10 Snappy facts about Aliens

Aliens is the sequel to the 1979 hit Alien. Here are 10 Snappy facts about Aliens.

First Academy Award for a female in an action film

At the 1987 Oscars, Sigourney Weaver became the first female actor to be nominated for best actress in an action movie.

Weaver got paid much more for the sequel

James Cameron refused to use anyone else than Sigourney, and also refused to keep it a secret. Her agent was thus put into a better bargaining position. She got paid $1 million, in contrast to the $35,000 she got paid for the original back in 1979. For Alien 3 she got paid $4 million, and Resurrection $11 million.

The soldiers in the movie trained with actual marines.

Al Matthews playing the role of Sergeant Apone was an actual real-life sergeant in the U.S. marine corps.

Carrie Henn appeared in no other movie after Aliens

Child actress Carrie Henn, that played the survivor child “Newt” never again appeared in a movie. She received a Saturn Award for her role.

The set used for the alien nest was also used in Batman.

The set was built in an old power station and left intact after filming. In 1989 during the filming of Tim Burton’s Batman, the set was used for the scene of Axis Chemicals. The scene where Jack Napier fell into the cauldron of acid, turning him into the Joker. Some of the relics from Aliens can still be seen in this part of Batman.

The Terminator connection

The shooting of Terminator, which Cameron was directing, was postponed so that Schwarzenegger could finish filming Conan the Destroyer. This gave Cameron 9 months to write the official script for Aliens. This after he got hired by Fox by just adding an S after the word Alien, and drawing a line through the S to make a dollar sign during the outline of the movie. He was promised the job on the condition that Terminator would be a success.

Ripley dies at the end of the original Alien

According to the original script of the 1979 Alien, Ripley would be mauled and killed at the end of the movie. The folks at Fox did not like the idea and told then director, Riddley Scott, that she was to survive. The whole thing could have ended the Alien franchise.

Music score written in three weeks

Composer James Horner had only three weeks to come up with a music score for the movie. He thought he had six weeks, and had to work with an outdated recording studio. The rushed experience with Cameron, made him swore he would never again work with the director. That was until Titanic of course. To mention, Horner received an Academy nomination for his rushed Aliens score.

Bill Paxton swears 25 times in the movie

Every time Paxton had to swear during filming, he apologized to Carrie Henn.

The film is set in 2179

The movie is set in the distant future, the year 2179. Still far away enough unlike other sci-fi films that already passed the futuristic date.