris just said, can you get some like, some art work in there, so here's a bunch of reference, some big one.

    Clara Fei-Fei: Oh yeah, William Blake.

    Wayne Haag: If you're into this stuff, it's like oh my god, there's a story there, what does that mean?! What does that mean!? It's just some piece of art I've just picked up from, from the reference folder that I've been given. I'm just like, heeyah, I'll use that one.

    Ev Shipard: But then you think after the fact, but maybe that meant something, maybe that's why why it was there, kind of like St Bartholemew. Ridley's like this is the reference, this is the reference, make it look like the engineers, Okay, off we go.

    Wayne Haag: Maybe.

    Ev Shipard: Sculpt it up, maybe afterwards, okay this is really interesting how this points to the whole story. Is it because it looked right visually, or is there another level that, that , that the powers that be have decided upon. It's you know, it's up to us to integrate it, make sure it works visually within the uh, the concept art that often, you know, we're just not privy to that stuff . You can hypothesise about it. It's purely our opinions but, but were just not privy to that. ( From: Yutani Podcast: Creatives: Wayne Haag and Ev Shipard – Episode 15 ,   10/08/2018, see 1 hour and 25 minutes into it )

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