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Alien: Ripley Dies
It’s hard to imagine1979’sAlienbeing any scarier.
Next, Scott says, he’d cut to the tentacles of the alien pressing buttons on the dashboard.
Illustration by Robert Sammellin for EW
“It would mimic Captain Dallas [Tom Skerritt] saying, ‘I’m signing off.'”
“So we didn’t do that [ending].”
“He thought there might be something that would be metaphorically and visually more interesting.”
Illustration by Mar Cerdà for EW
“Kubrick thought somebody should get killed because it was a horror movie,” she says.
The lengthy scene was included in preview screenings.
“Stanley was actually very sad that he had misread the audience,” producer Jan Harlan says.
Illustration by Francesco Francavilla for EW
“He trusted the audience to live with puzzles and no answers.”
“The scores were only at 70 percent,” recalls producer Arnold Kopelson.
“I was concerned that the film would be a disaster.”
Illustration by Kagan McLeod for EW
Even before the test screenings, other possible endings were debated.
Producers and the studio tried to concoct some kind of alternative that might soften the blow.
Ultimately Walker’s ending was, despite its darkness, too perfect to change.
Illustration by Tim McDonagh for EW
Kopelson did successfully lobby for a coda, however, where Somerset is assured Mills will be cared for.
“My concerns were diminished by the fourth day of release,” Kopelson says.
“There was a huge audience reaction, which grew every day.
Illustration by Kevin Hong for EW
For many weeks throughout the world, it played to packed theaters and it went on and on.
Hogan a question: “How are you going to save this movie?”
Test audiences hated it.
“They just couldn’t understand her motives.”
Enter Rupert Everett as Julianne’s charismatic gay confidant, George.
“We expanded his character,” Hogan explains.
The image is iconic now.
Michael faces the corner of an abandoned house while Heather screams hysterically and drops the camera.
“When we screened it, people were overwhelmingly confused,” says codirector Dan Myrick.
“However, when asked if they were scared, 19 out of 20 hands went up.”
But the distributor, Artisan, was spooked in a will-this-movie-flop kind of way.
They also shot an interview to explain Mike’s wall stare-down.
When they took footage back to executives, the directors expressed their preference for the original ending.
“What makes us fearful is something that’s out of the ordinary, unexplained,” says Myrick.
Sanchez remembers an exec telling them, “Okay, but it’s going to cost us millions.”
That list nutshells just a few of the possible endings for2013’sFrozen.
At first, Elsa and Anna weren’t sisters, or even royalty.
One by one, producers decided to let those ideas go.
Aw, that’s enough to warm even our hearts.James Hibberd
