Well, here’s a scenario you don’t see every day. We’re usually used to hearing fans and directors petitioning the studios to make their dream projects, and as we saw with the Sony/Marvel/Spider-Man news, once in a blue moon, those wishes come true. Rare is the case when a studio is ready to make a movie with a filmmaker, but the artist doesn’t want to, and that seems to be what’s going on with Neill Blomkamp‘s mooted "Alien" flick.
To recap, last month Blomkamp posted a bunch of images to Instagram of what appeared to be concept art for a new "Alien" film. It wasn’t clear if it was an official project, or just a lark, but starting to do the press rounds for his forthcoming sci-fi flick, "Chappie," Blomkamp reveals the only person holding up a Neill Blomkamp "Alien" movie is Neill Blomkamp.
"Basically, what happened was, when ‘Chappie’ got heavily into post-production, I could take my foot off the gas a bit. I was thinking about what I wanted to do next and I’ve been wanting to make an ‘Alien’ film for like years and years," he told Uproxx about the genesis of his concept.
"Speaking to Sigourney Weaver, when we were doing ‘Chappie,’ she set off a bunch of thoughts in my head — I had come up with an idea that didn’t have Sigourney, it was a different idea. But I spent all of the shooting time with her, it was like, holy shit, that could actually be really interesting. When I came back to Vancouver, I had an entire year to work on ‘Chappie.’ And when I wasn’t needed in the edit, I could think about ‘Alien.’ So, I basically developed an entire movie and I did all of this artwork as well," Blomkamp continued, adding, "I produced way more art than I put out."
So what’s the hold up? Well, there’s the fact that Blomkamp has previously stated he has no desire to direct franchise films, especially after the hellish experience of trying to mount "Halo" ("That’s still true, by the way," he says now), and it sounds like he’s simply burned out on movies and wary of the Hollywood machine.
"…I just wasn’t sure if I was going to do another film, like, at all," he says. "Sometimes Hollywood just sort of gets to me. I love movies, but Hollywood itself is a difficult animal to negotiate. So, then I was like, if I don’t do any, I should put some of this artwork out and that’s exactly what happened."
Still, he says there’s a "high degree" of likeliness he’ll still take a look at "Alien," and according to Blomkamp, Fox is gung-ho and ready to go with this his vision. "I’m the problem. Fox, they would make it. Like, tomorrow. They would make it," he said.
Well, let’s put it this way Neill: if you don’t do this, Fox will just go make "Prometheus 2" or "Alien 5" or "Alien Vs. Predator Vs. The Counselor" and it will be terrible and all your fault. Say yes, Neill, say yes.