Shepperton Studios · 1978 · no locations, only stages
Nothing in Alien was shot outdoors. The ship, the planet and the wreck were built on two English stages twenty miles apart.
Lids open: three of the seven, photographed in the years around the shoot.
Red light on: a Shepperton stage from the road, 2015.
Studios Road, Shepperton · 1978
A working studio, closed to the public. See the entrance and the stage walls from Studios Road.
Bray and Shepperton · one wreck, built twice
The derelict ship was made twice: a miniature about four feet across at Bray, and a section 100 feet across on Shepperton’s H Stage. Drag the rule and stand a crewman beside it.
4 feet across: Peter Boysey’s sculpted miniature, on a table at Bray. A six-foot crewman towers over it.
A private working studio with no visitor access; nothing to see from the road but the gates.
NAV
· · ·
LIFE
· · ·
HOLD
· · ·
COMMS
· · ·
Frames per second · the Nostromo’s screens
The ship is full of television monitors, in the mess and down the corridors. Filmed at the usual 24 frames a second, a bar rolls through every one.
24 frames: the bars roll. Try 25.
In Mother’s room, where Skerritt and Weaver talk to the ship’s computer, the walls held thousands of small bulbs, and a 16mm projector threw light across their faces.
Vanlint suggested shooting at 25 frames rather than 24, which put the monitors in automatic sync.
American Cinematographer: Alien and its photographic challenges (Derek Vanlint)
Monitors were spaced all round the ship, in the mess area and through the corridors.
American Cinematographer: Alien and its photographic challenges (Derek Vanlint)
Mother’s room had thousands of little bulbs; Vanlint projected a 16mm image onto Skerritt’s and Weaver’s faces there.
American Cinematographer: Alien and its photographic challenges (Derek Vanlint)
Scott, Holm and Weaver were photographed together on the Mother set.
American Cinematographer (August 1979): Ridley Scott on the filming of Alien
The derelict’s hold · near the end of the schedule
Vanlint laid a laser across the top of the egg chamber, filled it with smoke and took the camera up and down through the beam. Move the camera.
Camera: waist height.
Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester
Free, 10am to 5pm daily. The egg is kept in the stores rather than on show; some galleries are closed for restoration.
H. R. Giger · Zurich, Gruyères, Chur
Scott was looking for a creature that would not be a blob or a dinosaur. In Los Angeles he saw half a page of Giger’s art in a book and said that was the basis. Carlo Rambaldi then spent three or four weeks with Giger making the head’s lips and jaws work.
Scott saw Giger’s artwork in a book in Los Angeles; a half-page in it became the basis of the creature.
American Cinematographer (August 1979): Ridley Scott on the filming of Alien
Carlo Rambaldi came in for three or four weeks, working with Giger, and designed the mechanics of the head, lips and jaws.
American Cinematographer (August 1979): Ridley Scott on the filming of Alien
Alien won the Visual Effects Oscar for Giger, Rambaldi, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder and Denys Ayling.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: The 52nd Academy Awards (1980)
Gruyères: his museum in a castle, and the bar across the lane.
Château St Germain, Rue du Château 2, Gruyères
Giger’s fame rests on the creation of Alien, which won him an Oscar in 1980; the museum shows his most important work.
April to October: weekdays 10am to 6pm, weekends 10am to 6.30pm (shorter hours in winter). Adults CHF 12.50.
Rue du Château, Gruyères, across from the museum
The museum calls the bar one of Giger’s most beautiful works: its fittings recall the stone relics of old cathedrals.
Across the lane from the museum entrance. Walk in for a coffee.
Ruelle des Chevaliers 7, Gruyères
Not a filming location. A hotel inside the walled village of Gruyères, a few minutes on foot from the Giger museum and bar.
Check roomsGruyères, Switzerland
Live marketplace results for day trips to Gruyères from Geneva, Lausanne and Bern. Most leave time for the village; check whether the Giger museum is included.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursHollywood Boulevard, Leicester Square, Grand Avenue
Scott was still cutting miniatures at Bray in the spring. On 25 May 1979 the film opened on Hollywood Boulevard; London saw it in June; the next April it won an Oscar.
25 May 1979
6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood
The American Cinematheque says Alien first premiered here on Friday 25 May 1979.
The theatre opened in 1922; Netflix bought it in 2020 and restored it, reopening on 9 November 2023.
A working cinema again: the American Cinematheque programmes Friday to Sunday and Netflix Monday to Thursday.
10 June 1979
24–26 Leicester Square, London
An advance screening of Alien took place at the Odeon in Leicester Square on Sunday 10 June 1979.
A working cinema on the square. Go in for a film.
14 April 1980
135 North Grand Avenue, Downtown Los Angeles
On 14 April 1980 the Academy Awards were held here, and Alien won for Visual Effects.
The award went to H. R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder and Denys Ayling.
A working theatre at the Music Center; go in for a performance.
November 2015
In front of the Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood Boulevard
Scott’s star was presented in front of the Egyptian Theatre in November 2015.
On the pavement of Hollywood Boulevard, outside the theatre where Alien opened.
2017 · 2026
6925 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood
Ridley Scott pressed his hands and feet into cement in the forecourt on 17 May 2017.
Sigourney Weaver was given the same honour in May 2026, with James Cameron there.
The forecourt is open from the pavement; a short walk west of the Egyptian.
7000 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles
Not a filming location. Built in 1927 and host of the first Academy Awards, at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, a short walk from the Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian.
Check roomsHollywood, Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for walking tours of Hollywood Boulevard, past the Egyptian and the Chinese Theatre. Check each itinerary for the stops.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursLondon
Live marketplace results for film-location tours in London, many starting near Leicester Square.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tours11 places you can visit. The two studios are working lots behind gates: look from the road. Everything else is open to walk into.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working studio, closed to the public. See the entrance and the stage walls from Studios Road.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A private working studio with no visitor access; nothing to see from the road but the gates.
Studios Road, Shepperton, Surrey
Scott shot the principal action at Shepperton, then went straight across to Bray for the effects and miniatures.
A working studio, closed to the public. See the entrance and the stage walls from Studios Road.
Water Oakley, Windsor Road, near Windsor, Berkshire
At Bray Scott was joined by the miniature-effects cameraman Denys Ayling and the effects supervisor Nick Allder, who brought his floor unit across from Shepperton.
A private working studio with no visitor access; nothing to see from the road but the gates.
Stay
A 1927 hotel on Hollywood Boulevard, and a hotel inside the walls of Gruyères.
7000 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles
Not a filming location. Built in 1927 and host of the first Academy Awards, at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, a short walk from the Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian.
Check roomsRuelle des Chevaliers 7, Gruyères
Not a filming location. A hotel inside the walled village of Gruyères, a few minutes on foot from the Giger museum and bar.
Check roomsGo there
Marketplace tours of Hollywood Boulevard, Gruyères and London’s film sites.
Hollywood, Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for walking tours of Hollywood Boulevard, past the Egyptian and the Chinese Theatre. Check each itinerary for the stops.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursGruyères, Switzerland
Live marketplace results for day trips to Gruyères from Geneva, Lausanne and Bern. Most leave time for the village; check whether the Giger museum is included.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursLondon
Live marketplace results for film-location tours in London, many starting near Leicester Square.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
No Alien screening or event is announced for the months ahead.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
Original 1979 posters from our store, the soundtrack LP and three books on the film and on Giger.
Original 1979 US one-sheet, 27 × 41 in (68.6 × 104 cm), linen-backed, mint.
In stock
View posterOriginal 1979 US one-sheet, 27 × 41 in (68.6 × 104 cm), rolled, previously folded.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterOriginal 1979 French petite, 15.7 × 21.7 in (40 × 55 cm), rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterJerry Goldsmith · 12-inch LP, 1979
Jerry Goldsmith’s score on the original 1979 US LP from 20th Century Records.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyJ. W. Rinzler
A history of how the film was made. Titan Books, 2019.
Find the bookH. R. Giger
Giger’s own book of his designs and work on the film.
Find the bookMark Salisbury
Art and photographs from the films. Titan Books, 2014.
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
11 of 11 places · 13 of 13 Moments
Studios Road, Shepperton, Surrey
Alien’s principal action is shot on the stages at Shepperton; shooting ends in October.
A section of the derelict ship, 100 feet across and 30 feet high, is built on H Stage and kept wet.
The communications room is walled with thousands of small bulbs.
The egg chamber is lit with a laser across the top and smoke, near the end of the schedule; the blue lights are borrowed from The Who.
Water Oakley, Windsor Road, near Windsor, Berkshire
Scott moves to Bray to shoot the miniatures, including a four-foot derelict.
Scott edits at Bray while the miniatures are still being shot.
24–26 Leicester Square, London
An advance screening is held at the Odeon, Leicester Square.
Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester
One of the 130 dummy eggs is kept by the Science and Industry Museum.
Château St Germain, Rue du Château 2, Gruyères
Giger’s work, Alien first among it, is shown in the Château St Germain.
Rue du Château, Gruyères, across from the museum
Kalchbühl Centre, Comercialstrasse 23, Chur
6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood
Alien first premieres at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
In front of the Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood Boulevard
Ridley Scott receives his star outside the Egyptian Theatre.
6925 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood
Scott (2017) and Weaver (2026) leave hand and footprints in the Chinese Theatre forecourt.
135 North Grand Avenue, Downtown Los Angeles
Alien wins the Academy Award for Visual Effects.
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}
.JPG){kind=link}
.JPG){kind=link}
,_The_Odyssey_(2026_film).jpg){kind=link}
