An Alien in Hollywood - Ronald Shusett

An Alien in Hollywood - Ronald Shusett

Ronald Shusett, Robin Maxwell, Harry Duran

An Alien in Hollywood is the story about the life and times of legendary filmmaker and “Godfather of Hollywood science fiction” Ronald Shusett.

40 minutes 46 seconds

Total Recall - The Schwarzenegger Effect
- 00:15 – Robin recalls the story of how she met Ron Shusett
- 03:57 – Preproduction in Mexico City during the summer of 1989
- 05:15 – Ron recounts a funny exchange with Arnold Schwarzenegger
- 07:27 – Early days of set building
- 09:52 – Special effects in Total Recall
- 14:35 – Ron’s thoughts on the gratuitous violence in Total Recall
- 18:20 – Ron recalls others attempting to throw him off the set
- 26:12 – How Arnold stood up for Ron and prevented his firing
- 27:58 – Making a spectacular film without CGI
- 29:16 – Shooting a key scene in Total Recall
- 33:23 – The inspiration behind the ‘Face on Mars’
- 34:47 – Ron talks about the Total Recall remake
- 37:55 – How Ron felt before the release of Total Recall
- 39:50 – The premiere
TWEETABLE QUOTES
“The people who finances it [Total Recall] hated it. It’s just that they didn’t want to lose working with Arnold.” (04:49)
“Anything that I felt strongly about, he [Verhoeven] would not try to force me to change.” (09:46)
“They tried to fire me on ‘Alien.’ They tried to fire me on ‘Total Recall.’ And they couldn’t on either case. I showed them that I would not use my power against them. I had a powerful connection with Arnold, but I would never put them in a position where Arnold’s on my side and he’s gonna overrule you. I wanted both parties.” (26:40)
“They were so talented; they could do effects that work today as good as any movie ever because they were so skilled at what they did. So, it gets down to if you have the right people, it’s much more important than any technology you’ve got.” (28:52)
“It seems like the idiots of the world conspire to stop people who have too much vision.” (32:56)
🎙️🎙️🎙️
Music by Vincent Covello and Vic Migenes
Artwork by Barbara Mastej
Listen to all episodes at AnAlienInHollwood.com
Discover Robin's books at RobinMaxwell.com
Listen to Harry as the host of Podcast Junkies
Podcast production and marketing by FullCast
11 November 2019, 10:56 pm
38 minutes 29 seconds

Total Recall - Early Days
- 00:14 – Robin and Harry introduce the topic of today’s episode, Rom Shusett’s Total Recall
- 03:28 – The decision to buy the rights to Philip K. Dick’s short story
- 10:00 – First steps to making Total Recall
- 11:34 – Dan O’Bannon’s involvement
- 12:54 – Challenges with Disney
- 17:29 – Meeting with famed producer, Dino De Laurentiis
- 19:47 – The unique deal that Ron made with Dino
- 24:01 – The issue with the credits
- 26:36 – Ron recalls visiting a ‘spiritualist’
- 30:08 – The number of directors that, at one point, worked on Total Recall
- 32:35 – Working with David Cronenberg
- 33:14 – Financial roadblocks
- 34:06 – From Richard Dreyfuss to Arnold Schwarzenegger
- 35:52 – Landing the star director, Paul Verhoeven
TWEETABLES
“Alien had changed everything, not just in the sci-fi horror genre. It raised the bar in quality special effects, excellence in story-telling and sheer cinematic terror. And, of course, it made Sigourney Weaver an overnight sensation.” (00:27)
“Nothing you can see will awe you when there’ve been so many special effects. You can’t thrill the audience any more than that, because you can never do anything more amazing than you’ve seen in other movies.” (15:04)
“I knew that I was never gonna make a deal unless Dino would give me a credit with him. I didn’t want it instead of him.” (24:54)
“All of a sudden, when I had nobody but Arnold [Schwarzenegger], he did back-to-back the first ‘Predator’ and ‘Twins.’ And he became number one box office in the world.” (35:25)
“And so between Arnold [Schwarzenegger] and [Paul] Verhoeven, well that’s ow the movie got made. I had the star and I had the director.” (36:34)
LINKS MENTIONED
Robin’s Website – http://www.robinmaxwell.com/
Robin’s Twitter – @TheRobinMaxwell https://twitter.com/therobinmaxwell
🎙️🎙️🎙️
Music by Vincent Covello and Vic Migenes
Artwork by Barbara Mastej
Listen to all episodes at AnAlienInHollwood.com
Discover Robin's books at RobinMaxwell.com
Listen to Harry as the host of Podcast Junkies
Podcast production and marketing by FullCast
Website and Podcast Hosting by SimpleCast
2 November 2019, 7:04 pm
27 minutes 52 seconds

Alien - Screening and Release
- 00:14 – Robin and Harry share their favorite moments and stories from the season thus far
- 04:06 – Ron explains why he never used other films as inspiration for Alien
- 04:45 – The creation of the adult Alien creature
- 07:18 – How Ron’s editing advice led to one of the biggest scare scenes in Alien
- 11:11 – Ron describes the feeling of seeing his words come to life on the set
- 13:01 – Ron’s vision for the scene where Ripley escapes
- 16:10 – The first screening of Alien
- 18:23 – Meeting Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty
- 19:14 – Ron speaks to the importance of the mood in Alien
- 20:27 – A new genre combining science fiction and horror
- 21:52 – How James Cameron convinced Fox to make a sequel to Alien
- 23:19 – Wrapping up the final days of shooting Alien
- 24:30 – Inviting Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to view the final product
- 26:10 – Robin and Harry speak to the cultural impact and significance of the movie Alien
TWEETABLE QUOTES
I just saw it as I wanted the mood of Jaws but in outer space.” (04:39)“This rubber suit was the most amazing suit I’d ever seen. It was so organic and so convincing. I knew right away it’s gonna look incredible on-screen cause on stage even when you knew it’s a rubber suit it scared the shit out of you.” (07:00)“And then I was so excited that I got one of the biggest scares that I used to sit with a chair at the front of the movie theater whenever they’d do that scene and watch the audience jump back.” (10:56)"The directors they had were good but they weren’t good enough to live up to Ridley and Giger’s work, to equal it.” (22:44)“Spielberg said it’s better than Jaws. Lucas said it’s better than Star Wars.” (25:02)
🎙️🎙️🎙️
Music by Vincent Covello and Vic Migenes
Artwork by Barbara Mastej
Listen to all episodes at AnAlienInHollwood.com
Discover Robin's books at RobinMaxwell.com
Listen to Harry as the host of Podcast Junkies and Vertical Farming Podcast
Podcast production and marketing by FullCast
15 May 2019, 9:42 pm
33 minutes 23 seconds

Alien - Nostromo, A Very Bloody Birth
Highlights
- 00:16 – Robin tells the story of how she met Ron Shusett
- 02:58 – Introducing today’s episode, Alien: Nostromo
- 03:21 – Pre-production of Alien
- 04:56 – Casting Alien
- 05:46 – The controversy behind Sigourney Weaver landing the lead role of Ellen Ripley
- 09:27 – Figuring out the pacing of Alien
- 14:16 – An incredible crisis that developed among the actors of Alien
- 18:51 – Giving Hollywood executives an ultimatum
- 21:11 – The Chestburster Scene
- 25:29 – Shooting in chronological order from the Chestburster scene on
- 26:47 – Ron shares another behind the scenes moment from shooting Alien
- 29:14 – The nursery set
- 30:42 – The impregnation of the alien
Shareable Quotes
“Sigourney got it by giving a brilliant reading. She was off-Broadway in a hit and they gave her a cold reading and she knocked it out of the park.” (06:07)“They were all not-name stars. They were all proven successes as character actors, but none of them could be prima donnas. But halfway through there became an incredible crisis with the whole cast. They almost all quit.” (14:28)“And so I said, “The movie doesn’t seem to be working. It’s slow and plodding. It’s the right version of the script but the pacing is off. It’s funereal instead of suspenseful.” (10:17)“And from then on, they were really scared of that monster. They’re performances showed it.” (25:08)
🎙️🎙️🎙️
Music by Vincent Covello and Vic Migenes
Artwork by Barbara Mastej
Listen to all episodes at AnAlienInHollwood.com
Discover Robin's books at RobinMaxwell.com
Listen to Harry as the host of Podcast Junkies
Podcast production and marketing by FullCast
8 May 2019, 2:02 am
37 minutes 38 seconds

Alien - Birth of a Hollywood Blockbuster

00:13 – Harry introduces his new podcast, An Alien in Hollywood
02:11 – Robin describes Ron Shusett
05:04 – How Harry met Robin
07:24 – Robin breaks down the format of the first few episodes of this podcast
09:01 – The genesis of the movie Alien
14:47 – The progress Dan O’Bannon made on the first act of Alien
15:46 – How Ron came up with the solution of how the alien gets on board
17:03 – How Dan met H.R. Giger, the man who eventually worked on the design work for Alien
20:15 – Ron tells the story of how Roger Corman came aboard for Alien
25:36 – How Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill influenced the production of Alien
27:27 – The story of how Ridley Scott came on as the director of Alien
29:42 – Ron recounts moments of discouragement he felt while trying to get this movie made
31:22 – Ridley Scott’s vision for Alien
33:18 – Why the Giler/Hill draft of the Alien script didn’t work
37:27 – The vindication Ron and Dan felt when Ridley sided with their script
Music by Vincent Covello and Vic Migenes
Artwork by Barbara Mastej
Listen to the full series at analieninhollywood.com
Listen to Harry as the host of Podcast Junkies
Read Robin's books on RobinMaxwell.com
Podcast production and marketing by FullCast
Website and Podcast Hosting by SImpleCast
CLAIM=ed14f6b2e96e29db90bf079e802cb0b74edb8e1e=CLAIM

25 April 2019, 10:03 pm
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