Liev Schreiber, Jeffrey Wright and Benicio del Toro are considered talented possibilities but thought visually less suited to the character’s presentation. — Andy Greenwald
The screenplay reportedly wrote the crew as men while explicitly making all roles interchangeable; Ripley was not originally specified as female.
Meryl Streep reportedly competed with Yale classmate Sigourney Weaver for Ripley but was mourning John Cazale; the panel believes Streep could have played the part.
Weaver's imposing physical presence distinguishes her from the imagined Streep casting, though Streep's acting ability is not doubted. — Bill Simmons
Harrison Ford reportedly declined Dallas; a speaker believes Ford would improve the acting and chemistry with Weaver, anticipating their Working Girl pairing. — Bill Simmons
Veronica Cartwright reportedly arrived in England believing she would play Ripley and learned during wardrobe fitting that she was Lambert; the panel expresses disbelief at the miscommunication. — Bill Simmons
An anecdote says John Hurt lost another film after being mistaken in South Africa for a similarly named apartheid opponent, then became available for Alien after the replacement actor developed diabetes; the transcript does not reliably distinguish the two names.
