Ridley Scott gunning for Avatar in 3D Alien prequels
Name your favourite film franchise ever. Too late! The correct answer was Alien, unless of course you have the brain of a recently spent facehugger. Ok, perhaps that’s not fair – you are after all entitled to your opinion, even if it’s completely wrong.
The point is, we are rather massive fans of the Alien franchise (you know how it goes, two great films, two very troubled productions and a dreadful pair of franchise-killing spin-offs) and are thrilled to hear that director Ridley Scott is gearing up to provide a careful reboot of the license that made him.
Speaking to the Independent about his entire career, Scott let fly some choice comments that give an oblique insight into what to expect.
“The anticipation for his next project is building to fever pitch: it will be a two-part prequel to Alien, shot in 3D”
Did you get that? Two parts. Two films. Two completely new Alien films both directed by the man that made the best of the lot so far – the first one! Scott went on to talk about a friendly rivalry between himself and James Cameron, who had the privilege of expertly directing the only other great film in the franchise, Aliens (which pretty much laid the template for the space marine precept).
“Jim’s raised the bar and I’ve got to jump to it,’ he says, in a friendly jibe at Cameron. ‘He’s not going to get away with it.”
The project already has some serious talent attached including Lost co-creator Damon Lindleof, who is polishing the first prequel’s script. The film is set 30 years before the 1979 original and the prequels will explore the origins of the xenomorph creatures. Speaking about the plot, Scott dangled these tantalizing details,
“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?”
Is that an environmental reference we’re catching there? We doubt Scott’s Alien prequels will feature any giant blue people, but it sounds as though they may weigh in on some heavier thematic content than the series has dealt with thus far. We’ve just had an idea! Aliens vs Avatar! What a horrific thought – we’ve created a monster!
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