You may be aware that John Hurt, recipient of the 16th Bradford International Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award, was the victim of the infamous chestburster scene in Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979).
What you may not know is that after the release of the film, a rumour emerged that the cast had no idea what would happen in the scene; only that Hurt’s character (Kane) would die.
During the John Hurt Screentalk last Saturday, the man himself revealed that the myth is only partly true! The cast were aware of the chestburster puppet, but not the fake blood and viscera which would accompany it – one stream of blood unwittingly flew straight toward cast member Veronica Cartwright, whose hysterical reaction was captured on camera.
Alien won the 1979 Academy Award for visual effects, and earned itself a place in Empire magazine’s countdown of the greatest 18-rated moments of all time.
Re-live the moment in glorious 70mm when Alien is screened on Saturday at 2pm as part of the Widescreen Weekend.
Hear more from John Hurt on the National Media Museum Podcasts page.
Showing posts with label John Hurt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Hurt. Show all posts
25 March, 2010
22 March, 2010
John Hurt awarded Lifetime Achievement at BIFF 2010
Ben Eagle, Festival Producer, had the honour of presenting John Hurt with his Lifetime Achievement award at BIFF on Saturday night.
"John Hurt joined us on Saturday for a wonderful event led by Tony Earnshaw, the Festival’s Artistic Director. After an introductory speech from Tony, followed by a clip from David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, John Hurt was greeted by rapturous applause from the sell-out crowd."
"Whilst covering a vast amount of Hurt’s repertoire, the 90 minute interview was sufficiently in-depth but left the audience hungry for more as Hurt’s filmography (supplied to the audience as they entered) is in excess of 150 films, all of which couldn’t be mentioned for obvious reasons!"
"Strictly speaking, this wasn’t the first time John had graced Pictureville’s stage. He appeared in Paper Zoo’s theatre production of George Orwell’s 1984 in June 2009 – playing the on-screen Big Brother, which I was heavily involved with. We had spent an afternoon filming with John in London last year and have since stayed in contact. Due to our working together, Tony felt it appropriate that I present John with the BIFF 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award, which I was delighted to do. John received a standing ovation on receiving the award and gave a very gracious but unassuming acceptance speech."
"He was greeted by a large amount of fans outside who he happily spent time meeting and signing autographs for. It was a thoroughly entertaining, enlightening and exciting event which received some wonderful feedback and really was a highlight of the Festival. "
We hope you enjoyed John Hurt's Screentalk if you were in attendance on the night. If you missed it, or want to re-live the evening, you can now listen to a podcast of the interview here.
"John Hurt joined us on Saturday for a wonderful event led by Tony Earnshaw, the Festival’s Artistic Director. After an introductory speech from Tony, followed by a clip from David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, John Hurt was greeted by rapturous applause from the sell-out crowd."
"Whilst covering a vast amount of Hurt’s repertoire, the 90 minute interview was sufficiently in-depth but left the audience hungry for more as Hurt’s filmography (supplied to the audience as they entered) is in excess of 150 films, all of which couldn’t be mentioned for obvious reasons!"
"Strictly speaking, this wasn’t the first time John had graced Pictureville’s stage. He appeared in Paper Zoo’s theatre production of George Orwell’s 1984 in June 2009 – playing the on-screen Big Brother, which I was heavily involved with. We had spent an afternoon filming with John in London last year and have since stayed in contact. Due to our working together, Tony felt it appropriate that I present John with the BIFF 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award, which I was delighted to do. John received a standing ovation on receiving the award and gave a very gracious but unassuming acceptance speech."
"He was greeted by a large amount of fans outside who he happily spent time meeting and signing autographs for. It was a thoroughly entertaining, enlightening and exciting event which received some wonderful feedback and really was a highlight of the Festival. "
We hope you enjoyed John Hurt's Screentalk if you were in attendance on the night. If you missed it, or want to re-live the evening, you can now listen to a podcast of the interview here.
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