Aliens, 1986

"Bishop is the first role I've had where I was so aware of what I could learn, and how far I could go with it," Henriksen says. "I've never had a chance to play an innocent before, and I have a streak of that in me which I never get to play. This is the first time, and I feel great about it. I don't mean a Polyanna naivete, I'm talking about a vision of life that is innocent.

"I discovered some very specific things which make Bishop innocent and compelling in his charm, I don't mean I really try to make him charming but there is something delightful about innocence - how it reacts to certain situations in unexpected ways. That's whats compelling about it. Innocence comes out of a need to be part of something bigger than one's self."

Interview from "Aliens Official Movie Book", Copyright Starlog Press 1986

"I was disheartened, wasting myself, doing fart-catcher roles. I wasn't investing the personal things in my life, I wasn't artistic. And I decided, 'Fuck this, I'm going to work the way I know I should, but have never had the courage to. I'm going to do it now. If it goes down the toilet, if I don't see it on the screen, that's the end.' And it was there. After that I just worked.

"Jim was clever, " Lance remembers. "I was playing Bishop as a black South African of the time. And Jim told Sigourney I was a Nazi. So the conflict there was vibrating. I was also playing myself at 12 years old. That was literally the emotional life I used ... It was painful to go back to that, especially in London, where we filmed it. You get lost, you're standing on a street corner going 'Where the hell am I?'. It's like being bumped on the side of the head".

Interview by Nick Hasted in Unut, May 2001.

It was important to get the character of Bishop across at the start of the film:

"Jim and I talked for a month on the phone - he was already in London - to try to figure out the best way to introduce Bishop. We had an idea about him being alone ... then we came up with the knife. I practised that quite a bit. Then, when we got onto the set and finally were ready to shoot the scene, I dragged one of the other guys into it [Bill Paxton]. I said 'Jim this is a little bit stagey, why don't I put my hand over somebody else's hand and that involves more people. It makes it an event.'

Interview from Starlog Magazine #121;, Copyright Starlog Press

Lance was chosen for the role 3 months before shooting began, during which time he researched getting into character. "I had these special eyes made for the part. But after I put them in and did a screen test, James Cameron said 'Lance, you can't use them. You look more alien than the Alien!'".

More about the part of Bishop: "Jim Cameron made me audition for the role even though I had done 2 movies for him before. One of the things that I thought of was, 'how could I pull this off?' So I thought I'd play myself at 12 years old. What I meant by that was that I gave Bishop the emotional eyes of a 12 year old. I had my whole life in front of me, and the older person that I talked to, I knew they were going to die before me, so I would look at them and say, 'I forgive you for being mad at me, because I don't know everything at 12. All of these were very useable things."

The key question that Lance centered on for the role was 'What is it to be a human being?'. "It was all about being human. I played Bishop that whenever I saw something that was really alive, I was absolutely fascinated by it, even including the face hugger and any of those. Anthing that was living to me was a miracle, wonderful. So oddly enough, a non-human being becomes more human because he is fascinated by humanity."

Copyright: interview in Dreamwatch (i think!) 1998/9, Interview by Paul Simpson

ALIENS director James Cameron remarked, "Lance is one of the most creative actors I know. His preparation is detailed, his work is chameleon-like and always memorable, and he inspires those around him with his passion for acting."

Fan Review:

ALIENS: He's the android,"Bishop"--supposedly better made than the first.Somehow 'rubberized', the skin on his face is made to look synthetic even though it remains flexible. Very weird. He's a good guy. There is one part in the movie where he is being sent on a mission 40 mins. through a shoulder-tight pipe. As the cut-out piece is being put back into place behind him, he cautions," Watch your fingers," so seamlessly you almost miss it. But, it cements the harmless, even caring, nature of the android into your subconscious. But then, the very next image, eerily shadowed, of him moving his way down the pipe challenges that sense of security in the harmlessness of his motives. This mission is one of trust because a human would find it difficult to spend that much time in such tight quarters and still come out sane enough to function immediately and so, creates tension. Magic. Since then I have found quotes from LH that state that Bishop is his all-time favorite part to play.