Movies - TV
Alien's Cast Had To Get Used To Constantly Passing Out On Set
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi film "Alien" follows the crew of the spaceship Nostromo as they confront a relentless, deadly extraterrestrial alien after it infiltrates their vessel.
John Mollo designed the film's space suits, incorporating an aesthetic matrix that included the drawings of artist Jean Giraud, 1979 NASA, and centuries-old samurai armor.
Actors Veronica Cartwright and Tom Skerritt discussed the suits in the documentary "Fear of the Unknown," claiming they nearly suffocated because of a design flaw.
Throughout the filming of the spacesuit scenes, several actors passed out. Eventually, a nurse had to be brought in with an oxygen tank to make sure the actors could breathe.
"Alien" was shot in the middle of the summer, which made the sound stages only that much hotter. Cartwright, who played Lambert, stated, "It was a 115 [degrees Fahrenheit]."
Cartwright said designers had "forgotten to put in any sort of escape for our breath [...] if you're in there for any length or period of time you start breathing carbon dioxide."
Skerritt shared his fear of the suits: "We were passing out like flies! I mean it was unbelievable. Poor John [Hurt…] would sweat so profusely in there he couldn't even see!"