As said above, most of the marketing didn't really focus on the cast much. Vintage magazine articles seemed to treat the cast members quite equally, actually, focusing on the ensemble as a whole. This wouldn't have been too out of the norm in the 70s, lots of disaster flicks and expansive dramas of the time featured big ensemble casts that had one or two "leads," but not quite The One Main Character that the movie revolves around.
It's true, though, that most audiences almost certainly would've considered Dallas the "lead" going into it. Sigourney Weaver was actually the least known of the cast at the time (it was her first major screen role if I remember right), but since she was positioned as something of a love interest I reckon it wasn't TOO surprising that she was among the survivors (most folksprobably would've guessed Dallas and Ripley along with maybe one or two other random characters would be the ones to make it); though Ripley being the only one left standing and Dallas suddenly biting it 2/3 in likely did raise some eyebrows.
reply
share