James Remar as Hicks

[Valaquen]

Watch Remar in Dexter, he's awesome.

[Marr]

There is quite an interesting Q & A with Michael Biehn on Aint It Cool News.....one thing that caught my attenetion was his replacement of James Remar. I always thought that it was pretty common knowledge that Remar fell out with James Cameron...but this seems to indicate that Remar was actually booted out of England....

[Never say no to Panda!]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rzdB5a4kLAo/RqUvziNoKOI/AAAAAAAADAw/njG7B3rOaS8/s1600/ALIENS_JamesRemar.jpg

[Space Sweeper]

Remar just simply didn't agree with Cameron's 'code'.

[Snowdog]

thank god michael biehen took over who wants  bad raiden in the role,bet he wished he'd kept his mouth shut .his career never took off

I agree. This was the best thing that could've happened. Remar doesn't sell me as a military type anyway. 

I can only picture Michael Biehn in the role.

Me 2 =) Remar is great in Dexter but i'm really happy that Biehn got the role in Aliens. He nailed it

[Pn2501]

Yeah I heard it was the drug issue that got him booted.

[Space Sweeper]

I thought it was just because he was always showing up late, getting drunk, and just being overall unreliable for the schedule.

[Sharp Sticks]

He couldn't help it, he was chained to a bench.

[chupacabras acheronsis]

I thought it was just because he was always showing up late, getting drunk, and just being overall unreliable for the schedule.

this, and Cameron was getting tired of the British crew f**king with him.

[Valaquen]

Research, guyz:

'I was initially cast as Corporal Hicks, and I was fired after a couple weeks of filming because I got busted for possession of drugs, and Michael Biehn replaced me ... Y'know, I got to talk with Cameron over the years and I really love the guy. I don't know if I'll ever get to work with him again but, y'know, he said I would. And he expressed that, and knows that I've been sober all this time and I like what the guy does, I like him ... It was an honour to get started, I just wasn't focused and I f**ked it up ... getting fired from Aliens alienated me from [Walter Hill] for twelve years, he didn't hire me again for twelve years. And I know why - because I made him look bad. Y'know, it was f**ked up.'         

[Gash]

I thought it was just because he was always showing up late, getting drunk, and just being overall unreliable for the schedule.

this, and Cameron was getting tired of the British crew f**king with him.

It's a cultural thing i suppose. Ridley Scott got an even harder time with the American crew on Blade Runner. I believe the British crew had some (IMO deserved) preconceptions of Cameron tackling the ALIEN sequel, I expect they'd done enough research to know that his track record included classics like Piranha 2 and The Terminator - which at that time was in some legal dispute with Ellison over plagiarism. I don't think that came to anything but it was the news at the time and probably created a lot of 'WTF is this guy about.'

Having said that the British crew were professional, and seem, in retrospect to politely say it was good to be on the sequel, although they don't talk about it with the same fondness as the original. Other directors from across the pond had always found it very productive to work with British crews - you'll find Richard Donner singing the praises of British crews in a number of film commentaries for example. Cameron seemed to make an issue out of union rules and tea breaks that escalated a sense of antagonism. Seeing him talk about these issues on documentaries still irritates.

To be frank, this story was one of the first things (of many) that coloured my view of Cameron. I suppose because where as Scott proved to be right with Blade Runner, Cameron didn't with Aliens IMHO, it's still closer to Piranha 2, or at best The Terminator in pedigree than it should be, so I'll side with those who thought he was the wrong guy for the job.

[Valaquen]

It's a cultural thing i suppose. Ridley Scott got an even harder time with the American crew on Blade Runner. I believe the British crew had some (IMO deserved) preconceptions of Cameron tackling the ALIEN sequel, I expect they'd done enough research to know that his track record included classics like Piranha 2 and The Terminator - which at that time was in some legal dispute with Ellison over plagiarism. I don't think that came to anything but it was the news at the time and probably created a lot of 'WTF is this guy about.'

Having said that the British crew were professional, and seem, in retrospect to politely say it was good to be on the sequel, although they don't talk about it with the same fondness as the original. Other directors from across the pond had always found it very productive to work with British crews - you'll find Richard Donner singing the praises of British crews in a number of film commentaries for example. Cameron seemed to make an issue out of union rules and tea breaks that escalated a sense of antagonism. Seeing him talk about these issues on documentaries still irritates.

To be frank, this story was one of the first things (of many) that coloured my view of Cameron. I suppose because where as Scott proved to be right with Blade Runner, Cameron didn't with Aliens IMHO, it's still closer to Piranha 2, or at best The Terminator in pedigree than it should be, so I'll side with those who thought he was the wrong guy for the job.

I think the whole ALIENS production issue was blown up, a bit. Stan Winston and his associates in THE WINSTON EFFECT stated that the hoo-ha was all about the differing lingo between the two crews [different names for tools], and some of Winston's crew felt a bit sore that Stan spent more time with the English crew than with the Americans - which Stan put down to the English crew not knowing him; needing to know him; and because of the divide between them that needed bridged. As for Cameron, I think it's fair to admit that there was antagonism on both sides -the crew labelled him 'Grizzly Adams,' and an American, despite Cameron being Canadian- and allegedly the crew shunned several attempts of his to show them Terminator [no Ellison litigation issue would have been in the air - the case never went to court and wouldn't have been in their knowledge]. He's also praised the crew since then - in fact, many on the crew praised Cameron in return [you can see this on the DVD or in interviews with them, Brian Johnson in particular]. He did a very nice thing for Brian Johnson when Johnson was cheated out of his Oscar for the Aliens SFX work [he completed the work when the original company hired was fired, which is why the credits read 'particular effects by...'] - Cameron had an award commissioned for Johnson himself. I guess it's up to you whose 'side' you take. I don't really see it as an issue of sides anymore. The crew did an amazing job and their director acknowledged that along with the actors working on set, and vice versa. The 'Aliens set battle' makes for an interesting story, I suppose, though it didn't really surface until years after the apparent events.

EDIT: to add, there was also talk of the crew belittling Gale Anne Hurd for being a female producer, and the Dick Bush ignoring the director and lighting scenes his own way, which saw him fired and replaced by Adrian Biddle [who worked, in a lesser capacity, on the original movie]. Not very savvy.

Ridley's story on BladeRunner, that was a real showdown!