Screenwriter Dan O’Bannon died 17 December 2009 after a thirty-year battle with Crohn’s Disease. Born Daniel Thomas O’Bannon on 30 September 1946 in St. Louis, Missouri, he wrote the screenplay for the science fiction/horror blockbuster Alien (1979), shared a 1976 Saturn Award for Best Special Effects (for Dark Star), and was nominated for three other Saturns (for writing Alien, for directing The Return of the Living Dead, and for co-writing Total Recall) and one Nebula (for co-writing Dark Star).
This Los Angeles Times obituary quotes director John Carpenter as saying “Dan was enormously talented. He was acerbically funny and, I think, quite underappreciated. I think Dan had more talent than he was allowed to show in the movie business. He was multitalented: a production designer, editor, director, writer.”
O’Bannon studied fine art at Washington University in St. Louis, attended MacMurray College in Illinois, and finally earned a BA in film from USC in 1970. His film career began with Dark Star (1974), for which he co-wrote the original story and screenplay, acted (he played Sgt. Pinback), was the visual effects supervisor, editor, and production designer.
Describing his inspiration for Alien, he said he modeled the alien’s behavior on the life cycles of parasitic microorganisms. “One thing I realized hadn’t been exploited in science fiction movies were the physical aspects. The real world offered many examples which were extremely loathsome, and I thought, if it’s good enough for Mother Nature, maybe it will work on an audience. One review said that watching this movie was like turning over a rock and finding something disgusting. That was a pretty good description of what I was going after.”
O’Bannon’s genre writing credits include: AVPR: Aliens vs Predator—Requiem (2007), AVP: Alien vs Predator (2004), Alien: Resurrection (1997), Bleeders (1997), Screamers (1995), Alien 3 (1992), Total Recall (1990), Aliens (1986), Invaders from Mars (1986), Lifeforce (1985), The Return of the Living Dead (1985, also as director and an actor), Blue Thunder (1983), Heavy Metal (1981), Dead & Buried (1981), Alien (1979, also visual design consultant), and Dark Star (1974). His non-writing credits include The Resurrected (1992, director) and Star Wars (1977, computer animation).
At the time of his death, O’Bannon was at work on a screenplay based on his long experience with Crohn’s Disease (a chronic inflammatory bowel disease), called The Pain Clinic, and also attached to write a prequel Alien script. He is survived by his wife and son.