Alien Prequel Update

With Ridley Scott's Robin Hood incarnation done, dusted and out in theatres,it is time for his next project to finally start picking up momentum. Harsh? Maybe, but i know what I'd rather queue and see and now the two-part Alien prequel has his undivided attention. Luckily for us, Scott has spoken a little more about the project with The Independent.

What do we know? In its current stage, the Lost co-creator Damon Lindoff is close to turning in a newly polished script and surely the casting announcements / rumours will soon be starting to come marauding in, so it appears that the project is running along smoothly. It needs to, as Scott himself confesses, 'Jim's raised the bar and I've got to jump to it', obviously referring to Cameron's 'The Bitch is Back' barnstorming Alien sequel, before adding, 'He's not going to get away with it.' Nothing wrong with a little rivalry here.

With the film set 30 years before the events of Scott's Academy Award winning original Alien from 1979, the prequels will unleash the dark origins of the Xenomorph with acid for blood and bad social skills spawned from the mind of H.R.Giger.

'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 go in and clean up a planet?" revealed Scott.

Interesting to note that this dimension to the film would in effect create a loop onto the further sequels. If the prequels show the Alien as a species designed for war or a process of terraform is created on a planet, it would indeed link to the corporate enterprise storyline that sits firmly within the franchise, whereby human try to steal and manipulate the Alien for the same gain.

More as it arrives

Ridley Scott on Alien Prequel

The latest press junkets for Ridley Scott's Robin Hood are being treated as golden opportunities to probe the upcoming Alien Prequel. When he sat down with MTV this week he revealed certain gems to the his planned Alien prequel.


In its current state the film is being polished up and being readied for production; "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. We're now actually trying to improve the three acts and make the characters better, build it up to something [we can shoot]. It's a work in progress, but we're actually making the film. There's no question about it, we're going to make the film.

Now it's a matter of, how good can I get the screenplay in the next few weeks so I can get a good ballpark figure of what it will cost. I've already got people working graphically on designs for the various requirements of the film."

As it has been revealed before the film will focus in thirty years previous to the original Alien and will centre on the orginal spaceship that was discovered. " 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?' The guy who was sitting in the chair in the alien vehicle — there was a giant fellow sitting in a seat on what looked to be either a piece of technology or an astronomer's chair. Remember that?

And our man [Tom Skerritt as Captain Dallas] climbs up and says "There's been an explosion in his chest from the inside out — what was that?" I'm basically explaining who that Space Jockey — we call him the Space Jockey — I'm explaining who the space jockeys were."

And this is not all after the rehashing or 'homages' as Scott suggests to his origianl work he will look to freshen up the look of the infamous xenomorphs with a renewed collaboration with H.R.Giger. "Yeah, the thing about "Alien vs. Predator" is, I know it's commerce, but what a pity. I think, therefore, 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."

And still there is more; Scott wants two movies. Scott asked by Collider stated that the idea is that there would be "Prequel one and two, then Alien 1." With the first to hit the screenslate 2011 or 2012.

While you digest the news, we wait with anticipation for more news.

MATT RICHARDSON

Robin Hood Steals Cannes

Following in the footsteps of UP last year, it has been announced by The Hollywood Reporter that Ridley Scott’s Blockbuster “Robin Hood” will raise the prestigious curtain to the 63^rd Festival de Cannes on May 12.

Cannes President Thierry Fremaux revealed “The choice of the opening night film is always tricky. By choosing Robin Hood, we’ll have a popular movie directed by Ridley Scott, a ‘Hollywood auteur’ whose work is respected throughout the world”. Fremaux added “the film will be released everywhere at the same time it screens in Cannes which will be a great connection between the Festival and audiences all over the world”.

Written by Brian Helgleland, the latest trailers indicate that the new version is an action packed re-telling of the thief-turned-hero of Nottinghamshire. In fact, if you squint at the snippets released it feels very much like Gladiator: The English Years. But that is no bad thing.

Russell Crowe lends his screen presence as the legendary ‘Robin Hood’ alongside a stellar cast including: Cate Blanchett, Max Von Sydow, Lea Sedoux and William Hurt. The indications are that Helgleland's incarnation of Robin Hood is an origin story. The film follows the story of an archer in the service of King Richards the Lionherat became to be the outlaw Robin Hood, rather than an established Robin Hood escapade.   

Produced by Brian Grazer, Imagine Entertainment and Scott’s Scott Free, it will hit out  of competition theatres as it christens this year’s French festival, before being released worldwide by Universal on the 14 May. 

MATT RICHARDSON