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O’Bannon Hates…Everything?

Posted 53 Comments

We all know who Dan O’Bannon is, don’t we? That fella who spawned the idea for Alien. Ya know him, he wrote the original Alien script? The one with the Snark and Robbie and an all male crew? Yeah, that guy! Well Den of Geek recently got chance to interview him:

“Did you have any more input into AvP2: Requiem than just your credit as having created the alien character?

No, no. You’ve got to understand that Walter Hill and David Giler, who have been attached to the project from the beginning, they hate my guts. Because they’re scoundrels. They thought that by pulling a couple of fast ones that they could steal my screenplay credit from the original Alien.”

The interview covers a lot of his other movies but there is quite a bit about Alien/vs Predator in there. Dan seems like quite a bitter man to tell the truth, he talks a lot about his relationship with the producers, his opinions on the direction of the franchise and his own idea for AvP – which thank God, was never realized.

Be sure to read the whole thing. Den of Geek also has two more Alien related articles up: A Call For Aliens Without The Predator and The History of Xenosex. I haven’t read them yet so I don’t know what they’re about. Thanks to geestewart for the news.


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  1. Hicks_0998
    Posted
    We hear Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher, Jean-Pirre Jeunet, John McTiernan and Stephen Hopkins and we think about the beloved Alien and Pred franchises.  We hear Dan O'Bannon and we say "Didnt he write the first Alien movie?" His name should be credited but its rarely heard of within the universe.  But for gods sake man grow the hell up and stop bitching like a little kid because your ideas about the aliens/pred  will not go down well and mate get with the times coz it aint the 70's.  Goddamn senior citizens dont know when to take their meds
    Reply
  2. Frostyharrison
    Posted
    Why are we talking about which movie is the best? There both about situations in which none of you would want to be in! What you should really be talking about is how the HELL ALIEN RESURECTION IS CLOSE TO ALIENS. INTERNET POLLS HAVE SUGGESTED THAT ALIEN RESURECTION IS VERY CLOSE TO ALIENS! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!
    Reply
  3. XENOMORPH ALIENS
    Posted
    i think that is a real dumb idea of what dan o'bannon said about the alien's final cycle for it to become the predator. that is so stupid. i think he was drunk or high on crack or something. i know he created a great franchise but saying that the alien turns into the predator is so gay.
    Reply
  5. JD
    Posted
    Predator will always be my number one, but within the Alien series, I actually prefer Aliens and Alien 3 over Alien.  In my opinion, Alien 3 is a hugely underrated film.  BTW, the Alien morphing to Predator idea is the worst idea I've ever heard.  Absolutely horrific.
    Reply
  6. ZEN
    Posted
    Also maybe he's like George Lucas,when MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE came out they had to get rid of Orco because Lucas said they were stealing his idea from his movie(or some s**t like that).Also he's like what,97?(he sure looks it).He whould'nt know a good movie if it jumped up and licked him on the a$$.I think those other guys had a good idea on trying to get rid of him.And where the f**k is the continuity of the aliens turning into preds?.Theres none at all!!!!.Thank the heavens and the underworlds they ditched him.
    Reply
  7. ZEN
    Posted
    The alien and predator movies are equal,theres no getting around that(although my favorite is P1).And i had the idea about the aliens turning into predators.....WHEN I WAS 7!!!!.Ya,he may have thought up alien,but i thank every diety and demon out there that he did'nt help with the other movies!!!.
    Reply
  8. Kimarhi
    Posted
    I think he was speaking of a quasi update of the Alien Trilogy video game.  Say what you want, but AT was classic stuff at the time.  Still have fond memories of it till this day and it was a sprite based fps.  Since AT is a staple among older fans of the series, I think his thoughts on the game are valid.  I don't mind AvP, as long as it stays out of the Alien/Pred story.  There is a reason every movie isn't an avp one.
    Reply
  9. PRAETORIAN MONSTER
    Posted
    i just read that guy's article "call for aliens without predator".  terrible.  he doesnt speak for us all.  cause when i first saw the joining of the franchises in comic form and bought them, i was happy as can be.  and his blabbering about "his" alien game idea is pathetic.  gearbox will deliver a far more intense experience from the colonial marines perspective and i hope the game dissapoints this guy.
    Reply
  13. TheAncientEnemy
    Posted
    Dan is the man as far as I am concerned. His Alien into Predator idea is pretty out there, but I'm sure no one would accept it anyway.  This guy has way too much experience for any of us internet personalities to try and figure out or criticize. He's lived it. It would be hard for anyone to have to realize that one fo their babies (Alien) grew up into something he hates.  I like what he has to say about sequels and about beating it all to death. I agree that AVP really makes the original Alien movies feel less significant.
    Reply
  14. Kimarhi
    Posted
    Indeed.  Yet to almost get absolutely NO credit for thinking the idea up FIRST..........that is what upsets him.  They changed his work all around and then tried to take soul credit of it.  O'Bannon didn't ghostwrite Alien.  He thought it up with Shushett and Walter Hill and Giler didn't come along until AFTER the success of Star Wars.  In which case they changed things around.  Hill and Giler's version is infinately better than Starbeast, but Starbeast was Alien before it got its makeover and became promqueen.  He has a right to be upset.  And yes both Giler and Hill now credit O'bannon with the original concept.  Its in the quadrilogy.  From O'bannon's word they HAVE to since his lawyers came down on them.
    Reply
  17. Rafael S.
    Posted
    You know all of us love Alien. I do agree for Dan to get mad at AVP but I think is nonsence for him critizizing AVP R when he hasnt even seen the movie   :(    Thats just my opinion.
    Reply
  18. cab12394
    Posted
    aliens were created by the spece jokeys as a WEPON!!!! meant to invade and swarm an entire planet in less than a month!!!!!   >:D     >:D     >:D     >:D    predators suck.   :P  
    Reply
  19. Degman
    Posted
    on a tales from the crypt season dvd in the extra feature their is a question both from an event, and it had one of the producers of the show, and the subject was about a tatto comming to life, or something...  In the old comic book the picture shows the tatto emerging from the chest, and the producer of Tales, said "Walter Hill once told me that picture is what made me think of Alien."---So some people still belive Walter Hill, and If I would have been their I would have stood up in the question line, and informed him who realy created Alien.
    Reply
  21. Kimarhi
    Posted
    Some of what he says is true.  The re-writers did try to jack his stuff and that would infuriate ANYONE.  That said the rewrite of his original script was infinately superior to his watered down/star wars dialogue script.  The man does have talent.........but like George Lucas, his works ultimately suffer from half realized ideas (the highest critically rated SW film is Empire Strikes back which George Lucas neither wrote the script for nor directed) and hokey ass dialogue.  Half of it is tampering with his work and it being superior, the other half, they tried to steal it.  O'bannon was youngish at the time of Alien's production, so having something like that happen on your first handful of movies is bound to make you world weary way to early.  I'm sure if Fincher gave an interview about Alien 3 he'd be pretty pissed off at the studio heads and the script tamperation as well.
    Reply
  23. echobbase79
    Posted
    O'Bannnon has done some great work over the years. I love Return of the Living Dead and Lifeforce. Lifeforce is a very underrated film.   His AvP idea stinks to high heavens, but I'd love to sit down and hear what he had to say at least.
    Reply
  31. Predator-S
    Posted
    I don't know why everyone's fighting about this, but for me Alien is the best film of the entire franchise(s), Predator being a close second. While I like the predator more as a concept, the alien never seez to amaze me with it's beautiful design, sheer brutality and unique reproduction method. There is no doubt they are the best and scariest sci-fi creatures we've ever seen and we're lucky to have 'em.
    Reply
  32. Semaka
    Posted
    Aliens is way better than any film in these franchises! It has action, it has horror, it has everything! I personally think that Predator 2 is better than Predator. What's so scary about a jungle and some soldiers being hunted in the daylight? Aliens is the best!
    Reply
  38. Starkiller
    Posted
    Even tho im a predator fan boy Alien is a better film than Predator & I agree with you Corporal Hicks about Fox being business people and not film makers   :(    The alien turning into a predator is a stupid idea/concept, lets not all dis dan tho, he did create the Alien which was executed well by giger and ridley in the original film    :D  
    Reply
  39. Xenomorphine
    Posted
    To me, the guy doesn't sound bitter; just someone who's managed to weather a lot of what the film industry threw at just about every writer, through those decades.  It's an interesting read, for historical value. Very insightful.  I don't know where his concept of Aliens becomnig Predators would have got the 'versus' theme from, though, as that would make them one and the same thing. I wouldn't agree with somehting like that being put on screen, but then, there's only a hint of it in that interview. The same which has been in others. I would need to know a lot more about it, before just condemning it, out of hand..
    Reply
  40. Xenomorphine
    Posted
    Only in your personal opinions is it "better". You'll find that if you consult the top 100 lists of critics who know what they're talking about and the film-viewing public, at large, 'Alien' always scores much higher than 'PRedator' ever does.  Don't base your feelings on action sequences being what makes a 'good' film. 'The Terminator' would never have become the classic it was, if all there was going for it were the action scenes.  Besides which, 'Predator' only works marginally well as a horror. They're very different styles.
    Reply
  43. bissop
    Posted
    Predator 1 is better than Alien 1 ? Because of story or what reason ???   ;D   mightydreadlock, you're a stupid predator fanboy. Nothing more to say.  ::)  
    Reply
  44. Corporal Hicks
    Posted
    Re: Sulaco  No, there are ideas. It's just only those less able are choose to do new films. Fox aren't film makers, they're business men. They go with what sounds cool and'll make money, not good films.
    Reply
  47. Sulaco
    Posted
    After everything I've seen, maybe the franchises are over, they are doomed and everything I hoped for is gone. I hate to be negative about my favorite movies, but f$ck, that's it, game over man. This new movie looks mediocre at best.
    Reply
  49. mightydreadlock
    Posted
    That second article "A Call For Aliens Without The Predator", man what a moron. Everybody knows Predator is the better film anyway. Alien is pretentious pulp.
    Reply
  50. Venenoso
    Posted
    "and that was that the alien in his next phase turns into the predator" I hope that was mis-quoted. If what went on with Alien is true, I can understand he's upset, but man that idea suck worse than anything Paul A could pull out of his pockets    :o  
    Reply
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