Taglines: It’s been more than 200 years… The beginning has just started.
Taglines: Beyond salvation.
Alien: Resurrection movie storyline. 200 years after the conclusion of Alien 3, the Company is able to resurrect Ripley through the process of cloning and the scientists successfully take the Queen Alien out of her. But, Ripley’s DNA gets mixed up with the Queen’s and she begins to develop certain alien characteristics. The scientists begin breeding the aliens, but they later escape.
Soon the Xeno-morphs are running amok on the ship, which is on course to Earth. The Queen then gives birth to a deadly new breed of alien, which could spell disaster for the entire human race. It’s up to Ripley and a band of space pirates to stop the ship before it reaches Earth.
Alien: Resurrection is a 1997 American science-fiction action horror film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and written by Joss Whedon. It is the fourth installment in the Alien film series, and the fourth and final installment in the original series. It was filmed at the 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles, California. It stars Sigourney Weaver reprising her role as Ellen Ripley with additional roles played by Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya, J. E. Freeman, Brad Dourif, and Michael Wincott.
In the film, which is set 200 years after the preceding installment Alien 3 (1992), Ripley is cloned and an Alien queen is surgically removed from her body. The United Systems Military hopes to breed Aliens to study and research on the spaceship USM Auriga, using human hosts kidnapped and delivered to them by a group of mercenaries. The Aliens escape their enclosures, while Ripley and the mercenaries attempt to escape and destroy the Auriga before it reaches its destination: Earth.
Alien: Resurrection was released on November 26, 1997 and received mixed reviews from film critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times felt “there is not a single shot in the movie to fill one with wonder”, later naming it one of the worst films of 1997, while Desson Thomson of The Washington Post said the film “satisfactorily recycles the great surprises that made the first movie so powerful”. The film grossed $47.7 million in North America, the least successful of the Alien series on that continent. It was well received internationally, however, with a gross of $113.5 million, bringing its total gross to $161.2 million.
About the Filming
Alien: Resurrection was filmed at Fox studios in Los Angeles, California, from October 1996 to February 1997. Jeunet had difficulty securing studio space, as the filming of Hollywood blockbusters such as Titanic, Starship Troopers, and The Lost World: Jurassic Park were taking place at the same time. Alien: Resurrection was the first installment in the Alien series to be filmed outside England, a decision made by Weaver, who believed that the previous films’ travel schedules exhausted the crew.
The underwater scene was the first to be shot, and for its filming Stage 16 at Fox Studios was reconstructed into a 36 by 45 meter tank, 4.5 meters deep, containing 548,000 gallons of water.[8] The decision was made to convert the stage rather than film the scene elsewhere, since moving the film crew to the nearest adequate facility in San Diego would have been too costly for a single scene, and by converting Stage 16 20th Century Fox would be able to use the tank for future films. Because of the aquatic filming, the ability to swim was a prerequisite for cast and crew when signing onto the film.
The cast trained in swimming pools in Los Angeles with professional divers to learn how to use the equipment. An additional two and a half weeks of training took place at the studio with stunt coordinator Ernie Orsatti and underwater cinematographer Peter Romano. Weaver, however, was unable to participate in most of the training due to commitments on Broadway. Winona Ryder faced a challenge with the scene, as she had nearly drowned at age 12 and had not been in the water since. She suggested using a body double, but knew that it would be too obvious to audiences due to the difference in hair length. She filmed the scene, but suffered from anxiety on the first day of filming.
Director Jeunet wanted to display Ripley’s new powers, including a scene in which Ripley throws a basketball through a hoop while facing the opposite direction. Weaver trained for ten days and averaged one out of six baskets, although the distance required for filming was farther than she had practiced.
Jeunet was concerned about the time being spent on the shot and wanted to either use a machine to throw the ball or to insert it later using computer-generated imagery (CGI). Weaver, however, was determined to make the shot authentic, and insisted on doing it herself. The shot required many dozens of takes, during which none of the balls went in. The crew were going to give up, but gave Weaver one last shot, and in this take, she got the ball in perfectly; the idea that she did it in one take is a myth.
The ball was out of frame for a moment during the shot, and Pitof offered to edit it so that the ball was on-screen for the entire scene, but Weaver refused. Ron Perlman broke character when she made the basket, and turned to the camera to say “Oh my god!” There was enough of a pause between Weaver’s basket and Perlman’s statement for the film’s editors to cut the scene accordingly during post-production.
Alien: Resurrection movie trailer.
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya, Dominique Pinon, Brad Dourif, Michael Wincott, Kim Flowers, Raymond Cruz, Leland Orser, Marlene Bush
Screenplay by: Joss Whedon
Production Design by: Nigel Phelps
Cinematography by: Darius Khondji
Film Editing by: Hervé Schneid
Costume Design by: Bob Ringwood
Set Decoration by: John M. Dwyer
Art Direction by: Steve Cooper, Andrew Neskoromny
Music by: John Frizzell
MPAA Rating: R for strong sci-fi violence and gore, some grotesque images, and for language.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: November 26, 1997
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