66 / Alien surprise
Well, who would've thought! I learned a fact about one of my favourite movies of all time - Ridley Scott's Alien, 30 years old this week - that surprised me. That seminal scene of that embryonic alien bursting out of John Hurt's chest - that unforgettable scene - was actually shot in one single take. With four cameras running.
And, furthermore - incredibly - the actors didn't know in-before hand what exactly was about to happen! Veronica Cartwright - who played the navigator - recoiled in horror. Well, she wasn't acting. Says co-star Tom Skerritt, "she had no idea what the hell happened; all of a sudden this thing just came up!" Her horror was repeated all around the world at screenings - in fact, it was common for people to walk out of the theatre in shock.
Myself, well, yes - I also have found the scene shocking. But for me there has always been another much more shocking aspect to the film. Apparently there will come a time when it will be possible to create 'synthetics'; artificial human beings, who cannot be told apart from 'normal' human beings! Now that prospect, I always thought, is truly shocking.