‘It’s Sigourney That Makes The Queen Believable’: James Cameron Tributes His Aliens Actress

‘It’s Sigourney That Makes The Queen Believable’: James Cameron Tributes His Aliens Actress

From April 4 to January 5, 2025, The Cinémathèque is dedicating a fantastic exhibition to James Cameron. Rich in hundreds of artworks and preparatory drawings created by Cameron himself, the exhibition also highlights props, costumes, photographs and interactive technology developed or adapted by the filmmaker throughout his career. Suffice it to say, if you love the Master, the exhibition is absolutely out of the question.

In addition, he conducted a master class where he recalled some memories of the shooting and the creation of his works. Little is known about the inspiration for Aliens, if he told an anecdote about creating a Terminator born in a dream while in Rome in 1981. It was also born from a dream that would eventually find its way into the main scene of the film.

A dream of killer wasps for aliens

“I had a dream that was related to the queen from aliens, or even a scene from a movie, I was in a very dark room, I came to the center of the room and looked at everything. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw that the walls were covered with wasps, and if I moved even an inch, they would attack and kill me.

I used that feeling to create the scene where Ripley is with Newt. He suddenly freezes, comes back and finds himself in the worst possible place, in the alien queen’s nest with all the eggs. When you make a horror movie, it’s obviously in the darkest corner of the unconscious. That moment when he turns around is the pivot of the film.”

Here are the (awesome) pictures again, for memory’s sake…

And Cameron slides in with this tribute to his co-star: “If Stan’s special effects are very good in this scene, it’s really Sigourney, with her acting, her appearance, which is so believable that it makes the Queen believable. She had an Oscar nomination for the film, which was very rare at the time. For a horror film.”

We’ll take this opportunity to remind you that if you own a 4K Blu-ray, the film was released on this medium on April 29th!

Source: Allocine

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