Well folks, you saw ALIEN: RESURRECTION yesterday, and some of you agreed with my opinion of it, and others did not. Good, this is as it should be. It reaffirms my belief that I am not god and that my opinion is mine. It's been about a 50-50 split so far. I just received the following letter from H.R. GIGER's agent. Now usually I don't do this sort of thing, but since it is Thanksgiving, and Fox is going to make a mint off of Giger's creative genius, I thought it would be especially appropriate and ironic to observe that Fox didn't feel like "giving thanks" to the man most responsible (in my eyes) for the success of the Alien franchise. This outraged me. After reading it, I thought back to the premiere and nobody... NOBODY thanked Giger for his original vision of these creatures, Ridley Scott was thanked by Jeunet though. A catastrophic oversight. I love Giger's vision for these creatures and think that alongside the Predator, it stands alongside the great designed creatures in history. Of course Universal doesn't go out of it's way to thank Jack Pierce for the original Frankenstein, Mummy or Wolfman makeup/creature designs, so it's a fairly typical snub. Though that does not excuse it. From me to Giger, "Thank you for the wonderful work you did in bringing us fantastic nightmares unlike we have ever imagined. We know who you are, even if those in charge fail to recognize that." Throw your support behind Giger at http://www.hrgiger.com Here's the letter:
On November 1, 1997 after the first U.S.A. screening of ALIEN:RESURRECTION, H.R.Giger received the news that his name is not mentioned anywhere in the film credits. The following letter is from Giger to 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, stating the artist's opinion.
TO: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
FROM: H.R.GIGER
November 13, 1997
The Alien Quartet has, from the very beginning, contained my unique and personal style. For the first film ALIEN, I was awarded an Oscar for "Best Achievement for Visual Effects". In ALIENS, a film I was not asked to work on, I still received a screen credit for "Original Alien Design". On ALIEN 3, I was cheated out of the Oscar nomination received by that film because 20th Century Fox gave me the credit, "Original Alien Design" again, instead of "Alien 3 Creature Design", as it was my rightful title in accordance to my contract and the work I had performed on the film. In 1976 I had completed two paintings, "Necronom IV" and "Necronom V", in which two long-headed creatures appeared. In 1977 these paintings, were published in my book, NECRONOMICON, by Sphinx Verlag, Basel, in German. It was in this version of the book that Ridley Scott, in his search for a credible Alien creature, came across these two paintings and decided, on them for the full-grown Alien, using the words "That's it!" The statement has been graciously repeated by Ridley Scott in almost every interview about his work on ALIEN.
The creatures in ALIEN:RESURRECTION are even closer to my original Alien designs than the ones which appear in ALIENS and ALIEN 3. The film also resurrects my original designs for the other stages of the creature's life-cycle, the Eggs, the Facehugger and the Chestburster. ALIEN:RESURRECTION is an excellent film. What would it look like without my Alien life-forms? In all likelihood, all the sequels to ALIEN would not even exist! The designs and my credit have been stolen from me, since I alone have designed the Alien. So why does not Fox give me the credit I rightfully earned?
As for those responsible for this conspiracy: All I can wish them is an Alien breeding inside their chests, which might just remind them that the "Alien Father" is H.R.Giger.
H.R.Giger
Amen, well said! --- Harry
