Alien (1979), pre-production spiral-bound photographs (1978), British

Alien (1979), pre-production spiral-bound photographs (1978), British

Photographer: Bob Penn (1925-2002)

Unframed: 11 x 16 in. (20 x 40.6 cm)

This spiral-bound pre-production book was put together by SB International Press Services, London, and it contains a mixture of large format black and white photographs (matt finish) and colour photographs (gloss finish). The black and white photographs are of a very high quality. This book was designed to be given to executives at 20th Century Fox, with the view to add more photographs as filming continued. The photographs include the cast on set, special effect shots, and a shot of the director Ridley Scott on set. These photographs could easily be taken out and individually framed.

This masterpiece of science fiction horror was directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O'Bannon, starring Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver. It took a little time to get off the ground, with many rewrites and presentations to various studios. The success of Star Wars in 1977 ignited 20th Century Fox's interest in sci-fi films and it was then that Alien got the green light. Cinemagoers were introduced to the alien egg and the brilliant tagline "In space, no one can hear you scream."