Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 54. Sigourney Weaver in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 53. Winona Ryder in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 52. Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon, Sigourney Weaver, and Winona Ryder in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 51. Sigourney Weaver in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Dutch postcard by Film Freak Productions, Zoetermeer, no. FA 461, 1997. Photo: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Poster image of Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997) with Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder.
The new Aliens prove smarter than usual
Alien: Resurrection (1997) is set 200 years after the events of Alien³. Using blood samples, a group of scientists aboard the USM Auriga creates a clone of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). The scientists work for the company United Systems Military, a kind of successor of Weyland-Yutani from the previous films. Like its predecessor, this company has set its sights on using the Aliens as a biological weapon.
Since Ripley was carrying the embryo of an Alien queen when she died, the scientists hope to obtain such an Alien embryo by cloning it. The plan succeeds and an Alien queen is extracted from the Ripley clone. The clone itself is kept alive for further research, while a nest of Aliens is created through the Alien Queen with a series of hosts kidnapped by smugglers for the first time in two centuries.
The smugglers find Ripley aboard the ship. The youngest member of the group, Call (Winona Ryder), recognises her name. Meanwhile, the new Aliens prove smarter than usual. Soon they escape and pose a threat to everyone aboard the Auriga. Most of the people on board are killed.
Ripley and scientist Dr. Wren (J.E. Freeman) realise that the Auriga is programmed to return to Earth. When the ship arrives there, the aliens will be released on the planet. Ripley, now with part alien DNA and superhuman powers, tries to escape with the smugglers of the spaceship before it reaches Earth.
During their escape, Ripley discovers more about the Aliens; for example, the new Alien Queen has part of her human DNA and is now able to produce living offspring without the need for eggs. The Aliens thus created see Ripley as their mother.
Eventually, Call turns out to be an android. She can break into the Auriga's computer system and programs the ship to crash into Earth in the hope that the crash will kill all the aliens. Just before the impact, Ripley and the last smugglers are able to escape with another ship.
Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 50. Winona Ryder in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 55. Winona Ryder and Sigourney Weaver in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Winona Ryder Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 56. Winona Ryder, Sigourney Weaver and Leland Orser in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 57. Publicity still for Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 59. Sigourney Weaver in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Resurrecting Ripley
20th Century Fox hired Joss Whedon to write the script for Alien: Resurrection as they were impressed with his previous work. Initially, Fox wanted the film to revolve around a clone of the Newt character from Aliens (James Cameron, 1987). Whedon wrote a short script around this idea when Fox decided to try to have Ellen Ripley return in the film.
At first, it was a bit of a mystery how to make an Alien 4, as Ripley died in the previous film, Alien³ (David Fincher, 1992). In the 1990s, cloning was in the spotlight, and that became the basis for the resurrection of Ripley and the xenomorph. Whedon personally found it difficult to incorporate Ripley's return into the script.
Sigourney Weaver, who had played Ripley in all the previous films, initially saw nothing in yet another return of her character. She felt it would be too much of the same. However, she was so impressed by Whedon's script that she agreed to play the role again. It was her idea to give her character some new characteristics, such as the Alien DNA. Weaver also gained mention as a co-producer and an $11 million salary as a result of her input.
Amalgamated Dynamics Incorporated (ADI) was hired to provide the effects for the film, and to design the Aliens for the film. In the previous Alien sequels, H.R. Giger's original Alien (Ridley Scott, 1986) design had already been reworked, for example, the creatures in Aliens (James Cameron, 1987) had a ribbed skull roof (in the previous film it was smooth), the chestburster had arms and the eggs looked different. In Alien³, they went a step further, turning the Alien into a reddish-brown, lightning-fast quadruped.
For the fourth instalment in the series, some changes were made again. In the past, the legs of the aliens were never shown, because in terms of joints they were clearly human. Because in 1997 the computer was now available, digital Aliens could be fully portrayed. To give them a more animal-like appearance, an extra joint was added to the ankle. The tail was also made flatter, as a paddle for the swimming scenes in the film. The old hissing and screeching noises were replaced by growling and roaring, and the Alien eggs were made much more mobile. The appearance of the eggs was brought back to that of the original Alien.
Alien: Resurrection was shot at Fox Studios in Los Angeles. Filming lasted from October 1996 to February 1997. Jeunet had difficulty finding a studio as the production of Alien: Resurrection coincided with several other films such as Titanic (James Cameron, 1997), Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven, 1997) and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1997).
Jeunet wanted to emphasise Ripley's new powers, including in a scene where Ripley throws a basketball through the net in a gym without looking. This shot is real. Sigourney Weaver insisted on doing it herself, though it was said to be almost impossible to do without a machine or digital ball. When it was done, actor Ron Perlman was so impressed that he started cursing in amazement while the camera was still rolling. This 'character break' could be cut out without losing the scene.
Alien: Resurrection officially premiered on 26 November 1997 after a preview in Camarillo, California. In North America, the film grossed $47.7 million, making it the least successful film in the franchise in America. Internationally, the film did better. Its worldwide box office was $161.2 million. Like Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection was met with mixed reviews.
Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun-Times: "The 'Alien' movies always have expert production design. Alien Resurrection was directed by the French visionary Jean-Pierre Jeunet (City of Lost Children), who with his designers has placed it in what looks like a large, empty hangar filled with prefabricated steel warehouse parts. There is not a single shot in the movie to fill one with wonder - nothing like the abandoned planetary station in Aliens. Even the standard shots of vast spaceships, moving against a backdrop of stars, are murky here, and perfunctory."
Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 60. Winona Ryder and Ron Perlman in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 63. Sigourney Weaver in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
Vintage postcard in the Movie's Images series, no. 64. Sigourney Weaver in Alien - Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997).
British postcard in the Mini Series by Lilliput Production, London, no. 505. Sigourney Weaver in Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979).
Canadian postcard by Canadian Postcard, no. A-433. Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn in Aliens (James Cameron, 1996).
British postcard in the Mini Series by Lilliput Production, London, no. 502.
Sources: Roger Ebert (RogerEbert.com), Wikipedia (Dutch), and IMDb.
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