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James Cameron Speaks On Killing Off Central Characters in Alien 3

This is the full podcast interview:

 
:rolleyes:

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IDKFA said:
Not comparable.

The equivalent would be if T3 killed off Sarah and John in the first scene.
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Killing off John and then proceeded to shat over Sarah Connor's legacy all in the name of DEI. The film itself was fine until Sarah Connor came into it...enough of the nostalgia bait! I hope the reboot which Cameron is working on is just that.
 
James Cameron is wrong on this one.

The best part about Alien 3 is that both died, which was a great choice, because it quickly set the dark, almost hopeless, mentally isolated tone of the movie. It was an immediate "shit just got real" moment. It made the movie exceptionally interesting to watch, because after that scene, you didn't know what would happen next. It was exciting. Too many movies and sequels become stale and predictable, introducing fan service, giving the audience what they apparently want, trying to turn their audiences into consumers, which ultimately is fucking boring. Truly great movies or works of art should always keep a certain distance to the audience, treating them as spectators rather than consumers. Spectating a movie will always be way more exciting than consuming a movie that is directly catering to the audience (probably through extensive focus testing and market research before the premiere).

This is what seperates works of art from mere products. Alien 3 miraculously managed to become a work of art (at least in the assembly cut version), eventhough Hollywood tried their best to sabotage young David Finchers true vision of Alien 3 by demanding stupid, marketing driven alterations during the shooting of it.

Alien 3 is a great movie and a great ending to the Alien trilogy and the story of Ripley, because that's ultimately what the Alien triolgy is about: The story of Ripley, and not some likeable side Characters that made their debut in the second movie.
 
The fact they killed them was shit.

But what pissed everyone off and, frankly killed the franchise, was that they killed them off screen as a .txt file mixed with some foley SFX of throwing up.

Death scenes can define movies, genres and careers. Look at how Alex Murphy died.

Instead we get notepad, OOF.mp3, rapists and the incredible ability to make practical effects look like CGI with the infamous shitty GAYLIEN they had.

At least Alien Romulus looked fucken GORGEOUS. Those aliens were jawdropping. I couldn't believe I was watching a modern movie that looked so good and so real.

When the alien does that slow stand up from being coiled - you know you're fucked.

Alen, Aliens, Alien Romulus and call it a day.
 
To this day, David Fincher refuses to acknowledge Alien 3

All subsequent attempts to recut the film, including the "Assembly Cut" of the film released with later Blu-ray collections, were made without his involvement

Fincher has subsequently worked with Fox on later films so it's not that he personally hates Fox forever but when he disowns something, he really means it
 
If there is one thing I am certain about in life it is that Alien 3 is the worst film in the franchise and the only one with zero redeeming qualities.
 
CastorSoze said:
Didn't the Colonial Marines game do something to get Hicks into the game?
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Yes, but I'm not sure if that's considered canon.

Basically in that game, the Sulaco was intercepted by Weyland Yutani after Aliens, Hicks was captured, an unnamed person got face-hugged and put in his place and a mechanical fire in that confrontation is what caused Newt Ripley and that unnamed guy to be jettisoned to the prisoner planet.
 
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ZeroZeroQuatre said:
I never cared about Hicks & Newt and I'm glad they both died :messenger_kissing_smiling:
I don't even want to imagine an Alien movie with all three of them running around with plot armor.
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Newt is the charming heart of Alien 2... He's my favorite character. I really wanted to see it.
 
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NeverYouMind said:
If there is one thing I am certain about in life it is that Alien 3 is the worst film in the franchise and the only one with zero redeeming qualities.
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That'd be Covenant - literally the worst Alien related media/film.
The only good scene about that movie are the citadel bombing and dissected Shawn's discovery (which was pretty gruesome) - both cut from the theatrical release lol.

A film even worse than the idiocy of Prometheus since even that had some GREAT scenes in it.

As for 4...that at least was a fun, action filled romp with some great FX back in the day.

So, yeah, covenant is IMO the worst Alien film so far
 
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I like Alien 3 than Aliens since it has that almost similar tone to Alien. Not saying Aliens was bad but the tone of the movie felt like more action oriented compared to the other 2.

Alien Resurrection felt like comedy horror. PG-13 level and forgettable to the point I had to edit this post just to mention it.

Prometheus had great scenes but not without issues.

Covenant, I don't get it.
 
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Yeah there was a ton of different ways they could have gone - killing them off screen was the worst. It just clashes too hard with Aliens, you can't watch them back to back without it being completely jarring. Should have just had Ripley get separated from them in some way if you didn't want them in the movie.
 
Alien 3 doesn't exist in my dojo. Aliens had the perfect ending, Ripley faced her fear and conquered it and gained an adopted daughter after the one she lost. Plus Hicks. They should have left it there.

Sometimes the best artistic vision is to quit while you are ahead.
 
Rat Rage said:
The best part about Alien 3 is that both died, which was a great choice, because it quickly set the dark, almost hopeless, mentally isolated tone of the movie. It was an immediate "shit just got real" moment. It made the movie exceptionally interesting to watch, because after that scene, you didn't know what would happen next. It was exciting.
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I appreciate what you're saying (and I even quite enjoyed Alien 3 for what it was) but I do think, objectively, that the film's narrative choices are bad. "Objectively" is a big claim, of course, but here's how you can tell: Watch Aliens again. Go though Rilpley's one in x-thousand rescue after the events of Alien, the trauma of having lost her entire life and reputation, deciding to face the Alien threat once more, almost being killed by the hubris of the marine corps and treachery of Weyland Yutani, and through all that having rebuilt a family unit with which to face the future. And now, after the final, peaceful, fade to black, the following text appears on the screen...

(And then everybody died.)

And that's Alien 3's problem, it's a shit ending to Aliens that doesn't work, and Aliens is far too strong a film to be undermined in that fashion so Alien 3 ultimately has to get out of its way and not be taken seriously.
 
Hard Cut pretty much summed up my thoughts about Alien 3. Flawed movie but I've always had a soft spot for it.

 
bitbydeath said:
Newt especially.
Imagine Alien3 as a babysitter movie, it would have been awful.
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It might not have gone that route, remember, Newt survived weeks/months alone in alien infested areas so we might've gotten a glimpse of how and what she learned in that period.
 
When I heard most of the cast was killed off, I put off watching it for a long time. Eventually, I gave it a shot and ended up enjoying it as a standalone movie.
 
Mr Hyde said:
Too much alcohol and drugs. His incoherent ramblings makes his podcast almost unwatchable.
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Ah, that's too bad. I heard him on a few (Rosenbaum, etc) and he just seemed a little rusty with the format. Seems like he has a number of shows with some interesting guests/topics, so I'm gonna give a few a listen.
 
jason10mm said:
Ah, that's too bad. I heard him on a few (Rosenbaum, etc) and he just seemed a little rusty with the format. Seems like he has a number of shows with some interesting guests/topics, so I'm gonna give a few a listen.
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Biehn has been on record several times about his substance abuse and citing it as a reason he didn't advance his career beyond the 90s. I believe he is healthy and sober now since many years back but you can clearly see it has taken a toll on him.
 
Giallo Corsa said:
That'd be Covenant - literally the worst Alien related media/film.
The only good scene about that movie are the citadel bombing and dissected Shawn's discovery (which was pretty gruesome) - both cut from the theatrical release lol.
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It is better than Romulus and the central plot is very strong despite having inconsistencies with Alien lore. It is a far better follow up to Prometheus than Alien 3 is to Aliens.
 
ZeroZeroQuatre said:
I never cared about Hicks & Newt and I'm glad they both died :messenger_kissing_smiling:
I don't even want to imagine an Alien movie with all three of them running around with plot armor.
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The point is, Ripley's story was completed. They didn't need to continue it. An ALIEN film with the Colonial Marines or some such would have been fine. Or a new (well thought out) story altogether.
 
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