10 Making-Of Movie Secrets Hidden In Plain Sight

8. Ash's Insides Are Urinary Catheters - Alien

Drive Christina Hendricks
Fox

From one movie death to another now, and cinematic demises don't come much more iconic than that of android Ash (Ian Holm) in Ridley Scott's original Alien.

Once Ash has its head knocked off by Parker (Yaphet Kotto), we see the android for what it is - a tangle of wires and tubes concealed within a humanoid form, doused in a milk-like fluid to lubricate its internal systems.

But those who work in the medical field might well recognise the distinctly inflated tubing contained within Ash's guts - they're Foley catheters, which are inserted into the human body in order to collect urine from the bladder.

Clearly, someone on the production design team just rustled up a ton of catheters, stuffed them inside the Ash prop and thought "that'll do."

To be fair, unless you're a nurse or have ever been catheterised yourself, you'd likely never know.

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Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.