Kudos to the men behind the suits - Alien and Predator series

Bolaji Badejo - The actor behind alien Source
On a school holiday many years ago, dad and I were watching Star Wars on tv on a late night.  Not long after the movie started, he'd dozed off on the couch while I was still lying on the floor, mesmerized by the scenes of Jedi fighting off Darth Vader's forces.  Watching movies have been part of life, be it action, horror, comedy but definitely not love ones.

forever alone achievement  unlocked!

Today, I came across these articles which I think it's interesting to share, especially when Alien prequel, Prometheus Bluray has just released.  The actor behind the Alien suit is not known by many as he's just briefly introduced in Alien Anthology Bluray set which contains a total of 6 hours extra videos.

TL;DR
...he was called Bolaji Badejo, born and raised in Nigeria, and that he had ended up in the  Alien film by chance. He had only been in London to take a course when a casting agent approached him in a pub and asked if he wanted to audition for a role in a science fiction movie...
- SIGGE EKLUND 19:31 JUNE 7, 2012 

One of the men who built the famous model of Nostromo told me a bad news: "Bolaji committed suicide shortly after he returned to Nigeria," he writes in an email.
- SIGGE EKLUND 19:31 JUNE 7, 2012

the producers put him in a different hotel than the rest of crews, some distance away from the shooting, that he would feel extra strange and scary when he showed up. And it worked. He was always very lonely on the recording. Sat in his swing.
- SIGGE EKLUND 19:31 JUNE 7, 2012

Only Bolaji and HR Giger were allowed to watch the rushes of the Alien footage with Ridley Scott, so they could work out problems together on how best to show the Alien and represent the movements and actions required. Most of the footage Bolaji filmed never made it into the movie, due to problems.
6:59 AM OCTOBER 18, 2012

HR Giger made the Alien suits worn by Bolaji and the stuntman out of latex, at a cost of more than $250,000. The suit consisted of some ten to fifteen separate pieces, worn over a one-piece black body suit, needed underneath to disguise the fact that the Alien fitted together in sections
6:59 AM OCTOBER 18, 2012

Bolaji regrets that no one can recognise him as the Alien in the film, but thinking back on Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, or other successful actors who began their careers by playing grotesque monsters, he adds, "The fact that I played the part of the Alien, for me, that’s good enough. Legally, I’ll be given the opportunity of doing a follow-up, if there is one."
6:59 AM OCTOBER 18, 2012
As for the other famous series, the 7' 2" actor, Kevin Peter Hall played the first two movies' iconic monster from space - Predator.

During its developmental stages, the Predator was going to be played by Jean-Claude Van Damme, who played the Predator for the first few scenes but wasn't billed in the end credits. 
Wikipedia

Van Damme was cast to portray a “small, martial-arts creature”.  However, the cast was so full of big men (Schwarzenegger, Ventura, Landham, Weathers), so the producers changed their mind, and Van Damme himself was not satisfied, as being credited as a “special effect” in the ending of the film. So, the idea was dropped, and a new look for the predator was created, and could realistically physically dominate the film’s human characters.
bzfilm.com

Can be seen in Predator (1987) without costume. He is the helicopter pilot at the end of the film.
IMDB

He was in a major car accident in Los Angeles. During surgery for his critical wounds, he received a contaminated blood transfusion. He died shortly thereafter of AIDS.
IMDB

"When I first came to California it was fun and exciting to get any part in any movie and get paid for it. Because of my size and my background it seemed like I was right for just about anything. I did go through a period where I thought it was time to give up monster movies. But then the scripts and the effects started getting better. I was treated better and starting getting paid more. Doing creatures these days is more of a job for me than it was in the beginning. In the early days I was creating these creatures and basically getting lost in them. Now with creatures like Harry and the Predator it's more a matter of getting deeper into their characters and making sure they work."
IMDB - 1990 interview



I once had a crazy/naive thought of those temporary actors in action movies (during primary school time).  The special effect is so surreal that it made me wonder how the director find so many extras to be killed by the main actor.  My thoughts?!  They must be people who intends to commit suicide or criminals who were sentenced to death...




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