Alien star Tom Skerritt reminisces about working on the Ridley Scott classic

2024 marks the 45th anniversary of the release of the Ridley Scott classic Alien, and the movie is now available to watch on the Peacock streaming service. To mark the occasion, the folks at Syfy Wire caught up with cast member Tom Skerritt, who plays ill-fated space tug captain Dallas to talk to him about his memories of working on the film. During their conversation, Skerritt revealed that he (and co-star Yaphet Kotto) already knew on set that they were making a classic. He said, “It was something that had never been done before and not over-thought as they were doing it. If you have to analyze things, you’re not gonna be successful. You’re right on the edge of something happening that’s gonna come and get you. It’s sort of like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where you don’t see this awful, horrible person, but you just know he’s there. What is he gonna do? Who is he gonna take? What is going on here? So the audience has that thrill through the whole thing because it was intelligently done and original as could be.“

Skerritt added that there was a lot of laughter on the set of Alien, as “sometimes, scary moments give you more laughter.” He also reminisced about looking at Scott’s impressive storyboards, seeing Xenomorph performer Bolaji Badejo walking around without the alien head on his costume and tennis shoes on his feet, and the deleted scene that showed what happened to his character. Skerritt understood why the moment was cut, because “You don’t get into all of that when you know the [ship] is gonna blow up in a few seconds. You gotta get the hell out of there. And if you suddenly stop [the story cold], it’s just not the way you edit a film.“

Of course, the conversation also covered the unforgettable chestburster scene. Skerritt told Syfy Wire, “I knew we were gonna have a mess with that one, which we did. I was listening to everything that was going on to build this production and, in so doing, had knowledge of what was gonna happen. I didn’t know what it would look or how we would react. And when we reacted, it was real, because I hadn’t seen the dummy that came out. But I knew how they were gonna do that. It was effective. (Veronica Cartwright) almost passed out. When it happened, she just slid down the wall. She actually almost fainted.” The scares were so effective because “(Scott) was giving you the reality all the time.” To read more of the Skerritt interview, click over to the Syfy Wire link.

You probably don’t need a reminder, but just in case, here’s one: Scripted by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, Alien follows the crew of the commercial space tug Nostromo, who, after coming across a mysterious derelict spaceship on an uncharted planetoid, find themselves up against a deadly and aggressive extraterrestrial loose in their vessel.

Are you a fan of Alien, and are you glad to know that Tom Skerritt always knew it was going to be a classic? Let us know by leaving a comment below.