Terry Gilliam talks sh*t about Alien

July 10th 2018, 3:59pm

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

I think it's safe to say that one of the great filmmakers out there working today is Mr. Terry Gilliam. From his days as part of Monty Python to his classic movies such as 12 MONKEYS starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, Gilliam is always keeping audiences on their toes – for better or worse.

And just like this ability to keep audiences on their toes, Gilliam gives precisely zero f*cks when it comes to reviewing some of our generations favorite films. Again, for better or worse. Today, we have word that Gilliam is out and about talking some sweet smack about Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi horror classic ALIEN. Brace yourself. This is some out-of-left-field hatred right here.

Terry Gilliam on ALIEN:

Alien is just a ghost train where something jumps out and you don’t know who’s going to die next. When I watched the first Alien, all I kept saying was, ‘Just kill them all and be done with it,’ because you just know that they’re all going to die along the way. In the end, Sigourney Weaver, who we’ve established is a really tough military officer, is running around in her underwear trying to find a cat. Give me a f—king break. There are some great moments in it, but the shot that should’ve never been in the film is the one at the end showing the alien getting blown out of the airlock. You see the alien, and it’s just a guy in a rubber suit. Up until then, you only saw bits of the alien, and it seemed to be huge and vast and terrifying. That was so clever. It was like the shark in Jaws. I told Ridley, ‘You don’t want that shot of the alien at the end. Cut it!’

Hell, Gilliam disliked the original film so much that when it came time for Hollywood to start production on ALIEN 3, Gilliam turned them down flat.

Gilliam on turning down ALIEN 3:

I got offered an Alien sequel because I was hot at that time, as a result of Time Bandits and Fisher King, and I just don’t want to do films like that. They are factory jobs, working for a studio. My last factory job was on the Chevrolet assembly plant in Los Angeles, during my junior year of college, night shift on the line. Never again.

Say what you will about Gilliam. I still think the man is a genius who has longs since earned the right to say whatever the hell he wants about whichever films he wants. BRAZIL is THAT good. And speaking of the brilliance of Gilliam, here is another quote from the recent article that I love – even out of context: