Trailer for MEMORY: THE ORIGINS OF ALIEN Takes a Deep Dive into Ridley Scott's Sci-Fi Classic
We’ve got a great trailer to share with you today for an awesome must see documentary called Memory: The Origins of Alien. The doc tells the enthralling behind-the-scenes story of how Ridley Scott’s classic 1979 sci-fi horror film Alien came together and got made. This doc really dives into the development of the film, and it’s filled with so much interesting information.
Here’s the official description:
Memory was a script that Dan O’Bannon started in 1971, abruptly hitting a wall at page 29. But after the idea gestated for several years, it ultimately took the form of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece Alien.
Alexandre O. Philippe’s documentaries—most recently 78/52, about Hitchcock’s Psycho shower scene—have interrogated cinema’s cultural ripples. If MEMORY—The Origins of Alien were only a comprehensive account of Alien’s origins—ancient myths, comic books, H.P. Lovecraft, sci-fi movies, and parasitic wasps—it would still be fascinating. But how did Alien lodge itself so indelibly into our cultural imagination? Philippe’s real interest lies in the deep resonance of myths and our collective unconscious. The strange symbiotic collaboration between Alien creators O’Bannon, Scott, and H.R. Giger suggests a greater synchronicity across history, art, and storytelling, a synchronicity that gives us the Furies, creatures of Renaissance painting, and even chest-bursting aliens.
Propelled by a pure joy of cinema (and sociology), the film is strewn with unearthed archival material, designs, and story notes. It’s safe to say you’ll never think of Alienthe same way again.
I had a chance to see the movie at Sundance earlier this year, and this is what I had to say in my review:
It took a collaborative effort to create this sci-fi masterpiece and it also was umpires by paintings, novels, mythology, world events, and centuries-old sociological and ideological issues. H.P. Lovecraft was a huge inspiration. There are also a lot of crazy theories as well regarding what certain aspects of the film really could mean.
I’m a huge fan of Alien and this movie opened my eyes to a lot of things and gave me a new-found respect for the film.
After watching the movie, it’s fascinating to see how close the movie came to being something completely different. Had Ridley Scott not come on board to direct it, we would not have gotten such a beautifully terrifying sci-fi film. The stars really had to align for this exact movie to get made. Had the original director not dropped out because he thought the script was crap, we would have never gotten this film!
Memory: The Origins of Alien will be released in select theaters + on VOD on October 4th. If you’re a fan of Alien, this doc is required viewing!