UPDATE: Scott Breaks Silence on Alien Prequel/s 3D


Director Ridley Scott
Director Ridley Scott

MTV have been speaking to Ridley Scott (ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER) during his ROBIN HOOD press tour and have managed to squeeze some exciting information out of him in regards to ALIEN 5. We’ve been aware that Scott has signed on to direct the prequel for a while but the director has remained largely silent on the project. That is, up until now.
According to Scott the script is progressing well,

“As we speak, I’ve got a pile of pages next to me; it’s like the fourth draft. It’s a work in progress, but we’re not dreaming it up anymore. We know what the story is.”

As for what exactly we can expect from this story Scott says,

“It’s set in 2085, about 30 years before Sigourney [Weaver’s character Ellen Ripley]. It’s fundamentally about going out to find out ‘Who the hell was that Space Jockey?” He adds, “I’m basically explaining who that Space Jockey — we call him the Space Jockey — I’m explaining who the space jockeys were.”

He also mentions changing the appearance of the alien with original designer H.R. Giger,

“I have to design — or redesign — earlier versions of what these elements are that led to the thing you finally see in “Alien,” which is the thing that catapults out of the egg, the face-hugger…Once I get more serious and get going, and the big wheels start turning, we’ll certainly talk. And maybe we’ll come up with something completely different.”

It’s good to hear Scott finally talk about ALIEN 5 and if I had to choose anyone to direct the film it would be him but I still have my reservations about the project. Every single ALIEN film since ALIENS has been pretty dire and prequels are rarely successful ventures. Furthermore, focusing on the Space Jockey race of aliens and redesigning the original alien will be extremely hard tasks for Scott to pull off but if he does, it could be the true return to form the series so rightly deserves.
There’s no official release date for ALIEN 5 as of yet but Scott says he’s, “Hoping to have it in theaters in late 2011, or maybe the best date in 2012”.
UPDATE: Collider have also been grilling Scott about ALIEN 5 and apparently it’s two films, not one, and is going to be shot in 3D. Scott says, “It’ll be two. Prequel one and two, then ALIEN 1 .” When asked if he will be filming them back to back, his response was, “At the moment I’m just trying to get the first one out.” He was also asked if it’ll be in 3D, to which he replied, “Of course, it’ll be 3D”. Pretty big news then, but I can’t say either are indicative of quality. If anything, this has just made me even more sceptical about the project.

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