Feature:

We report from the Prague set of the highly-anticipated monster team-up, starring Lance Henriksen and Sanaa Lathan

One of the few highlights of the 1990 film Predator 2, sequel to 1987’s Predator, was a chance to see inside the Predator ship, where an Alien skull happened to make an unexpected cameo appearance. The sight of the Alien skull elicited a strong reaction from fans of the Alien and Predator film series who have been waiting more than a decade for the dream pairing of the two cinematic creatures. On the cold outskirts of Prague, under the enthusiastic and watchful eye of writer-director Paul Anderson, the battle is taking place. My friends, Alien vs Predator is here.

On the Prague set of Alien vs Predator, a series of sound-stages are set up to double for an archaeological dig site in the frozen Antarctic. A group of scientists, led by billionaire Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen), have descended upon the location in pursuit of the dying Bishop’s quest for immortality. It’s the present day, roughly 150 years before the events of Alien and the first appearance of Sigourney Weaver as the iconic Science Fiction heroine Ellen Ripley. This Bishop isn’t a robot – he is a man. When Bishop’s crew dig under the ice, they discover the ancient ruins of a pyramid. Within its dark catacomb they find carvings that tell of an ancient civilization ruled by the Aliens and the Predators. And now that the creatures have been reawakened, the creatures are ready to kill everyone in sight – and each other especially.

For Anderson, one of the key elements in making Alien vs Predator was to study the work of his predecessors, most notably Ridley Scott and James Cameron. Anderson’s homework led the writer-director to conclude that the Aliens and the Predators are most terrifying when they’re not on screen as much. “I timed Predator and the first two Alien films and it’s amazing how long it takes for the creatures to appear on the screen,” says Anderson. “The monster in Predator doesn’t fully appear until about an hour into that film and it’s the same for Alien and Aliens. In Alien, the face-hugger didn’t appear until the 45 minute mark in the film and in Aliens, the action doesn’t really begin, in the director’s cut, until an hour into the film. In studying those films, I think the reason those films were the best – and the other films like Predator 2 and Alien 3 weren’t as good – was the fact that the audience had to wait. The creatures are scarier when you’re waiting to see them. You make the audience wait and the terror just builds and builds and that’s one of the reasons Alien and Predator were so effective. The scene with Tom Skerritt and the flame-thrower in Alien is excruciating because you don’t know when the Alien will attack. This is the strategy I’ve adopted with Alien vs Predator.”

by David Grove

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Shivers #114

Photo © 20th Century Fox
Feature © Visual Imagination 2004. Not for reproduction

Taken from

Shivers #114
August 2004
ships from Jul 8 2004
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