Tuesday 8 March 2016

Alien 3: Anonymous crew member speaks from Empire magazine, 1992

Here’s something I’ve been in possession of for a long time and have wanted to share for quite a bit.

For reasons that may already be apparent (the wallpaper) but will probably become clearer over time, I have a great fondness for Alien³. On its release, Empire magazine (then a readable publication) did the obligatory feature on the movie in its September 1992 edition. Unusually, amidst the interview with Sigourney, fire-fighting her way through it (‘we did not reshoot… that is a misnomer’), part of the issue features a feat of admirable investigative zeal, the full-page feature below, an interview with an anonymised ‘highly experienced special effects technician from London’. I think this as close to an unexpurgated account of the behind-the-scenes of the production as I’ve ever seen, as whoever it is (I have no wish to speculate) doesn’t pull their punches.


I’ve never seen this on the internet anywhere, on any blogs or whatever, so enjoy. 

'I Was There!', Empire, September 1992


Incidentally, in the same issue, the great Kim Newman review the film and gives it two stars. Robbed!