It’s with great sadness that we have to report that legendary Alien series writer and producer David Giler has died at the age of 77. Deadline is reporting that David, one of the fathers of the Alien franchise, died on the 19th of December at his home in Bangkok due to cancer.
Walter Hill and David Giler at the premiere of Alien 3.
While David’s contributions to the cinematic landscape were numerous, to our community David is known for his instrumental work on the Alien series. The dramas involved in the making of Alien all aside, without David there would be no Alien franchise for us to still be here celebrating over 40 years later.
Along with his frequent collaborator Walter Hill, who together formed Brandywine Productions along with Gordon Carroll, David would serve as producer for the original Alien trilogy, perform rewrites on Alien and help salvage Alien 3’s script.
Long-time friend and collaborator Walter Hill had this to say about David’s passing, as reported by Deadline:
“If you knew David, you knew he was special. The magic of his personality is hard to describe: funny, angry, extremely knowledgeable, extremely well read; it was my privilege to write and produce with him, and more importantly, to have his close and deep friendship for nearly 50 years.”
Following the saddening news of David’s passing, Alien historian and Alien Quadrilogy/Anthology producer Charles de Lauzarika shared his experience interviewing David on Twitter.
David Giler was a dream interview. Brutally candid and gamely playing varying degrees of bad cop in my ALIEN Anthology documentaries, he provided revealing, controversial perspective in the making-of story. The drama of my ALIEN docs would’ve been weakened without his voice. https://t.co/ba5PozrEr4
— Charles de Lauzirika (@Lauzirika) December 21, 2020
David is survived by his sister Kendall Giler. For Alien fans, the impact of David Giler cannot be understated. Fortunately David will continue to live on through his work and Alien fans will forever be grateful. Thank you David.
It was always said in jest about how i felt his attitude was in the Alien Anthology Documentaries. But without that attitude certain things wouldnt have gotten done for sure.
But this was a shock when Kiramidhead told me. Damn
I'm sorry if I'm derailing the thread, but I used to think similarly about SM. I didn't have a special theory, but I came to think that he was a famous person related to Alien, who was posting anonymously in AVPGalaxy
OK My theory of SM was David giller is now out of the question xD
I remember that
RIP Mr Giler. Thinking of his family and loved ones.
He was attached to that recent Alien 5 script so I figured he was doing alright.
RiP David Giler, this franchise would be vastly different without your work.
Lauzurika knows what he's talking about
Without him Alien wouldn't be a sci-fi horror classic
Without him James Cameron wouldn't have directed one of the best sequels ever made
Without him Alien 3 wouldn't have turned out the way it did - the way many fans love it for nowadays
And he was opposed to making Resurrection
I love his low voice
What a man