Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool News broke this story earlier today:
“…a few moments ago, I received a call from David Fein, you may know him as the amazing producer behind Robert Wise’s STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE director’s edition. BNATTERS would know that Fein was who secured Wise’s special introduction of ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (great film btw). So what does he have to do with Dan O’Bannon? Well, Fein was also the amazing producer behind that stunning ALIEN LEGACY dvd set – that had all that great doc work, thanks to David.Well, David called to tell me Dan O’Bannon had just passed away. Dan had been in the hospital this past week fighting to hang on, but lost the battle not too long ago – and David wanted to alert the world of the passing of one of Geek’s great creators.”
O’Bannon left a notable legacy as a screenwriter, actor, and director. His writing credits include Dark Star (1974), Dead & Buried (1981), Heavy Metal (1981), Blue Thunder (1983), The Return of the Living Dead (1985), Lifeforce (1985), Invaders from Mars (1986), Total Recall (1990), Screamers (1995), and Bleeders (1997). But he is best known for writing one of the greatest of all-time sci-fi franchises Alien (1979). That movie spawned (by my count) 7 sequels (2 of them Alien vs. Predator) and a prequel which is supposed to debut in 2011.
As fate would have it, we featured a scene from Alien yesterday on GITS here. Other GITS posts referencing Dan: here, here, here, and here.
Here is an interview excerpt with O’Bannon from IGN.com:
The Den of Geek (2006)
Screenwriting Secrets
Here is O’Bannon’s Wikipedia page.
H/T’s to Lee Matthias and Jeff Messerman for the heads-up and links.
Some final words from Harry Knowles:
Dan was one of the key creative talents behind ‘our’ generation’s Science Fiction /Horror mythologies. And we all know his name.
I really do feel a great sense of loss over Dan’s passing. He was someone who was continuing to work, continuing to give people advice and encouragement. He was a helluva guy – and one we’ll miss greatly.
Godspeed, Dan O’Bannon. And condolences to his wife Diane.
UPDATE: A nice retrospective here on Empireonline.com.
UPDATE #2: Another good piece on O’Bannon here. Great quote:
“With “Alien”, I figured out quite simply that, as an audience member, what you DON’T see scares you more than what you see. In horror films, the scares that really grab the audience and build the tension for them don’t come from the monster jumping out of the shadows! The terror comes from the slow times in between those pay-off scenes in which the characters are talking and planning — waiting for something to jump out at them!”
Good note for writing thriller and horror genres.
UPDATE #3: The best of the obits I’ve read by Dennis McLellan in the L.A. Times.
Hey guys, if you read both interview links Scott put up (both fantastic reads, by the way), you'll notice that O'Bannon was penning a screenwrting how-to book. In one instance he notes it's sitting on a shelf, collecting dust.
Let's hope someone in his estate has the wisdom and wherewithal to get this thing on the market somehow. He said it best…"Lots of screenwriting books out there, not many by actual successful screenwriters."
I agree with Jeff about the interviews, great stuff. One thing he mentioned that I remember thinking back when I was in the 7the grade (about 1972) was the idea that it's the unknown that is scariest. I don't remember the movie, but I was being terrified until I saw the monster; after that, the movie was boring enough that I don't remember it.
Of course, Spielberg used the same dynamic as a survival technique in Jaws: Because Bruce (the mechanical shark) wasn't ready, all those opening scenes of the shark attacking people were shot w/o showing the shark per se, just intimating it. When Bruce finally shows up on screen, the audience has been fully prepped to expect a monster – and fortunately Bruce worked just enough to carry off that illusion.