As much discussed, we really do not know what Neill Blomkamp's Alien movie will be about, and especially not how it will fit into the overall series. In an interview with The Guardian, Blomkamp has said that he will "categorically" not feature the Ripley 8 clone from Alien Resurrection in his new chapter. These seems to lend credence to the widespread supposition that he's going to wipe away the two more recent Alien sequels. It's something I blogged about here earlier today, even. But now, here's a new interview from Allocine in which Blomkamp clearly states, "I'm not trying to undo Alien 3 or Alien Resurrection, I just want to be connected to Alien 1 and 2." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9ihfeibtCQ Does this mean he'll let those films be undone incidentally, absolving himself of responsibility because they're just collateral damage? That's a cynical reading of his comments, maybe, but I do think he's choosing his words very carefully right now and they might be misleading, especially if taken out of context. Right now, it's impossible to call but somehow, every puzzle piece just makes the whole thing more captivating and exciting. We're not only getting a new Alien movie, we're getting a whole load of tail-chasing and red herrings on the side, and I can't help but enjoy the silly fun of it all. One note, though: it seems that, once again, this project is being fuelled by Sigourney Weaver, through her desire to give Ripley's story a 'proper finish.' It was her mandates on what 3 and Resurrection might contain that led to a lot of the more controversial decisions - ie. no guns in Alien 3. Blomkamp is also on the record as saying his concept evolved after speaking to Weaver. Ah well. If this film ends up being a Prometheus-scale mess, every bit as out of touch and deranged with vanity, we'll at least know who one of the chief culprits will have been. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/26/alien-neill-blomkamp-sigourney-weaver
Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.
