Aliens - Interview with James Cameron Part 1

[kimc53]

Aliens is such a good movie, so well done in every way.

[amazingdany]

Aliens: a rare movie sequel perfected.

Man, that sci-fi movie is so good.

[magicalangel0]

@amazingdany yes!!

[human0un]

yeah technically we lost vietnam...but 3 million vietcon died...3 million

[Geschlechtsvolzieher]

one of the best sci fi movie of all time

[ridemegirlrideme]

looks like edward norton

[musoshi]

That interviewer is completely lost throughout this entire segment, and anytime Cameron answers one of his questions he gets this look on his face like "I understood the question, but not the answer. Someone Murder Me."

[magicalangel0]

@musoshi ikr, I love that! Cameron confuses people!

[TheLittleMonster4eve]

Cameron is very very sexy in this interview. He's the perfection.

[027220]

Any sensible-thinking person would not go back anywhere near the alien if they had a choice.

[TheCrocxxx]

hehehe James Cameron has a beard.

[dusty686]

Genius

[magicalangel0]

@dusty686 agreed

[MrBlasterFilms]

@magicalangel0 agreed

[Lordi465]

i would not be surprised if he was chuck norris' brother

[EnergizerBunny804]

although I really don't like titanic and Avatar (especially Avatar) but James Cameron is still one of the best directors of action and sci-fi films

[DrPepperAndSteak]

Cameron is a fkn beast. Even though I despise Avatar, he's still undeniably one of the greatest directors of awl thyme.

[j04370859]

@DrPepperAndSteak There's no need to despise avatar it was a good movie to.

[trinii2debone]

daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyymn.­...look at that shirt LOL

back in the day fashion : P

[screenjunky]

all due respect to Mr Cameron, whats with directors and beards. In the future directors will probably go through phase of shaving their heads.

[chaucer44]

but I find it hard to believe that weyland yutani didnt know the coordinates of the derelict on LV426.. Even if the crew turned off the beaon on the derelict they would have still reported its location on their next transmission to earth. It's not like they were all destroyed immediately and no one can say they couldn't send messages to earth. Heck, they were on their way BACK from a mining colony and they knew where earth was, they were just off-course by a few weeks or something.

[GeneralGrin]

@chaucer44 the acid from the facehugger damaged their subspace transmittor before they could send any messages to Earth.

and then their ship was destroyed by Ripley.

so the company did not know the exact location until they found Ripley 57 years later.

also after Ripley killed the queen on the Sulaco she nuked the derelict ship from orbit with Hicks's authorization before leaving. that's why the company couldn't retrieve any more eggs

[GeneralGrin]

@chaucer44 the acid from the facehugger damaged their subspace transmittor before they could send any messages to Earth.

and then their ship was destroyed by Ripley.

so the company did not know the exact location until they found Ripley 57 years later.

also after Ripley killed the queen on the Sulaco she nuked the derelict ship from orbit with Hicks's authorization before leaving. that's why the company couldn't retrieve any more eggs

[DarkTempIarKain]

Though similar to vietnam, the idea of aliens was different in many ways. It was basically 12 marines versus a horde of them. Their ship wasn't even manned by crew! Either way, Vietnamese were not that un-well armed. They were armed with a lot of russian tech and weaponry.

[GeneralGrin]

@DarkTempIarKain a bunch of marines with tons of weapons against unarmed aliens.

sure the aliens outnumbered them. just like the vietnamese outnumbered the US soldiers

[DarkTempIarKain]

@GeneralGrin There were 9 marines fighting 200+ or so Aliens (not including the face huggers).

Also, the Aliens more or less were animals, while the Vietnamese were actually living thinking humans, and don't forget they were WELL armed with weaponry. Soviet weaponry was almost on par with US technology at the time. AK's, AA guns, advanced anti air heat seeking rockets, RPGS, you think the Viets made that themselves??

[GeneralGrin]

I never understood why the company sent so few Marines.

their ship looked huge and looked like it could carry a lot more soldiers and dropships.

I guess the company did it on purpose so that the Marines would be unable to kill off the aliens.

their nuclear weapons might have also been sabotaged so that they'd be unable to destroy them from orbit.

remember that the company deliberately sent the colonists there in order to breed the aliens

[DarkTempIarKain]

@GeneralGrin The so called explanation as for a few marines and no one monitoring the ship was supposedly because the marines went around doing small jobs, acting almost like cops or swat in space. However the only people who didn't disarm were Drake and Vasquez who probably saved the surviving marines. Also the only person who made that order was that one guy who went with them who caused the shit.

[torukmakto4]

@DarkTempIarKain Yeah. Only 2 squads were dropped. USCM squads are small, sometimes 4 men. Typical is a smartgun on point and 3 others with some combination of pulse rifles and M240 flamethrowers. They were there to investigate a likely technical malfunction with possibility of a xenomorph involved, NOT to fight off hundreds of Aliens. Plus, the CO (Lt Gorman) really sucked and his poor tactics and inability to act in the heat of battle caused the defeat and deaths on sublevel 3.

[DarkTempIarKain]

@torukmakto4 It's an INCREDIBLY undermanned job. It seems that the marines began to slack in the future

[torukmakto4]

@DarkTempIarKain The "Marines" in Aliens are not the future US Marine Corps, but the US Colonial Marines (USCM). Their role is much different; like you said, they act like cops or SWAT, not like a large military force. The team sent to the colony was there to investigate, not to fully neutralize any threat. They could easily have survived and escaped Sublevel 3 if not for the idiocy of Lt Gorman. The situation would then have been dealt with by bombing the site from orbit.

[DarkTempIarKain]

@torukmakto4 They are the marines of the future. They've been so overused they practically act like cops, in a way, deteriorating what the Marines were.

[torukmakto4]

@DarkTempIarKain USCM is distinct from the US Marine Corps, or at the very least USCM is not supposed to specifically represent the future Marines. If Cameron wanted to do that, he wouldn't have given them a unique identity and just flat-out called them US Marines. Plus they don't "deteriorate" anything. They serve a role: as you said "cops in space". There isn't anything wrong with someone doing that necessary job when there are colonies on who knows how many planets to keep secure.

[DarkTempIarKain]

@torukmakto4 I think the term "Colonial" comes from the fact that there were colonies all over space on planets. And they are not cops, but they're used as it. And as you agree with me, they ACT as cops in space. It would be like the President replacing all police by Marines. It's a deterioration. Then again, who knows how screwed up the Government is to let Weyland yutani, do what they do.

[xIegionx]

@torukmakto4 they ARE the US marines. The future marines. They've been so wrongly used as policing the World (and Galaxy) they deteriorated to this.

[torukmakto4]

@xIegionx Come on. Seriously? I will give it to you guys that there is nothing explicit in Aliens that states USCM to not be the "future version of the US Marine Corps". However, the two are not explicitly linked either. What is _wrong_ with the interpretation that USCM was created precisely to fill that "cops in space" role and was never "misused"? Are you people trying to prove Cameron opposes the "misuse" of the military? Or is it that you think the term "Marines" doesn't fit USCM's role?

[xIegionx]

@torukmakto4 i'd suggest reading the databook they made on it. It states there that they are the future US marines. And from the film, it seems over time they got sloppier. I know it's hard for you to accept the might "US marines" get worse, but it is just a film after all. Cameron wanted to portray this in a Nam like setting. Highly advanced US marines fighting Cong little to no technologically advanced foes(aliens), and getting their ass whooped.

[torukmakto4]

@xIegionx I can accept it just fine, but I just don't think that Cameron wanted to imply that USMC degraded. USCM may be the only "Marines" the US has in the future, ie. USMC's replacement, but that doesn't mean they are directly descended from USMC. Point taken about the 'Nam reference; that is definitely Cameron's message here. Cocky military force with a bunch of gear gets owned by something they wrongly perceive as primitive and impotent. (How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!)

[torukmakto4]

@xIegionx Oh, by the way, the USCM troops we saw in Aliens were definitely sloppy. (Hudson: "How can I get out of this chickensh** outfit?")

Like I said, the CO really sucked and wasn't ready for the mission. (Ripley: "So how many drops is this for you, Lieutenant?" Gorman: "38, simulated." Vasquez: "...how many COMBAT drops?" Gorman: "Two. Including this one.") Agreed on that.

[xIegionx]

@torukmakto4 Like I said, over use of the US marines became their deterioration.

[DarkTempIarKain]

@GeneralGrin Or ordered them to investigate.

[GeneralGrin]

Burk told the colonists where to find the alien ship (after Ripley told him where it was) so that they'll get infected.

but the company knew about the aliens back in the first film (that's why they sent that Android on the cargo ship to recover the alien at all cost)

so the company deilberately set up the colony on that planet, knowing that sooner or later they'll find the alien ship (they couldn't find its exact location because Ripley's crew turned off its beacon in the first film

[DarkTempIarKain]

@GeneralGrin I don't know if it was ever his intention to get the colony infected, rather wanted them to experiment on them for bio weapons. As for the first film, that is another curious plot. Ash could've meant that they are to bring back any alien life forms if found no matter the circumstance for study, even if i twas extreme. Surely if the Company originally knew about the life form in the first place, the company would've found it before Ripley told them

[DarkTempIarKain]

@GeneralGrin Anyway, the point is it was wayy too out maneuvered to compare it to nam.

[DarkTempIarKain]

@GeneralGrin And don't forget the Marines in Aliens during their first combat were for the most part unarmed after taking their ammo out. It'd be like a platoon of soldiers getting ambushed by Vietnamese, with only two or three of the US soldiers having guns. Which would've probably lead to more US deaths.

[GeneralGrin]

@DarkTempIarKain they were given orders to disarm but they disobeyed their order and kept some of the ammo and when the fighting broke out they were using their regular weapons (the one they were told not to use) and not just the torches.

that's why they caused damage to the fusion reactor which eventually blew up the whole place

[torukmakto4]

@GeneralGrin Actually, the crash and explosion of Ferro's dropship caused the damage to the AP station reactor (Bishop: "...the crash caused too much damage. An overload is inevitable.") Not that this means Vas and Drake firing smartguns in there wasn't a risk of damage.

[GeneralGrin]

@torukmakto4 the dropship crashed outside in the open field.

i'm pretty sure the reactor breach was caused by the marine's firing their weapons and damaging the cooling system

[torukmakto4]

@GeneralGrin The ship did crash in the open, but wreckage tumbled back against the wall of the AP station, exploded, and burst into flames. Later, Bishop points out the reactor venting and is asked if the AP station can be shut down. He says "No. I'm sorry, the crash caused too much damage. An overload is inevitable..." This points to the crash, not the weapons fire, causing the breach.

[LukeLovesRose]

He was a genius in 1986 and he is a genius in 2009. People will still be talking about most of Cameron's film 20 years from now, I bet anything.

[03john0]

just read through the comments and was impressed by how this film inspires such debate, it was made in 1986 i think and yet still inspires debate and review even today, 24 years on. If that isn't a sign of a good movie I dont know what is.

That and I don't think it matters who was on the main ship, there was probably other people there, we just didnt see them. The whole point of those scenes was to show us how arrogant and crazy the marines were, and how badly they'd later get boned. Ironic :P

[vaju79]

lol at Cameron shirt, wtf is that lol

[KiloHoplite]

best thing I like about the movie is the fact that for the most part, they make smart choices, they just get screwed. They decide early on to leave, and nuke the planet, for example. But their ride gets hijacked by aliens, so they have to make another plan.

This is my favorite movie, by the way haha

[isenstrider]

First 2/3 of the movie is great. Last 1/3 of the movie sucks.

[isenstrider]

@Keating500

1/3 as one third

2/3 as two thirds

;)

[budwhite1]

When i first saw Aliens, i was kinda annoyed when they first had that battle and lost all but 3 marines pretty quickly into the movie!!!

But i think that if they had used 20/30 marines, it would have been maybe more difficult to get to know the characters etc

Hicks, Hudson and Vasquez are such great characters that along with Ripley, Bishop etc, the 2nd half of the movie is brilliantly tense mainly cause of Hudson losing it!!!!

[magicalangel0]

@ budwhite1. To me, it was heartbreaking to see almost the entire crew get eliminated so early in the film. But I also love Hudson's reaction after their first Alien attack! It was the most natural reaction! Hudson made it realize how bad their circumstances actually were.

The rest of the movie showed great character of Hicks and Vasquez and their ability to maintain focus under pressure.

I just can't love this movie enough!

[budwhite1]

@magicalangel0 . So true, I was especially annoyed when you think that Drake is going to make it aswell and then he gets caught before they get into the APC  :(

Bishop is one of the best characters of the movie, just like data in star trek tng, he's totally believable as an emotionless android, i was so pissed off when the queen alien decided to do the splits with him!

But in Alien 3, they should have had Ripley, Hicks and Newt and the company after them... and the aliens!!!!

[magicalangel0]

@ budwhite1, iawtc.

It seems that in Alien 3, they did everything that would piss the fans off. Newt and Hicks are dead, then the real Bishop human is an ass. On top of that, Ripley gets impregnated with the alien queen!

But I thought that Alien 3 wasn't as bad as A4 or AVP films. AVP 2 is the worst! I guess that those are based on the comic books, which I've never read and I don't think I would enjoy. Aliens reaching the earth! f that...

[CanderousXOrdo]

@magicalangel0 Of all the chars, Hudson was the only one I could relate too :D

[magicalangel0]

@ CanderousXOrdo, hhahah, I can understand ;)

[sagan1976]

@magicalangel0 Smoking or non smoking...

[shinjide213]

@magicalangel0 very true. Because I saw this movie at such a young age- even though it was a sci-fi/ horror movie. It felt more horror to me- It was like I was in that situation losing it. Every single actor and actress in this movie gave their finest acting quality. This movie like the Abyss, Terminator 1& 2 will always set the benchmark for sci-fi movies. Proves to modern day hollywwod, it is not about special effects only.

[DavidFrommi18]

The interviewer looks so nervous you can see him miss pronouncing words. But still a good interview

[Optics233]

Cameron is so much younger here it's crazy looking at him lol.

[magicalangel0]

@ Optics233, yeah, I've seen his recent pics and his age started showing!

so for me, it's crazy looking at him now, because I always remember him like THIS.

[mushaboom720]

@Guoguodi  !!!!!!!!

[zeroauu]

Hmm, seems like he might have implemented that Vietnam idea into Avatar as well.

[Guoguodi]

Dude looks like Jesus. O_O

[1415gateway]

dont be scared hes not...

[theinsane102]

I wonder what Ridley Scott thinks of Aliens.

[magicalangel0]

@ theinsane102, he probably loves it ;)

Maybe someone asked him during one of the interviews what he thought of Aliens. gotta look for it.

[theinsane102]

I think Aliens success at the box office helped make Alien a classic.

[magicalangel0]

oh yeah. Usually when I watch Aliens, I go back and watch Alien and appreciate it even more. Both films are fantastic.

[Sunny4434]

2:11 reminded me of avatar

bows and arrows against gunships......

[goldyn12345]

awesome director is james cameron!!!! he's up there with the best

[RideMyBMW]

Love Jim´s tiki shirt

[Dmasterman]

.

;D

[Dmasterman]

I can see where James Cameron get some influence from Vietnam, comparing

Aliens to a Vietnam movie in space is kind of awkward.

First off, their were only 12 or so Marines. Against a horde of hundreds of Aliens.

It wasn't an army vs another army, it was a squad versus an army. :o

[magicalangel0]

@Dmasterman, I think he was referencing to the reason why Ripley would go back to fight aliens after her horrific experience, the same reason why soldiers in Vietnam would go back to war; going back would help them deal with their nightmares.

I don't think his reference was as much about the environment that they were in and the number of subjecs on either side.

[Dmasterman]

Oh.

I thought he meant a low technology enemy vs a high technology one and the lesser technology enemy winning.

More or less in this film the Aliens were animals if anything. Giant ants of the sort.

But in that war, the Vietnamese weren't that under equipped. Russians were pumping them with very advanced weaponry, such as surface to air missles.

but Yah I agree with that part, of going back

[commandox20]

I also think that Camereon's Vietnam influence is more visually apparent than it is metaphorically apparent in the movie. The weapons and marine armor are very Vietnamy. Regular Enlisted Army though, not Marines. Marines are way more professional than Camereon depicts them in either Aliens or Avatar. Such a shame.

[Dmasterman]

Not to mention that they only sent about 12 Marines (2 of them being pilots)

And their main ship was not even manned by other marines.

[commandox20]

Yeah, THAT i'll never understand. You'd think they'd leave at least one person behind.

[Dmasterman]

The only two things I could think of as explanations were

1. The marines were basically used as police and were sent in on any mission that required firepower. Terrorists, thiefs, or lost communication. Which is why they took it lightly.

2. The ship probably was self automated, and shot anything that went near it down.

But then again, had they more marines on the ship they could've sent in another dropship to pick up the survivors and nuke it from orbit.

[togio100]

@commandox20 Well, the humans in Avatar were part of a PMC. They even make it a point at the beginning of the film to mention that the soldiers working for the RDA are mercenaries. Some are former Marines like Jake and Trudy, but the majority of them are kill-crazy bastards like Quaritch and that one soldier Matt Gerald played.

[raiders2000]

ALIENS - sci fi classic

Strange Days = so underrated, great sci fi movie written by James..

TERMINATOR = 80's hit

T-2 = better than the first..

Titanic = classic romantic movie..

True Lies =good Arnold movie. coming soon.. AVATAR ..

[djfjsd45]

well done.

[Tigerlily21]

My god isn't he smart though? Listen to him talk. He's just clearly got a gigantic brain up there.

[jdkjkjdkjdks]

Cameron is too damn smart for that interviewer.

[LukeLovesRose]

@jdkjkjdkjdks

Actually, I think Cameron's only fault in this interview is that he seems so much more self-conscious than he should.

[peaceandmetal88]

Amazing what he says at the end there perfectly translates into what Avatar is all about.

[peaceandmetal88]

James Cameron doesn't do "braindead". You want braindead, watch a Michael Bay "film".

[DrGoreHound]

Aliens is WAY better than Alien.

[captainkid1]

Agreed. Alien is pretty boring, I know its not supposed to be an action film but regardless it's still pretty boring.

Aliens is still a tense action packed film. I don't understand why they can't make films like that anymore. It's all CGI and over the top action.

[DrGoreHound]

Perfectly said!

[aramagop]

Don't worry! Avatar is coming ;)

[captainkid1]

Avatar is all CGI. I don't think it's gonna be really good. Probably a reasonable enjoyable film like Transformers. Braindead but watchable.

[magicalangel0]

hahah captainkid1, but JC thinks it's fantastic. it has to be a bit better than Transformers. come on!

[captainkid1]

Maybe. But I highly doubt it's going to be as good as Aliens, Terminator 2 or even the Abyss.

But what do I know about good films; District 9 is rated the same as Aliens on imd

[togio100]

dude, anything is better than Transformers 1 or 2

[aramagop]

Avatar is not all CGI. It's a mix of real actors and photo realistic CGI.

I saw the 16 minutes preview at IMAX in August and trust me, it's gonna be more than "braindead but watchable".

Don't bother judging it by a simple trailer and don't bother watching it in 2D when it comes out!

[captainkid1]

Don't bother watching it in 2D you say.

So it is just about the visuals?

[aramagop]

Lol, no need to bother replying to that...

It's like trying to explain something to a giraffe :P

[togio100]

I have to ask, how was the dialogue in those 16 minutes?

Is it good like in Terminators 1 and 2 or Aliens? Or is is just passable?

[aramagop]

Well it's hard to say since it was just a small selection of scenes.

There were some scenes of the main character in his avatar with the Navi girl he falls in love with. The dialogue was pretty good and the facial expressions were realistic since this is not a "Golum" like created CGI character but real actors filmed in 3D and remdered in CGI in real time.

Expect an epic movie dialogue style. A bit like Braveheart and Gladiator.

[togio100]

okay. Thanks. I;m looking forward to it.

But c'mon. why do you knock Gollum, man? That character had very realistic facial expressions.

[aramagop]

I'm not knocking Gollum! I really liked that character and the CGI job they did on him.

I'm just saying that the CGI characters in Avatar are generated by a whole different method using a stereoscopic 3D camera created by James Cameron. It makes the facial expressions even more realistic since it's the actors faces generated in computer graphics in real-time!

[togio100]

I heard that to

They're even able to detect the little twitches that the actor's eyes make.

[aramagop]

Yeah it's pretty amazing.

In case you haven't seen the short video on Cameron's 3D camera, type "James Cameron Stereoscopic 3D camera" on Youtube. It's the first link and it's pretty impressive!

[DOSRetroGamer]

Interestingly, Cameron seems like a really nice person here, when everyone working with him thinks he is a bit of a ass :) But that only comes from his perfectionism.

[Crichjo32]

Yeah he is supposed to be the nicest guy you could possibly meet when he is not working. But when he is working, he really turns up the heat! Which is not a bad thing as he has made some of the best films ever - he created Terminator for Christ sake! Basically if you work for James Cameron, you have to be prepared to be pushed to the absolute limits. Some people like that, others don't.

[RyanWed18]

Just think how many things it took to make aliens back then they couldn't do cgi on a computer like now what i think is bulshit must of the movies now take the easy way out and use cgi for 60% of the movie

[magicalangel0]

yeah, for this film only six alien suits were used, and even then they were mostly just a handful of latex appliances on black leotards. The appearance of hundreds of aliens is simply clever editing and planning, and lighting plus slime helped make the "suits" more solid.

[southlondonpimp]

yep because when u have no other option, that is the way to do it. Nowadays, modern films take the easy route out by using excess cgi which looks nowhere near as realistic as the effects u see in Aliens.

[BostonMohawks]

I like his shirt. . . and chest hair.

[Tigerlily21]

James Cameron is so intelligent well-spoken. I like seeing him talk here.

[GrantSmithBass]

....A classic movie ! Aliens and Empire are the greatest Sequels of all time...

[asianstudnyc]

couldnt agree with you more. Love Aliens...and fucking love Empire too.

[Dreaklock]

uhem, dont forget T2.

[GrantSmithBass]

Ha...ops !! True true...T2 kicks. Plus James Cameron wrote a screen play also for RAMBO...he is the man !!

[doseryder]

Thanks for uploading this!

[magicalangel0]

you're welcome! :)

[dngl21]

he is so intelligent and well spoken, thats why I favor his movies.

[acebunny17]

alien and aliens are both great so does terminator 1 and 2,great job scott and cameron.alien3,resurrection terminator 3 never happened ;)

[Dreaklock]

*bow* Couldnt agree more!!!

[MMA3013]

James Cameron said all the things you want to hear from a director as a fan listening to why he made this film. Cameron put a lot of love into Aliens, one of the best movies of all time!

[zanebrant]

hes a genius

[ILLYRIANalba]

He is my favorit Filmmaker, he is such a genius because of his Terminator Mythology

[EyEnOtgAy]

he got lucky with terminator

[gingerbreadface]

cameron is a superb filmmaker but he clearly has no fashion sense whatsoever. that shirt is fucking hideous!

[kiekelly]

get out... thats allright

[nickmitsialis]

Ginger: All I can say is, 'it's the Eighties...'

[neoarcadia546]

oh my god. james cameron looks like chuck norris here

[magicalangel0]

hahah!

[aceyage]

well, he IS the chuck norris of film making.

[PrimalEarthling]

But James Cameron cannot charge his cellphone by rubbing it against his beard - Chuck Norris can.

[asianstudnyc]

hahahaah

[drainfunk]

it seems to me most 80s movies were about Viet Nam war.

[Exciter1000]

James please come back the alien franchise and direct Alien 5 with ridley scott! we need you!

[MrStrikeFreedom]

Nah, I don't want Alien5 cause that would only be one alien in the movie again. I want aliens, so the title has to be Aliens: ?????

[027220]

@MrStrikeFreedom I think Aliens is a good place to stop.

[vegas1134]

Iron Jim rules.