For many fans the demise of Michael Biehn’s Corporal Hicks and Carrie Henns’ Newt was something of a letdown when it comes to Alien 3. The fans weren’t the only ones. Biehn has always been honest about his disappointment regarding Hicks’ fate.
And in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter that covers his career and his notable roles, Biehn talked about finding out about Hicks’ fate:
Alien 3, the troubled 1992 directorial debut from David Fincher, saw Hicks and the young girl Newt (Carrie Henn) die in a crash after the events of Aliens — a move that essentially negated the climactic events of Cameron’s sequel. Unbeknownst to Biehn, the production planned on using his Hicks in the film — and had created a fake version of the character with his chest burst open, apparently after incubating an alien Xenomorph. Biehn got word from a producer friend, and called up his agent, furious. After tense negotiating, Biehn and Limato killed the chest-burster idea, but gave permission to use his picture in the film — in exchange for a big payday.
Biehn has often spoken about the chestbursted fate of Hicks but until recently it’s not been something that has shown up in any of the scripts or behind-the-scenes material. Back in April the Alien Archives shared some pages used for reshoots of Alien 3 in LA.
Biehn also revealed that he has never seen any of the Alien sequels after his own Aliens, stating he didn’t want to put himself “through the pain of ‘I could have done so much better than that.'”
The interview also covers a lot of Biehn’s other roles including The Terminator and Tombstone, his disappointment over Avatar, and naturally his time on Aliens where he recalled the late-and-great Bill Paxton:
“When Bill entered a room, you knew he was in the room. He was full of joy. He was upbeat,” says Biehn of the late actor, who died unexpectedly in 2017. “I never heard Bill say a bad word about anybody. We did five films together. When you count them all up…that’s about a year [of shooting].”
Since Aliens, Biehn has reprised the role of Hicks in the hugely disappointing Aliens: Colonial Marines, and most recently in Audible’s audio drama adaptation of William Gibson’s Alien 3 (which I loved!) in which Hicks took the leading role! Be sure to head on over to The Hollywood Reporter to check out the rest of the interview!
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Just because they make another movie doesn't mean it ain't still the true and holy gospel.
https://78.media.tumblr.com/9844ddb0e65fac7f3ba3eb4c7d1266b9/tumblr_o72r6robSX1vtymcko3_500.gif
That's revisionist cinematography.
https://cdn.quotesgram.com/small/72/64/116198863-Robert-in-Tropic-Thunder-robert-downey-jr-4499982-720-480.jpg
Alien 3 still loves you.
Zing! Well said.
Retcon it.
Not what I'm saying. Not arguing he could've got away with it. Arguing that he wasn't as clean cut good guy as he's often remembered as.
You got it. Hicks was played brilliantly by Biehn. Literally one of the best action characters I've seen. He has no patience for BS. Is so at ease with himself he can fall asleep during a space drop, yet that doesn't mean he is incompetent. He always rises to the occasion without any Mach bravado. Just all serious. All business. There are so many layers to the character and to Biehn's performance. You see it furthered in Coffey in the Abyss, but after that, he never really gets a chance to shine in a big role. It really was a terrible loss all around that Biehn didn't get a chance to reprise his role. Hopefully that chance will come soon.
There'd be no evidence left.
I don't disagree, but it's not Captain America approved.
Oh, right.
Yeah probably.
I've always imagined him as coasting through his time, lack of ambition holding him back from further promotion. Ricco Ross says after 2weeks of James Remar he could barely recognise Hicks in what Biehn was doing with the character. Remar was forthright and dominant; Biehn was low key and softly spoken, and it took Ross a while to understand Biehn's acting choices and overall interpretation. I think we lucked out there.
TC
If it would've been down to the crew at the end with no standing Marines..................probably not.
His most base instinct was to waste Burke. Which he would've done had Ripley not been around.
Not exactly Geneva convention approved.
He wouldn't have executed Burke if Ripley objected.
Maybe I'm blowing it up a bit in my memory. I just hated it that much.
Spoiler
Still got that one.
Yeah, she was bonking that
Spoiler
Don't remember that. I do remember they were both shagging other people though.
Then their attraction became a whole plot point in Female War. I really hated that angle.
I loved both of the covers for Female War. But the Dorman one of the Queen in the flames is fantastic.
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/aliens-female-war-review-01.jpg
Then he was restored to his rightful place as sidekick in Earth War.
Yeah, I thought it was only a dream. At least, it was when it was Hicks and Newt. Maybe Perry changed it for Wilks and Billie?
It's always about execution. Even where kiddies are concerned, you can even kill off their beloved animal main characters and superhero main characters and the little folk will be fine with it, provided it's done well.
Wow, did that really happen? I haven't read those novels in decades and I just don't recall that. Was it a poor interpretation of Newt's dream in the first issue of the Beauvais series?
It has been really the only thing I have ever collected.
I was too young to realize that the comics didn't really matter. I thought what was written was what would eventually end up on screen in some way. The let down was really something else.