MovieChat Forums > Alien³ (1992) Discussion > Don't blame Fincher for this!

Don't blame Fincher for this!

posted 8 years ago by wildj7
26 replies | jump to latest

Poor David Fincher.

Everyone seems to blame him for this mess but it wasn't his fault.

The movie went through several production changes, several scripts rewrites, other directors and producers signing on the project and then quitting or getting fired plus a Writers Guild of America strike, all in the years between 1987 and 1990, before Fincher was brought on.

Some of the directors and writers previously attached to this project during this period of production hell and who also did some work on the early drafts were Renny Harlin, David Twoty and Vincent Ward.

There was even discussion at one time of having James Cameron do this film and if not Cameron, Ridley Scott.

Then during the production and filming of the movie, the 20th Century Fox studio executives kept making changes to the script or showing up on the set unannounced and changing the budget.

Furthermore, when Fincher was signed on and production began, he had to make do with an unfinished script and many unfinished and abandoned sets that were built for the previous script drafts of the movie, hence why some of the sets in the final movie looked out of place.

Fincher had good intention and by the time he finished shooting the film with the big mess he had to work with, 20th Century Fox took his material and cut it to pieces which resulted in the theatrical cut.

I just watched the Director's Cut aka the Assembly Cut which added 37 minutes of footage that was left out of the theatrical cut.

It does makes the movie a bit better than the theatrical cut but it's still a mess and I reiterate once more, don't blame Fincher for this hot mess of a movie, the weakest entry in the Alien Franchise.

By the way the first original script had the movie set on Earth with both Michael Biehn returning as Hicks and Carrie Henn returning as Newt and having it end with an open ending leaving room for a 4th film again with Hicks returning for the 4th film, and both movies were supposed to be filmed back to back to save money on the budget; but some morons at 20th Century Fox decided to change it.

Here's the original teaser trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk_x9W1xKng

This final version of Alien³ is still better than one of the scripts that were proposed and tossed out: an Alien in a monastery in space with monks.

[–] IrinaOma (648) 7 years ago

Blame? THis movie is still amazing!

[–] crc32 (2584) 7 years ago

It does makes the movie a bit better than the theatrical cut but it's still a mess and I reiterate once more, don't blame Fincher for this hot mess of a movie, the weakest entry in the Alien Franchise.

What are you talking about. Alien 3 is the 3rd best movie in the series ahead of Resurrection(The worst in my opinion),
Promethious and Covenant.

[–] Washingtonnative (2613) 7 years ago

Heh Heh, No it's clearly not the best of the series. As a matter of fact, it doesn't even come close!

[–] jasonbourne (1027) 6 years ago

Fincher needs to have a real facehugger placed on his head over Alien 3 along with the producers, but he miraculously escapes. His dog dies though. He gets director cred for the stylish look to it, so has to take the criticisms. The opening title sequence was amateurish. Right off the bat, it gives a giant finger to the great first two films in the franchise and then inserts Alien 3 as part of the franchise. Just who are the new people featured in the credits? It does deserve its low 6.4 rating and rotten reviews on RT.