HR Giger, Alien creator, dies at 74

HR Giger, Alien creator, dies at 74

Postby ntscuser » Tue May 13, 2014 8:17 am

HR Giger, the Swiss surrealist artist who designed the Alien Xenomorph, has died at the age of 74.

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Giger passed away in hospital on Monday (May 12) after sustaining injuries in a fall, SRF News Online reports.

Born Hans Rudolf Giger in Chur, Switzerland, he studied Architecture and industrial design in Zurich before finding fame in the art world with his book Necronomicon, a compendium of HP Lovecraft-inspired images.

His work came to the attention of Ridley Scott, who hired him to create the titular creature for his 1979 sci-fi horror Alien.

Speaking about the striking look of his Alien in a 1979 interview with Starlog, Giger said: "In the first design for the alien, he had big black eyes. But somebody said he looked too much like a Hell's Angel; all in black with the black goggles. And then I thought, it would be even more frightening if there are no eyes! We made him blind!

"Then when the camera comes close, you see only the holes of the skull. Now that's really frightening. Because, you see, even without eyes he always knows exactly where his victims are, and he attacks directly, suddenly, unerringly. Like a striking snake."

Giger won an Academy Award for his work on the film in 1980, and his iconic Alien design endured across three sequels and a pair of Alien vs Predator spinoff movies.

He returned to the series in 1992 to work with David Fincher on Alien 3 before working on cult '90s horror Species. Years earlier he did extensive work on Alejandro Jodorowsky's unmade Dune project.

Giger also directed a number of documentaries, including Swiss Made and A New Face of Debbie Harry.
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