Ridley Scott Reveals 'Alien' Prequel Details [Updated 24.4.10]

[wmmvrrvrrmm]

Another article with interview snippets and it doesn't look from this interview as if Ridley has much of a clue about what Zeta Reticuli is supposed to be. I suppose he just originally took it to be just part of the  gobbledigook in the script.

http://www.screendaily.com/news/production/ridley-scott-promises-nasty-alien-prequel-in-3d/5013108.article

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Ridley Scott promises "nasty" Alien prequel in 3D

26 April, 2010 | By Mike Goodridge

Ridley Scott unveiled details over the weekend of his Alien prequel which will be his next project as a director for 20th Century Fox.

Ridley Scott unveiled details over the weekend of his Alien prequel which will be his next project as a director for 20th Century Fox.

The movie will be produced in 3D and be set in the year 2085.

“If the first Alien took place in 2090, it will take place in the years before that when they first come across this thing on a planet called Zeta Reticuli and it will ask who was that guy in the first film lying in a chair with his chest blown outwards when they first go into the giant spacecraft,” Scott said.

“The film will be really tough, really nasty. It’s the dark side of the moon. We are talking about gods and engineers. Engineers of space. And were the aliens designed as a form of biological warfare? Or biology that would actually go in and clean up a planet?”

He said that he was a fan of James Cameron’s Avatar and that he will take on new technological challenges in the Alien prequel.

“Jim raised the bar and I’ve got to jump to it,” he said with a smile. “It’s that simple. He’s not going to get away with it.”

Scott directed Alien in 1979 for Fox and his latest epic Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett for Universal will be the opening night film at the Cannes Film Festival on May 12.

[gAyL I E N 3]

I dunno about this. The terraforming and Space Jockey comments seem to further give credence clearwater revival to the treatment floating around that is batshit fucking insane and might cause me to flip out and crack up. But we'll see.

Try and have faith. That script left A LOT of room for improvement and elaboration. Hopefully, if its elaborated upon, it will be in the ANT-FARM dept.

Also, I recommend re-reading that script. There were a great deal of things that I missed the first time. In particular, I didn't realize there are major plot points happening with the SJ's that the audience will get but, are easy to miss when reading the thing.

[gAyL I E N 3]

Consider perhaps what it means that the Slave's quarters, where the men are mind-controlled to breed, is identical to the ANT FARM as described in the script. What is that saying about what the Space Jockeys are trying to do?

It raises the question, exactly as Ridley states it. Were they created as a form of biological warfare or, as the slaves believe in the script, as a way to go in and actually clean up a planet.

The SJ's might very well be trying to breed Humans FOR the Aliens to gestate within, or even worse, testing to see how they will wipe us out. Was it trully by chance that they FORCE the humans into the ANT FARM? Or was it intentional?

The SJ's dont understand human sexuality. It is VERY important that the gay sex is in there because it reveals their hidden agenda.

[Thedus]

I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but for the first time I am not looking forward to an ALIEN film.  Even with AVP and AVP-R I held out some hope and was looking forward to opening day. ...but this?  And to think there will be a sequel prequel... 

[maledoro]

I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but for the first time I am not looking forward to an ALIEN film.

It will be my third time. When I had heard about the cloning of Ripley for A:R, that left me cold. Call me a heretic (or worse), but I was never thrilled with the idea of mixing the two franchises in the cinema. I loved the AVP comics, but as I was hearing more and more about the first movie, my expectations dropped and weren't met.

As for the second AVP movie, I felt like I was at gunpoint when my best friend had asked me to see it with him. He's not as big of an Alien fan as I, but he just wanted to get an "expert opinion" (his term) of it.

But, as with A:R and the first AVP, I'll be watching this/these out of morbid curiosity.

[brianusn]

Things I would think work.
The female character being Asian.  Make her not some tough B__tch.  Make her helpless and build from there.  I definatly don't want another Ripley copy cat tough chick.  Or another Alexa for that matter.

Space Jockeys...they need to understand in Alien that the Jockey was in that chair a long freaking time.  Long enough to fossilize.  Or have the Jockey hit a button before the chestbursting scene and causes it to fossilize somehow and kill everything around it. 

I pray that the script that's been floating around is not the script with the little ant aliens, the gay humping, and the cat.  I think that would be retarded.

[SonofAleric]

The SJ's dont understand human sexuality. It is VERY important that the gay sex is in there because it reveals their hidden agenda.

Well there is an easy fix.  How about they do understand human sexuality and remove the gay sex?

[beckmen]

Don't be surprised if a Fox exec quotes you there. But do be surprised if you find out about it.

[brianusn]

Yeah, i'm not seeing the movie if I have to sit through 15 minutes of corn holing.

[Hubbs]

This all sounds terrible for gods sake!! I've just read the lot and its a huge mess I tell ya...

1. I agree with Large Leader, 3D!!? what the fuck for?? this isn't a Disney film!! 3D is such a shitty gimmick damn it 

2. Why change the look of the Alien?? its a prequel, why would the look be different? it may be slightly different but not much if you look at alittle evolution.

I like the idea of who and what the SJ's are and what they are up to with the aliens (been wondering ever since I saw the film for the first time) but some of the ideas floating around here are just awful!! please god no 

[deezelboy]

2. Why change the look of the Alien?? its a prequel, why would the look be different?

For precisely that reason.

From the perspective of the storyline, the Alien inherits the traits of those it bursts out of, so all Aliens we've seen so far have presumably been the progeny of he Space Jockey we saw in the first Alien, mixed in with terrestrial mammals like humans and dogs/oxen.

From Ridley Scott's perspective, the Alien has ceased to be scary.  It's become too iconic to be representative of the fear of the unknown - it's stopped being alien.

[Hubbs]

^ True but can they design something that will look good? is it wise to redesign the iconic look? I just think its risky.

The aliens that come from humans look the same as the original from the SJ though with small changes but that was mainly advances in film effects. Personally I think aliens tend to have that iconic look when 'coming' from any bipedal creature it seems eg. human and SJ, same with any four legged creature, so unless the aliens are gonna come from something really weird they should look about the same no?

I still think the aliens are scary or eerie at least, they have to be filmed right, 'Alien Res' was quite jumpy at times and the aliens were quite ferocious, its the AvP's that have lightened them up.

[deezelboy]

The aliens that come from humans look the same as the original from the SJ though

But we've never seen the Alien that came from the SJ.  We've seen the Alien that came from Kane, which was the first descendant of the Alien that came from the SJ...

Ridley's explanation (admittedly post-hoc) was that the Alien looked biomechanic because the SJ was biomechanic, and it inherited this trait from it.  If we're seeing Aliens prior to the point where it mingled with the SJ, the Aliens would look different, perhaps very different.

^ True but can they design something that will look good? is it wise to redesign the iconic look? I just think its risky.

It's very risky.  Quite possibly, in the age of the Internet, it's suicidal.  If you do something new, you get bashed for not adhering to the formula; if you rehash the same stuff, you get bashed for being too formulaic.  The ideal way to go would be to never make any sequels/prequels again, but then you end up getting fanbases that demand sequels... and then bitch that whatever is done is formulaic/too new!  But the very fact it's risky is probably the best way to go for a horror movie.  No fear without risk, and all that.

Myself, the simple fact the Alien can be described as iconic is a damn good reason for a redesign (I mean, look at how vampire films prospered once they'd changed the template aristocratic Chris Lee types...).  Four films and two failures-to-engage later and we know too much about the Alien for it to represent the unknown anymore: it's familiar, without Ripley it's now the only familiar thing the audience can focus on.  This is a bad state of affairs to be in. 

[Hubbs]

I like the thought here, I never realised that the alien may actually not look the way we think it does, good creation but is it too greater risk to take?? I'm just nervous seeing as many things in recent films have not turned out well when changed....Star Wars being the biggest upset when going back to prequels but I know Scott has more upstairs than Lucas. Whatever happens it will look damn fine that's for sure, looking at recent film 'Robin Hood'.
But it may also be alittle off the mark and not as good as we hoped, again looking at recent film 'Robin Hood'.

If the alien is biomechanical due to the SJ then why was it biomech when coming from Kane? Kane was infected by a new hugger that presumably was created by the SJ alien burster, but why would there be biomech involved after coming from a human and fresh hugger? maybe alittle biomech may have come through...

[deezelboy]

If the alien is biomechanical due to the SJ then why was it biomech when coming from Kane? Kane was infected by a new hugger that presumably was created by the SJ alien burster, but why would there be biomech involved after coming from a human and fresh hugger?

Characteristics are stored and passed down through the germline, just like with us.

Ridley Scott:

The alien life form lived to reproduce, and in reproducing took on the characteristics of its last inabitant and its new host.

Thus the alien on board the Nostromo had the characteristics of the space jockey on the derelict and Kane.  If the face hugger had hit the cat, it would have been a hybrid of the space jockey and the cat. 

Delson, James (1979).  'Alien from the inside out'.   Fantastic Films, November 1979.

Reprinted in Kanpp, Laurence F. & Kulas, Andrea F. (2005) Ridley Scott Interviews. University Press of Mississippi.