Ridley Scott talked about his famous movie ‘Alien’ on GQ’s Youtube channel. In the interview he talked about his art background and how it contributed to the budget.
“Because of my art background, I was a kind of comic strip aficionado,” the director shared. “I can really draw, I can draw comic strips really well. And so I read the script and knew exactly what to do. Because it read to me like a comic, a dark comic. And so before I went, I drew some storyboards of the first 20 minutes of the movie. And I went out there to Hollywood, first time in Hollywood really as a person to potentially direct a movie.The budget would be 4.2. I had no idea, it was four times what the dues cost. I took the boards out and showed them the boards. The budget went from 4.2 to 8.4. So the value of a vision is everything. It went woomph like that.”
Giving details about the effects and costumes, Scott talked about how important it was for the movie to get the right effect with the creature.
“Don’t forget, we have no digital effects in those days,” he explained. “Nothing. And so backdrops have to be painted and I have to find a very tall, thin man to squeeze into a rubber suit. And therefore, when you do that, you know you can shoot very little, show as little as possible because it doesn’t really hold up. And so by being subliminal and minimal, it works very well. I think the creature was unique and you have to believe. It doesn’t matter how good my cast was. Cast was fantastic.”
Scott’s art background is quite extensive. He attended Grammar School and earned a design degree from West Hartlepool College of Art. He then continued his studies at the Royal College of Art in London, where he contributed to the college magazine ARK and helped establish the college film department.
In February 1963, the director was credited as Designer in the title sequence of the BBC television program Tonight. After graduating in 1963, he joined the BBC as a trainee set designer and was later commissioned to design the second ‘Doctor Who’ series, ‘The Daleks.’
In 1968, Ridley and his younger brother Tony Scott, who would also become a film director, founded Ridley Scott Associates (RSA), a film and commercial production company.
During the development phase of ‘Alien,’ Scott wrote detailed backstories for each character to help the actors prepare for their roles. He filmed many of his rehearsals to capture spontaneity and improvisation. The tension between some cast members, particularly the less experienced Sigourney Weaver and others, translated convincingly into the on-screen dynamics between the characters.
Even decades into his career, Scott credits his success as a director to his early days as a student. “The most valuable thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said, “was to go to art school for seven years.” Storyboarding has remained an essential part of his process, from his breakthrough job on ‘Alien’ to choreographing the dynamic fight sequences in ‘Gladiator.’
