Alien 3: What Really Happened?

3. Production Begins... Without A Finished Script

Before Alien 3, David Fincher had no experience directing feature-length films, let alone a blockbluster sequel to one of the most iconic sci-fi franchises of all time. What he did have were a number of commercials and music videos, and he had previously worked for ILM on films such as Return of the Jedi and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. A clear talent, then, but one who was at that time still a relatively unknown quantity.

Fincher's skills spoke for themselves, but one does have to wonder if the reason why Fox hired the then newcomer was because they thought he'd be easy to control. After all, Fox were said to have interfered with the production of Aliens and it would stand to reason that they were willing to exercise that control yet again. Fincher, who was used to working on tight deadlines to fulfil contracts on music videos and commercials, could've been seen as the perfect candidate to abide the studio's meddling.

Of course, that never happened. Fincher came on board to a film production already in disarray. Hill and Carrol's script was incomplete, which led Fincher to re-write large swathes of the draft while the film was shooting. Indeed, there is no overstating just how large a task Fincher faced while on set, with the director having to help build everything from the sets, to the actual design of the Alien itself.

By the time filming had commenced at Pinewood in 1991, production costs on Alien 3 had already spiralled way over budget. It was the kind of climate that, when taken with Fincher's unwavering pursuit of perfection, made for the perfect storm.

Fincher wanted Alien 3 to be perfect, and that instantly put him at loggerheads with the film's producers. Vox, referencing the documentary Wreckage and Rage, which detailed Alien 3's troubled production, pointed out one particular anecdote of Fincher exploring the possibility of shooting a "thousand" takes of an exploding head, just to get the right shot. Producer Ezra Swerdlow also states in the same documentary that the studio set out to "break" Fincher in response to his opposition.

This all culminated in the studio's rejection of Fincher's three-hour cut, and even to this day, the director hasn't returned to see his original vision released.