10 Secrets From The Set Of Ridley Scott's Alien
6. John Hurt And Veronica Cartwright Were Nearly Poisoned By Their Suits
Viewers are first introduced to the aforementioned facehuggers during a scene that involved John Hurt's Kane wearing a space suit. Said outfit was obviously designed to protect his character as he stepped foot on LV-426, but it actually nearly caused the actor and his co-star Veronica Cartwright some serious harm in real-life.
While shooting the exterior moments on the moon, Hurt recalled on the film's commentary (via FilmSchoolRejects) that some tubes broke within their suits at one point, leading to a kind of aerosol making its way into their helmets.
This very nearly poisoned the two, but leaking aerosol wasn't the only thing the actors wearing these costumes had to worry about once suited up. It turns out that the team who designed the suit failed to add a way for their breath to escape.
According to Cartwright (via SlashFilm/Fear of the Unknown), this resulted in the stars eventually breathing in carbon dioxide, meaning they were "passing out like flies," and a nurse was even brought in to give them oxygen. It also didn't help that they were filming during a heatwave, with Hurt sweating so much he couldn't even see out of his helmet.
This wasn't the only time the actors involved ended up suffering for their art on set, though...