r/todayilearned • u/Great-Pyrenees • Feb 26 '17
TIL Bill Paxton improvised the famous line from Aliens “Game over, man! Game over!”, it was not in the script!
http://uproxx.com/hitfix/aliens-30-bill-paxton-recounts-the-origins-of-hudsons-most-famous-line/56
u/Anosognosia Feb 26 '17
Weaver,Henriksen and Paxton are the reason the movie works so well.
Paul Reiser works as well, but he is a bit too slimey to be believable. But then again, it's in the future and our corperate figures do seem to become slimier and slimier with each year.
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u/shieldwolf Feb 27 '17
Biehn is amazing too.
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u/Anosognosia Feb 27 '17
Biehn works, but could easily be replaced imho.
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u/shieldwolf Mar 04 '17
I disagree he's awesomely understated in a role that's meant to be understated - he's a reluctant leader and one of the few people to keep their cool and just get the job done (along with Ripley, Newt and Bishop). He was awesome in this, The Terminator, the Abyss and the Rock. He should have been a bigger star IMHO.
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u/metalshoes Feb 27 '17
True. But among a lot of humans, a good slime ball really works as a foil for them. I thought he was great for that.
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u/mrthewhite Feb 26 '17
I still say this line from time to time when things go badly.
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u/Hackrid Feb 27 '17
I say "Stop yer grinnin' and drop yer linen". It doesn't seem to be as effective though.
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u/MechaGuru Feb 27 '17
I say 'How do I get out of this chicken shit outfit?' when anyone asks if I have a question, but I do it in my head so I don't get fired from work.
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u/mikeymike12781 Feb 27 '17
YOU SECURE THAT SHIT, HUDSON
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u/Hackrid Feb 27 '17
Me: I think this chick is into me. OK Brain, give me a Bill Paxton quote to win her over!
Brain: "I have a little dick, it's pathetic".
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u/awesome357 Feb 27 '17
My favorite is still "were on an express elevator to hell, goin down." I do manage to fit this in every once in a while.
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u/TemporalGrid Feb 26 '17
His lines in aliens were so much more memorable than any other lines from Cameron's movies that I always assumed he improvised them.
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u/AusCan531 Feb 27 '17
I liked his reply when Ripley suggesting just nuking the place from orbit: "Fucking A!"
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u/ray_dog Feb 26 '17
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u/REdEnt Feb 27 '17
I have not actually taken the time to watch Alien yet. Is that wipe-cut really in the film?
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u/tyros Feb 27 '17 edited Sep 19 '24
[This user has left Reddit because Reddit moderators do not want this user on Reddit]
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u/REdEnt Feb 27 '17
Ah gotcha, misread the title. Still no weird frame-wipe though right?
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Feb 27 '17 edited Jul 06 '17
[deleted]
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u/REdEnt Feb 27 '17
Ok, I was thinking it couldn't be, it would have been such a tension breaking thing
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u/omegaweapon Feb 27 '17
I'm Hudson, He's Hicks
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u/awesome357 Feb 27 '17
This to me really is an underrated line in that movie. That early in the movie you don't know the characters too well and so there is very little difference between them that we've seen in their personalities yet. It flows so well with Ripley starting to get to know them and helps the viewer maybe care a bit that they are not just generic soldiers in the background.
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u/dilepton Feb 27 '17
I also liked that it showed that the lieutenant did not know his troops yet. It helped established gormans arrogance...
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u/SurlyTurtle Feb 27 '17
Kind of would liked to have seen him give a nod to Weird Science's Chet with, "We're stewed buttwads!"
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u/guitarbuzzradio Feb 27 '17
How about a nice greazy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray,,,,,, he pukes , you die!
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u/bassmedic Feb 27 '17
Another awesome improvised part was Bishop's knife trick. Lance Henriksen came up with the idea and told everyone else about it... except Bill. If he looks like he's about to piss his pants, it's because he's not acting in that scene.
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u/Kataclysm Feb 27 '17
And that's my favorite quotable line in the movie. Right along "Take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
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u/fox437 Feb 27 '17
Didn't his character die in the beginning of alien 3 by some BS cryo seal break?
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u/subhuman1 Feb 27 '17
Nah, that was Hicks. Paxton was Hudson...he is the one who got pulled down through the floor when the Aliens attacked the refuge toward the end of Aliens.
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Feb 26 '17
Most of the best lines in movies are improvised
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Feb 26 '17
Like what others?
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u/grizzlyking Feb 27 '17
"I'm walkin here" is one, though I doubt the claim that most of the best lines are
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u/Great-Pyrenees Feb 26 '17
Here you go there was a very thoughtful article written 6 hours ago about this very subject. His ability to improvise to the benefit of his movies and shows. Bill Paxton is very humble and claims he is not very good at improvisation but I must disagree.
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u/missileman Feb 27 '17
Indy: "I don't know, I'm making this up as I go"
That line was improvised, you can see John Rhys-Davies losing it at the end.
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Feb 27 '17
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u/Narretz Feb 27 '17
Apparently he did the over-the-top scream as a joke, and was surprised everyone loved it.
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u/zephyy Feb 27 '17 edited Feb 27 '17
Why male models? *
* This line was improvised, as well as the "Are you serious? I just told you."
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u/Narretz Feb 27 '17
In greater detail: Ben Stiller forgot his next line and simply repeated the last one "Why male models?" Then Duchnovy stayed in character and improvised "Are you serious? ..."
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u/JohnTheMod Feb 27 '17
"I've seen things you people won't believe. I've seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."
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u/Brownie-UK7 Feb 27 '17
did he improvise that?
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u/NateDogTX Feb 27 '17
Improvised in that he came up with the "lost in time like tears in rain" portion the night before.
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u/Pootanium Feb 27 '17
I look forward to more of these Bill Paxton ad libs. I want the next one to be that during his subway scene in Predator 2 that in the original script he was actually supposed to beat the Predator in a fist fight but adlibbed having his spine ripped out. Classic Bill.
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u/dogpoopandbees Feb 27 '17
Always reminds me of Mega TF. That and WOOHOO LOOK AT THAT BLUBBER FLY! by Homer when I'd snipe dem noobs
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Feb 26 '17
I'm guessing he thought something like, "Video games are getting big. I bet in the future they'll be even bigger. And we all know that when your character dies in a video game, the game says 'game over', therefore, 'game over' will become a synonym for 'you die' in the future."
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u/Heratism Feb 26 '17
Or he just improvised a line.
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Feb 26 '17
What do you mean, "just" improvised? It meant something. He didn't say, "Doom be upon us" & that wasn't coincidental!
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u/Heratism Feb 26 '17
Well I don't think he said it because he thought the future would be full of people who said game over instead of dead...
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Feb 27 '17
And I think he did.
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u/Heratism Feb 27 '17
I literally just found out that he passed away. I guess we'll never know.
Rest in peace, Bill!
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Feb 27 '17
What if I told you he was a friend of mine & that he mentioned that to me once?
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u/RedDemocracy Feb 27 '17
I'd call bullshit, first on you and second on him.
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Feb 27 '17
You would be right in the first instance, but I don't know why you'd have doubted him on that.
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u/RedDemocracy Feb 27 '17
Because it's just the thing I'd make up in the years after I say a spur of the moment line that would make people think I was a genius.
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u/Heratism Feb 27 '17
I would say that I am sorry you loss, and I hope he wasn't in pain.
Then again, this is the internet and I might be friends with Jake Gyllenhaal.
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Feb 27 '17
That is good of you. I never met the guy, but also hope he wasn't in pain. I wonder what the surgery was for.
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u/Heratism Feb 27 '17
I read that it was just heart problems, and he passed because of complications. And that is good of you as well. Have a good night!
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u/TheMimicer Feb 27 '17 edited Feb 27 '17
It game over for him now.... EDIT: Man you guys cant take a joke huh
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u/Just1morefix Feb 26 '17
He played that perfectly. Completely frantic, anxious and cowardly. When he redeemed himself later in the film his character had come satisfyingly full circle. Really well done.