Filed by KOSU News in Art & Life.
October 28, 2012

The weekends on All Things Considered series Movies I’ve Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.

For writer and producer Glen Mazzara, whose credits include the TV shows “The Shield,” “Hawthorne,” and the AMC zombie hit “The Walking Dead,” where he serves as show runner as well as executive producer, the movie he could watch a million times is Ridley Scott’s Alien.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

On why he thinks Alien works as a horror movie

“I think horror films always have to be as simple as possible. And this one is really just about: Don’t let the monsters in the house. You know, when I go out and I leave my kids at home, I say, ‘Don’t open the door for anyone.’ And Ian Holm, who play’s the ship’s science officer, Ash, opens the door.”

On borrowing from Alien for his TV series “The Walking Dead”

One of the things that we did in “The Walking Dead” season premiere was our group comes across a prison, and we designed a set in which they go into dark corridors, you know, trying to clear it out of zombies so they could occupy this prison. I definitely said, ‘I want this to feel like Alien.’ As the group is going around I want to just feel claustrophobic, I want just a flashlight cutting the darkness, and I was happy that I was finally able to rip off the movie because it’s been such a seminal piece for me, my whole life.” [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]