10 Movie Directors That Lied To Get What They Wanted

One of the most famous pieces of behind-the-scenes trivia not just about Alien but perhaps all films ever is that Ridley Scott surprised and disgusted his entire cast by not telling them about the extent of the chestburster effect. Keeping it as vague as possible meant that when John Hurt’s body exploded, his cast would react as realistically as possible as they were showered with animal guts and blood.

However, it’s not as widely known that Scott pulled this kind of trick all over again when he returned to the Alien universe to shoot 2012 prequel Prometheus.

The first crew member to die in the film is team biologist Millburn who gets taken out the Hammerpede; an alien snake-like creature that crawls inside of his suit and goes for a trip down the man’s oesophagus. Shortly thereafter, the crew learn about Milburn’s death by finding his corpse.

This was all in the script and was explained to the cast. However, Scott left out an important detail. Once Kate Dickie, playing the role of Ford, rolled Milburn’s body over, the Hammerpede was going to shoot out of his suit at them. Sure enough, not expecting such an effect, the actress screamed in shock and terror.

Fair warning to any actors ever working with Scott in the future. There are surprises and lies by omission potentially in your wake.