Eshan Maitra
Almost all of sci-fi fans are very much familiar with the legendary movie ‘Alien’, 1979 space horror classic by Ridley Scott. But little that we know of the Nigerian giant who played the fearful ‘Alien’, the scariest villain of all kind! His name is Bolaji Badejo. That was, almost by an accident. Agent Peter Ardram found him at a pub in Soho, London, and right there by looking at Bolaji, this 6’10” thin Nigerian was perfect match for dreadful insect-like profile as director Ridley Scott required.
Though Bolaiji Badejo was largely silent in his part. But his lead role made this movie one of the most celebrated movies of 20th century. Sadly, he is no longer with us. He died from sickle cell disease in 1992. Talking to those who knew him on set we can piece together the story of one of Hollywood’s greatest villains and one of its unlikeliest actors.
Special effects supervisor Nick Allder laughs when recalling his first encounter with Badejo saying, “Ridley walked in with this guy. I thought I was looking at a giraffe… Stood in the doorway, you could see his body, but his head was above the frame.” But Director Ridley Scott and associate producer Ivor Powell was very much excited about him. “We’d had this vision of a praying mantis,” Powell remembers. “We needed somebody incredibly tall with very long legs, so when they crouched down it gave the impression of an insect.”
Bolaji Badejo was born in Lagos, Nigeria, 1953. He was the son of the director general of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation and a welfare administrator. Later, he went on to study in Ethiopia and then the U.S., before moving to London to study graphic arts.
Interesting fact, Badejo never acted before or done anything like that. The Nigerian had long limbs and a slight figure, ideal for the role. “The idea was that the creature was supposed to be graceful as well as vicious, requiring slow, deliberate movements.”, Badejo was told. He had physical trainings to build up muscles in certain areas of his body and took up mime classes. Also, learning to move according to Scott’s wishes. Again, wearing the masterpiece costume by Giger wasn’t an average actor’s task. “I could barely see what was going on around me,” Badejo recalled in 1979, “except when I was in a stationary position, while they were filming. Then there were a few holes I could look through… It was terribly hot… I could only have it on for about 15 or 20 minutes at a time. When I took it off, my head would be soaked.” Even once during filming, it was planned to fill the cavities in the semi-transparent head with live maggots. Also to mention, lots of acidic saliva, or KY Jelly.
About which Allder added, “Standing seven-feet-tall in the suit, but walking around the six-foot-seven-inch high set, covered in lubricant and largely blind, playing the villain was not always a glamorous job. Yet “he never complained about it at. He really didn’t.”
Powell mentioned, “No one knew the film would go on to make over $100 million at the box office from a $11 million budget, or win several Academy Award.
Later Badejo returned to Nigeria in 1980, and by 1983 was running his own art gallery. Not one for the limelight, he was according to Allder “lovely, gentle and quiet,” and yet, says Powell, “part of cinematic history.”