Alien: Roger Christian comes aboard

Leading from

Alien: making the movie

and

Roger Christian

 

 

Photo of Roger Christian from the Charles Lippincott collection

 

 

a.i) Ridley already needs Roger Christian

 

Tim and John knew that Ridley Scott really needed Roger for Alien, which had started preparation as Shepperton Studios.

 

Roger knew as well but he was locked in their contract with him

 

Ridley was already working with Michael Seymour in Shepperton, building the kind of wooden skeletons of sets. 

 

Michael had never done science fiction before, so it seemed to Roger as if Ridley realised it. 

 

Michael had hired a young man he had never worked on the film to the extent of doing what Roger had been doing for the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars which required the breaking down of scrap, as if the young man had said "Oh, I can do that with scrap, I know what Roger Christian did"  

 

Roger was someone who as it were had the DNA in him that worked that way practically.

 

His father would make him do things such as make Roger break down an old hand changed Royal Enfield bike rebuild it and then made him do the same with a car

 

Roger's experiences on Star Wars and the used look acheived with the dressing in parts of the Millenium Falcon was similar to the look Ridley aspired to for the Nostromo, but no one knew how to do it there.

He was sure that Michael was in trouble

 

John Goldstone

 

a.ii) Trouble up at the works for Life of Brian

At the end of February, a week or two before they were going to start filming life of Brian in Tunisia, Roger had everything packed and his apartment rented.

 

 

Michael Palin was hearing news on the 28th of February that film producer Michal Carreras showed the Brian of Nazerath script to Lord Delfont, chief of EMI who read it and disapproved near enough saying "this is blasphemy. I'm not making this! "

 

Indeed, he was concerned by what he considered were the "blasphemous" aspects of the script and even "'anti-semitism" although  the script was innocent of this, but he canceled his financing on the spot.

 

On 2nd of March that the phonecalls were coming through about it to those involved in the production 

 

John Goldstone the producer called Michael Palin about it at 9.30 when he and his wife were eating in the kitchen while it poured with rain.

 

However it was made known that Barry Spikings who was the production head of EMI, had provided £50,000 to keeping the production team together while they looked for new backing

Goldstone would also call Roger to call him into his office, telling him such words as "Well look I'm sorry but er we've got cancelled and we are going to make it,   we're working on it now, so we want you to keep going with us, erm, but it's going to be a few months"

 

Roger went to see him and the associate producer Tim Hampton at the office in D'Arblay Street in Soho.

They hoped to get the money again by another way soon, but it threw a spanner in their plan to starting filming in April, and after then it would become too hot in Tunisia to film until six months later.

 

Indeed, calls had been traded that morning as news was getting out about the demise of Life of Brian, but Roger had agreed to do the designs with Terry Gilliam who was the visual genius of the Pythons.

 

Having worked closely together, Terry wanted to keep Roger aboard since he had done so much work on the film and they shared the same vision.

 

a.iii) See also Alien: Space Ship Sequence from Monty Python's Life of Brian 

 

 

1. Back in London, John Goldstone and EMI were working out their contractual arrangements. The Pythons were anxious that they, and not EMI, should have control over the final shape of the film, something EMI said it had never conceded before, though it was understood that this was a special case. If EMI agreed to the Pythons' terms for artistic control, then the only editing forced upon them would be from the need to get a suitable certificate. Confident that they would secure a contract, the Pythons allowed pre- production costs to mount, although negotiations were delayed by Barry Spikings's necessary absence in America. Time was getting short, with filming soon to begin, when a final meeting was arranged for 28 February. (On 21 February the Gay News case went before the Court of Appeal. On 23 February in the House of Lords Ted Willis failed to get a second reading for his bill repealing the common law offence of blasphemy.)(Monty Python The Case Against" by Robert Hewison)
2. The meeting with Barry Spikings was much briefer than expected. Spikings began by raising a whole series of difficulties in the proposed contract, but Goldstone cut him short by asking him straight¬forwardly if EMI accepted the Pythons' screenplay as written, for they were not prepared to make any changes. Straightforwardly, but with considerable embarrassment, Spikings gave the answer no. The deal was off. (Monty Python The Case Against" by Robert Hewison)
3. It was not Barry Spikings's decision to cancel the project, but that of EMI's sixty-nine-year-old chief executive. Lord Delfont. While Spikings was in America during February the chief executive's attention had been drawn to the contents of the Brian script. Lord Delfont's taste in entertainment was formed in an earlier era than that of Monty Python, and he decided that whereas his brother, Lord Grade, had done very well out of Jesus ofNazareth, he would be in an embarrassing position with The Life of Brian.There as on given officially for dropping the project was the high cost of the film and the Pythons' demand for artistic control, but as Screen International commented: 'It seemed though that Lord Delfont was more concerned by what he considered were the "blasphemous" aspects of the script; indeed even "anti-semitism".'Though Brian was innocent of both these charges and proved highly profitable. Lord Delfont has remained unrepentant:
   
   "I ... believe that there are some subjects not to make - however talented the film makers. I refused to finance The Life of Brian. I make no apologies although this is now a success at the box office. That was my decision because it was not a film Iwanted my company's money to be invested in. I would not show a film excusing Hitler at our cinemas. I refused to show a play critical of Churchill at one of our theatres. If others subsequently went on to profit from my withdrawal - so be it." ("Monty Python The Case Against" by Robert Hewison)
4. In March 1978 the Pythons cancelled their plans to start filming in Tunisia in April. In the same month the Court of Appeal confirmed the fines on Denis Lemon and Gay News Ltd, but set aside the prison sentence - and EMI announced a huge slump in profits. (Monty Python The Case Against" by Robert Hewison)
5. Roger Christian: As I entered the office I could see that something was amiss from the subdued and somewhat glum looks on everyone's faces. John and Tim were both looking serious and depressed, so I expected the worst. We had been working together for several months, and John was always bright and funny. I knew there was trouble brewing as Lord Delfont, whose company, EMI, was financing the movie, had finally read the script. John and Tim explained to me that he had pulled out overnight, deeming the script blasphemous, and could no longer be associated with it, leaving the movie with no funding. He felt like many other people did, that parodying Jesus was derogatory to the Christian faith. We always argued back that our film was about Brian of Nazareth. John and Tim explained that they were going to try to replace the money as possible but were not sure how long it would be. We were all shocked of course, as everything was arranged and ready to go that weekend. (Cinema Alchemist)  
6. Roger Christian: Tim and John proposed a solution. They out me on a small retainer as they were convinced they could find the funding for Life of Brian, and they had some funds from EMI deal left over to carry them through. They explained that they really did not want to lose me as they were comfortable with me. The aspirations of Terry Gilliam and I had on the creative side were enormous, and it would take considerable skill and experience to pull it off. Having worked so recently on Star Wars in Tunisia was another boon. They didn't know the timescale involved in raising the rest of the budget, and they knew I would go straight onto Alien if Ridley still needed me, so giving me a retainer secured my continuity with them. Then when and if they could retrigger the movie I would return to the Life Of Brian fold. I accepted, of course, as I was really enjoying the work on the film, and I could see the enormous potential of the movie. (Cinema Alchemist)
   
7. Roger Christian: At the same time as we were preparing Life of Brian, Ridley Scott had been given Alien to direct through Sandy Lieberson for Twentieth Century Fox. They had set up production at Shepperton Studios. Michael Seymour, who had designed commercials for Ridley, was chosen to production-design the movie and Les Dilley went on board as art director to supervise the actual set building and construction, based on his experience on Star Wars. I knew Ridley and Les wanted me there, but I was locked in by contract to the Pythons. The time came for us to go to Tunisia and begin prep, as we had quite a lot of set building to do. Terry and I had done as much as we could to prepare and everything was packed up into boxes for transport. I was preparing all this on the Thursday, ready to leave the following week, when I had an auspicious phone  call. I was asked to go to see John Goldstone and Tim Hampton at the office in D'Arblay Street in Soho. (Cinema Alchemist) 
8. Roger Christian: Well, I knew Ridley, erm, because I art directed commercials for Ridley's brother Tony, I made Black Angel, which as kind of erm out and seen and when Star Wars came out, Ridley got Alien, again the same parameters, you know it was the first R rated science fiction, so Fox were very nice about it so the budget was incredibly tight for a film like that. I was actually on Life of Brian preparing, I was designing with Terry Gilliam and about to go down to Tunisia when Lord Delfont read the script and cancelled it on the spot and so I hadn't been hired on Alien and I couldn't because I was working ,and way luck for me because JohnlGoldstone the producer of erm Life of Brian when he called me up in London and said "well look I'm sorry but er we've got cancelled and we are going to make it, we want you to keep being involved and everything (Filmumentries episode 28 roger christian) (N.B. Black Angel wasn't released until 1980)

9. Roger Christian: George Harrison the Beatle put up the $4 million that was needed to make the film.

   He came down to the set - I'd met him before - he brought me some stuff I needed, actually, haha! We used a Beatle to bring me some reference things I needed. But what happened - where I lucked out beyond anything in the universe was I was on LIFE OF BRIAN, I was co-designing it with Terry Gilliam, and it was being financed by Lord Delfont, and Lord Delfont read the script - and we were a week from going to Tunisia to star filming - and he canceled it.

   He said "This is blasphemous! I can't do this!"

   So he canceled his financing on the spot.

   That day that he canceled it, Ridley called me and said "Get your backside down to Shepparton! I need you here!"

   And so I was able to go straight on to ALIEN, and I completed ALIEN - it was the last week of filming - when George Harrison came up with the money for LIFE OF BRIAN, so he financed the entire film, he set up Handmade Films to do it, so suddenly he had a successful film company - because it made a lot of money! I don't think they expected it, I think that he put up the money because he liked the Pythons, he knew Eric Idle very well, so we got it made because of George.
   (Reddit - June 8th 2015)
10. Interviewer: Now you got the Alien gig, I'm presuming because Ridley Scott was so impressed by Star Wars and how that universe looked
    
    Interviewer: Is that right?
    
    Roger Christian: Yes. Yeah.  I mean I knew Ridley, I used to do commercials, I used to art direct commercials for him and Tony
    
    Interviewer: Mmhmm
    
    Roger Christian: and er, I knew them very well, and erm I was on Life of Brian, so I couldn't join the team. He, I you know Michael Seymour who had done Ridley's commercials, who'd never actually done a sci-fi film before, he came on board and designed it for erm, for Ridley, and Les Dilley came on board. because Les was brilliant at...  Les was a plasterer apprentice and he came from a plaster shop, so he knew how to get moulded the most difficult things that most people didn't know how to do, and he was there in charge, and I was on Life of Brian, I couldn't join, and so they hired a young kid basically, he'd never worked on a film before, he said  "Oh, I can do that with scrap, I know what Roger Christian did"  and tried to do it, was failing. When I went on I could see it takes, it takes more than just I can do that, it takes a lot of, as I said, I have a kind of DNA that works that way practically. You know, my father made me, before he got me a motorbike, he got me an old hand changed Royal Enfield thing and I had to break it down and rebuild it, and the car the same. He made me do stuff like that, erm, and we were two weeks from going to Tunisia. I had everything packed up, my apartment rented, everything when erm, Lord Delfont read the script for Life of Brian and cancelled it that afternoon. He said "this is blasphemy", I'm not making this. Foomp. I was called to John Goldsmith the producer's office and was told all the news and they said "we are going to get it made, we're working on it now, so we want you to keep going with us, erm, but it's going to be a few months" (Effectively Speaking podcast episode 50)
     

 

 

At a corner of D'Arblay Street (as seen in the movie The Playbirds released 1978)

 

 

b.i) Phonecall from Ridley Scott

 

It was as if the moment when Roger left Tim and John's office, Ridley called Michael up and said "you better get your backside down here to Shepperton, I need you.'"

 

Whatever Roger's reservations might have been, words also coming from Ridley were  “I don’t care. You’re starting here.”

 

Roger drove straight there.

 

He first met Garth Thomas, the production manager who he knew from The Last Remake of Beau Geste and Ivor Powell who was Ridley's associate producer that he knew from the commercials that he made with Ridley Scott and his brother Tony.

They introduced him to the producers Gordon Carroll and David Giler, who were really keen to have him abard. 

 

He had a quick discussion with them about how he made his set-decorating department work on Star Wars.

They asked him if he was free and if he could start immediately as art direction and be in charge of the dressing of the movie.

 

 

b.ii) The Hallowed Shrine

 

Of course he was happy to do this and so he walked into Ridley's office to say hello to him.

 

He was locked away in storyboarding, carefully illustrationg each shot in the movie using his very precise storyboard frames that were known as Ridleygrams and Roger took a look at some of them

 

Also there were perhaps six or eight original Giger paintings around the walls. 

 

He looked at them, they all much larger that he was they would be and were amazing. 

 

Seeing the originals close up was always a more tactile experience

 

It was like stepping onto hallowed ground. 

 

Perhaps it was here that Ridley informed him "look, I need you to create the Nostromo interior".

b.iii) Reading the Alien script

 

With the vision of Giger's paintings in his head, they gave him the script, put him in a room alone to read it.

 

He read it through about forty minutes straight like a bullet train or as he would often remember, 90 minute read before he said hello to Ridley, so it might be one or the other although it seemed to usually be the latter

But to him the script was stripped down and bare. 

 

That meant to him that the drama was all these, clean as a razor, and there was the thought about what could be done under Ridley's powerful eye.

The story, like a claustrophobic horror nightmare, really piqued his interest as he liked the horror genre when it was done well.

Here it was, unique, having been combined into a science fiction tale, a simple and powerful story like the ten little Indians all being contained in a space adventure inside one ship, and so that to him was clever

 

He just knew that this would be a chance to get involved in something really special as well  and so, he joined immediately.

 

1. Roger Christian: They had been aware for a few weeks that Ridley Scott really needed me on Alien, which had started preparation at Shepperton Studios. My experiences on Star Wars and the used look achieved with the dressing in parts of the Millennium Falcon was similar to the look Ridley aspired to for the Nostromo, but no one knew how to do it there. Indeed, calls had been traded that morning as news was getting out about Life of Brian's demise. But I had agreed to design Life Of Briant with terry Gilliam, and having worked really closely with him, the visual genius within the Pythons, he wanted to keep me on board as I had done so much work on the film, and we shared the same vision.(Cinema Alchemist)
2. Roger Christian:The moment I left Tim and John’s office I got a phone call. It was Ridley Scott, telling me to get my backside down to Shepperton, right there and then, so I drove straight there. I first met with Garth Thomas, the production manager, who I knew from The Last Remake of Beau Geste, and Ivor Powell, Ridley’s associate producer, who I knew from the commercials I had made with Ridley and Tony Scott. They introduced me to Gordon Carroll and David Giler, who were really keen to have me aboard. I had a quick discussion with them about how I made my set-decorating department work on Star Wars. They asked me if I was free and could I start immediately as art director and be in charge of the dressing side of the movie. I was happy to do this and went to say hello to Ridley, who was locked away storyboarding, carefully illustrating each shot in the movie using his very precise storyboard frames we called ‘Ridleygrams’. Looking at H.R. Giger’s original paintings placed around the walls in Ridley’s office, much larger than I thought they’d be, was amazing. I liked his work and to see originals close up is always a more tactile experience. With the vision of Giger’s paintings in my head, they gave me a script and put me in a room alone to read it. I read it through in about forty minutes straight— it read like a bullet train. The script was stripped down and bare, the drama was all there, clean as a razor, and I could see what it could be under Ridley’s powerful eye. The story, like a claustrophobic horror nightmare, really piqued my interest as I like the horror genre when it’s done well. Here it was unique, having been combined into a science-fiction tale, a simple and powerful story like the ten little Indians all being contained in a space adventure inside one ship, a really clever idea (Cinema Alchemist)
3. Roger Christian:  Ridley was already with Michael Seymour in Shepperton, building the kind of wooden skeletons of sets. Michael had never done science fiction before, so I think Ridley realised it. Michael had hired some young guy who had never worked on the film before to do what I did, to break down the scrap, I think he saw he was in trouble. (Infinity #43, p26 ) 
4. Roger Christian: He said, "you better get your backside down here to Shepperton, I need you.' So I came down and read the script in 90 minutes. I thought, 'In Ridley's hands, this is going to be awesome.' And I'm walking into his office and there's like six, eight original Giger paintings round the walls. It's like walking onto hallowed ground.  (Infinity #43, p26 )
5. Roger Christian: And that afternoon I got a call from Ridley himself saying "Get your backside down to Shepperton, I need you" and er, so I read the script and just thought woah, and walking in Ridley's office and there was five or six or seven original Gigers around the walls. And I thought, I knew Ridley and I you know, he was an inspiration, the Duellists was an inspiration to me as well erm, and I, I got to know him, designing these commercials for him so we were kind of mates  and erm so he just said "look, I need you to create the Nostromo interior" (Filmumentries episode 28 roger christian) 
6.  (16:47) Roger Christian: The day that Ridley called me down to the set, i went down and they gave me a script, they said just read, but I went next to Ridley's office, there were about eight original Giger paintings around the walls and I'm just going round and I knew Ridley and I knew, Ridley has a unique eye in this  world, I mean, the most visionary, he's got a head that's the camera, just that, and I knew what he did commercial and what he done in The Duellists and thing and so I just saw these, and well this is going to be something special
   
   I worked with Giger a lot, the first day I went to meet him on the stage and i said what are you do, what do you need HR and he said "Bones, I need bones"
   
   So I, being a set decorator I knew where to get bones. they're specially treated because of anthrax So I got him a whole truck load of bones. We set up a little compound in one of the stages for him. People wouldn't go in there 'cause of the bones, I mean I knew. So he sculpted a lot of the alien sculptures in miniature and used small bones and things like that so erm. (Star Wars theory: The Creator of the Lightsaber Roger Christian Interview - Rule of Two, 2021) 
7. Roger Christian: I art directed Alien for Ridley Scott with my team because he was struggling to get the designer and the art department to understand ‘that look’ I created with the dressing on Star Wars. I was working on Life of Brian at the time. I was doing that with Terry; we were designing it together and that suddenly got cancelled. That same afternoon Ridley pulled me down to Shepperton [Studios] and said, “I don’t care. You’re starting here.”

   I went into Shepperton,  (https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-den-of-geek-interview-roger-christian/)
   

8. Roger Christian: and I got a call that day from Ridley saying "Get your back side down to Shepperton now, I need you here" so I drove straight to Shepperton, met Ridley, they put me in a room, said "read the script", i read it in ninety minutes. It's one of those scripts you just read, and I thought Woah. I was in Ridley's office with the original Giger paintings all around the wall, and knowing Ridley, and I saw some of his Ridleygrams, they got him locked in a room doing those, erm. I just knew something was, this would be a chance to get something really special as well  and so, I joined immediately.  (Effectively Speaking podcast episode 50)  

 

 

 

 

c) Reaching Shepperton

c.i) A web of wooden skeletons a bit like the Mary Celeste

When Roger Christian came aboard, the basic frames of the Nostromo sets were already built,  the octagonal corridors and airlocks were like wooden skeletons snaking around the stages, that connected together like a spider's web. 

 

The corridors needed dressing now to turn them into what would look like a real spacecraft. 

 

Michael Seymour had built the layout of the craft over two large Shepperton stages that were linked together. 

 

It was designed that way so that Ridley would be able to open the movie by tracking around an empty ship. 

 

This gave the impression of the famous galleon, the Mary Celeste which was found drifting in the ocean with all of its crew missing and has since became one of the most famous unexplained mysteries with people trying to explain the fate of the crew.

c.ii) The purpose behind the large set

 

Ridley was determined to begin the movie tracking around this silent spaceship, so he wanted the set built as a complex, allowing him to track through it in one go. 

 

Then as the ship suddenly woke up, it would bring a tension to an audience not sure what to expect. 

 

The advantage of having the craft built for real as a complex meant that a person would enter  into the corridors and feel trapped inside, perhaps as if it were a submarine. 

 

It would naturally create a sense of claustrophobia which was an element that would help Ridley create the tension require to really scare the audience later in the film.

Roger was able to assure Ridley that he could give him the look that he wanted, and fortunately he could understand without a lot of explaining. 

 

He walked over to the art department to meet designer Michael Seymour and Les Dilley. 

 

He understood that Les had a unique skill because of his experience in being able to translate complex two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional sets. 

1. Roger Christian: Ridley explained that he wanted to get the used look of an industrial cargo freighter for the Nostromo. He’d had Michael build the layout of the craft over two large Shepperton stages that linked together. This was designed that way to enable Ridley to open the movie by tracking around an empty ship, through corridors and crew quarters, past the infirmary and onto the bridge. This gave the exact impression of the famous galleon, the Mary Celeste. She was found drifting in the ocean with all of the crew missing. A ghost ship sailing along on her own that had struck a chord with people everywhere and which has since become an urban legend. Ridley was determined to begin the movie tracking around this silent ship, so wanted the set built as a complex, allowing him to track through it in one go. Then as the ship suddenly woke up it would bring a tension to an audience not sure what to expect next. The advantage of having the craft built for real as a complex meant you entered into the corridors and felt trapped inside, like in a submarine. This would naturally create a sense of claustrophobia, an element that would help Ridley create the tension required to really scare the audience later in the film. Once inside the craft, there was no way out. The basic frames of the Nostromo sets were already built and the octagonal corridors and airlocks were like wooden skeletons snaking around the stages when I came on board. The corridors needed dressing now to turn them into a real spacecraft. (Cinema Alchemist)
2. Roger Christian: None of the dressing had actually been started or tried anywhere, so making it all look like a working ship was the next major phase and that’s where I came in. I walked round the sets with Ridley; the wooden skeletons of the corridors and airlocks in their basic construction stage were built like a spider’s web. They gave a strong impression of how the Nostromo could end up.(Cinema Alchemist)
3. Roger Christian: I described in detail how I created the reality look for the Millennium Falcon on the Star Wars sets, and how I had come up with ideas for all the action props. But Star Wars was an escapist fantasy aimed primarily at a young audience; Alien was to be a horror film, a mix of 2001 and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with a dash of Star Wars thrown in. Ridley instinctively knew Alien would work if he could get the same used and totally reality-based atmosphere that Star Wars had. This was necessary for him so the actors would become an organic whole with their environment, and one would never question the story’s authenticity. We had to take the audience on a journey inside a working spacecraft. Claustrophobia is a proven method to get the tension required to get an audience on edge where there is no way out and they are being chased by a monster. Combining that horror genre into a sci-fi environment was a really historic leap of creativity in the film world. I assured him that I could give him that look he wanted. Fortunately for me I could understand without a lot of explaining. I walked straight over to the art department to meet designer Michael Seymour and Les Dilley. Les had a unique skill because of his experience in being able to translate complex two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional sets. (Cinema Alchemist)
   

 

 

 

 

d) Discussing the Nostromo set

d.i) Roger knows what to do wth the Nostromo interior

Because of Roger's success of using scrap in Star Wars, he had an idea of what to do with it and how it would eventually look. 

 

Ridley was dependent on getting the right look of an industrial, used spacecraft looking like a "truck in space". 

 

Also on board was art director Les Dilley, who also worked on Star Wars with Roger. 

 

 

d.ii) A need for industrial reality rather than pure 

 

However the world of Alien was to have a different look.

Star Wars was set in a world that was pure fantasy, but set in a real world and filmed in a way that George Lucas wanted it. 

 

Alien's world geared more towards the idea of an industrial reality. 

 

Here the crew of the Nostromo were bickering workers basically, trapped together in a space submarine. 

 

If this world could be created, then the film would work.

 

d.iii) Inspired by the Millennium Falcon interiors

 

Ridley and Roger talked about Millennium Falcon interiors. 

 

The crew's quarters would be in particular like an ancient barnacled ship, and Roger would have to cover every inch of it with pipes, machinery and also what were known in the special effects world as "greeblies". 

 

The Nostromo would be more military in its look than the Millennium Falcon, but the same feeling of reality was required. 

 

However apart from the exploration of the nameless planetoid, the whole world of Alien would take place inside the ship, so it was important to create this claustrophobic world with a crew trapped on board a working spacecraft, that would be totally realistic and acceptable to an audience

1. Roger Christian: The use of scrap had worked on Star Wars. Having invented the technique with an inherent knowledge of how it would eventually look when finished had given me a unique talent. Ridley was dependent on getting this look right, of an industrial, used spacecraft, looking like a ‘truck in space’ as he described it. Also on board was art director Les Dilley, and he knew what was needed as he had gone through the Star Wars journey with me. Alien was a different look to Star Wars but needed the same techniques to achieve the reality Ridley aspired to. Star Wars was pure fantasy but set in a real world and filmed that way by George. Alien had to be a hardcore industrial reality. The crew were bickering workers basically, trapped together inside a space submarine. If this world could be created the film would work. The reference Ridley and I talked about when I met him that day were the Millennium Falcon’s interiors. The crew quarters in particular were like an ancient barnacled ship, and I would have to cover every inch of it with pipes and machinery and greeblies. This is what Ridley wanted. The Nostromo was more military in its look than the Millennium Falcon, but the same feeling of reality was required. What was different was that the entire world of Alien took place inside this ship, except for the brief section where Kane, Dallas and Lambert leave the craft to explore the alien craft on the planetoid, and discover the eggs. So it was enormously important to create this claustrophobic world with a crew trapped on board a working spacecraft, and for the first time on film make it totally realistic and acceptable to an audience. This was more than exciting to me; it was like another dream come true. To be paid to create my dreams and aspirations of how I saw ships in space, guided by Ridley’s master hand, was a gift from the stars.  (Cinema Alchemist)

 

e) Getting down to work

 

e.i) Roger Christian knew Ian Whittaker

 

Ian Whittaker was the set decorator for Claude Whatham's movie "Swallows and Amazons" released in 1974 

 

Roger Christian knew Ian very well from before because they had done "Akenfield" for Sir Peter Hall and "Mahler" for Ken Russell together.

 

Ian had art-directed many films for Ken Russell, and had to cope with with extraordinary demands made by him. 

 

As Ken pushed his fantasies onto the big screen, Ian always came through.

Ian was brilliant at period films and conventional dressing, (and his talent would later be widely acknowledged when he went on to win an Academy Award for Howard's End), but Roger realised that Ian would be hard-pressed to work with airplane scrap and know what to do with it.

 

As Roger walked across the stage, Ian said to him"Thank god you're here. I'm great at dipping curtains in tea and doing period films" then came the questions "What do I do with all bits of junk and stuff, I don't know, thank god, are you taking this over?"

 

Roger replied "Yeah, don't worry Ian, we'll get through it"

 

Ian appeared to be up for anything and in a way similar to Roger. 

 

He just got stuck into it and did the work to the best of his ability and Roger realised that he would be a firm ally. 

 

 

e.ii) Sorting out the situation

 

Roger read science fiction, collected graphic novels and was familiar with the work of most science fiction artists, it was a world that he was familiar with. 

 

The next thing was to get that look that Ridley had seen in parts of Star Wars and adapting it to the Nostromo interiors that was causing Ridley to be a little concerned.

 

However Michael Seymour had also hired a very inexperienced assistant into the art department who had somehow convinced him that he could do everything that Roger did.

 

The assistant was put in charge of buying all the scrap for dressing, although this person had not actually worked on a movie before, 

 

Roger went to see what the young man's efforts

 

Michael had sent the young man out to buy as much junk as he could find over a few days, and this was assembled in the props area, but as far as Roger could see when he got there, there were bits and pieces but nothing was right and no one knew exactly what to do with it.

 

Roger realised that he would need to buy a ton of scrap here , that this was five times bigger than the Star Wars sets that he had done in the past.

He saw that Michael had done brilliantly making the wooden frame of the Nostromo set across two stages at Shepperton that were joined, so that one had to literally enter through one area to walk through the ship, and it was impossible to get out by any other way

At the time Ridley was fighting the studio to have Sigourney Weaver in the lead and he had to do a screen test with her

 

They agreed that the test set would be a chance for him to use the scrap, make the look and show Ridley and Michael how it works 

So Roger bought more proper aeroplane scrap that he would start to use on a screen test set and then would buy a ton more.

 

 

c.iii) See: Alien: Sigourney's screen test

 

c.iv) See: Dressing the Nostromo (to come)

4. Roger Christian: and Michael Seymour, bless him, the designer had never done anything like that in his life and it's not something you just pick up, I, I, I'm going into it depths in the documentary I'm doing now. on why I thought like I did from youth up and erm, and the set decorator Ian who was a great friend of mine, we we, we'd designed erm, Akenfield together, we did Marlowe and we'd done... but Ian, Ian, he said it himself when I walked down the stage, he said "Thank god you're here. I'm great at dipping curtains in tea and doing period films", he, he did all the Merchant Ivory stuff and he said "I, what do I do with all bits of junk and stuff, I don't know, thank god, are you taking this over" and i said "Yeah, don't worry Ian, we'll get through it, erm, " and I think, so Ridley put me on actually there.  (Filmumentries episode 28 roger christian

1. Roger Christian: Michael had hired a very inexperienced assistant into the art department, who had somehow convinced him he could do what I did and was in charge of buying all the scrap for the dressing. The assistant had never actually worked on a movie before. Michael had sent him out to buy as much junk as he could find over a few days. This was assembled in the props areas, but it seemed to me that no one knew exactly what to do with it when I got there. (Cinema Alchemist, published 19 April 2016)
2. Roger Christian: Michael Seymour had hired Ian Whittaker as the set decorator. I knew Ian very well as we had made Akenfield for Sir Peter Hall and Ken Russell’s Mahler together. Ian was truly brilliant at period films and conventional dressing (his talent was widely acknowledged when he went on to win an Academy Award for Howards End). But I knew Ian would be hard-pressed to work with airplane scrap and know what to do with it. I read science fiction, collected graphic novels and was familiar with the work of most of the science-fiction artists— it was a world I understood. Ian was up for anything, though, and similar to me in the way that he just got stuck in and did the work to the best of his ability, and never complained about long hours or missed suppers. Ian had art-directed many films for Ken Russell and had to cope with extraordinary demands made by Russell, who pushed his fantasies onto the big screen, and Ian always came through. I knew I would have a reliable ally on the floor with me. Michael Seymour was already doing a stellar job interpreting what Ridley wanted with Ron Cobb and Giger’s design influence. Having built the Nostromo’s corridors and interiors into a massive complex spreading over two stages, now it all needed to be dressed. It was getting that look that Ridley had seen in parts of Star Wars and adapting it to the Nostromo interiors that was causing Ridley to be a little concerned. (Cinema Alchemist, published 19 April 2016)
3. Michael Seymour: The bridge which in the film appear to be perhaps one of the less complicated parts of the set was in reality a very rich and elaborate piece although it was a little difficult to see the geography of it. The autodock was also very rich and elaborate, the lower maintenance area was very complicated I mean they were all quite complicated pieces I think we had to use our collective imagination to try to inject some sort of reality into them.
   
   We didn't simply rely on our imagination however we were able to get some rather interesting research materials from NASA, from the aeronautical Museum in Washington, which has rather detailed pictures is this lab and assorted things. We also tried to find as much as possible in the way of pictures and photographs of earlier space vehicles, but none of them are particularly large. We had to kind of take elements of them and really expand them.  We had various people work with us who had technical or engineering attitudes and they will suggest various possibilities we have some very nice very clever people all the separate ideas and we tended to pool our ideas into making them work towards the concept. (American Cinematographer, 1979)
4. Roger Christian: and Michael Seymour, bless him, the designer had never done anything like that in his life and it's not something you just pick up, I, I, I'm going into it depths in the documentary I'm doing now. on why I thought like I did from youth up and erm, and the set decorator Ian who was a great friend of mine, we we, we'd designed erm, Akenfield together, we did Marlowe and we'd done... but Ian, Ian, he said it himself when I walked down the stage, he said "Thank god you're here. I'm great at dipping curtains in tea and doing period films", he, he did all the Merchant Ivory stuff and he said "I, what do I do with all bits of junk and stuff, I don't know, thank god, are you taking this over" and i said "Yeah, don't worry Ian, we'll get through it, erm, " and I think, so Ridley put me on actually there. He wanted to do a screen-test for Sigourney Weaver and er he didn't want to do a plant and a white wall which is normally a screen test, he wanted to build a bit of the corridor, so that was the beginnings of it all, I just got them to build the piece of the corridor and I dressed it. I began buying in all more proper aeroplane scrap. They had a young kid who didn't understand because he had never done it before, bought a ton more, brought it in and got it dressed and that that first screen test is really the foundation of making the Nostromo work and then I, I was already wanting to leave art directing (Filmumentries episode 28 Roger Christian) 
5. Roger Christian: I went into Shepperton, and we built and dressed the first corridor section – actually for a test screen for Sigourney Weaver, who the studios were not sure about. I brought my little team of prop guys who’d understood then the process of what to strip down and how to place it. Because it was not something you just do randomly. It had to be done based on a kind of knowledge.

   This is where it all comes to fruition. I love Solaris. Tarkovsky, I love his work. So, all of those visceral backgrounds in my education came into play at those times, it’s a kind of destiny and education, if you like. (https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-den-of-geek-interview-roger-christian/)
   

6. Roger Christian: Went to see what this kid, the scrap, he got bits and pieces but nothing was right, so I got the buyer and said Talk to my buyer, this is what we do, we need to get a ton of scrap in here, this is five times bigger than the Star Wars sets that I had to make. Erm. what Michael had done brilliantly with Ridley was make two stages at Shepperton that were joined, they were two big stages, and they made the Nostromo over the two stages and you literally had to go in one area and walk through the ship, you couldn't get out, it was just brilliant. And when I joined, it was just wooden formers, wooden frame. They got that all a (silence) and then in discussions, erm, Ridley had said, you know he had, he was fighting the studio to have Sigourney Weaver in the lead
   

   Interviewer: Right
   
   Roger Christian: And erm so, er, he said he wanted to do a screen test in a piece of the Nostromo. So I said, and it was agreed that would be a chance for me to use the scrap, to make the look and show Ridley as well and Michael to see how it works. So they quickly built the piece of the corridor and I went and dressed it, that's on youtube hers, her test
   
   Interviewer: Yeah, I've seen it, I think it's on the blu-ray as well, it's one of the
   
   Roger Christian: Yes, it's on the blu-ray (Effectively Speaking podcast episode 50)