Michael Biehn

Michael Connell Biehn (born July 31, 1956) is an American actor, director, producer and writer who played Corporal Hicks in the 1986 film Aliens, replacing James Remar. He later lent his voice and likeness to the character in the 2013 video game Aliens: Colonial Marines and its expansion pack Stasis Interrupted, and reprised the role again in the 2019 audio drama Alien III. Other notable films Biehn has appeared in include The Terminator (1984), The Abyss (1989), Tombstone (1993), The Rock (1996) and Planet Terror (2007).

For his role in Aliens, Biehn was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor. He is known for his work in the films of James Cameron; he has appeared in four of the director's movies. On the set of Planet Terror, Biehn was encouraged by director Robert Rodriguez to make his own film, and Biehn's directorial debut, The Blood Bond, was realized in 2010.

Awards and Nominations

Filmography

Documentary Appearances

• Grunts in Space
• The Making of Alien³
• Alien Evolution
• The Alien Saga
• Superior Firepower: Making Aliens
• Wreckage and Rage: Making Alien³

Trivia

• Biehn replaced James Remar in the role of Hicks when the latter was caught in possession of illegal substances and was fired from the production of Aliens.^[2] Cameron knew Biehn from filming The Terminator two years previously, and he was subsequently cast as Hicks.
  • As a result of his late casting, Biehn did not get to customise his own combat armor as the other Marine actors had done; the motifs on his battledress had already been created by Remar.
• Contrary to popular belief, Biehn did not have a problem with Hicks dying in Alien³, but he did strongly object to callousness of his death in the opening of the film. He was, however, initially apprehensive with the news that Hick's character would be killed by a Chestburster, and got into a confrontational phone call with David Fincher.^[3] The actor has since proposed that his character should have appeared alongside Ripley in the movie so that their relationship could be further developed, before he was killed later in the film.^[4] Biehn later went on to demand and receive substantial compensation for his character's likeness in the film^[5]
• Biehn recalled asking Robert Rodriguez during the production of Planet Terror why the director had cast him. Rodriguez responded,"I wanted to cast you because there's a certain moment in that movie where all hell is breaking loose, and I wanted to see you coming through these hospital doors, to see you bang through these double doors, and I want the audience to stand up and cheer." Biehn was dubious, but later recalled, "Anyway, we're at the big screen downtown, a thousand people, and the movie starts, blah blah blah happens, Josh Brolin's doing his thing. All of a sudden, I come crashing through the front door with a shotgun in my hand... and fucking everybody goes crazy. Everybody stands up and cheers. Here comes the fucking cavalry, which I guess I represented. Which I guess he knew I represented. That's Robert. He knew that moment was going to happen if he cast me in that role, as opposed to somebody else, I think, because of all the stuff that I had done back in the 80s I guess was kind of heroic."^[6]
• Biehn has stated in an interview that he did not enjoy his involvement in Aliens: Colonial Marines, explaining that voicing Hicks "wasn't fun at all" before going on to describe how the game "seemed kind of passionless."^[7]

Gallery

External Links

• Michael Biehn at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Biehn on Wikipedia
• Facebook - MICHAEL BIEHN
• Phoenix - Michael Biehn Archive

References