Comments on: Goodbye, Dan O’Bannon

By: The Furnace » Dan O’Bannon dies at ages 63

The Furnace » Dan O’Bannon dies at ages 63 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:33:00 +0000

[...] From Coilhouse: [...]

By: So Long, Dan O’Bannon « EXCUSES AND HALF TRUTHS

So Long, Dan O’Bannon « EXCUSES AND HALF TRUTHS — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:33:56 +0000

[...] Coilhouse has a fine tribute of clips and previews up for a man that has had a significant impact on the genre and movies I love the best. [...]

By: It’s 10 degrees and snowing out. For us transplants, this is refreshing. « Annicha

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:53:04 +0000

[...] alone, Dan O’Bannon is ensured the eternal adoration and gratitude of everyone here at Coilhouse.” Leave a [...]

By: Clockpolk

Clockpolk — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:26:31 +0000

Mer, I stand corrected! Thanks for the insight, didn’t know all that. Cheers!

By: Tim Kern

Tim Kern — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:38:52 +0000

Return Of The Living Dead is by far one of my favourite movies. I will have to wear my ‘Uneeda Medical Supply’ t-shirt tomorrow, in his memory. R.I.P.

By: malpertuis

malpertuis — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:57:58 +0000

Dan O’Bannon directed a version of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. It was called The Resurrected with Chris Sarandon as the pro/antagonist. He was also at the last HP Lovecraft film festival.

I can only rattle off things because I really love him and my heart hurts at the loss. I gotta dig my Pinback costume out and wear it with a black armband today.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:55:13 +0000

I read an interview with him in a magazine a long time ago where he basically said “Aliens was a’ight, but they went with an idea I discarded; I had a much better idea for the sequel that didn’t get used.” I always wondered what it was, and now we’ll never know. Fuck.

By: Mer

Mer — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:18:14 +0000

Actually, Clockpolk, that's not entirely accurate. Yes, O'Bannon and Ron Shusett initially sketched all of the roles for Alien as generic males. However, they handed over their script with a note that explicitly stated: "The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women." They were the first to suggest that traditional gender roles could be reversed, leaving the door wide open for Brandywine's rewrite/production team, Ridley Scott, and casting. Also, O'Bannon's the one who got Giger involved in Alien in first place (after the Jodorowksy Dune project fell through), not to mention Chris Foss, Ron Cobb and Moebius. Being an incredible draftsman in his own right, with a great eye for aesthetics (as Paul state above), he's the one who pushed Scott to go with Giger as a lead concept designer. In fact, I'm pretty sure a lot of elements in O'Bannon's drafts of the script --especially the alien creatures and tech-- were written with Giger in mind. Make no mistake. O'Bannon was one of the main driving forces that made Alien happen, and he deserves respect and recognition for it.

By: Clockpolk

Clockpolk — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:42:53 +0000

Actually,

Dan O’Bannon had nothing to do with Ellen Ripley. In his script, the Ripley character was a man. From what I’ve heard his original script was actually quite meh and was rewritten many times — my bet is that what made the film great has more to do with Ridley Scott, the producers, H.R. Giger and the actors.

Not to be disrespectful to the recently diseased, though. He was a cool guy and Dark Star is still great. RIP!

By: Rockford

Rockford — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:34:37 +0000

I have the same feelings for O’Bannon that I have for John Carpenter: Not necessarily the best in his field, but definetly the one with the coolest ideas. A filmmaker who you could relate to, simply for having a sort of nerd-mentality and knowing what constitutes an awesome scene. Lifeforce is one of the shining examples of this.

He will be missed.