MEMORY - THE ORIGINS OF ALIEN: Poster Debuts For Alexandre O. Philippe's ALIEN Doc

“This is actually a very different film [from 78/52],” Philippe tells EW. “People who expect the 78/52 treatment applied to the chestburster [scene] are in for a real surprise. Memory is the origin story of Alien, but it really is a full-on mythological take on the film. It’s an exploration of the power of cinema, the power of myths. It’s a very unique look at the original Alien film.

 

“Obviously, Ridley Scott is a huge part of that,” the Philippe continues, “but it weighs very heavily on [screenwriter] Dan O’Bannon and H.R. Giger [the artist who designed the look of the titular creature]. We were very fortunate to be able to work with Diane O’Bannon, who is Dan’s widow, and who is one of our executive producers. She opened Dan’s archive for the very first time, so there’s a lot of stuff that fans of the film have probably heard about but have never seen. That includes the original version of the script, that is actually called Memory, that dates back to 1971. Then we worked very closely with the estate of H.R. Giger, and they gave us full access to their archives as well. What they’ve provided is remarkable.” EW.com

“The egg that you see in the poster is the very first painting that H.R. Giger did for Dan O’Bannon,” says Philippe. “It felt like a really nice and appropriate nod to Dan, and also to Giger and their early collaboration on the film.” EW.com

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 Alien the same way again.