H.R. Giger getting Bolaji Badejo into the alien suit
His role as the title character (the Alien) in Alien (1979) was practically tailor-made to suit him. Bolaji Badejo was a young African design student when he was picked up from a bar by Ridley Scott (director of ‘Alien’). He was as big as Scott wanted the alien to be: at least two metres (6ft 7in) tall. In fact, he stood at well over 7ft. It was Scott’s intention to create a monster that looked as if no human could be behind the mask. It was to be long and angular, with an impossible frame that only a few men would be able to fill. Badejo filled the role.
Sadly, we ended up with almost no shots of the alien in the final cut that clearly display Bolaji’s great height. Still, it comes across as a fairly big creature
“This stunt alone, crawling out of the wall space aboard the Narcissus, took many hours and takes to shoot, ripped several suits, and exhausted Bolaji Badejo: ‘I remember I had to repeat that action for about fifteen takes. Finally, I said, “No more!” There was a lot of smoke, it was hard to breathe, and it was terribly hot.’ Due to the rigidity of the suit, many other athletic scenes were scrapped.”
Bolaji Badejo (in alien suit) visits the Alien model shop in a promotion shoot for Time Life magazine
via Alien Experience
