An Alien in Hollywood - Ronald Shusett
An Alien in Hollywood is the story about the life and times of legendary filmmaker and “Godfather of Hollywood science fiction” Ronald Shusett.
Unless you’re a Hollywood behind-the-scenes aficionado you've probably never heard of Ron. He is no less than the man who co-created, wrote, and produced t
...more
Documentary
Society & Culture
TV & Film
No captions Available
Total Recall - The Schwarzenegger Effect
00:15 – Robin recalls the story of how she met Ron S...
more
Nov 11 2019 40m
Chapter 1 3 mins
Robin recalls the story of how she met Ron ShusettChapter 2 51 sec
Preproduction in Mexico City during the summer of 1989Chapter 3 25 sec
“The people who finances it [Total Recall] hated it. It’s just that they didn’t want to lose working with Arnold.”Chapter 4 2 mins
Ron recounts a funny exchange with Arnold SchwarzeneggerChapter 5 2 mins
Early days of set buildingChapter 6 5 sec
“Anything that I felt strongly about, he [Verhoeven] would not try to force me to change.”Chapter 7 4 mins
Special effects in Total RecallChapter 8 3 mins
Ron’s thoughts on the gratuitous violence in Total RecallChapter 9 7 mins
Ron recalls others attempting to throw him off the setChapter 10 27 sec
How Arnold stood up for Ron and prevented his firingChapter 11 1 min
“They tried to fire me on ‘Alien.’ They tried to fire me on ‘Total Recall.’ And they couldn’t on either case. I showed them that I would not use my power against them. I had a powerful connection with Arnold, but I would never put them in a position where Arnold’s on my side and he’s gonna overrule you. I wanted both parties.”Chapter 12 53 sec
Making a spectacular film without CGIChapter 13 23 sec
“They were so talented; they could do effects that work today as good as any movie ever because they were so skilled at what they did. So, it gets down to if you have the right people, it’s much more important than any technology you’ve got.”Chapter 14 3 mins
Shooting a key scene in Total RecallChapter 15 26 sec
“It seems like the idiots of the world conspire to stop people who have too much vision.”Chapter 16 1 min
The inspiration behind the ‘Face on Mars’Chapter 17 3 mins
Ron talks about the Total Recall remakeChapter 18 1 min
How Ron felt before the release of Total RecallChapter 19 56 sec
The premiere
No captions Available
Total Recall - Early Days
00:14 – Robin and Harry introduce the topic of today...
more
Nov 2 2019 38m
Chapter 1 12 sec
Robin and Harry introduce the topic of today’s episode, Rom Shusett’s Total RecallChapter 2 3 mins
“Alien had changed everything, not just in the sci-fi horror genre. It raised the bar in quality special effects, excellence in story-telling and sheer cinematic terror. And, of course, it made Sigourney Weaver an overnight sensation.”Chapter 3 6 mins
The decision to buy the rights to Philip K. Dick’s short storyChapter 4 1 min
First steps to making Total RecallChapter 5 1 min
Dan O’Bannon’s involvementChapter 6 2 mins
Challenges with DisneyChapter 7 2 mins
“Nothing you can see will awe you when there’ve been so many special effects. You can’t thrill the audience any more than that, because you can never do anything more amazing than you’ve seen in other movies.”Chapter 8 2 mins
Meeting with famed producer, Dino De LaurentiisChapter 9 4 mins
The unique deal that Ron made with DinoChapter 10 52 sec
The issue with the creditsChapter 11 1 min
“I knew that I was never gonna make a deal unless Dino would give me a credit with him. I didn’t want it instead of him.”Chapter 12 3 mins
Ron recalls visiting a ‘spiritualist’Chapter 13 2 mins
The number of directors that, at one point, worked on Total RecallChapter 14 38 sec
Working with David CronenbergChapter 15 51 sec
Financial roadblocksChapter 16 1 min
From Richard Dreyfuss to Arnold SchwarzeneggerChapter 17 26 sec
“All of a sudden, when I had nobody but Arnold [Schwarzenegger], he did back-to-back the first ‘Predator’ and ‘Twins.’ And he became number one box office in the world.”Chapter 18 41 sec
Landing the star director, Paul VerhoevenChapter 19 1 min
“And so between Arnold [Schwarzenegger] and [Paul] Verhoeven, well that’s ow the movie got made. I had the star and I had the director.”
No captions Available
Alien - Screening and Release
00:14 – Robin and Harry share their favorite moments...
more
May 15 2019 27m
Chapter 1 3 mins
Robin and Harry share their favorite moments and stories from the season thus farChapter 2 32 sec
Ron explains why he never used other films as inspiration for AlienChapter 3 5 sec
• “I just saw it as I wanted the mood of Jaws but in outer space.”Chapter 4 2 mins
The creation of the adult Alien creatureChapter 5 17 sec
• “This rubber suit was the most amazing suit I’d ever seen. It was so organic and so convincing. I knew right away it’s gonna look incredible on-screen cause on stage even when you knew it’s a rubber suit it scared the shit out of you.”Chapter 6 3 mins
How Ron’s editing advice led to one of the biggest scare scenes in AlienChapter 7 14 sec
• “And then I was so excited that I got one of the biggest scares that I used to sit with a chair at the front of the movie theater whenever they’d do that scene and watch the audience jump back.”Chapter 8 1 min
Ron describes the feeling of seeing his words come to life on the setChapter 9 3 mins
Ron’s vision for the scene where Ripley escapesChapter 10 2 mins
The first screening of AlienChapter 11 50 sec
Meeting Jack Nicholson and Warren BeattyChapter 12 1 min
Ron speaks to the importance of the mood in AlienChapter 13 1 min
A new genre combining science fiction and horrorChapter 14 51 sec
How James Cameron convinced Fox to make a sequel to AlienChapter 15 34 sec
• “The directors they had were good but they weren’t good enough to live up to Ridley and Giger’s work, to equal it.”Chapter 16 1 min
Wrapping up the final days of shooting AlienChapter 17 31 sec
Inviting Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to view the final productChapter 18 1 min
• “Spielberg said it’s better than Jaws. Lucas said it’s better than Star Wars.”Chapter 19 1 min
Robin and Harry speak to the cultural impact and significance of the movie Alien
No captions Available
Alien - Nostromo, A Very Bloody Birth
Highlights
00:16 – Robin tells the story of how she ...
more
May 7 2019 33m
Chapter 1 2 mins
Robin tells the story of how she met Ron ShusettChapter 2 22 sec
Introducing today’s episode, Alien: NostromoChapter 3 1 min
Pre-production of AlienChapter 4 49 sec
Casting AlienChapter 5 20 sec
The controversy behind Sigourney Weaver landing the lead role of Ellen RipleyChapter 6 3 mins
• “Sigourney got it by giving a brilliant reading. She was off-Broadway in a hit and they gave her a cold reading and she knocked it out of the park.”Chapter 7 49 sec
Figuring out the pacing of AlienChapter 8 3 mins
• “And so I said, “The movie doesn’t seem to be working. It’s slow and plodding. It’s the right version of the script but the pacing is off. It’s funereal instead of suspenseful.”Chapter 9 11 sec
An incredible crisis that developed among the actors of AlienChapter 10 4 mins
• “They were all not-name stars. They were all proven successes as character actors, but none of them could be prima donnas. But halfway through there became an incredible crisis with the whole cast. They almost all quit.”Chapter 11 2 mins
Giving Hollywood executives an ultimatumChapter 12 3 mins
The Chestburster SceneChapter 13 20 sec
• “And from then on, they were really scared of that monster. They’re performances showed it.”Chapter 14 1 min
Shooting in chronological order from the Chestburster scene onChapter 15 2 mins
Ron shares another behind the scenes moment from shooting AlienChapter 16 1 min
The nursery setChapter 17 2 mins
The impregnation of the alien
No captions Available
Alien - Birth of a Hollywood Blockbuster
00:13 – Harry introduces his new podcast, An Alien i...
more
Apr 25 2019 37m
Chapter 1 1 min
Harry introduces his new podcast, An Alien in HollywoodChapter 2 2 mins
Robin describes Ron ShusettChapter 3 2 mins
How Harry met RobinChapter 4 1 min
Robin breaks down the format of the first few episodes of this podcastChapter 5 5 mins
The genesis of the movie AlienChapter 6 58 sec
The progress Dan O’Bannon made on the first act of AlienChapter 7 1 min
How Ron came up with the solution of how the alien gets on boardChapter 8 3 mins
How Dan met H.R. Giger, the man who eventually worked on the design work for AlienChapter 9 5 mins
Ron tells the story of how Roger Corman came aboard for AlienChapter 10 1 min
How Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill influenced the production of AlienChapter 11 2 mins
The story of how Ridley Scott came on as the director of AlienChapter 12 1 min
Ron recounts moments of discouragement he felt while trying to get this movie madeChapter 13 1 min
Ridley Scott’s vision for AlienChapter 14 4 mins
Why the Giler/Hill draft of the Alien script didn’t workChapter 15 11 sec
The vindication Ron and Dan felt when Ridley sided with their script