In a recent interview, master filmmaker Ridley Scott talked his career, his life, movies, and eventually got around to that little two-part prequel to his classic 1979 horror, Alien.
Looking back, it’s clear that Scott has rarely failed, and that he likes a good challenge. The 72-year-old director has been going strong for many years, but some wonder if even he can pull off a critically and financially successful new take on his own great mythos. The Alien prequels have been in the news quite a bit since whispers first began, but Ridley was able to share just a tiny bit of detail on where he may go with it.
First of all, James Cameron’s Avatar was brought up, and how it set a new mark for “alien” or other-worldly blockbusters. Scott joked by saying “Jim’s raised the bar and I’ve got to jump to it. He’s not going to get away with it.” For those excited about a new Alien, this means Avatar may have moved it ahead of one or two of the director’s many potential projects.
This is where things got a little interesting, as Scott talked about where he might go with the movies and the alien creatures he had created.
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?
Would Mr. Scott really create a movie which presents us with the explanation that these iconic aliens — a staple of all-time horror movie monsters — were genetically engineered as weapons? I can only imagine the painful cringe of the most faithful fans of these movies as they read these words.
This is Ridley Scott, and the man knows what he’s doing. I can’t see him moving forward with anything that might damage the world he’s already created, so if this does happen, it would have to make a hell of a lot of sense, and the best possible storyline for these movies.
Even I, being someone who likes the Alien movies but has only seen them but a few times, has to think that things would be better off if the aliens were left actual aliens, natural to their world as everyone assumed they were. But I guess we can only wait and see how it plays out.
What do you think of Scott’s cryptic description? Is there a chance he might go the genetic engineering route, or would that ruin everything for you as a fan?
[Sources: The Independent via Cinema Blend]
Spoiler alert! Geez, guys. I mean it sounds midichlorian stupid, but still . . .
Comment by Captain Karl — September 9, 2010 @ 7:17 pm
Interesting statement from Ridley. Thanks for posting. I always kind of assumed the alien species was out of the ordinary. Maybe not engineered, but not necessarily natural. Especially if you think about Ash’s (Ian Holm’s) comment in Alien when he talks about them as “the perfect organism”. Ridley seems to be aluding to them being possibly unnatural.
Comment by Farscapefan1 — September 9, 2010 @ 8:20 pm
Spoiler alert?
Not sure you can spoil something that doesn’t exist yet.
Comment by The Movie God — September 10, 2010 @ 4:12 am
Somehow having the xenomorphs as an engineered species makes them much less frightening. Who wants to be that if that angle is used, one of the movies ends up being about how the creation turned on its creators? I (mostly) trust Ridley Scott, but I see so many ways this can go wrong. Some things might be better left alone. I’m looking at you, Spielberg and Lucas.
Comment by leightron — September 10, 2010 @ 7:53 am
Here we go crapping on a movie that doesn’t even have a script yet. If ANYONE deserves the benefit of a doubt it’s Ridley Scott. This man has done more for the genre than any director I can think of, yes even Lucas (sacrilege!). I’m on board and know that regardless he’ll make an interesting, engaging film, bring it!
Comment by Harkonen — September 10, 2010 @ 9:29 am
Personally, I always assumed they were an engineered biological weapon. It was what made the most sense to me, given how it was discovered (stored in stasis in an alien ship), and how it takes the basic form of whatever host the drone gestates in (were it a naturally evolved species, I cannot see how this would be an efficient means of reproduction).
It seems logical that, under most circumstances, an efficient means of warfare would be to get a couple eggs onto a planet and just let it go (insertion of a small pod would be far easier than a full scale invasion). It adapts to the host, so it would work for practically any target, it would be self-sustaining, and once the all the macrofauna is gone, the weapon dies off, leaving an otherwise healthy planet for colonization.
What isn’t logical about it being an engineered weapon?
And, more importantly, how would that origin be any worse for storytelling than trying to come up with some very strained logic of evolution?
It actually leads to many other possible curiosities: who created it, why did they need it, who were the targets, was it actually just a terraforming tool getting rid of dangerous creatures (think what we did to all the large predatory species wherever we colonized)? I don’t think it would ‘ruin’ the story at all.
Comment by entropy — September 10, 2010 @ 10:48 am
Not sure why a viewer would have assumed they were a natural species given that they require humanoid life-forms (in a universe that clearly has non-humanoid life) to procreate.
Comment by William Hudson — September 10, 2010 @ 1:19 pm
i don’t think they require humanoid life. In Alien 3, the titular menace impregnated a dog.
I have always held to the creature being natural but used for nefarious purposes, which of course backfired leading to the crashing of the space jockey’s ship
Comment by DrNecropolis — September 10, 2010 @ 6:27 pm
Why in the world does it *have* to be engineered? Take a look at how viruses make use of their host for building materials as well as evolve as a response to methods to eradicate them, apply it to a macro-scale entity, and there you go. What’s next, are we going to discover that not only were they engineered, but instead of being made by other aliens they were actually created by a rival company or other human offshoot, got out of control, and now for some strange reason are on a search for $deity?
Comment by Vulpis — September 10, 2010 @ 7:40 pm
I believe the biological weapon idea was explored somewhat within the franchise back in the 80s/90s, I remember reading some of the paperback books written by Steve Perry; Earth Hive, Female War, etc. And there was further mention of the Space Jockey alien sitting in the spaceship in Scott’s original film, as being the race which may have created the Aliens as a biological weapon. And throughout the many graphic novels and books in the franchise there are depictions of Weyland Utani corporation and other crazy people wanting to harness the aliens as a weapon, it’s all there in the first two movies, so I’m slightly baffled as to why this stuff is such a shock to many of you.
To be honest I’d rather Scott did another Bladerunner type film if he’s re-visiting old stories, as the Alien stuff is all a bit tired now, raped by many hands, and seems to have been irrevocably altered from its eerie erotic Giger/Scott old-school horror roots by Camerons first sequel ‘Aliens’, its all guns and explosions now.
But anyway, I’m pretty sure Ridley will pull it out of the bag, as he is a strong film maker (as long as he lives that long, what is he 75 now or something?!)
Comment by Gordon — September 11, 2010 @ 6:54 am
Actually, I think the Space Jockey guys even made an appearance in Steve Perry’s books, and they may have sonic weapons!
Comment by Gordon — September 11, 2010 @ 6:57 am
I love to see a black and white erotic horror re-make of Alien shot on Super-8 perhaps, with an amazing synth and wind instrument soundtrack. 3D = BS
Comment by Gordon — September 11, 2010 @ 7:07 am
“Personally, I always assumed they were an engineered biological weapon.”
Yeah, me too. You’d think any “home world” they might live on would be wiped out of any life but there own. They once did a comic about an Alien home world and it was dumb. The other inhabitants of the planet looked like dinosaurs. This concept is far more disturbing. Let’s hope this makes up for the infuriating train wrecks that was Alien 3 and Resurrection.
Comment by Christopher Moonlight @ Moonlight Art Magazine — September 11, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
I always thought genetic engineered weapons was the default view of origin everyone had on aliens
Like gordon said, that was made quite clear on the graphic novels around
Comment by Techuser — September 11, 2010 @ 2:12 pm
Well, since the movies have basically set Humanity, in the form of the corporation, as wanting them for weapons and seeing them as weapons, it makes some sense that they might actually have always been a weapon or tool.
I have always thought they had a homeworld, but that what we see in the movies was the final result of engineering. The wild version might be some sort of acid-blooded and oddly phallic variety of alien corn.
Comment by Exxos — September 12, 2010 @ 12:04 am
OKay.. what about the giant dead alien being in the original Alien film? y’know, the dead alien that flew the giant ship that had all the alien eggs inside?
Helloooo there’s a story RIGHT THERE.
Comment by Devon — September 13, 2010 @ 9:03 am
Personally, ive allways assumed that they were genetically engineered, for many of the same reasons that other people have allready posted. And even before the AVP movies there were the graphic novels tieing them together. I’ve always thought that the aliens were created by the predators as the ultimate prey.
Comment by John — September 13, 2010 @ 9:47 pm
—-ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
It’s 2010!
Someone tell ‘asleep at the wheel’ Scott.
Comment by tiger tim — September 16, 2010 @ 10:12 am
I agree with entropy,it is much more interesting if it is a bio weapon as you pointed out,what made it ,when,what for
I always founf the first 30mins of alien the most entertaining when tey found the mysterious spaceship
Personally i don’t find the Alien species scary as they are not intelligent i find it more chilling to think what made them and why?what else is going on in the vicinity the humans are in and not aware of it,or did the craft even come from near bye at all
Very strange who knows?
Comment by nick — September 17, 2010 @ 11:28 am
Lets just hope its not like avatar CGI fest
Comment by nick — September 17, 2010 @ 11:32 am
They are aliens. They have to be cos they’re the best and most frightening aliens in any hollywood film. The Frankenstein story has been done very well many a time. No doubt more such stories of the creator becoming the prey shall be made and good, cos it’s a rocking plot idea. But that aint Alien. Ridley should leave the films alone. And i say that as someone who is going to watch the prequals, love them and buy all the merchandise. So maybe it doesn’t sound convincing from me…But Alien has had enough sequals without one having to be made telling us (four movies on (i dicount the alien vs predator films))that they aint aliens after all. “Oh. that’s sad. And we’ve thought all this time…oh…well…”
Comment by Tom — September 29, 2010 @ 6:45 pm
Personally, I think the less we know about the origin of the Alien the better. We humans like to imagine “worse-case” scenarios. The less we know, the more mysterious and scarier the creature becomes.
Though I’m not thrilled with the idea of a genetically engineered creature (A film about how humans were genetically engineered sounds more apropos), I’m confident in Mr. Scott. He could make a film about wine corks interesting.
Comment by Wade — October 7, 2010 @ 11:13 am
Neat , something original like maybe an evil corporate creation or an evil right wing government creation or an evil woman hating scientist’s creation. Let’s see….he could call the ceo, pres., dr. whichever applies something like Jorg Busch and ultimately we will be rescued by , well…..how about a quiet lawyer from Chi town named Baroc Abamo who fights off a bunch of redneck militarists(now there’s an original touch) and then kills the creature. Nah, he will probably go for something safe and mundane like everything else coming out of hollywood….
Comment by vesey — November 3, 2010 @ 10:46 pm
If they are created by our own hands as genetically altered bio weapons then I would only request that instead of being created from the hands of a human, that they be created by the hands of “Predators”
Now that would really link the two movies together.
All kidding aside. My wife loves these movies. In fact she has been trying to get an audition with Ridley Scott. She is an actress and we live in Los Angeles. Her manager has said that FOX is only looking for name actresses for the lead. Well she really wants to be a part of it so we created a video message for Ridley Scott and sent it out into the world. We are hoping that Ridley will take a look at it. We already got confirmation that RSA has seen the video as well as FOX.
Truthfully, my opinion is that you DONT need a name actress as the lead because the franchise itself holds the movie up, not the name in it…
In fact this is the perfect time to bring someone unknown into the project.
So that is what we were striving to do. here is the url for my wife’s video. Thanks again, Cheers.
http://www.ridleywatchthis.com
Comment by casey zeman — November 20, 2010 @ 3:57 pm
Movie God – What’s with the statement, “things would be better off if the aliens were left actual aliens, natural to their world as everyone assumed they were”. That was a pretty silly assumpution and certainly not made by more than a few people. The derelict ship belonged to the race of giants. Remember the guy in the chair with his chest exploded outward?
The pods were in the belly of the ship by the thousands, obviously being transported. Is it starting to come back to you?
Yes they could be engineered or natural to some other world. BUT!!! the movie said nothing about their world.
Comment by astromax — November 29, 2010 @ 7:06 am
Vesey – It’s much more likely the aliens would have been engineered by an evil left wing government.
Comment by astromax — November 29, 2010 @ 7:09 am
I dont like the idea that they were genetically engineered. That means that there will be more things involved and it will take away from the movie. Then there will be that one character in the movie will feel sorry for the aliens and will want everyone to just leave them alone because they are beautiful animals. I think they should just the aliens as aliens and dont make them into a bake set that some scientist came up with while he was in college. So I hope they ex that out of the script
Comment by Kurt Thomas — December 4, 2010 @ 4:28 pm
You want to know what hasn’t been done before? Leaving aliens as they are. The genetic engineered route has been done way too many times, and we have too many movies dedicated to showing how shitty human beings are. I want to see the Aliens and JUST the aliens for once. I dont want to see this bullshit angle of humans creating them for weapons any more. Give us what we really want, the Aliens.
Comment by Arcon — January 26, 2011 @ 12:20 am