Alien, 1979 | Christie's

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THE JOHN MOLLO COLLECTION John Mollo, a highly respected award-winning costume designer, is probably best known for his iconic designs for the Star Wars trilogy. Born in London, Mollo grew up with a passionate interest in the history and design of military uniforms. Initially as a well-regarded expert on military costume, having written and illustrated numerous books on the subject, Mollo's career in the film industry began as an historical advisor on The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1967), Nicholas And Alexandra (1971), and Barry Lyndon (1975). By the mid-1970s, Mollo had forged a reputation as a talented costume designer and as such, was enlisted by George Lucas to work on one of the greatest Sci-Fi adventures ever filmed, Star Wars. He was responsible for designing the costumes for some of the best-loved characters from this genre including Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the sinister Darth Vader, and for developing George Lucas' concepts of the characters. These inventive designs brought Mollo an Academy Award as well as a BAFTA nomination. After Star Wars, Mollo worked on the costume designs for Alien (1979), The Empire Strikes Back, (1980), Outland (1980) and Ghandi, (1982), his work on the latter bringing a second Academy Award shared with Bhanu Athaiya. This collection is a fascinating record of the time, and a tribute to one of the leading costume designers in the film industry today.

Alien, 1979

Details

Alien, 1979
John Mollo's revised draft script for Alien, dated May, 1978, 114pp. of mimeographed typescript, the majority of pages annotated in blue felt pen in Mollo's hand with his notes on costumes and amendments to the script and direction, various pages with sketches and doodles, including designs for Nostromo crew clothing, helmets, caps, badges and insignia, the notes on costume include:
- p.2, ...loose helmets, open ice-hockey helmets marked "Captain" etc with earphones, open skull, plastic slot for names, dirty white - look at skateboard helmets, perspex visors on pivots to reflect electronic conversations...
- p.8, ...Parker + Brett in String vests, t-shirts, woolly hats, obscure bronzy jacket, ear-phones, donkey jackets...
- p.65, ...In clothing strapped to board? - Bath Robe - In Shroud? Under US flag...
- p. 92, ...shirt, not coat, Ash in t-shirt + shirt, Ripley clothes ripped bleeding...

Provenance

The John Mollo Collection.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

John Mollo recalls sketching the designs and doodles in this script during a particularly arduous production meeting with Ridley Scott.

John Mollo received a BAFTA nomination for Best Costume Design for Alien.

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