History Trivia / Alien3

* HeyItsThatPlace: The opening scene was shot on a beach at Dawdon, an old pit community in County Durham, England - previously used for a chase sequence in ''Film/GetCarter''.

* CashCowFranchise: Fox's attempt to keep ''Alien'' as this led to all the difficulties noted in ExecutiveMeddling and TroubledProduction, as the "Wreckage and Rage" documentary notes, they "didn't set out to make a movie, they set out to make a release date." The film was announced, the release date selected and locked in before Fox had a cast, director, script, writer, or even a ''concept'' (though the teaser, with it's tagline "On Earth, ''everyone'' can hear you scream" indicates at least one idea had popped up), meaning that every subsequent decision was made with the release date hanging over it like the Sword of Damocles. The end result was a film that was massively over budget, barely on-schedule, and so stressful for everyone involved ''no one'' has pleasant memories of the production (which probably only contributed to the film's nihilistic bleakness).

* TheWikiRule: [[http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Xenopedia]] has information on ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'', ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'', and ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator''.

** At one point Creator/RidleyScott was approached to direct but he turned it down due to his commitment to ''Film/FourteenNinetyTwoConquestOfParadise''. He had ideas of exploring the origins of the xenomorphs, which would later manifest in ''{{Film/Prometheus}}''.
** Creator/StanWinston was asked to work on this film, but was unavailable. Instead he recommended Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis, two former workers of his studio who had just started their own company, Amalgamated Dynamics.
** Creator/HRGiger - the original designer for the first Xenomorph - was shafted in favour of Tom Woodruff and Alec Gillis' designs. This didn't stop Giger from faxing his designs to his client, Creator/DavidFincher, after he withdrew from the project.

* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/DavidFincher specifically cast Creator/PaulMcGann and Ralph Brown because he was a fan of ''Film/WithnailAndI''.

** Creator/DavidFincher had such a horrible ExecutiveMeddling-filled experience working on ''Alien³'' that he doesn't list it on his resume, has rejected several attempts to speak on-record for documentaries, and to this day keeps his public comments on the matter few and far between. Some of them include him likening his time in the project to being "sodomized ritualistically for two years", as well as the quote "No one hated it more than me. To this day, no one hates it more than me." Charles de Lauzirika, who produced the ''Alien Quadrilogy'' box set, [[https://www.avpgalaxy.net/website/interviews/charles-de-lauzirika-2/2/ tells that the one time Fincher contacted him]], "[Fincher] was so pained to even mention the title ''Alien 3''" that he felt better to not push too hard on getting the director. This led to Fincher's absence from the extras and the "assembly cut" just being an early cut found in Fox's archives with some newly finished effects, as opposed to how the other three movies had new versions with heavy input from the directors.

** Creator/DavidFincher had such a horrible ExecutiveMeddling-filled experience working on ''Alien³'' that he doesn't list it on his resume, has rejected several attempts to speak on-record for documentaries, and to this day keeps his public comments on the matter few and far between. Some of them include him likening his time in the project to being "sodomized ritualistically for two years", as well as the quote "No one hated it more than me. To this day, no one hates it more than me." Charles De Lauzirika, who produced the ''Alien Quadrilogy'' box set, [[https://www.avpgalaxy.net/website/interviews/charles-de-lauzirika-2/2/ tells that the one time Fincher contacted him]], "he was so pained to even mention the title ''Alien 3''" that he felt better to not push too hard on getting the director. This led to Fincher's absence from the extras and the "assembly cut" just being an early cut found in Fox's archives with some newly finished effects, as opposed to how the other three movies had new versions with heavy input from the directors.

** Creator/DavidFincher doesn't list ''Alien³'' on his resume and had such a horrible ExecutiveMeddling-filled experience he he has rejected several attempts to speak on-record for documentaries, and to this day his public comments on the matter are few and far between. Some of them include him likening his time in the project to being "sodomized ritualistically for two years", as well as the quote, "No one hated (the film) more than me. To this day, no one hates it more than me." Charles De Lauzirika, who produced the ''Alien Quadrilogy'' box set, [[https://www.avpgalaxy.net/website/interviews/charles-de-lauzirika-2/2/ tells that the one time Fincher contacted him]] "he was so pained to even mention the title ''Alien 3''" that he felt better to not push too hard on getting the director, leading to his absence from the extras and the "assembly cut" being just an early cut found in Fox's archives with some newly finished effects (as opposed to how the other three movies had new versions with heavy input from the directors).

** Creator/JamesCameron criticized the sequel harshly, specifically citing [[HappyEndingOverride what became of Bishop, Hicks, and Newt]], though in recent years he has said that aside from that he thinks the movie is fine. Creator/MichaelBiehn was reportedly so annoyed about his character's fate that he only allowed the use of his likeness in exchange for a hefty paycheck (so hefty, in fact, that it was more than his entire fee for ''{{Film/Aliens}}''). Biehn later regretted his angry decision to deny them any chance to use his likeness - in hindsight saying it would have been a great chance to work with Fincher.

** On the flip side, Creator/MichaelBiehn's backlash is not being more accommodating of the film using his likeness. He jokes that "I was very stupid when I was younger" when, upon hearing that there was a dummy mockup of him with his chest exploded like he'd been host to alien, he replied "I don't care how much money you give me, that alien is ''not'' coming out of me." More seriously, he says that if he had known David Fincher would end up being David Fincher, he wouldn't have fought as hard to be paid for his photograph, instead currying favor with a brilliant director in hopes of future work.
** Editor Terry Rawlins was incredibly supportive of David Fincher and considered him as much of an artistic genius as Ridley Scott. He was quite annoyed by the decision to remove the capturing of the Xenomorph and Golic freeing it. While not directly involved, he expressed hope that the Assembly Cut would improve the reputation of the film as he considered it the superior version and may help people recognize it as being on par with Alien.

** From comments he made on the commentary and in some of the footage for the documentary on the Blu-Ray, Creator/LanceHenriksen isn't overly fond of the movie, either, finding it nihilistic, most of the characters despicable, and finding Ripley sleeping with Clemens to be out-of-character. He has even gone on record as saying, "'''FUCK''' Alien³!!!"

** Averted with the Editor being Terry Rawlins who had edited ''{{Film/Alien}}''.

* TheOtherDarrin: Carrie Henn was too old to play Newt, so Danielle Edmund acted as a FakeShemp for her in the opening titles. For the autopsy scene, a cast mould of Carrie Henn was made.

** Creator/Pete Postlewaite as David Postlewaite.

** Creator/DavidFincher disowned the film due to all the ExecutiveMeddling he had to endure during the movie's production.

* OldShame:
** Creator/DavidFincher doesn't list ''Alien³'' on his resume and had such a horrible ExecutiveMeddling-filled experience he he has rejected several attempts to speak on-record for documentaries, and to this day his public comments on the matter are few and far between. Some of them include him likening his time in the project to being "sodomized ritualistically for two years", as well as the quote, "No one hated (the film) more than me. To this day, no one hates it more than me." Charles De Lauzirika, who produced the ''Alien Quadrilogy'' box set, [[https://www.avpgalaxy.net/website/interviews/charles-de-lauzirika-2/2/ tells that the one time Fincher contacted him]] "he was so pained to even mention the title ''Alien 3''" that he felt better to not push too hard on getting the director, leading to his absence from the extras and the "assembly cut" being just an early cut found in Fox's archives with some newly finished effects (as opposed to how the other three movies had new versions with heavy input from the directors).
** Producer David Giler had harsh words for the film in the DVD documentary "Wreckage and Rage", claiming that it wasn't that scary at all and that he regrets his participation. Notably, he attempted to leave the production at one point, but was forced back by a clause in Creator/SigourneyWeaver's contract. He and co-producer Walter Hill later abandoned Fincher midway through production and forced him to rewrite the script on the fly.
** From comments he made on the commentary and in some of the footage for the documentary on the Blu-Ray, Creator/LanceHenriksen isn't overly fond of the movie, either, finding it nihilistic, most of the characters despicable, and finding Ripley sleeping with Clemens to be out-of-character. He has even gone on record as saying, "'''FUCK''' Alien³!!!"
** Elliot Goldenthal admitted that the score wasn't his best work, stating that he only had a week-and-a-half to compose the score due to the TroubledProduction and had to rush through it without thinking of the quality.
** On the flip side, Creator/MichaelBiehn's Old Shame is not being more accommodating of the film using his likeness. He jokes that "I was very stupid when I was younger" when, upon hearing that there was a dummy mockup of him with his chest exploded like he'd been host to alien, he replied "I don't care how much money you give me, that alien is ''not'' coming out of me." More seriously, he says that if he had known David Fincher would end up being David Fincher, he wouldn't have fought as hard to be paid for his photograph, instead currying favor with a brilliant director in hopes of future work.

** An extended sequence of Jude desperately pleading to Madonna in Italian while being chased by the Xenomorph was also cut.

* DeletedScene: Though the assembly Cut does restore most of what was cut from the theatrical release of the film, there are still a number of brief scenes which never made it into either cut of the film--some of which can still be found in [[https://archive.org/details/alien-3-1992-workprint-vhs-rip old bootleg VHS copies of a pre-release workprint cut]].