Multiple proposed scripts caused misleading advertising which implied that the movie would be set on Earth. William Gibson also drafted a script in which Ripley spent most of the film in a coma.
Although the alien that hatched from the dog was a rod puppet, early filmed tests used an actual dog in an alien costume.
Hungarian title translated back to English: "Final Solution: Death."
A series of Aliens comic books were published that were set after the events in Aliens (1986), featuring an adult Newt returning to space with a shell-shocked Hicks to stop the retrieval of an alien specimen by Weyland-Yutani corporation. The books were re-published to accommodate Alien3, with Newt re-named Billy.
First-time director David Fincher disowned the film, citing constant studio interference and actually walked out of production before editing began.
Sigourney Weaver said she would only re-shave her head for re-shoots if she got a bonus.
Early versions of the script and design featured a giant rustic monastery. Also, the alien itself would not be appearing.
Cinematographer Alex Thomson replaced Jordan Cronenweth after only two weeks of filming, when Jordan Cronenweth fell ill.
The creature that the alien impregnates was originally an ox, but was eventually changed because an ox was cumbersome and was seen as somewhat incongruous when placed in the film's environment. This sequence was later restored for the extended "Assembly Cut."
Initially Renny Harlin was attached as director, but left to direct Die Hard 2 (1990). Then Vincent Ward came on board, but only lasted a few months before being fired after several disagreements with the producers. The scriptwriter, Walter Hill, was considered to direct the film as well, but he stepped back after David Fincher became available.
After the first draft was complete (in which the Alien attacks a monastery), construction work began on the sets. The construction shut down, leaving the crew in limbo, as the script was reworked. Although the location changed to a prison, it was decided that they would use the already half-built monastery sets.
To create a convincing corpse of the character of Newt, the filmmakers created life size mannequins using the molds of Carrie Henn from Aliens (1986).
One possible idea for the film included a chest-burster coming out of Michael Biehn's character, Hicks. A replica of the actor with his chest torn open was created, but after Biehn discovered this, he threatened to sue the producers for using his likeness without his consent, and the idea was dropped. Later, the producers paid him to use his picture at the beginning of the film for the computer sequence. Apparently he received more money for use of this one image than for his role in Aliens (1986).
One early draft of the script focused almost entirely on Hicks, Bishop and Newt, played in Aliens (1986) by Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen and Carrie Henn respectively. The story would tie up loose ends from the preceding film with Newt returning to Earth to live with her grandparents, as well as Hicks and Bishop and a new team of Colonial Marines battling a rival faction of planets who use the Alien as a bio-weapon.
On the set at Pinewood Studios, a giant lead foundry took 12 weeks to construct and put the production way behind. Even with 6 day weeks and 14 hour days, the crew were unable to keep up with the schedule.
The Rottweiler (from which the alien emerges) had to have part of his face shaved to indicate where the facehugger had gripped onto him.
The production effectively shut down for three months while the script was undergoing rewrites.
Off-duty, Sigourney Weaver had to wear a wig as her then two-year-old daughter Charlotte didn't like to see her mother bald.
The alien in this movie differs from its predecessors in that the organic pipes on its back are now missing and it now has a more pronounced set of lips.
The film spent over a year in editing.
When the powers-that-be decided on a new ending to be shot, Elliot Goldenthal had one night to come up with a new score.
To create some of the wet sounds that accompany the alien, the soundmen went to Asian markets and bought animal heads and stomach linings.
The crane that lifts the crashed EEV out of the water to dry land is a miniature built using the cannibalized parts from a Star Wars X-Wing fighter model kit.
A cross is briefly seen on the planet surface to suggest the religion that some of the inmates have turned to. The model department held a competition to see who could design the best one. Four different models were created, and then David Fincher chose the version he liked best.
In wide shots, most of the refinery is actually made of cardboard.
Because an early storyline of the movie involved aliens landing on Earth, an early trailer of the movie had the tagline "On Earth, everyone can hear you scream."
An advanced type of facehugger, one that impregnates Ripley with a queen embryo, was designed and built, but was cut from the Theatrical Version. It does however make a brief appearance in the extended Assembly Cut.
Because of continuing troubles with the film, Fox halted production in Pinewood Studios in England in late 1991. The crew returned to LA, and an initial screening identified the missing parts of the film. A major part yet to be shot included killing of the alien in the lead pool. By the time of the new shots in LA, Sigourney Weaver's hair grew back, and she had an agreement with the producers that if she would have to cut her hair she would be paid a $40,000 bonus. The producers therefore hired Greg Cannom to create a bald cap with very short hair on it. The make-up process cost $16,000 and was very difficult and time-consuming because the hairline required the cap to be placed very precisely on Weaver's head.
The concept by Vincent Ward based on which the movie was green-lighted involved a wooded planet and a group of monks who thought they were living in post-apocalyptic dark ages, and had a middle-ages lifestyle. The group refused all kinds of modern technology, and when Ripley and the alien crash-land on Earth they would blame Ripley for the alien attacks. Ripley was to be impregnated by the alien "the old-fashioned way" rather than through a face-hugger, and therefore being impregnated with a human-alien hybrid. According to the storyboards, she would dream of half human-half alien hybrids. Other storyboards included horse-alien and sheep-alien hybrids. Ward left the project after the producers insisted that he change the monks to prisoners and drop the wooded planet idea.
Some of H.R. Giger's design for the film involved a puma-like alien with claws. The producers also instructed him to do more sexy designs, so he created a drawing of an alien, which, in close view, had the lips of a woman. One of his ideas involved the alien kissing the victims and killing them that way (an idea that was later used in the movie Species (1995) where the main creature was also designed by Giger).
The tea glass that prison superintendent Andrews is sipping on is part of the BODUM series, a tableware manufactured in Denmark.
Dr. Clemens's line about Furi-161 being one of "Weyland-Yutani's backwater prison planets" was the first time the name Weyland-Yutani was spoken out load. It had appeared on computer screens and props in the previous two films, but characters always referred to it as "the Company" when speaking.
Vincent Ward used his pay off from this film to finance his next, Map of the Human Heart (1993).
The same "dipping bird" appears on the warden's desk as was seen in the original Alien (1979).
The original budget was $45 million which included Sigourney Weaver's fee of $5.5 million. The budget soon spiraled however, with first Renny Harlin and then Vincent Ward both leaving the project before novice feature film director David Fincher came on board. Extensive last minute re-shoots - especially after the finale was deemed to be too similar to Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - ultimately pushed the budget into the region of $65 million.
$7 million had been spent on sets that were never used thanks to the ever-changing script before filming had even started.
In the original drafts of the script there was no Ripley.
Gabriel Byrne was offered the role of Clemens.
Richard E. Grant turned down the role of Clemens. Director David Fincher offered him the role as he was a huge fan of Withnail & I (1987) and wanted to reunite Grant with co-stars Paul McGann and Ralph Brown.
Sigourney Weaver had a clause in her contract specifying that Walter Hill and David Giler would write the final shooting script. Weaver has said that she considers Ripley a very difficult character to write, and, with the exception of James Cameron, only Giler and Hill have really ever written the character correctly.
William Gibson wrote a very early script treatment for the film. As Sigourney Weaver's involvement was in question, the main focus of this script was between Hicks and Bishop, two characters from Aliens (1986). Many consider this to be a much superior script. The only carry-over from this original script, however, is the bar-codes on the back of the convicts' necks.
There are screenplay treatments by Eric Red, David Twohy, John Fasano and Rex Pickett all freely available on the Internet.
Director of photography Alex Thomson replaced Jordan Cronenweth three days into shooting. Cronenweth was succumbing to Parkinson's disease. He died of it in 1996.
There was some question mark over whether the character of Ripley should actually feature in this film until the then president of 20th Century Fox, Joe Roth, insisted otherwise.
At one point, David Fincher was denied permission by the film's producers to shoot a crucial scene in the prison understructure between Ripley and the alien. Against orders, Fincher grabbed Sigourney Weaver, a camera and shot the scene anyway. This scene appears in the final cut.
With the release of the definitive Alien Quadrilogy on DVD in 2004, 20th Century Fox proffered David Fincher the proverbial olive branch and asked him to assemble and comment on his own Director's Cut. Fincher declined. He was the only one of the four Alien directors to refuse to have anything to do with the project.
In a scene towards the end of the movie where Ripley and the inmates discuss the killing of the alien, several Chinese characters can be seen on the wall. 'chao gao wen wei xian' which translates as 'super high temperature dangerous'.
Dillon:
You're all gonna die. The only question is how you check out. Do you want it on your feet? Or on your fuckin' knees... begging? I ain't much for begging! Nobody ever gave me nothing! So I say *fuck* that thing! Let's fight it!
Andrews:
This is Rumor Control. Here are the facts!
Clemens:
Dillon and the rest of the alternative people, embraced religion, as it were, about five years ago. Tempt you?
Ripley:
I'm on medication.
Clemens:
Hardly.
Ripley:
What kind of religion?
Clemens:
Some sort of apocalyptic, millenarian, Christian fundamentalist, uh...
Ripley:
Right.
Clemens:
Exactly. Point is, when the company wanted to close the facility down, Dillon and the rest of the converts wanted to stay. And they were allowed to remain as custodians with two minders and a medical officer. And here we are.
Ripley:
How did you get this wonderful assignment?
Clemens:
How do you like your new haircut?
Ripley:
It's okay.
Clemens:
Now that I've gone out on a limb for you with Andrews, damaged my already less-than-perfect relationship with that good man and briefed you on the humdrum history of Fury 161; can you not tell me what you were looking for in the girl?
Ripley:
Are you attracted to me?
Clemens:
In what way?
Ripley:
In that way.
Clemens:
Very direct.
Ripley:
I've been out here a long time.
Clemens:
So have I.
Dillon:
Why? Why are the innocent punished? Why the sacrifice? Why the pain? There aren't any promises. Nothing certain. Only that some get called, some get saved. She won't ever know the hardship and grief for those of us left behind. We commit these bodies to the void with a glad heart. For within each seed, there is a promise of a flower, and within each death, no matter how small, there is always a new life. A new beginning. Amen.
[Ripley is looking for the alien]
Ripley:
Don't be afraid, I'm part of the family.
Ripley:
This is a maximum security prison, and you have no weapons of any kind?
Andrews:
We have some carving knives in the abattoir, a few more in the mess hall. Some fire axes scattered about the place - nothing terribly formidable.
Ripley:
That's all?
Andrews:
We're on the honor system.
Ripley:
Then we're fucked.
[Ripley gets out of bed naked]
Ripley:
Are you going to get me some clothes, or should I just go like this?
Clemens:
Given the nature of our indigenous population, I would suggest clothes. None of the men here have seen a woman in years.
[under his breath]
Clemens:
Neither have I, for that matter.
Andrews:
Let me see if I have this correct, Lieutenant - it's an 8-foot creature of some kind with acid for blood, and it arrived on your spaceship. It kills on sight, and is generally unpleasant. And of course, you expect me accept all this, your word.
Ripley:
No, I don't expect anything.
Andrews:
Quite a story, Mr Aaron.
Aaron:
Right sir, it's a beauty. Never heard anything quite like it, sir.
Andrews:
Expect not.
[all the prisoners call Aaron "85"]
Ripley:
What's this "eighty-five" thing?
David:
A couple of us sneaked a look at his personnel file the day he arrived. It's his IQ.
[to the Alien]
Ripley:
You've been in my life so long, I can't remember anything else.
[Searching for the Alien]
David:
Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!
Bishop II:
Ripley! Think of all that we can learn from it! It's the chance of a lifetime, you must let me have it!
Dillon:
Do you have any faith, sister?
Ripley:
Not much.
Dillon:
We've got a lot of faith here. Enough even for you.
Ripley:
I thought women weren't allowed.
Dillon:
Well, we've never had any before. But we tolerate anybody. Even the intolerable.
[Dillon saves Ripley from being raped]
Dillon:
You better get outta here! I gotta "re-educate" some of the brothers!
Andrews:
I'm afraid we'll have to assume that there's a good chance this simple bastard has murdered them!
Dillon:
Now you DON'T know that! He's never lied to me! He's crazy, he's a fool, but he's NOT a liar!
Dillon:
You'd just better be right about that thing not wanting you. Because if it wants out, that's how it's going to go: through that alcove, through you.
Dillon:
There's nothing "for sure" in this place.
Dillon:
I don't like losing a fight. Not to nobody, not to nothing. That thing out there's already killed half my men and got the other half scared shitless. Now as long as it's alive, sister, you're not going to save any universe.
Dillon:
I wanna get this thing, and I need you to do it! And if it won't kill you, then maybe that helps us fight it!
Ripley:
We waste this thing, then you take care of me.
Dillon:
No problem. Quick, easy and painless!
[the prisoners hesitate to go against the alien and ask why they can't wait for the company to bring them some guns]
Ripley:
Because they won't kill it. They might kill you just for having seen it but they're not gonna kill it. When they first heard about this thing, it was "crew expendable". The next time they sent in the marines - they were expendable too. What makes you think they're gonna care about a bunch of lifers who found God at the ass-end of space? You really think they're gonna let you interfere with their plans for this thing? They think we're crud. And they don't give a fuck about one friend of yours that's died. Not one.
Kevin:
This thing is really pissed off!
Dillon:
[while fighting it, the alien slashes Dillon's intestines out] Come on, is that the best you've got?
[Ripley and David are fetching Quinitricetyline for coating the prison tunnels]
David:
I saw a drum of this stuff fall into a beach head bunker once. The blast put a tug in dry dock for seventeen weeks. Great stuff!
Boggs:
Watch your step, brother
Ripley:
How about leveling with me? Well, when I asked how you got assigned here you avoided the question. Then when I asked about the prison ID tattooed on the back of your head you ducked me again.
Clemens:
It's a long, sad story. More than a little melodramatic.
Ripley:
Try me.
Clemens:
[smiles] If you insist. After my student years, despite the fact that I had become secretly addicted to morphine, I was considered to be most promising. A man with a future. Then during my first residency I did a thirty-six hour stretch on an ER. So I went out and I got more than a little drunk. Then I got called back. A boiler had blown in a fuel plant and there were thirty casualties. And eleven of them died. Not as a result of the accident but because I prescribed the wrong dosage of painkiller. And I got seven years in prison and my licence reduced to a 3C.
[pause]
Clemens:
At least I got off the morphine.
[first lines]
Computer Voice:
Stasis interrupted. Fire in cryogenic compartment. Repeat, fire in cryogenic compartment. All personnel report to emergency escape vehicle launch pod. Deep-space flight will commence in T-minus twenty seconds.
Golic:
[Golic has just seen the alien kill Clemens] Magnificent!
Ripley:
Dillon, what about me?
Dillon:
God will take care of you, sister.
Morse:
[to Ripley] We have no video cameras, no TV no fucking ice cream. All we have here is shit. Wait, what are we talking to her for? She's the one that brought the fucker. Why don't we get her head and shove it through the fucking wall!
Ripley:
Sounds good to me.
Dillon:
Morse, Why don't you just shut the fuck up?
Golic:
It was a dragon! That feeds on minds, nobody can stop it!
Andrews:
[Trying to determine the victim's identity] Who was it?
Clemens:
Murphy...
Aaron:
How did you know?
Clemens:
[Looking down and pointing] That's his boot.
Aaron:
[the inmates are trying to decide what to do next following Andrew's death] OK. Look. There's no way I can replace Andrews. He was a good man. I know you guys didn't appreciate him...
Dillon:
Aaron, we don't want to hear that shit now.
Dillon:
[the inmates gather at assembly hall after the alien has escaped] All right. The fucking thing is loose. It's out there. The rescue team is on its way with guns and shit. Right now there isn't any place that's real safe. But we stay here, in the assembly hall. This place never had any fucking air conditioning. If it comes in it's gotta be through one of these doors. Now we post a guard to let us know if it's coming. In the meantime, you lay low, be ready and stay right... in case your time comes.
David:
Don't you start bullshitting, Dillon. We're gonna be trapped in here like rats.
Dillon:
You got a weapon? You got a blade? Then you take it out and you fucking use it!
Dillon:
[the inmates are still reluctant to take on the alien before the rescue teams arrives] Right, Okay, just sit here on your asses. Fine.
Morse:
How about if I sit here on my ass?
Dillon:
No problem. Oh, I forgot. You're the guy that's made a deal with God to live forever, huh?
[to the others]
Dillon:
And all the rest of you pussies, can sit it out too.
[Referring to Ripley]
Dillon:
Me and her'll do all the fighting.
[last lines]
Ripley:
[playback of a recording, interrupted by static] Ash, Captain Dallas... Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.
Ripley:
Do we have the capacity to make fire? Most humans have enjoyed that privilege since the stone age.
Aaron:
[looking nervous and uneasy] No need to be sarcastic.
Frank:
Treat a queen like a whore and a whore like a queen. You can't go wrong.
[examining the "remains" of Murphy, sucked into a nine-foot fan]
Clemens:
Well, not much to say, is there? Death was instantaneous.
Aaron:
No shit.
[Clemens rises after making love with Ripley]
Clemens:
I really appreciate your affections. But I am aware they deflected my question. In the nicest possible way, of course.
Continuity: Dillon's glasses disappear after Golic frees the alien.
Continuity: When doing the autopsy, Clemens's bloodstain frequently changes.
Factual errors: When Murphy finds the alien's shed skin in the pipe, he holds it up and it blows away from the fan. Mr Clemens also says that the fan was blowing. However on the close-up shot of the fan, the blade angle and the direction of rotation would mean that the fan would have been sucking like an extractor fan. The fan should have blown the other way, and there would be no ambiguity over the cause of Murphy's death.
Follows
Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
Followed by
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
Alien vs. Predator: AVP2 (2007)
Edited into
Bride of Monster Mania (2000) (TV)
The 'Alien' Saga (2002) (TV)
The Making of 'Alien³' (2003) (V)
One Step Beyond: The Making of 'Alien: Resurrection' (2003) (V)
Spin off
Alien³ (1992) (VG)
Alien vs. Predator (1993) (VG)
- spin-off video game
Aliens vs. Predator (1999) (VG)
Aliens vs. Predator 2 (2001) (VG)
Aliens vs. Predator 2: Primal Hunt (2002) (VG)
References
Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, La (1928)
Gatto a nove code, Il (1971)
Alien (1979)
- when trying to lure the alien, one of the convicts says "here kitty kitty...", clearly a reference to Alien were Brett says the same thing when looking for the cat.
Heavy Metal (1981)
Zeiramu (1991)
Referenced in
Aliens (1993)
"Animaniacs: Taming of the Screwy (#1.5)" (1993)
- Ripley with a shaved head and the dog alien from this movie are at the party as guests.
The Bitch Is Back (1995)
- An Alien³ poster is seen, and a character quotes its tagline "The Bitch is back."
Nick of Time (1995)
Tesis (1996)
Drawing Down the Moon (1997)
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
Free Enterprise (1998)
Bride of Monster Mania (2000) (TV)
On the Edge of 'Blade Runner' (2000) (TV)
- Referenced by name
Jeepers Creepers (2001)
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
ReBoot: Daemon Rising (2001) (TV)
Resident Evil (2002)
Smoking Room (2002)
- They make reference to this film in a conversation.
A Decade Under the Influence (2003)
- mentioned in documentary
Dreamcatcher (2003)
- A dog gives birth to an Alien in much the same way as in Alien 3.
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains (2003) (TV)
Kontroll (2003)
- The Climatic Atmosphere.
One Step Beyond: The Making of 'Alien: Resurrection' (2003) (V)
Aliens in the Basement: The Bob Burns Collection (2003) (V)
Superior Firepower: The Making of 'Aliens' (2003) (V)
Alien Lockdown (2004) (TV)
Film Geek (2005)
- Scotty asks a customer why he didn't get the widescreen version of this movie
"South Park: Manbearpig (#10.6)" (2006)
- Al Gore says the cave must be filled with molten lead to kill Manbearpig; the Alien in Alien³ was killed this way.
H.R. Giger's Sanctuary (2007)
- Is referenced by Giger, the creator of the Alien
Featured in
The Making of 'Alien 3' (1992) (TV)
Heartstoppers: Horror at the Movies (1992) (TV)
Alien Evolution (2001) (TV)
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains (2003) (TV)