Avatar and Aliens director James Cameron spoke to old mate Michael Biehn about his issues with the sequel, and found an understandably sympathetic ear.
That James Cameron, man, he’s got a temper. Or he did, anyway – by all reports he’s mellowed considerably in recent years. There are some things that still grind his gears, though, and one of them is what befell the characters he nurtured in 1986’s Aliens in 1992’s Alien 3.
Out stumping for his latest sci-fi epic, Avatar: Fire And Ash, Cameron swung by the podcast Just Foolin About, which happens to be hosted by his frequent (well, not recently) collaborator, Michael Biehn.
Biehn starred in The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss for Big Jim, but he most definitely didn’t star in Alien 3, despite his character, soft-spoken bad ass Corporal Dwayne Hicks, surviving the previous film. Instead, he was summarily dispatched off screen during the opening credits. Biehn was not asked for the use of his likeness in the film, and took the studio for a fair whack of cash afterwards – almost as much as he made for appearing in Aliens.
So, it was perhaps inevitable that, at some point in their wide-ranging 100 minute convo, Cameron and Biehn would address Alien 3 – specifically the deaths of Carrie Henn’s Newt, Lance Henriksen’s Bishop, and Biehn’s own Hicks before the damn movie even started. And brother, they were not happy.
“You build a lot of goodwill around the characters of Hicks, Newt, and Bishop. And then the first thing they do in the next film is kill them all off. Really smart, guys,’ Cameron snorted. “And replace them with a bunch of fucking convicts that you hate and want to see die, right? Really clever.”
Generously, Cameron doesn’t blame director David Fincher for the issue, who himself has disowned the film after a torturous production.
“I’m a big fan of Fincher and his work and all that. That was his first feature film, and he was getting vectored around by a lot of other voices and all that, so I give him a free pass on that one.”
Biehn agreed, noting “He was handed a bowl of shit.”
It’s a really fascinating interview, and that largely stems from the fact that these guys have known each other for decades and are completely comfortable in each others’ company. Check out the whole thing below:
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