“Aliens” put a ton of work into creating military camaraderie between much of its cast and building sets that looked like things these roughnecks worked with. That meant hard-ridden vehicles and well-used weaponry, and to realize that, effects crews employed various tricks to make things look aged. Unfortunately, some of those tricks involved chemicals. In the case of the Marines’ APC — the armored carrier that Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) drives into the LV426 facility in a desperate rescue — those aging chemicals yielded a dangerous situation for some of the actors involved.
It’s the scene where Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) has to let Drake (Mark Rolston) go. The APC rescue is hairy, and Hudson (Bill Paxton), Hicks (Michael Biehn), and Vasquez are pulling themselves into the vehicle as Drake’s M240 Incinerator goes off. Those were real flames on the set, and the panic inside the APC was also real. The fire turned the aging chemical used inside the vehicle into an asphyxiating gas, causing Paxton, Biehn, and Goldstein to panic. James Cameron loved the take too much to pass it up, sealing the actors’ genuine terror into the final cut. Just between embracing this nightmare, and the hellhole of “The Abyss,” are you okay, Mr. Cameron?
