Caffeinated Clint
We were all but on our hands for the cartwheel we felt urged to do When 20th Century Fox greenlit Neil Blomkamp’s idea for a fifth “Alien” movie (Ripley! Hicks! Newt!) when the studio decided to push it back in favour of Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” sequel. As far as both Fox and Scott were concerned, the cinematic world wouldn’t be able to handle both a “Prometheus” sequel and new “Alien” movie in the same period, so one had to be moved. Unfortunately, it’s the one nobody’s as keen for – the follow-up to the preachy “Alien” prequel that left us dazzled but.. demanding Ripley. Funny that.
With “Alien : Covenant” (that’s the name Ridley’s given the “Prometheus” sequel – maybe to appease the more hardcore “Alien” fans?) all but in the can, attention has now turned to Blomkamp’s “Alien” movie.
Is it still happening?
According to Sigourney Weaver, long attached to the project, it’s still on her to-do list – but it’s anyone’s guess when it’ll get done.
Speaking with EW this week, the “Ghostbusters” actress says she’s optimistic we might see it within the next couple of years.
“I hope it won’t be a few (years). I hope it’ll be a couple. But we’ll see… It’s a great story and it’s satisfying to me to give this woman an ending…The script itself has so much in it that’s so original, but also really satisfies the, I would say, the primal needs of the aliens. It’s a tribute to all of the great work that the other directors have done, in a way, but goes in a completely new direction. I hope we’ll do it.”
Weaver also notes that the film skips over the events of “Alien 3” and “Alien : Resurrection”.
“It’s just as if, you know, the path forks and one direction goes off to three and four and another direction goes off to Neill’s movie. It’s just more, I would say, following Jim Cameron’s story about these characters, rather than just ending up in this sort of monastery in space, which was [Alien3 screenwriter] Vincent Ward’s idea and Fox elected to go in that direction. I think Fincher was fine with that. Each director kind of wanted to create a whole new set of circumstances. In this case, it picks up, it follows directly the circumstances of Jim Cameron’s Aliens.”
Speaking with Collider, Weaver reiterated that the “Alien” movie might still be a little ways off – thanks to the delay and the projects she’s since had to commit to since the project was first announced.
“Fox asked us to delay so Ridley could shoot his [second] Prometheus movie. That was too bad because we would have already done it by now. Now that we’re waiting for that, I have a couple of Avatars to do and Neill has The Gone World, so we’ll have to see what happens when we get back, when those projects are over.”
Though nothing has ever been officially announced, it’s believed Sigourney’s Ellen Ripley and Michel Biehn’s Corp. Hicks return for the new film.
