Aliens: This Actor Preferred James Cameron Over Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket

At the beginning of his career, an actor had to make a decisive choice between two legendary directors. Both Stanley Kubrick for "Full Metal Jacket" and James Cameron for "Aliens" were vying for him, and he ultimately made an unexpected decision.

An incredible dilemma. In the mid-80s, an American actor had to choose between two legendary filmmakers, Stanley Kubrick and James Cameron. This was the moral quandary faced by Ricco Ross as he had just begun his film career. Now portraying Horace Bellarie in the Netflix series Beauty in Black, he almost never appeared in Aliens, the sequel to the science fiction saga released in France in October 1986. After the success of Terminator (1984), 20th Century Fox offered the future Titanic director the chance to helm the sequel to Alien, the eighth passenger directed by Ridley Scott.

A Dilemma Between Aliens and Full Metal Jacket

To portray the soldier Hudson, one of the most popular characters in the franchise, James Cameron considered Ricco Ross and had him audition. "I had become emotionally attached to it," recalled the actor during his appearance on the show We Playin' Spades in March 2026. "But ultimately, he told me he couldn't give me the role because he hadn't seen the other candidates yet." A decision that frustrated the young man: "I was young, foolish, and very confident. I replied: If it’s not this role, then I’m not interested."

Because Ricco Ross was also being courted by another director, much more prestigious than James Cameron at the time: "All the actors wanted to work with Stanley Kubrick. He had made so many masterpieces... I met him. He offered me Full Metal Jacket (1987). He wanted me for eight weeks." Having promised James Cameron that he would come back to him before accepting any other project, the actor kept his word.

Stanley Kubrick Was Too Demanding

"And he managed to convince me to do his film instead," the actor recalled while recounting the same anecdote on May 30, 2026, during a roundtable at the Big Lick Comic Con NOVA in Manassas, Virginia, USA. "He said: I will rewrite the script, create a great role just for you by merging three small characters, give you days off to shoot the other film, and I will pay you," he stated in comments reported by Collider.

An ideal deal, unlike what Stanley Kubrick imposed on him: "I asked if I could read the script, he said no, because it wasn't finished and would be built in a workshop. I asked if at least I could be paid better than the union minimum, and he said no." The director of The Shining also did not want to "release" him after eight weeks so he could shoot Aliens. "So I had to choose, and the rest is history," he concluded. Ricco Ross ultimately portrayed Ricco Frost, one of the Colonial Marines tasked with investigating the mysterious communication breakdown with the planet LV-426.