Test screenings & previews

Jim Piddock

during the slower mood-setting scenes. Perhaps now I can begin to tell you about the plot of the movie as originally envisaged by the filmmakers. You see, quite a different movie. The filmmakers' cut was previewed for a test audience, but after the preview, the studio insisted on certain changes which were rather ham-handedly implemented. Rather an old story in Hollywood, I'm afraid. So what you see here is, to no small degree, the result of studio bastardization.

25:18 · jump to transcript →

Jim Piddock

Lost for the moment, though. Quite infuriating. I was privileged to be at that preview screening 16 years back. Saw the film as it was meant to be seen. I was bowled over, quite frankly. Well, then when I saw the movie again in a commercial cinema, as you see it now, I was stunned. I'd brought several friends, having sung the movie to the skies, and I sat there and watched in horror as the thing played out, completely recut. It was appalling.

56:25 · jump to transcript →

I always thought this was a hard scene for you, Lea, because you had to watch her boyfriend be this obnoxious and not stop him, and at the same time, let us know that you didn't agree with what he was doing. It was a hard part, 'cause it was both... I had to do both things. Remain sympathetic and yet be the bad guy because you're gonna be rooting for Mary Stuart's character. Now, this moment was the first big moment in the test screening, because when he picked the dollar up... You'll see what he's gonna do. He reveals that he took the dipstick, drops it in the can, and that's that. Well, I thought, "Okay." The audience cheered for, like, 30 seconds, and I thought, "Oh, my God. They're with this guy right away." They were already ready with this guy. They liked him immediately. And that's the first clue, you know, that you got a shot.

18:27 · jump to transcript →

A big deal in the test screening. I remember people loved that. But this wasn't a reshoot. Eric's hair just looks different to you, but we didn't reshoot this. Bet you a million bucks. How much? - A million.

1:26:12 · jump to transcript →

We shot a lot of specific things. The robot gets crushed and destroyed. And then the nerds run up to the front porch and get manhandled by the jocks. Gilbert gets thrown down on the ground. And it was very reminiscent for me of real stuff that I experienced in high school. But when we previewed the film, the audiences were so bummed out by it that they couldn't laugh anymore for the next 15 minutes. So we had to tone it down, take it out.

1:18:49 · jump to transcript →

Bill Paxton

You could tell when we started screening the film... We didn't screen it in the way they do now. We never did a test screening. But at the premiere, let's say, which is the first time I saw the film with an audience, which is unthinkable these days, we could tell the audience really liked Hudson, really connected. I like this scene cos, again, it's the transfer of power. Sigourney has made Burke as a guy she can't trust. Ripley has figured out Burke's agenda, and she's created enough of a bond with Hicks that she knows she can get him to do what needs to be done, take command even though he's a corporal. Having been in the army myself in the '70s, Jim really nailed army life for the military, and he was never in the military. Jim wasn't. - That's how guys acted.

1:22:19 · jump to transcript →

And it was always better than what we had planned. So that was good. Did you do any like test screens with, like a test screening with him and Robert Sean Leonard at all to see how they played off each other? Or did you just? No, no, we just had to make it work. Yeah, just cross your fingers and hope the chemistry's there. Yeah, yeah. And this was, it was Bobby's first movie, but not his,

45:44 · jump to transcript →

Now, there's a really cool little lucky bit here with the hubcap. Watch this. Yeah, it flies off. Boink! Right over camera. Right. It was a mistake, isn't it? I think you should say you planned that. Ah, yes. Life is so kind. When they previewed this picture, the audience's most favorite thing was... Was coming up here. ...was getting hit by the... The melding man getting hit by the car. Right here. And the MPAA wanted us to cut it out of the picture.

1:30:23 · jump to transcript →