1978
HR Giger’s Necronomicon had just recently
been published in several languages in the
autumn of 1977. One of the first copies is
sent to Dan O’Bannon, who shows it to
Ridley Scott and 20th Century Fox, the company
in whom the Alien project has found a Hollywood
producer with ample financial resources. The
men from the film
company are convinced that H.R.G. is the right
man for the project.
At the beginning of February, director Ridley
Scott and two producers from 20th Century
Fox inform H.R.G. of the conditions and financial
arrangements regarding the film. Four hours
later, the ordeal is over and the gentlemen
travel back to the US. 20th Century Fox finances
an Alien portfolio of six silk-screen prints,
which H.R.G. hands over, signed and numbered,
to the film publicists.
1979
To promote the movie, H.R.G. is sent with
Mia, the troubleshooter, to Nice for the European
première, and from there to London
and Paris. Weeks later, he flies to New York,
and, after a stopover in Dallas where he gives
a total of 23 TV interviews in one day, he
finally turns up, stressed and depressed,
just in time to attend the preview in Hollywood
the company of Mia, Timothy Leary, and his
wife Barbara. The official release takes place
two days later in Graumann’s Egyptian
Theater on Sunset Boulevard. The huge Space-Jockey,
especially created for the film, is bought
in from England and displayed in front of
the cinema. It is later the victim of a pyromaniac
attack.
H.R.G. and Mia give interviews for up to five
hours a day. H.R.G. thereby develops a real
"Alien interrogation allergy". After
this mega-trip, H.R.G. and Mia marry.