E11 詹姆斯·卡梅隆：我害怕被盖格的才华所淹没

E11 詹姆斯·卡梅隆：我害怕被盖格的才华所淹没

课程导读

1986年，卡梅隆执导的《异形2》上映，电影大获成功。但这部电影在制作时，却没有邀请当年《异形1》的艺术指导H. R. Giger。Giger 通过他的经纪人给 Cameron 写了一封信表达不满。面对这么一个尴尬的情况，坏脾气的卡梅隆会怎么给 Giger 解释他这个决定呢？

▍背景介绍
詹姆斯·卡梅隆（James Francis Cameron，1954年8月16日－），导演、制片人、剧作家、工程师、发明家和深海潜水爱好者。出于对完美的追求和对自我的坚持，卡梅隆创造了电影史上的许多奇迹。其执导的影片不超过10部，但几乎每一部都是票房和口碑双收的作品。
H. R. Giger（1940年2月5日－2014年5月12日），瑞士知名的超现实主义画家、雕塑家，以及设计师。他的画风迷幻又恐怖，善于借助人体、动物等现实存在的元素，经过解构和拼接，形成一种古怪又让人有些熟悉的形态。他曾设计电影《异形》中的外星生物，并因此获得奥斯卡最佳视觉效果奖。

英文原文

I felt the risk of being overwhelmed by Giger (Excerpt)

February 13, 1987

Dear Mr. Barany:

In that letter you describe Mr. Giger's 'initial sense of disappointment' at not being contacted for "ALIENS" in view of his, quite correct, intense sense of authorship of the creatures and designs. Ironically, it was the production design of "ALIEN", with its bizarre, psycho-sexual landscape of the subconscious as created by Mr. Giger, that initially attracted me to the project of a sequel. However, having been a production designer myself before becoming a director, I felt I had to put my own unique stamp on the project. Otherwise, it would have had little meaning for me at that point in my career, when I had a number of original concepts and creations which I could have pursued, with equal financial reward and an even greater degree of authorship.

I found that creating a sequel can be an uneasy exercise in balancing creative impulses, the desire to create a whole new canvas, with the need to pay proper homage to the original. Mr. Giger's visual stamp was so powerful and pervasive in "ALIEN" (a major contributor to its success, I believe) that I felt the risk of being overwhelmed by him and his world, if we had brought him into a production where in a sense, he had more reason to be there than I did.

An additional deciding factor was Mr. Giger's conflicting involvement in "POLTERGEIST II" which unfortunately did not utilize his vision nearly as well as "ALIEN".

I offer all this commentary by way of apology and explanation in the hope that Mr. Giger can find it possible to forgive me for abducting his 'first-born'. If so, there may come a time when we can collaborate in mutual respect on some completely new and original project where the only limitation is his superb imagination.

I am, first and always, a fan of his work (a signed litho of the alien egg commissioned during "ALIEN" is one of my prized possessions).

Sincerely,
JAMES F. CAMERON