An Alien in Hollywood - Ronald Shusett

00:15 – Robin recalls the story of how she met Ron Shusett03:57 – Preproduction in Mexico City during the summer of 198905:15 – Ron recounts a funny exchange with Arnold Schwarzenegger07:27 – Early days of set building09:52 – Special effects in Total Recall14:35 – Ron’s thoughts on the gratuitous violence in Total Recall18:20 – Ron recalls others attempting to throw him off the set26:12 – How Arnold stood up for Ron and prevented his firing27:58 – Making a spectacular film without CGI29:16 – Shooting a key scene in Total Recall33:23 – The inspiration behind the ‘Face on Mars’34:47 – Ron talks about the Total Recall remake37:55 – How Ron felt before the release of Total Recall39:50 – The premiereTWEETABLE QUOTES“The people who finances it [Total Recall] hated it. It’s just that they didn’t want to lose working with Arnold.” (04:49)“Anything that I felt strongly about, he [Verhoeven] would not try to force me to change.” (09:46)“They tried to fire me on ‘Alien.’ They tried to fire me on ‘Total Recall.’ And they couldn’t on either case. I showed them that I would not use my power against them. I had a powerful connection with Arnold, but I would never put them in a position where Arnold’s on my side and he’s gonna overrule you. I wanted both parties.” (26:40)“They were so talented; they could do effects that work today as good as any movie ever because they were so skilled at what they did. So, it gets down to if you have the right people, it’s much more important than any technology you’ve got.” (28:52)“It seems like the idiots of the world conspire to stop people who have too much vision.” (32:56)🎙️🎙️🎙️Music by Vincent Covello and Vic MigenesArtwork by Barbara MastejListen to all episodes at AnAlienInHollwood.comDiscover Robin's books at RobinMaxwell.comListen to Harry as the host of Podcast JunkiesPodcast production and marketing by FullCast

00:14 – Robin and Harry introduce the topic of today’s episode, Rom Shusett’s Total Recall03:28 – The decision to buy the rights to Philip K. Dick’s short story10:00 – First steps to making Total Recall11:34 – Dan O’Bannon’s involvement12:54 – Challenges with Disney17:29 – Meeting with famed producer, Dino De Laurentiis19:47 – The unique deal that Ron made with Dino24:01 – The issue with the credits26:36 – Ron recalls visiting a ‘spiritualist’30:08 – The number of directors that, at one point, worked on Total Recall32:35 – Working with David Cronenberg33:14 – Financial roadblocks34:06 – From Richard Dreyfuss to Arnold Schwarzenegger35:52 – Landing the star director, Paul VerhoevenTWEETABLES“Alien had changed everything, not just in the sci-fi horror genre. It raised the bar in quality special effects, excellence in story-telling and sheer cinematic terror. And, of course, it made Sigourney Weaver an overnight sensation.” (00:27)“Nothing you can see will awe you when there’ve been so many special effects. You can’t thrill the audience any more than that, because you can never do anything more amazing than you’ve seen in other movies.” (15:04)“I knew that I was never gonna make a deal unless Dino would give me a credit with him. I didn’t want it instead of him.” (24:54)“All of a sudden, when I had nobody but Arnold [Schwarzenegger], he did back-to-back the first ‘Predator’ and ‘Twins.’ And he became number one box office in the world.” (35:25)“And so between Arnold [Schwarzenegger] and [Paul] Verhoeven, well that’s ow the movie got made. I had the star and I had the director.” (36:34)LINKS MENTIONEDRobin’s Website – http://www.robinmaxwell.com/Robin’s Twitter – @TheRobinMaxwell https://twitter.com/therobinmaxwell🎙️🎙️🎙️Music by Vincent Covello and Vic MigenesArtwork by Barbara MastejListen to all episodes at AnAlienInHollwood.comDiscover Robin's books at RobinMaxwell.comListen to Harry as the host of Podcast JunkiesPodcast production and marketing by FullCastWebsite and Podcast Hosting by SimpleCast

00:14 – Robin and Harry share their favorite moments and stories from the season thus far04:06 – Ron explains why he never used other films as inspiration for Alien04:45 – The creation of the adult Alien creature07:18 – How Ron’s editing advice led to one of the biggest scare scenes in Alien11:11 – Ron describes the feeling of seeing his words come to life on the set13:01 – Ron’s vision for the scene where Ripley escapes16:10 – The first screening of Alien18:23 – Meeting Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty19:14 – Ron speaks to the importance of the mood in Alien20:27 – A new genre combining science fiction and horror21:52 – How James Cameron convinced Fox to make a sequel to Alien23:19 – Wrapping up the final days of shooting Alien24:30 – Inviting Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to view the final product26:10 – Robin and Harry speak to the cultural impact and significance of the movie AlienTWEETABLE QUOTESI just saw it as I wanted the mood of Jaws but in outer space.” (04:39)“This rubber suit was the most amazing suit I’d ever seen. It was so organic and so convincing. I knew right away it’s gonna look incredible on-screen cause on stage even when you knew it’s a rubber suit it scared the shit out of you.” (07:00)“And then I was so excited that I got one of the biggest scares that I used to sit with a chair at the front of the movie theater whenever they’d do that scene and watch the audience jump back.” (10:56)"The directors they had were good but they weren’t good enough to live up to Ridley and Giger’s work, to equal it.” (22:44)“Spielberg said it’s better than Jaws. Lucas said it’s better than Star Wars.” (25:02)🎙️🎙️🎙️Music by Vincent Covello and Vic MigenesArtwork by Barbara MastejListen to all episodes at AnAlienInHollwood.comDiscover Robin's books at RobinMaxwell.comListen to Harry as the host of Podcast Junkies and Vertical Farming PodcastPodcast production and marketing by FullCast

Highlights00:16 – Robin tells the story of how she met Ron Shusett02:58 – Introducing today’s episode, Alien: Nostromo03:21 – Pre-production of Alien04:56 – Casting Alien05:46 – The controversy behind Sigourney Weaver landing the lead role of Ellen Ripley09:27 – Figuring out the pacing of Alien14:16 – An incredible crisis that developed among the actors of Alien18:51 – Giving Hollywood executives an ultimatum21:11 – The Chestburster Scene25:29 – Shooting in chronological order from the Chestburster scene on26:47 – Ron shares another behind the scenes moment from shooting Alien29:14 – The nursery set30:42 – The impregnation of the alienShareable Quotes“Sigourney got it by giving a brilliant reading. She was off-Broadway in a hit and they gave her a cold reading and she knocked it out of the park.” (06:07)“They were all not-name stars. They were all proven successes as character actors, but none of them could be prima donnas. But halfway through there became an incredible crisis with the whole cast. They almost all quit.” (14:28)“And so I said, “The movie doesn’t seem to be working. It’s slow and plodding. It’s the right version of the script but the pacing is off. It’s funereal instead of suspenseful.” (10:17)“And from then on, they were really scared of that monster. They’re performances showed it.” (25:08)🎙️🎙️🎙️Music by Vincent Covello and Vic MigenesArtwork by Barbara MastejListen to all episodes at AnAlienInHollwood.comDiscover Robin's books at RobinMaxwell.comListen to Harry as the host of Podcast JunkiesPodcast production and marketing by FullCast

00:13 – Harry introduces his new podcast, An Alien in Hollywood02:11 – Robin describes Ron Shusett05:04 – How Harry met Robin07:24 – Robin breaks down the format of the first few episodes of this podcast09:01 – The genesis of the movie Alien14:47 – The progress Dan O’Bannon made on the first act of Alien15:46 – How Ron came up with the solution of how the alien gets on board17:03 – How Dan met H.R. Giger, the man who eventually worked on the design work for Alien20:15 – Ron tells the story of how Roger Corman came aboard for Alien25:36 – How Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill influenced the production of Alien27:27 – The story of how Ridley Scott came on as the director of Alien29:42 – Ron recounts moments of discouragement he felt while trying to get this movie made31:22 – Ridley Scott’s vision for Alien33:18 – Why the Giler/Hill draft of the Alien script didn’t work37:27 – The vindication Ron and Dan felt when Ridley sided with their scriptMusic by Vincent Covello and Vic MigenesArtwork by Barbara MastejListen to the full series at analieninhollywood.comListen to Harry as the host of Podcast JunkiesRead Robin's books on RobinMaxwell.comPodcast production and marketing by FullCastWebsite and Podcast Hosting by SImpleCastCLAIM=ed14f6b2e96e29db90bf079e802cb0b74edb8e1e=CLAIM