Ridley Scott likes to talk, and when he appeared at the Hero Complex Film Festival over the weekend he didn’t hold back. Presenting a double feature of “Alien” and “Blade Runner” the director naturally talked about his gestating “Alien” prequels as well as a small handful of other projects on his every growing plate.
Even though the internet seems to have forgotten he already mentioned this way back in April, Scott confirmed (again) that the prequel will center on the “space jockey” from the original film, the lond dead being found by crew in “Alien.” “No one ever asked that question: What’s the story there? I was always surprised that people didn’t ask that one. Now we’re going to answer that question. To me, a prequel is interesting, much more interesting than a sequel. They never asked me to do the sequels,” he said. Scott also mentioned that the prequel will “go further into that world of terraforming,” the process used to make a planet’s atmosphere inhabitable. And as for where the second prequel might go, Scott said “…if you explain who he [space jockey] was and where he comes from, then that will deal with the savagery of this version [the 1979 Alien], which is pretty savage. Then you may want to find out where they came from, so you may want to go to him, and go to there place where his people come from.” As for what the story might reveal, Scott was cagey but said, “I think beneath that [Space Jockey] carcass… it’s not a carcass, it’s a suit. Inside the suit is a being.” Intriguing stuff.
We have to say, we were never too keen on the idea of prequels for the franchise but space jockeys? Terraforming? Sounds like Scott is going to focus on everything except what made the first film so great: the little knowledge we had of the aliens which contributed to the overall sense of fear and dread. Explain them away, and you take a bit part of the film’s winning atmosphere out of the equation.
Among the more exciting tidbits was that Scott was working on a western with writer Larry McMurtry (“Brokeback Mountain”). While westerns are generally not well served these days in Hollywood, we’re kind of curious to see what Scott would bring to the table (but please, no Russell Crowe emerging-out-of-water-yelling shots).
And remember “The Forever War,” a project announced way back in 2008 and based on the sci-fi novel by Joe Haldeman? Well, it’s still knocking around with a fourth draft of the screenplay currently being penned to try and get the complex story right. In short, the story “revolves around a soldier who battles an enemy in deep space for only a few months, only to return home to a planet he doesn’t recognize some 20 years later.” The film was one he wanted to do right after “Blade Runner” but got away from him, but he still wants to get it on screen.
Needless to say, these are just a few of the many projects that could Scott could jump to next. We sincerely hope he moves onto a fresh project, rather than revisiting the “Alien” world. [LA Times/First Showing/AICN]