10 Things You Didn't Know About Alien

4. The Directors€™ Cut€ or is it

In 2003 the Alien Directors€™ Cut was released with the promise of giving the fans €œa new experience€, with five minutes of previously unseen footage. We tend to associate directors€™ cuts as being the definitive version of a given film, reversing all the uneasy compromises that Scott may have been forced to accept to get the film made on-time and on-budget. But not only was the Directors€™ Cut a minute shorter than the original, Scott came out less than two months after its release to say that he still regarded the original cut as €œperfect€ and the proper version. Cue disappointment from armies of fans who felt ripped off. It should be noted that Scott has a reputation for going back and tweaking his old films, not just with the multiple cuts of Blade Runner but with the extended editions of Kingdom of Heaven, American Gangster and most recently Robin Hood. While there Is merit in the extended Kingdom of Heaven, Alien was a film which didn€™t benefit from the extra footage.
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Contributor

Freelance copywriter, film buff, community radio presenter. Former host of The Movie Hour podcast (http://www.lionheartradio.com/ and click 'Interviews'), currently presenting on Phonic FM in Exeter (http://www.phonic.fm/). Other loves include theatre, music and test cricket.