Ridley Scott explains how he got the studios to increase the Alien budget for his first real Hollywood movie. Now one of the top 10 highest-grossing directors of all time, Scott got his start with the 1977 feature The Duellists. The film was a war epic set in 1801 France, showing a fraught duel between Lieutenant d’Hubert and Lieutenant Feraud. Just two years after this movie, Scott would go on to direct his first big film with Alien, a sci-fi movie that would define the genre and the director’s career.
Speaking with GQ, the director explains how he got the studio to give him more budget for Alien. According to the Oscar-winning director, he used his knowledge of comic strips to hand draw “storyboards for the first 20 minutes of” Alien. He was initially offered $4.2 million to make Alien, which was already quadruple his budget for his feature debut. But once he showed the producers the storyboards, they doubled his budget, something Scott sees as a testament to “the value of a vision.” Check out the director’s full quote below:
Because of my art background, I was a kind of a comic strip aficionado. I can really draw, I can draw comic strips really well. And so, I read the script and I knew exactly what to do, because it read to be like a comic, a dark comic. And so, before I went, I drew some storyboards of the first 20 minutes of the movie.
And I went out there to Hollywood – first time in Hollywood, really, as a person to potentially direct a movie. The budget would be $4.2 [million]. I had no idea [what that meant], it was four times what The Duelists cost. I took the boards out and showed them the boards. The budget went from $4.2 [million] to $8.4 [million]. So, the value of a vision is everything. It went woomph, like that.
What This Meant For Alien
Alien More Than Made Back Its Budget
To put context to this budget in today’s numbers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator estimates that $8.4 million in 1979 would be worth about $38.8 million in today’s numbers. For a sophomore director, this is big money, as it shows that the studio is willing to take at least some level of financial risk on the new director. The fact that the studio gave him that much more, despite Scott not really asking for it, is a testament to how powerful Scott’s vision was.
Hollywood could not have been more right to trust Scott. Alien went on to gross over $108 million worldwide, making back its budget by more than tenfold. By today’s inflation standards, that is about $466 million. This is more than Alien: Romulus, 2024’s entry into the Alien franchise, made at the box office. Alien would spawn an even more successful sequel, Aliens, which would make over $131 million, and eventually lead to an over $1 billion franchise. These numbers show that the studio made the right decision in giving Scott more money.
Our Take On Alien’s Expanded Budget
Scott’s Big Visions Are Apparent
Scott’s experience on Alien highlights the extent of his vision as a creative person. In another recent quote, Scott described how he eventually directed Thelma & Louise after others refused to direct a movie with these two female characters at the fore, something he reported to take no issue with. Between this and his intense Alien storyboarding, Scott reveals himself to be a true visionary who was in some ways ahead of his time.
Source: GQ
