Memory: The Origins of Alien is a 2019 documentary directed by Alexandre O. Philippe that examines the production of the 1979 film Alien, with particular focus on the role of co-writer Dan O'Bannon in its development. It uses interviews with the film's cast, crew and other industry professionals, as well as behind the scenes clips, to detail the development and filming of the movie and analyze its subtext. The documentary premiered on January 24, 2019 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah,[1] which was followed by a limited theatrical run in both the United States and United Kingdom.[2]
Overview[]
The documentary features no formal narration but instead relies on newly-filmed and archive interview clips to tell the story of the film's development, interspersed with a variety of behind the scene materials, including story notes, drawings, designs, on-set footage and Dan O'Bannon's original 29-page Memory script. It opens with a dramatization of the ancient Greek tragedy The Eumenides, specifically the scene where Clytemnestra's ghost wakes the Furies and asks them to avenge her murder at the hands of her son Orestes, in which the interior of the Temple of Apollo is rendered in the style of Alien, with corridors akin to those aboard the Nostromo and a blue laser field covering the sleeping Furies.
After the introduction, the documentary proper begins, starting with Diane O'Bannon's account of her late husband Dan's childhood and upbringing, including the love of science fiction literature that led him to becoming a screenwriter. The bulk of the documentary is dedicated to the development of the script for Alien, starting with the script Memory, which formed the basis of the final film. Some of the many influences that inspired the film are discussed, ranging from comics to films to real-life parasitic wasps to O'Bannon's own Crohn's disease. O'Bannon's love of H. R. Giger's artwork is also covered, along with his role in recruiting the Swiss artist to the production. After a look at the filming of the iconic Chestburster scene, the remainder of the film discusses the various subtexts contained within the film, finally tying back to the story of the Furies as recounted in the introductory dramatization.
The documentary includes interviews with several members of Alien's cast and crew, including writer Ronald Shusett, actors Tom Skerritt and Veronica Cartwright, art director Roger Christian, editor Terry Rawlings, associate producer Ivor Powell, and O'Bannon's wife Diane O'Bannon, as well as archive interviews with director Ridley Scott, writer Dan O'Bannon, actor John Hurt, and Alien designer H. R. Giger. It also includes interviews with individuals from various other fields, including directors Axelle Carolyn, Roger Corman, Adam Egypt Mortimer and Gary Sherman, Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz, authors Ian Nathan and Michael Peppiatt, New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer, comic book writer Tim Boxell, professors Nicholas J. Cull, Henry Jenkins, William Linn and Drew Morton, film critic Alan Jones, literary critic S. T. Joshi, Hellenic expert Denise Demetriou, podcaster Clarke Wolfe, Giger's wife Carmen Giger, and Giger's friend Bijan Aalam.
Availability[]
Memory was released on DVD in the United Kingdom on September 2, 2019 — making it one of three documentaries on the Alien franchise to receive a stand-alone home video release (the others being Giger's Alien, which received a limited edition LaserDisc release in Japan, and The Alien Saga).
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Sundance Institute - Latest Additions to 2019 Sundance Film Festival Announced". Retrieved on 2018-09-11.
- ↑ "AVPGalaxy - Memory: The Origins Of Alien Now Available for Pre-Order in the UK!". Retrieved on 2019-07-15.