Katherine Schofield
Department Director
Horror & Science Fiction
Lot 135
Alien, 1979: A detailed miniature model of the Nostromo Engine Room, designed and made by William 'Bill' Pearson,
12 December 2012, 12:00 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £1,875 inc. premium
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Stephen Maycock
Specialist Consultant, Collectors, Popular Culture
Alien, 1979: A detailed miniature model of the Nostromo Engine Room, designed and made by William 'Bill' Pearson,
constructed from acrylic, styrene and ABS plastics, outercasing detailed with model construction parts, with window cutouts, the miniature on fixed support stand, made for the 1979 Twentieth Century Fox production Alien, accompanied by eleven vintage photographs from the set of the film and detailed shots of the filming and models including the bottom of Nostromo, a colour still of the establishing shot, and a letter concerning the provenance from Bill Pearson - width, 17 inches (43cm.)
Footnotes
Bill Pearson was the Alien Modelshop Supervisor throughout the production of the film. The miniature engine room featured in an establishing shot of the Nostromo, to show Ripley setting the ship to self-destruct to eliminate the Alien while she and Jones the cat escape in the ships shuttle lifeboat.
To achieve this illusion a rear projection was lit behind the miniature and an insert of Ripley's character was put into the models windows.