Trivia for
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) More at IMDbPro »

• Paul W.S. Anderson stepped down from directing Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) (although he did stay on as producer) and directing Mortal Kombat (2010) to write and direct this film.
  
  
• Was rumored to be in development ever since a skull from the title characters in the Alien film series appeared in the spaceship trophy room in Predator 2 (1990).
  
  
• Except for scenes with stand-ins, Ian Whyte played all of the Predators.
  
  
• The theatrical trailer includes soundbite samples from the original trailer for Alien (1979) and Bret (Harry Dean Stanton) screaming.
  
  
• A title near the beginning of the film identifies the ice cutter transporting the exploration team as "The Piper Maru". The ship's name comes from episode 3.15 of "The X Files" (1993). Gillian Anderson named her first born daughter Piper after The Piper Maru.
  
  
• This film had both the shortest filming and post-production schedules of any "major studio" film in 2004; filming was given 2 1/2 months, while post-production was given just 4 months to complete.
  
  
• The character played by Lance Henriksen, Charles Bishop Weyland, is a co-founder of the Weyland Yutani Corporation. This is "the company" referred to in the earlier "Alien" movies. The Bishop Android from Aliens (1986), and Bishop II from Alien³ (1992) were also played by Henriksen.
  
  
• When Charles Bishop Weyland is sitting in his office on the ship, we can very briefly see him playing with his pen in a similar manner to the way the android Bishop (also played by Lance Henriksen) is playing with a knife in Aliens (1986).
  
  
• When one of the explorers is searching the whaling compound and walks past a door to a building, there is a shot from within the building in which the red light from the guy's flare comes through the crack in the door to form a flat vertical beam that's picked up by the dust/snow from inside the room, just like the blue-green scanner from the salvage scene at the beginning of Aliens (1986).
  
  
• The Alien Vs. Predator story crossed over virtually all forms of media before becoming a feature film. There was a successful comic book series, toy line, multiple video games, sound track (of the PC game) and even a card series.
  
  
• The role of Max Stafford was written specifically for Colin Salmon.
  
  
• Screenwriter Shane Salerno was the last writer and "closer" on "Alien vs. Predator". He worked on the film for 15 months, including prior to production, through filming in Prague and all the way through post production without receiving the co-screenplay by credit that 20th Century Fox recommended him for to the WGA. Shane has a co-screenplay credit on the novelization of the film, dozens of magazine articles, and many of the original theatre posters.
  
  
• At one stage both Peter Weller and Gary Busey was approached to do a cameo as John Yutani, the other half of the infamous "Weyland-Yutani" Company from the "Alien" films, but was written out of the script. The character was later used in the sequel, AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem (2007), this time as a female.
  
  
• This is the first Alien film, and also the first Predator film, to get a rating other than R.
  
  
• The character of Verheiden was named after comic book writer Mark Verheiden, creator of the first Aliens vs Predator comic series and first story ever involving both species. It was released prior to the infamous alien "skull" in Predator 2 (1990), contrary to popular belief.
  
  
• First Predator-based movie to not feature Kevin Peter Hall who played Predator in both Predator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990). Hall died in 1991.
  
  
• The drawings that Paul W.S. Anderson used for his original presentation to 20th Century Fox were done by 'Patrick Tatopoulos (I)'.
  
  
• First Predator movie to feature a left-handed predator.
  
  
• The scene in which Weyland's team discovers the sacrificial chamber inside the pyramid was originally longer than seen in the theatrical cut. After Rousseau and Thomas discuss the hole in the corpse's chest, Sebastian finds a calcified facehugger. Lex and Sebastian then theorize as to what the creature's origin could be.
  
  
• After the opening credits are shown, SFX designers Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis have brief cameos as technicians who discover the heat bloom coming from the pyramid.
  
  
• Paul W.S. Anderson rewarded hardcore Alien and Predator fans by scattering references to the individual franchises with his film. The opening shot of the movie is a silhouette of the Alien Queen from Aliens (1986), before being completely revealed as a Weyland Satellite.
  
  
• The altars where victims were placed in the Chamber of Sacrifices of the pyramid is arranged exactly the same as the hibernation pods in the original Alien (1979) movie.
  
  
• The black & white movie playing in the beginning of the film is another popular monster face-off, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).
  
  
• The heroine calling an Alien an "ugly mother..." is a reference to the two previous Predator films, in which both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Glover refer to the Predators as such.
  
  
• The first film in the "Alien" franchise to not feature Sigourney Weaver, who has said in interviews the idea of the crossover "sounded awful".
  
  
• While this film languished in so-called "development hell" for years, 20th-Century Fox considered producing a fifth film in the "Alien" franchise instead. James Cameron, who wrote and directed Aliens (1986), had written a script and even approached Sigourney Weaver to star and Ridley Scott to direct, both of whom expressed interest. When the studio decided to use the Alien/Preadator crossover story instead, Cameron, Weaver and Scott all distanced themselves from the project, and later, declared they would never work on either franchise again.
  
  
• Around the time of the film's release, it was reported that at a special industry screening director Paul W.S. Anderson said that the film was always planned as an R-rated movie and shot that way, but only three weeks prior to release the studio changed that by severely cutting the film for a lower PG-13 rating. This account has been heavily disputed by original "AVP" writer Peter Briggs. It was later revealed that this "press-screening" never took place, and was only an Internet rumor started by fans. Anderson has said in interviews that the film seen in theaters is the version he intended audiences to see.
  
  
• In an interview, director Paul W.S. Anderson said that Arnold Schwarzenegger offered to reprise his role as Dutch Schaeffer (from Predator (1987)) at the end of this movie as a cameo, but only if he lost the election for California governor.
  
  
• At the beginning of the film in the satellite control station, the technician has a "drinky drinky" bird among the Tweety Pie dolls. These are the same birds that were seen on the dining room table in Alien (1979), and also in the abandoned prison canteen at the end of Alien³ (1992).
  
  
• The readout of the predator ship at the beginning of the film, is shown reflected in the visor of the predator mask, as the readouts of the Nostromo in Alien (1979) were reflected on the space helmets.
  
  
• The shot of the team approaching the top of the pyramid, with their flashlights, taken from inside it references the shot of the of the Nostromo's expedition team walking up to the entrance of the derelict.
  
  
• The design in the center of the floor in the sacrificial chamber is almost identical to the artwork of the Alien³ (1992) poster.
  
  
• The words "alien" and "predator" are never said in this movie. Aliens are called "things", "creatures", and "serpents". Predators are referred to as "hunters" and "humanoids".
  
  
• When Lex asks Sebastian how to say "scared shitless" in Italian, he replies "Non vedo l'ora di uscire da questa piramide con te, perché mi sto cagando addosso." Translated, this literally means "I can't wait to get out of this pyramid with you, because I'm shitting myself."
  
  
• The green glow stick dropped down the shaft contains the fluorescent liquid used by the effects departments of all the Predator movies as the Predators' blood. According to director John McTiernan, on Predator (1987) they stumbled on the effect after unconvincing attempts to make the blood look orange forced the crew to look for alternatives.
  
  
• In the official theatrical trailer, there is a brief shot of the prison planet Fury 161 from Alien³ (1992).
  
  
• The morse code picked up by the satellite at the beginning of the film spells out the words, "Whoever wins, we lose". This is, of course, the tagline used to promote the film.
  
  
• At Amalgamated Dynamics Incorporated, the workshop crew nicknamed the 3 Predator characters Scar (main Predator), Celtic, and Chopper.
  
  
• There's a shot where the heroine pulls herself up a cliff. It's filmed exactly like the shot in Alien (1979) where Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) does the same, looking for the Alien, and in Aliens (1986), when Ripley pulls herself out of the airlock at the end. In both shots the characters are sweating heavily and one of their hands in front of their faces can be seen.
  
  
• The animatronic Queen was controlled by a motion-control rig which could save her movements digitally. So, if the Queen made a nice looking move in rehearsal, the move could be replayed verbatim in front of the camera.
  
  
• On the official movie poster for the movie, with the Predator in the lower right corner and the alien in the upper right, drooling; the raised black parts of the alien's jaw, along with the opening in its mouth, spell out the letters AVP in an organic version of the font used for the movie's title.
  
  
• Not screened for critics.
  
  
• The film character Mark Verheiden is a nod to the 'Dark Horse Comics' Writer of the same name. Verheiden wrote a majority of the Aliens Comics, and AVP comics, for Dark Horse in the late 80's/early 90's.
  
  
• Guillermo del Toro was offered the director's chair but opted to Hellboy (2004) instead.
  
  
• The Antarctic setting on Bouvet Island is based on the unexplained "Vela Incident" where on September 22, 1979, a satellite recorded a flash of light near Bouvet Island. It was first speculated to have been a man made nuclear explosion or a natural event such as a meteor strike but this has never been resolved.
  
  
• At one point, David Twohy was once approached by Fox Studios back in May 2000 about his availability to write and direct the film, but turned down the offer due to scheduling conflicts.
  
  
• The most commercially successful of both the Alien and the Predator movies, grossing over $172 million.
  
  
• Lance Henriksen was first to be cast to maintain some kind of continuity with the previous films.
  
  
• Several hundred actresses tested for the lead female. Sanaa Lathan was selected one week before filming began, and had to fly to Prague immediately.
  
  
• According to director Paul W.S. Anderson, if they'd filmed in Hollywood, the sets would have cost them $20 million. In Prague, they only cost $2 million, an important factor in keeping the film's budget down below $50 million.
  
  
• This was a project that floated around for about 10 years. It was only when director Paul W.S. Anderson did his verbal pitch to the suits at 20th Century Fox that anyone showed any real interest. So much so, in fact that they greenlit the film immediately.
  
  
• Although the original cut runs 100 minutes, 12 of those minutes are credits.
  
  
• Screenwriter Peter Briggs wrote his original spec script for "Alien vs Predator" in 1991. The script sold overnight and made him the subject of numerous magazine and book "success story" articles. His version went adrift following studio politics in the wake of executive Joe Roth's departure from 20th Century Fox.
  
  
• Early on in the film, Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) is examining the pyramid on his computer. Before he stands up from his desk, he briefly taps his pen through his fingers, mirroring the actor's scene as Bishop with a knife in Aliens.
  
  

• SPOILER: With the filming of this movie 'Lance Henrickson' became only the second actor to portray characters that have been attacked, and likely killed, by an Alien, a Predator and a Terminator. Bill Paxton was the first.
  
  

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