John Thaw Archive

I came across a casting list for the excellent 1979 sci-fi film Alien directed by Ridley Scott.

These types of casting lists are quite common as directors and producers throw out some names for each of the main characters and see what everyone thinks. Actors are not chosen for a variety of reasons but usually it’s because the actor turns it down, the actor has other commitments or simply the actor’s audition showed that they weren’t suitable for the role.

John’s name is under the character name Parker who was eventually played by Yaphet Kotto.

I don’t believe John would have been suitable for the part. He may have been able to play the part of Ashe (which was played by the British Ian Holm in the film)

But I don’t believe John would have been suitable for that part either.

I asked Sheila Hancock and Abigail Thaw if they had any information on whether John auditioned for the part or had any meetings with the director or producers. Unfortunately both woman said that they had no idea if he did or didn’t. Pity.

Anyway, an interesting piece of information regarding John.