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Ronald Shusett

  • Writer
  • Producer
  • Additional Crew
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War stories and life lessons from the film industry's top writers.
Play trailer2:23
Tales from the Script (2009)
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    • Contact info
    • Agent info
Ronald Shusett was born to David and Fanny Shusett in June 1935. His younger brother Gary (1941 - 2013) founded the Sherwood Oaks Film School. When Ronald was three the family moved from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles where he grew up. He attended UCLA for two years and in the mid-1960s began producing stage plays. Over the next few years he wrote several stories for publication, including the ideas for screenplays and in 1974 he met Dan O' Bannon, with whom he would write 'Alien' and 'Total Recall', subsequently contributing to other films largely in the horror genre.
BornJune 28, 1935
BornJune 28, 1935
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Ronald Shusett
Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett in Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019)

Known for

Alien (1979)
Alien
8.5
  • Writer
  • 1979
Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn in Aliens (1986)
Aliens
8.4
  • Writer
  • 1986
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall (1990)
Total Recall
7.5
  • Writer
  • 1990
Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Colin Farrell in Total Recall (2012)
Total Recall
6.2
  • Writer
  • 2012

Credits

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IMDbPro

Writer

  • Untitled Alien Prequel
    • In Development
  • Hunters
    • Pre-production
  • Alien: Specimen (2019)
    Alien: Specimen
  • Alien: Ore (2019)
    Alien: Ore
  • Taylor Lyons in Alien: Alone (2019)
    Alien: Alone
  • Alien: Night Shift (2019)
    Alien: Night Shift
  • Alien: Containment (2019)
    Alien: Containment
  • Alien: Harvest (2019)
    Alien: Harvest
  • Alien: Covenant (2017)
    Alien: Covenant
  • Alien: Isolation (2014)
    Alien: Isolation
  • Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013)
    Aliens: Colonial Marines
    • (uncredited)
  • Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Colin Farrell in Total Recall (2012)
    Total Recall
  • Prometheus (2012)
    Prometheus
  • Aliens: Deleted and Extended Scenes (2010)
    Aliens: Deleted and Extended Scenes
  • Tom Woodruff Jr. and Ian Whyte in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
    Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
  • Alien vs. Predator (2004)
    Alien vs. Predator
  • Alien: Outtakes (1999)
    Alien: Outtakes

Producer

  • Hunters
    • Pre-production
  • Tom Cruise in Minority Report (2002)
    Minority Report
  • Anthony Hopkins, Emilio Estevez, Rene Russo, and Mick Jagger in Freejack (1992)
    Freejack
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall (1990)
    Total Recall
  • King Kong Lives (1986)
    King Kong Lives
  • Dead & Buried (1981)
    Dead & Buried
  • Alien (1979)
    Alien

Additional Crew

  • Prometheus (2012)
    Prometheus
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos3

Theatrical Version
Trailer 2:05
Theatrical Version
Alien
Trailer 1:06
Alien
Tales from the Script
Trailer 2:23
Tales from the Script

Personal details

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    • June 28, 1935
    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
    • October 1, 1976 - present
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Interviews

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    He first optioned the short story, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, in 1974. This short story was the basis for the movie Total Recall (1990).
  • Quotes
    My loves are science fiction in every form, as well as the dark Jim Thompson/James M. Cain type of film noir. Most of my career I see alternating between suspense and SF. There will probably be very little I'll do outside of those genres, since I seem to gravitate so strongly toward them.

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