20 Things You Didn't Know About Alien 3
Did you know Meryl Streep is hiding in Alien 3?
The original 1979 masterpiece Alien was met with so much praise, it set a new standard, not just in horror but in cinema. The follow-up, Aliens, was hailed as one of the greatest sequels as well as one of the best action and sci-fi movies ever made. And with Alien³ touted as the final entry in the trilogy (before it became a tetralogy), fans couldn't wait to see how Ripley's story wrapped up. And the short answer is - badly.
Alien³ is not the best film in the franchise nor is it the worst. But it DEFINITELY had the craziest production. Even though Jaws and Apocalypse Now had infamously chaotic productions, at least they didn't go through half a dozen scripts and ten directors like Alien³ did. There was so much executive meddling, the film kept changing the lead characters, the setting, and the premise. At one point or another, Ripley wasn't in the story at all, the plot took place on a wooden planet populated by monks, and a space station transformed into a Xenomorph. (Yes, somebody actually considered that.)
With all these bizarre behind-the-scene antics, the drama behind Alien³ has become far more fascinating than the film itself.
20. The Facehugger Wasn't Meant To Impregnate A Dog
Early on in Alien³, we learn a facehugger has impregnated the dog of one of the convicts. Director David Fincher thought it would be cool to have a Xenomorph-dog hybrid for a change since he wanted the alien to be inhuman and have the look "more of a puma, or a beast".
However, the original plan was to have the facehugger lay its egg in an ox. Only in mid-production did Fincher feel the alien would move better if it had the characteristics of a smaller, more agile creature. It would also be more convenient, since an ox would be a nightmare to transport and easily rattled by the constantly shifting sets. This last-minute change was frustrating for the crew and producers since the ox birth scene had already been set up and filmed by the time Fincher made this decision.
Sadly, this was just one of many, many major inconveniences that occurred on the set of Alien³.