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A director's first film is always particularly scrutinized. The dice are cast, and predictions begin to emerge about a possible second film. Provided that it is a success, or at least not a total flop.
In the case ofAlien 3 (1992), David Fincherwho was making his debut in the world of cinema after a rich career in music videos, the critics were harsh, but the box office receipts were paradoxically correct, proof of the popularity of the saga initiated by Ridley Scott in 1979. Which did not prevent the director from several years later Seven, Fight Club And Zodiac to disown the film, explaining that he felt hindered in his creative freedom by the studio, which was too interventionist for his taste.
In a recent interview with Deadlineorganized on the occasion of his tribute at the Venice Film Festival, the star of the film, Sigourney Weaveragrees with him, explaining that the difficulties encountered on this ambitious project have nothing to do with the multiple takes requested by its director, known to be ultra-perfectionist.
“I felt like David had to call every day and fight so we could shoot what he wanted the next day, she said first. And I'm sorry he didn't get a chance to get a handle on the script before we started.“.
For her, these working conditions made filming “very difficult“.
It should be remembered that David Fincher arrives on this horror blockbuster after two Hollywood cinema giants: Ridley Scott, author of the first AlienSO, and James Cameron, the one from Aliens, the return. As soon as he was hired, the studio put pressure on him. Seven years after the second opus, the young director released his version, or at least he thought so…
“I felt the lack of support from the studios very strongly.“, remembers the one who played Ripley, before specifying: “It was a transitional moment where studios stopped focusing on 'let's make great movies' and began to focus on 'let's not lose money'They had the good idea to bring David Fincher on board for his first film, but not supporting this guy once he was hired was very stupid.“
In the script that had initially attracted David Fincher, Ripley was supposed to be in a coma for half the film, and there was supposed to be a plot in a monastery, pitting mysterious monks against each other. It is clear that the result was diametrically opposed to David Fincher's vision. A state of affairs that pushed him to distance himself from his Alien :
“I recently heard that David had backed out of the project and I'm sorry about that because I loved working with him and I think we made a good film,” adds the actress.
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David Fincher, for his part, delivered himself to the Guardian 15 years ago, and haven't looked back on it since:
“I had to fight for every detail on that movie. Nobody hated it more than I did. It was a baptism of fire. I was very naive. For many years, I was around the kind of people who finance movies and the kind of people who are there to close deals for movies. But I always had this naive idea that everybody wanted to make movies as good as possible, which is stupid. So I learned with that movie that nobody really knows, so nobody has to care, so it's always going to be your fault.“
An indifference that discouraged him, he who was teeming with new ideas:
“On this movie, I was the guy who was constantly the voice saying: 'We have to do better, we have to do this, it doesn't make sense.' And very quickly, they replied: 'He's still doing that, he's foaming with rage, he seems so passionate. They didn't care.'”
Furthermore, in 2003 Fox decided to re-edit the film, supposedly to reproduce his vision… but without integrating him into the project. The divorce was then completely confirmed.
Sigourney Weaver: “There's only one queen, and she's the alien queen!”