Ridley Scott changed his mind about Brett’s death scene several times. In the cut that made it to cinemas, the scene leaves plenty to the imagination, but it was originally slated to be a lot more graphic. At first, the alien was going to remove Brett’s heart. “When the others find him and turn him over, there’s a huge cavity in his chest, reminiscent of the hole in the Space Jockey,” Scott told Fantastic Films (via Scified). “But that was too much like Kane’s death, so we eventually changed it.”
In the shooting script, Brett’s death scene is written as such: “THE ALIEN. Now seven feet tall. It leaps down and grabs Brett. He shrieks as it presses him close. Snaps his spine. Killing him as he screams.” And that’s not all — the script goes on to describe a horrified Ripley and Parker looking on as the alien “bounds down a companionway. Moves out of sight carrying Brett’s still-writhing body.” However, on the day, Scott changed his mind once again.
Speaking to the VFX journal Cinefex, special effects supervisor Nick Allder revealed how the conversation went. “Ridley brought me onto the stage and said: ‘I want Brett to get it now, but I just don’t want the creature to dart out and menace him to start with. I’d rather have it reach out and sort of caress his head — almost kind of inquisitive at first. Then you see it squeeze up, and blood starts running down Brett’s face, and it cracks his head open.'” This is the scene that was shot, but ultimately not used.