The ramp-up to Prometheus, a sort of spiritual prequel to Alien, has included some wickedly clever video tie-ins, like a faux TED Talk and a super-creepy android infomercial. But instead of looking forward, let’s look back and go to the tape – fast-deteriorating tape, alas – at interviews with the original Alien cast and crew.
The Texas Archive of the Moving Image has preserved the collection of pioneering Austin television figure Carolyn Jackson, who interviewed Woody Allen, Joe Namath, Richard Pryor, Carrie Fisher, and Brian De Palma – to name but a very few – over the course of her decades-long broadcasting career.
In 1979, Jackson took part in an Alien press junket, sitting down with director Ridley Scott and asking if he planned to stick with this whole moviemaking thing – Alien, you’ll recall, was only his second feature film, after a distinguished career in commercials.
Jackson also spoke with stars Sigourney Weaver and Tom Skerritt and visual effects artist H.R. Giger, who would win an Oscar for his work on Alien. The quality isn’t great – that’s tape deterioration for you – but it’s interesting stuff nonetheless. All the interviews are available for viewing over at the TAMI website. But consider yourself warned: You can easily lose hours sifting through all the archive material, and hitting the “random film” button is loads of fun.
The Ridley Scott interview is embedded below. Prometheus opens in U.S. theatres this Friday, June 8.
This article appears in June 1 • 2012.
