Alien: Alexandre O Philippe's Memory - The Origins of Alien: Looking for a voice

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Alexandre O Philippe's Memory: Origins of Alien

 

 

 

Philippe looked for a voice to craft the narrative that he was looking for with soundbites that were going to be accessible, entertaining and easy to graph.

There were many people that he interviewed for the documentary who  were too scholarly, to heady,  too dry, too difficult to deal with. 

 

They were fascinating to talk to but but not the sort of stuff that could be communicated with a wide audience in mind

For him a real find was Will Linn the mythologist through the Joseph Campbell Foundation. 

 

He sent them a message through their website and within 15 minutes he got a call from the head of the foundation and he said  "I got the right mythologist for you, his name is Will Linn,"

30 minutes later Philippe was on the phone to Will Linn and explained to him what this documentary project was about and whatever Linn said in response blew Philippe away.

He found Linn, a mythologist in his early thirties, who had a PhD in mythology and taught all over the place,  was able to take these huge ideas that he was dealing with for the documentary,  making them into something that was accessible and fun to connect with.

 

Philippe knew that this was the right way to go.

1. Alexandre O Philippe: I sort of see it as a bridge between cinema studies and the general public. To do that you have to find voices who can craft the narrative that you’re looking for with sound bites that are going to be accessible and entertaining and easy to grasp. For me, the real find is – I mean, there’s many, obviously everybody that was in the film I’m really grateful for their participation – but Will Linn, the mythologist that I actually found through the Joseph Campbell Foundation. I sent them a message through their website and within 15 minutes I got a call from the head of the foundation and he said, “I got just the guy for you.” Then 30 minutes later I was on the phone with Will and explained to him what I was doing and he just blew me away. I instantly knew that this was going to be the right guy. I’ve been hanging out with a lot of mythologists these days (laughs).( http://www.nightmarishconjurings.com/2019/10/07/fantastic-fest-interview-writer-director-alexandre-o-philippe-for-memory-the-origins-of-alien/)
2. Alexandre O Philippe: It was very important for me to find the right mythologist, because you know again, there's a huge difference between you know what we call cinema studies and then you know what, what we do which is to make films that are a little bit of a bridge between cinema studies and the general public, you know, it's it's I think it's a different task to say hey go read a book or a thesis on Alien and then go in a dark theatre and enjoy ninety minutes. Erm, so it has to be accessible, and it has to be you know, and and there was a lot of people that we interviewed then, you know that were actually fascinating but just too scholarly, to heady,  too dry, too difficult to, you know I mean, again, really fascinating to talk to but not the kind of stuff that you can communicate with a,  with a wide audience so I was very that I contacted the Joseph Campbell foundation and er, I mean literally within fifteen minutes of me sending the e-mail, I heard from the head of the foundation, he said I got the right mythologist for you, his name is Will Lynn, erm, and he's a pretty young guy, I mean, you know, he's thirty two or thirty three, you know, absolutely brilliant dude, and um, he was able to really sort of take those really huge ideas and make them I think really accessible and and fun to,  you know, fun to connect with and so, um, I think without Will, it would have been a difficult movie to get across (https://player.fm/series/but-why-tho-the-podcast-1392435/interview-myth-alien-and-memory-with-director-alexandre-o-philippe)
3. Alexandre O Philippe: It took a while to find the right mythologist, ah, I sent out a request to the Joseph Campbell Foundation and got a call back in fifteen minutes from the head of the foundation and said you know, "I've got just the guy for you and his name is Will Linn", he's young, he's like early thirties, brilliant, ah brilliant guy, has a PhD in Mythology, teaches all over the place because he has that way of taking, because you know Memory has some really big oh big ideas in it, and he has this , he has this way to just take them, and, and , and condense them to their very, you know, their very, and and convey them in a way that the general public, you know, most people can really wrap their heads around, and so um, so that that was, that was the process of course, because of a lot of people were involved in the film itself, (https://soundcloud.com/horror-happensrs/ep-377-we-talk-the-myth-and-lore-of-the-nightmare-that-is-the-memory-origins-of-alien-doc)