The Xenomorph From ‘Alien’ Was Considered Too Sexual

Part of the reason Alien is considered a classic horror film is because the design of the Xenomorph creature is so fascinatingly hideous. Director Ridley Scott reached out to a macabre artist in order to get the famous design in the film. Initially, 20th Century Fox wasn’t comfortable with the look of the creature, but Scott worked to change their minds.

The Xenomorph design existed before ‘Alien’

Scott is known for acclaimed movies like Blade Runner, Gladiator, and Thelma & Louise. The film that put him on the map was Alien, a big-budget answer to low-budget 1970s slasher films like Halloween and Black Christmas. During a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Scott discussed how he came across H.R. Giger’s design of the Xenomorph that would later be used in Alien.

“The guy who brought him to my attention was [screenwriter] Dan O’Bannon,” said Scott. “Inside of a book called Necronomicon, there was the alien. I said,’  It’s designed. This is it.’

“[Producer] Gordon Carroll and I flew to Switzerland and we went in to meet Giger at his house in Zurich. And that’s where I met H. R. and found him to be a gentle man, sweet man, who showed me his work, which is extraordinary. And I just said, ‘Would you come and do this,’ and he said, ‘I don’t fly.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll bring you by train.’ He came by train from Switzerland, and stayed with me in Shepperton Village for nine months, and that’s how it happened. He wouldn’t get on a plane. I had to persuade him.”

H. R. Giger’s Xenomorph was considered rude and risque

Of course, the reception to Giger’s creature was not universally positive. “Fox at the time thought Giger was a bit obscene and a bit rude and a bit sexual,” Scott said “And I said, ‘This all sounds good to me,’ which nearly saw me off the case.” Scott prevailed and Giger’s reptilian nightmare appeared in the film.

Giger’s Xenomorph went on to appear in all of the other films in the Alien franchise. It became one of the most famous extraterrestrial designs in the entire history of cinema. Giger would have an impact on the science fiction genre outside of the Alien films. He also designed the monster Sil from Species. Like the Xenomorph, Sil has a sexualized, reptilian design that’s pretty grotesque. The movie is the unholy lovechild of Alien and Basic Instinct, which is to say that it’s great cinematic junk food if you are in the right mood. 

Why H. R. Giger’s alien was so strange

During a 2009 interview with Time Out, Giger was asked why his art is so gooey. He admitted that he was obsessed with skulls and mummies as a child. During his early years, he got to see the remains of an Egyptian princess in Chur, Switzerland. Perhaps Giger’s interest in human remains explains why his creations are often humanoid, but not humanoid enough to feel normal or familiar.

Alien could have been a run-of-the-mill monster movie, but Giger’s genius made sure that it stayed in our nightmares forever.