Dan O'Bannon
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| O'Bannon in the 1980s. | |
| Birth name | Daniel Thomas O'Bannon |
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| Born | September 30, 1946 |
| Died | December 17, 2009 |
| Occupation | Screenwriter, Director, Visual Effects Supervisor |
| Nationality | American |
| Notable work | Alien, Dark Star, The Return of the Living Dead, Total Recall |
| Notable artifacts | Facehugger |
| External Links | |
| Wikipedia | Link |
| IMDb | Link |
Daniel "Dan" O'Bannon (1946–2009) was an American screenwriter and director whose script for Alien defined the film and led to the creation of its iconic artifacts.
Biography & Career
O'Bannon began his career collaborating with director John Carpenter on the student film Dark Star, which they later expanded into a feature. His experience on that low-budget film inspired him to write a sci-fi horror script with a more realistic, terrifying alien. The script, co-written with Ronald Shusett and originally titled Star Beast, would become Alien. A key contribution from O'Bannon was his insistence on hiring H.R. Giger, whose art he had discovered while working on Alejandro Jodorowsky's aborted Dune project.[1]
Signature Style
O'Bannon's writing often blended science fiction with horror and black comedy. He was known for his "truckers in space" concept, which grounded his sci-fi stories with blue-collar, relatable characters, a stark contrast to the clean, heroic astronauts common at the time.[2] This approach heavily influenced the lived-in look of the Nostromo and its artifacts.
Notable Artifact Contributions
The following is a list of notable artifacts designed or constructed by Dan O'Bannon.
| Artifact | Media | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Facehugger | Alien | Conceived the creature's method of reproduction and its function in the story. He also drew the final composite sketch of the prop, combining ideas from Scott, Giger, and Cobb, which was then given to prop maker Roger Dicken.[3] |
Filmography
- Dark Star (1974) - Writer, Special Effects
- Alien (1979) - Writer, Visual Design Consultant
- Heavy Metal (1981) - Writer (Segment "Soft Landing")
- Lifeforce (1985) - Writer
- The Return of the Living Dead (1985) - Director, Writer
- Total Recall (1990) - Writer
Trivia
- The idea for the Chestburster came to co-writer Ronald Shusett in a dream after eating at a diner, exclaiming to O'Bannon, "I've got it! The alien jumps on one of their faces and... then it bursts out of his chest!"[4]
See Also
References
- ↑ "Dan O'Bannon dies at 63," Los Angeles Times, December 19, 2009.
- ↑ The Beast Within: The Making of Alien, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2003.
- ↑ "Alien: The Facehugger". Alien Explorations. Accessed July 12, 2025.
- ↑ The Beast Within: The Making of Alien, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2003.