Ripley may have been a hair's breadth away from different casting, back in 1978...

The true treasures of the Charles De Lauzrika Alien franchise documentaries on the new Alien Anthology Blu-ray release prove to be in the offcuts and the additions to the existing versions of the original DVD Anthology docs. There are numerous nuggets for the genuine Alien buff, including an actual look at Richard E. Grant screen-testing on set for the role that Charles Dance won in David Fincher's Alien 3 (with the casting of Paul McGann and Ralph Brown in Alien 3, the producers were only short of Grant and Richard Griffiths for staging Withnail and I in space).

Well, I'll save some of the others for the late review that's coming, but it's interesting also to find out in the offcuts section of the Blu-ray that Meryl Streep was one of only two Broadway actresses that Ridley Scott had been due to see in New York for the role of Ripley in early 1978. And that, in a way, Streep actually appears in Alien 3 anyway...

Alien franchise producer Gordon Carroll says, in an interview segment that never made it into the main documentaries either on the DVD or Blu-ray editions, that:

"We had a casting girl working for us named Mary Goldberg - she told us that there were two women we should see in New York that she thought would be perfect [for 'Ripley']. One who had done some films, but had not broken through as yet, and the other was a young girl who had not made a movie as yet. The first woman was Meryl Streep. Meryl's long-time companion had just died, and I did not feel that she should be asked to come in from the country. It had just happened the day before...we could see her another time. The other woman was, of course, Sigourney Weaver."

It's easy to think, in light of a largely very serious career, that Streep would have turned down the role, if offered. But when you think about it, she was in a largely similar position to Weaver in that period, with only a secondary role in Julia (1977) actually released. The Deer Hunter, Kramer Vs. Kramer and Woody Allen's Manhattan were yet to come (Weaver herself had cameoed in Annie Hall). One may argue that this was a serious broadway actress who wouldn't have taken the part, chary - just as Sigourney Weaver initially was - of appearing in some overblown 'monster movie'. But there are two counter-indications:

Firstly, Ridley Scott managed to persuade Weaver, an actress of comparable sensibilities and standing in the NYC theatrical community; not that the man is without personal charm and energy, but it was when Weaver saw the extraordinary work of H. R. Giger from which the xenomorph designs would be derived that she knew that her first instincts about Alien were misinformed.

Secondly, Streep auditioned for Dino De Laurentis's King Kong remake in 1975, losing the female lead in that (ultimately disastrous) remake to Jessica Lange. So clearly she wasn't allergic to monster movies.

Streep's likeness actually crept into the Alien franchise. On the Anthology Blu-ray, prosthetic masters Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff note, in a segment excluded from the original De Lauzrika documentaries, that the face to which the face-hugger is seen attached in the opening credits of Alien 3 is actually that of Meryl Streep...

The pair apparently had no current cast of Sigourney Weaver to work with yet, but a cast of Streep was available (from Death Becomes Her, perhaps?).

Streep's involvement with Alien was a close-call, when one considers that Weaver - who was cast on first sight by Ridley Scott - went to the wrong hotel for an audition that she had a lot of doubts about, and had to run to the right venue to catch Scott & Co...

I can totally see Streep accepting the role after the same persuasion that worked on Weaver, and coming back for franchise sequels just as Weaver did, secured and bolstered (again, like Sigourney) by her recognition for 'serious' cinematic outings.

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