25 Things You Didn't Know About Alien

18. 20th Century Fox Almost Didn't Allow The "Space Jockey" Scene To Be Made

Alien Space Jockey
20th Century Fox

Among Alien's many striking visual moments, one which especially stands out is the early "Space Jockey" scene, in which three Nostromo crew members come across the gigantic remains of an alien pilot in a grand, funereal chamber. It's one of the most impressive an effective shots in the entire film, but 20th Century Fox almost stopped it from happening.

Their reasoning was simple. At the time, film props were never this large, and with the set only appearing briefly, this would drive the budget up unnecessarily. Ron Cobb managed to convince the studio that this would be the film's "Cecile B. DeMille" shot, and would set the film apart from low-budget fair.

In this post: 
Alien
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor

A self-taught video editor with nearly 25 years of experience, Joe worked in freelance videography for many years before joining WhatCulture in 2018. During that time, he has expanded his work to include both writing and presenting, and has been at the forefront of several new channel launches including WhatCulture Horror and WhatCulture Star Wars, largely defining their visual identity through the design and curation of their bespoke assets. As a dedicated WhatCulture Gaming staff member, he has spearheaded numerous new content strategies and formats, and has taken the lead on various charitable projects that have raised large sums of money for charities close to his heart. Bluesky and Instagram: @jjpinwheel