An anonymous reader writes: In an exclusive preview from his forthcoming book 'Cinema Alchemist', Star Wars art director Roger Christian talks about establishing Ridley Scott's vision of the Nostromo interiors for Alien with little money, time...or sleep. "Ridley," says the filmmaker still best known for helming the controversial Battlefield Earth "used to hit his head on the steering wheel of his Rolls Royce to stop him falling asleep and get him home at midnight". In this excerpt, Christian explains the logic and logistics of cutting up WWII bombers into convincing spacecraft interiors, a technique he was forced to invent under the budgetary limitations of Star Wars. "George’s mantra," Christian recalls, "was 'Make it look real' — as if we had just found and rented the ships and the props". When the legendary set-dresser Frank Bruton (2001: A Space Oddyssey, Clockwork Orange) saw truckfuls of plane parts driving onto the Lucas production unit at Elstree, he turned to Christian and said "You know you're mad, don't you?"...