History Trivia / AlienResurrection

* DyeingForYourArt: Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Leland Orser, Gary Dourdan, Kim Flowers, Dominique Pinon, Raymond Cruz and JE Freeman had to do fifteen training sessions in swimming pools in preparation for the underwater scenes. They had to do a further two weeks of training on set before anything was shot. Sigourney Weaver missed most of this, as she had Broadway commitments before filming.

* EnforcedMethodActing: Creator/WinonaRyder nearly drowned when she was a child, and the first scene they shot was the underwater through the canteen scene. Winona Rider had never been in water since her accident. The looks of anxiety before she goes in, and the utter terror on her face when they can't get out the other end? Yeah, those weren't faked. She had an anxiety attack on her first day of filming. The ironic thing? As a robot, Call shouldn't have looked nervous (after all, she doesn't need to breathe).

* ThrowItIn: Creator/SigourneyWeaver actually made that behind-the-back-without-looking basketball shot for real (and in one take, no less), and the shock and surprise the other actors show is genuine. Ron Perlman notably looked directly into the camera and said "Oh my God!"; they cut the audio for the final movie.

** Creator/WinonaRyder has said that she took the role in this before even reading the script, because she had always wanted to be in an ''Alien'' movie and could brag about it to her brothers. She joked that she'd still do it even if she was killed off in the first scene. She also jumped at the chance to appear alongside her idol Creator/SigourneyWeaver.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $75 million. Box office, $47,795,658 (domestic), [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff $161,376,068 (worldwide)]].

* ImageSource: This film provides the page image for:
** NestedMouths

--> "They basically drove a dumptruck full of [[MoneyDearBoy money to my house]]."

** Director Jeunet was uncomfortable with the film from the beginning, as he actually believed that producing another ''Alien'' movie was a bad idea. He also considered himself unfit for the project, as he was specialized in weird, fantasy films as opposed to grim sciencie-fiction like ''Alien'' (and he didn't even speak English, so he constantly needed a translator). The resultant experience, worsened by the heavy ExecutiveMeddling and late budget cuts, made him swear off Hollywood for decades. However, he has stated he is actually proud of the film itself even if it wasn't perfect nor pleasing to do.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Note that, Joss Whedon's complaints to the contrary, the ''script'' to the fourth movie is substantially the same as the one he handed over (except for the ending, as he wanted the conclusion to be set on Earth but Fox instead pushed for the one still on the ''Auriga''). It's the ''rest'' of the project that got screwed up. According to Whedon, he wrote the film as a camp SelfParody and the studio chose to play it straight instead.

* CreatorKiller: Slightly subverted because director Jean-Pierre Jeunet wasn't actively looking for a career on American soil, but this film ensured he wouldn't get another call until 2013. The film also did critical damage to the career of producer Gordon Carroll, who only did ''Film/{{AVP}}'' before he died.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The climax would have actually taken place on Earth, and instead of the Newborn there was a massive white-colored Alien. Joss Whedon wrote five drafts, but Fox didn't want them so they wrote the eventual third act without his input. There is an alternate version of the ending where [[spoiler: the crew land on Earth, and the final dialogue is exchanged near the ruins of Paris]].
** Jean Pierre Jeunet wanted to include a scene where a mosquito would bite Ripley - and then be dissolved from the acid in her blood. He had to drop the idea when the SFX team told him how much it would cost.
** The Newborn had both male and female genitals during filming, but were digitally edited out at the orders of the studio.
** Should Creator/SigourneyWeaver not come back as Ripley, the other idea for the film would be to have a clone of Newt as the protagonist instead.
** Dr. Wren was written to be played by Creator/BillMurray, in the hopes of reuniting him with Creator/SigourneyWeaver since ''Film/GhostbustersII''.
** The role of Call was written for Creator/AngelinaJolie but she turned it down.
** Concept art of the Newborn showed it resembling Creator/SigourneyWeaver's face. This was abandoned, as the film ''{{Film/Species}}'' used a similar idea.
** Perez was supposed to die by being sucked through a hole in the side of his ship. Jeunet felt this was too spectacular for such a minor character, and so that death was given to [[spoiler: the Newborn]] instead. Perez's actual death was almost cut, as the studio disliked it, but kept in after test audiences responded favourably to it.
** Creator/JossWhedon's original script had another member on the Betty crew - an Asian assassin called St. Just.
** Creator/DannyBoyle was Fox's first choice to direct. Boyle later said he thought Whedon's script was brilliant, but didn't trust the studio to give him creative freedom. He ultimately turned down the film in order to make ''Film/ALifeLessOrdinary''. Creator/PeterJackson was asked to direct, but declined as he could not get excited about an ''Alien'' film. Creator/DavidCronenberg was an early choice to direct but later passed. Creator/TerryGilliam and Creator/BryanSinger were also approached.
** Creator/WilliamHMacy auditioned for Dr. Geidman. During the audition with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, he felt the scene he was reading was so ridiculous, he said "You know what guys, This is never going to happen," got up and left the room.
** Creator/JossWhedon wrote Christie with Creator/ChowYunFat in mind. Yun-Fat's manager and producer Terence Chang turned down the role for him.
** Jean-Pierre Jeunet originally wanted to cast a woman as the main villain but the studio refused, seeing as the film already had two female leads.

* OldShame: This remains a sore spot for Creator/JossWhedon. He supposedly wrote the script as a parody. Needless the say, the irony blew up in his face.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Note that, Joss's complaints to the contrary, the ''script'' to the fourth movie is substantially the same as the one he handed over (except for the ending, as he wanted the conclusion to be set on Earth but Fox instead pushed for the one still on the ''Auriga''). It's the ''rest'' of the project that got screwed up. According to Whedon, he wrote the film as a camp SelfParody and the studio chose to play it straight instead.

** Creator/JossWhedon was dissatisfied with the film, among other things because he was roped to play straight a ''parody'' scrip he had written.

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/JossWhedon was dissatisfied with the film, and director Jeunet swore off Hollywood after the experience.
* CreatorKiller: Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet didn't do another film on American soil until 2013. The film also did critical damage to the career of producer Gordon Carroll, who only did ''Film/{{AVP}}'' before he died.

* ProductionPosse: Creator/RonPerlman and Dominique Pinon, who had both previously worked with Jeunet.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Note that, Joss's complaints to the contrary, the ''script'' to the fourth movie is substantially the same as the one he handed over (except for the ending, as he wanted the conclusion to be set on Earth but Fox instead pushed for the one still on the ''Auriga''). It's the ''rest'' of the project that got screwed up. According to Whedon, he wrote the film as a camp parody and the studio chose to play it straight instead.

* ActorAllusion:
** Creator/SigourneyWeaver made a point of not looking the Newborn in the eye whenever she had a scene with it. This was something she had learned from ''Film/GorillasInTheMist'' - to never look a potentially dangerous animal in the eye.
** Creator/RonPerlman previously had someone say "who were you expecting? Santa Claus?" at him in ''Film/TheCityOfLostChildren'', by the same director as well.

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/JossWhedon was dissatisfied with ''Alien: Resurrection'', and director Jeunet swore off Hollywood after the experience.

** Creator/DannyBoyle was Fox's first choice to direct. Boyle later said he thought Whedon's script was brilliant, but didn't trust the studio to give him creative freedom. He ultimately turned down the film in order to make ''Film/ALifeLessOrdinary''.
** Creator/PeterJackson was asked to direct, but declined as he could not get excited about an ''Alien'' film.
** Creator/BryanSinger was approached to direct.
** Creator/DavidCronenberg was also an early choice to direct but later passed.

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

* EnforcedMethodActing: WinonaRyder nearly drowned when she was a child, and the first scene they shot was the underwater through the canteen scene. Winona Rider had never been in water since her accident. The looks of anxiety before she goes in, and the utter terror on her face when they can't get out the other end? Yeah, those weren't faked. She had an anxiety attack on her first day of filming. The ironic thing? As a robot, Call shouldn't have looked nervous (after all, she doesn't need to breathe).

* {{Corpsing}}: Vriess's line was originally "Who were you expecting? The Easter Bunny?" but it kept setting everyone off in hysterical laughter (due to the actor saying "''Eastern'' Bunny").

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''{{Series/Firefly}}'', as pointed out by Michael Marano in the essay ''River Tam and the Weaponized Women of the Whedonverse''. That work and ''Resurrection'' share many character archetypes and plot elements (notably the "Weaponized Woman", in the form of Clone!Ripley and River Tam.) It's evident that Joss Whedon had his work on this film in the back of his mind while he was working on ''Firefly''.

** Jean-Pierre Jeunet originally wanted to cast a woman as the main villain but the studio refused, seeing as the film already had two female leads.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The budget was significantly smaller than the previous ''Alien'' films, so the claustrophobic feeling was a result of toning down the sets and focusing on more close-ups.

* TroubledProdcution: Compared to the other films in the franchise, production was relatively sedate. There was only one major thing that went wrong during filming — Ron Perlman injuring himself and nearly drowning while filming one sequence, which required the shooting schedule to be slightly reshuffled to give him time to recover — and production and post-production otherwise flew by without a single problem. At most, there was that water chase sequence which proved an exhausting experience for all in the cast and crew. That's not to say things were entirely okay behind the scenes, though, as Joss Whedon had major differences of opinion with the producers and Jean-Pierre Jeunet over the tone and design of the film, but was overruled on every occasion. Even then, he didn't kick up much of a stink, since he was too busy setting up ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' to get involved in any major disputes.

** Creator/DannyBoyle was Fox's first choice to direct. He turned it down in order to make ''Film/ALifeLessOrdinary''.

** Creator/WilliamH.Macy auditioned for Dr. Geidman. During the audition with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, he felt the scene he was reading was so ridiculous, he said "You know what guys, This is never going to happen," got up and left the room.

** Creator/DannyBoyle was Fox's first choice to direct. He turned it down in order to make ''Film/ALifeLessOrdinary.
** Creator/PeterJackson was asked to direct, but declined as he could not get excited about an Alien film.