What was it like to play an ill-fated marine in James Cameron’s Aliens?

Ive done 85 movies andAliensis the only one people give a crap about.

It was my first job!

Its weird, man.

TheAlienfranchise seems to be one of them.

And it was on the track of James Camerons destiny, so thats part of it.

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So how did you find yourself in the film?

What was it about you that made you the perfect Spunkmeyer?

And I had a cast on and got this call forAliens.

I knew the first one was movie history.

I just thought that was manipulative; its just a cheap shot.

I was really confident then.

Ive lost all that now, by the way.

So I went in on my crutches, in this really space-age long jacket.

I met Al Matthews [Sgt.

Apone], and he was a really scary guy and hed been in Vietnam.

I thought, Theres no way Im talking to any of these people.

He was living in England because he hated America.

All that stuff he did was all improvised.

So, when he gave me the part I gave him the coat.

Did you and the other actors bond as a real unit?

We partied our asses off.

I was unemployed; I had no money at all.

I thought, This is the life!

And it was good money: better than they pay now for a lot of us.

I guess that was his way of making the atmosphere like he thought it should be.

Maybe part of it was making us bond as a unit.

What was Cameron like as a director in those days?

Its amazing to thinkAlienswas only his third film.

He got into some trouble.

I mean, there was a mutiny!

The First Assistant Director was called Derek [Cracknell].

He was a cockney, and the best man I ever met.

He was like your sergeant in the war, who youd go over the hill for.

And this guy knew how inexperienced I was, and he would constantly give me wonderful confidence.

He ran that set.

They were all very veteran people on that set.

Theyd done all the Bond films.

There was a lot of wink-wink-nudge-nudge, Who gives a shit what this American says?

We know best, were artists, hes just a moneymaker… and all that.

And at one point he fired Derek, and the moment he did it, everyone walked out.

And we all went too.

It was like, You cant fire Derek; hes a landmark character in this industry!

Im sure Cameron learned a lot in that moment.

He had to work through that guy because he couldnt work against him.

Thats how it worked in England anyway.

Its different in LA.

They call each other; their survival depends on each other.

I liked him though.

He really had a good time with the actors.

I thought he was a nice guy.

He was like a kid in a candy shop.

If he has a love of anything, its not really drama between people: its visual.

He wasnt a great director in the moment, with actors, but he cast it really well.

I prefer that to someone who doesnt have an instinct for acting and yet still imposes stuff on you.

How did you approach being on a film set for the first time?

I didnt know what the hell was going on.

The first thing we did was that cafeteria scene, with Bill Paxton and the knife thing.

I actually had three recalls for Bills part.

That would have changed my life!

But Bill had previous history with Cameron, and hes in every damn James Cameron film from thereon in.

And people werent sticking to the script.

They were just like talking all around it.

It was totally different from doing standard theatre.

I was exhausted the whole time, ready to do my thing!

I was really thrown into the fire on that one.

You drive a loader too, dont you?

How did you find working with effects and special props like that, having come straight from theatre?

Listen, this was pre-technology.

So there was this northern English, very large stuntman strapped in behind me on the loader.

It wasnt mechanical at all.

It felt like crap.

I thought it sucked and it was going to be awful.

Its so easy now but I was shitting that, because it was Alien!

I didnt realise how much of film was theatrical, in that theyll save money if they can.

So they needed another loader.

Theres one in the distance when Im loading, just walking around.

But when its in its dock, they just used a mirror.

They did the same thing in hypersleep to double the amount of pods.

Its just a fucking mirror!

Were you miffed that you didnt get a spectacular death like most of the others?

I was so sad that I died off-screen.

It wouldve been awesome to be, like, skewered by the thing.

How didAliens success affect you?

It follows me around.

There are people obsessed withAliens.

Especially on film sets.

Especially sound people and FX people.

They know all my lines, insignificant as they are.

Are you on the convention circuit?

Ive only done one convention.

I got called over last year.

I had fun doing it.

People dont have their fifty bucks now.

So I still have a great future with that.

I did a convention in England, and the pretty boy fromThe A-Teamhad the biggest line-up.

I couldnt believe it.

Nobody likes that show in the States anymore, and it was stupid when it was on.

A lot of these people make a pretty good living on that circuit now.

So Ive decided Im going to do all those things from now on, like a big whore.

But only ones come up so far.

Aliensis an amazing thing in my pocket, a landmark thing.

On my gravestone itll say, Well, his career wasnt that great, but he didAliens.

Daniel Kash, thank you very much.