News culture Alien: The most mythical creature in horror cinema would never have existed without the Dune saga!
Did you know that Dune and Alien are connected? Not through history, of course, but the second couldn’t exist without the first! We’ll explain everything to you!
Summary
- Alien, the eighth wonder of the world
- From Dune to Alien
Alien, the eighth wonder of the world
Alien is cult! Nobody can say otherwise. Between the box office hit of the first film in 1979, which showcased space horror like never before, the talent of Sigouney Weaver in the lead role of Ellen Ripley, and the universe of a saga that will still be there 40 years later, there’s no doubt that the Alien franchise still has good years ahead of it.
But what made this license so famous is obviously its star: the Xenomorph. His terrifying aura, his method of reproduction, all the mystery that surrounds him and of course his design make him the ultimate horror creature.
At the time, “Alien: The Eighth Passenger” was only Ridley Scott’s second film. While looking for a design for his horror film monster, one day he came across “Necronom IV” in the coloring book of a certain HR Giger. This Swiss artist is known for his distinctive artistic style, often described as “biomechanical,” which mixes organic and technological elements in a very creepy way. His work is characterized by dark and disturbing imagery that blends the organic and the mechanical in nightmarish landscapes.
The pictures speak for themselves:
From Dune to Alien
Giger is literally the father of the Xenomorph. Not only does he have the original design, but he is also the one who will make the alien costume with his own hands in the first work. But then why Dune?
Originally, Giger was involved in a project to adapt Frank Herbert’s novel “Dune” in the 1970s, which died in the (xenomorph) bud. This adaptation was to be directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, a French-Chilean filmmaker known for his experimental and surreal films.
He worked in particular on the concepts of the planet Giedi Prime, the homeworld of the Harkonnen family, one of the main antagonists of the story. Fortunately, these few works carried out for Dune allowed him to be discovered by Ridley Scott!
He later won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for Alien: The Eighth Passenger. So thank you, Jodorowsky’s Dune, for not having him, because that gave us the right to the ultimate predator on the big screen!
