Star Wars and Alien art-director Roger Christian was gracious enough  to have a chat with me this evening about his forthcoming book Cinema Alchemy, movies, 3D-mania, working on Star Wars and Alien (of course), and much more. That interview will be up soon, and it's great stuff,  but one topic certainly stood out in our 1hr 10m chat...

Put the rumours to rest as to whether H.R. Giger's metamorph will be truly leaping out of your screen in Ridley Scott's pending Alien prequel:

"Ridley's doing the next Alien in 3D." Christian told me.

When I asked the director if he thought the new prequel could set the Alien franchise straight again, he responded:

"I do. Ridley told me some of his ideas when we were here in Toronto. He has a very clear understanding of where this should go. They kind of stopped dead one of the greatest horror franchises there's ever been, and it had legs to go on. So I'm hoping he'll revive another three. The world certainly wants it, and the fans want it - everybody. "

Christian, who created the 'cannibalisation' technique of using stripped-out WWII bombers to dress SF movie classics Star Wars and Alien, is quite firm about the Alien prequel being in 3D, but less committed about it constituting the start of a new Alien trilogy. But it doesn't seem reasonable to presume that the 'trilogy' comment is completely random. So that's one rumour confirmed, but another springing up in its place, I guess.

Asked if he would have any involvement in Scott's new Alien movie, Christian responded:

"I hope so. I actually met Ridley here at the film festival. We had a chat to catch up, and he was going on about how much I'd 'got it' on the first one. I guess that's because of Star Wars, where I had a trained crew with me...and we learnt how to do it. It's not a technique that's easy to do - it's something I'd learnt. So [Scott] kept saying how I was the one responsible, really."

Christian moved on to directing in 1979 with the seminal medieval short film Black Angel, which was funded by George Lucas, toured the world as a short feature with The Empire Strikes Back and influenced a decade's worth of middle-ages epics including Excalibur (it was screened for John Boorman's crew as a blueprint before shooting began), Ridley Scott's Legend, Disney's Dragonslayer, the UK Robin Of Sherwood TV series and countless other armoured epics ever since. Despite winning an Oscar for his 1982 thriller The Sender and worldwide plaudits for Nostradamus (1994), Christian is best-remembered over the last decade as the director of the movie adaptation of scientology-founder L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth (2000). More from the man himself on that subject soon in the interview...

In the meantime Christian still has a slate of projects to contend with, but would consider stepping back into his old production designer role for one reason only - and one man only:

"I always made only one promise to myself. I said if ever I went back to designing, the only film I would ever want to design is Alien, if Ridley re-did it. I could never understand why they didn't pull him back in". Pressed as to whether he'll be on board the Alien franchise again, Christian laughed: "I don't know! We'll see. I would do it if it came up, depending on what I was doing at the time."

The director showed great enthusiasm for both the spectacle and the creative possibilities of 3D movies in the interview...

"Paul Anderson was here (in Toronto) shooting the next Resident Evil movie in 3D, so I went down on the set with him. Watching shots of zombies in 3D is amazing - I got really excited! For horror films, it's brilliant."


Thanks to Shadow Locked for the news.

Our main man in California, Jay West, had the opportunity recently to meet up with Rebellion project lead of the newly released Aliens vs. Predator game for a lengthy and up close interview about the game at his Downtown Los Angeles loft. Jay and Tim talk about the game, the films, and about being Alien and Predator fans. Here's a sample:


AxP: It sounds like you have an effective synergy of the first 'Alien' and 'Aliens' movies -- blending aspects of terror and tension together from them, all the while escalating the levels of action such as in 'Aliens'.
 
Tim: It certainly ramps up to higher levels of high-octane action, but I think the tension levels are always there because it isn't like a standard, covered-base shooter where it's you ducking under cover and shooting against other guys with guns who are ducking in their cover -- which is fun and awesome if done right, and plenty of games have really proven that, but this is a different kind of beast, and you never know where those Aliens are coming from.  Even if you know where it is, it might dart off into a vent or up onto the ceiling, around you.  It's hard to track with your gun.  You've really got to keep your wits about you if you're gonna take him down -- it gives a really, a refreshing, new kind of challenge, which I hope first-person-shooter fans as well as sci-fi game fans in general will get a real kick out of.

The article gives an in depth look at the game from the developer's perspective so make sure to read the full article in our Features section.

Many thanks to Tim for generously making himself available for this interview.

On tonight's premiere episode of 'Inside the Actors Studio' -- James Cameron spoke of his current history making hit 'Avatar' -- which now globally, has grossed a staggering $2.481 billion -- and also reminisced about another six letter movie that starts with an "A" he'd made: 1986's 'Aliens' -- of which he said has a glaring mistake. Cameron reveals that he didn't catch this bit of a filmic blunder until the actual premiere of the film itself. Many 'Aliens' fans already know of this "reveal" -- yet it's interesting and hilarious to hear Cameron chat about it and discuss how it slipped by him. To see Cameron talk about this -- hit the link below.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/03/01/james-cameron-inside-the-actors-studio-avatar/

* This episode is set to be rebroadcast on Bravo March 8th (check local listings for times).


* artwork by Kevin Lingenfelser aka AcheronLV426 here on AxP


- Jay   

Regular Robert Rodriguez collaborator John Debney will score the upcoming Predators.

John Debney has been chosen to score the upcoming action horror movie Predators. The movie is directed by Nimrod Antal (Vacancy, Armored) and stars Topher Grace, Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishburne. Debney previously worked with writer and producer Robert Rodriguez on Sin City, the first two Spy Kids movies and The Adventures of Shark-Boy and Lava-Girl. The movie is set to open this July and follows Iron Man 2 as another high profile summer movie for the busy composer. The announcement ends speculation that Alan Silvestri might return to the franchise, as the movie is a direct sequel to the orginal Predator movie that Silvestri has scored in 1987.

Thanks to the Film Music Reporter blog

Here is a promotional flyer heralding the official announcement of the "Alien Anthology" on Blu-Ray for release Christmas 2010.  This set will include Hi-Definition editions of "Alien", "Aliens", "Alien 3", and "Alien Resurrection" - along with the prior bonus content from 2003's "Alien Quadrilogy" DVD set,  as well as new bonus features and supplements.

We at alienexperience.com are proud to have participated in the production of this upcoming release, and will keep you posted as more information is released.

- Jay 

The highly anticipated, new "Aliens vs. Predator" videogame has now been released in the United States -- and will be released this Thursday in Australia, and in the UK on Friday. The game is available on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC platforms in both standard and deluxe editions (aka "Hunter Editions" only for the Xbox 360 and PS3). 



*** Stayed tuned for an upcoming,  exclusive new interview with Tim Jones, the lead developer of the "AvP" videogame, ONLY here on alienexperience.com --!

- Jay 

While many gamers are revving up to play the "AvP" videogame when it hits on 2/16 (and many now are diving into the online demo of the game that's now available for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC platforms) -- some are further prepping by modding their gaming consoles to show signs of the looming "Alien infestation"-- check out the pic below...!




Cick on the below technabob.com link for more:

http://technabob.com/blog/2010/02/04/alien-chestburster-ps3-casemod/

- Jay 

Courtesy of Gamestop, I'm now able to share this fantastic looking promo book for Aliens vs. Predator with ya'll. The book goes into brief detail about the various species, abilities and Multiplayer modes.

There's nothing we haven't seen or heard before, but it's worth checking out for the amazing artwork alone.

AvP Promo Book

The demo for Aliens vs. Predator was released earlier this morning. Download it at your Steam, Playstation Network or local Xbox Live Marketplace.

Don't forget to stick around the forum and post your impressions!