Ridley Scott Changes Mind, Will Direct 'Alien' Prequel

So the Alien prequel, which was once rumored to be a remake, is welcoming back Ridley Scott to the director's chair. Variety says that Ridley will work from a script by sci-fi specialist Jon Spaihts. Back when all of this was beginning to take shape, Scott was producing with brother Tony and handing the reins over to commercial director Carl Erik Rinsch. What happened to that arrangement isn't immediately available, and since he's not even mentioned in the Variety article and neither is Scott's change of tune about directing the prequel, there is a chance that it's an error, I suppose. Of course, in June, Fox honcho Tom Rothman said the only way to do it was with Scott directing, so there's that. For now, though, let's operate under the assumption that Scott, who remains very busy with projects into his 70s, will go back to where it all again. He must have loved Spaiht's pitch, which has one of two probable storylines: It could either be a Ripley origin story, for which I say "paging Olivia Wilde," or it's the story of the ship the Nostromo was sent out to investigate in the original Alien. If I had to guess, I'd say it's the latter. For one thing, Ripley's kind of tough to replicate. For another, there wouldn't be any aliens in that version, obviously. So where's the threat? We don't know a start date, a release date, or even casting information yet, but the news that Scott is set to direct is headline enough. But will that headline be enough to motivate fans who have already been burned twice in the last 23 years by bad sequels and two more times by lousy AvP spin-offs?m54qigxf6k

Comments

[anybody]

Good news... and as I said before the second storyline you mentioned seems like the most probable. In keeping with the series they should probably have a bad-ass chick in the cast so you can still page Olivia Wilde. The only problem I have with that storyline is I think we already know the ending... everybody dies.

[strommsarnac]

While Alien was an awesome movie, I much prefer Aliens. I can live without the rest though.

Alien and Aliens were so different that they shouldn't be in the same category. One was horror, the other was pure action.

[Lengthy Johnson]

Well, I am glad that Ridley will direct another Alien movie. He has often spoken about how special that movie is to him, so doing another one probablöy means that he thinks that he can top the first one.

I am a little concerned about this flip-flop tendency that he is showing; hesitating, changing his mind about films. The Ridley I know and low is a forceful, inspired filmmaker that intuitively gets it right.

Strommsarnac, I don't agree that Aliens was pure action. The theatrical cut had a focus on action, but the Director's Cut has a focus on fear and tension, thus being more of a space thriller than an action movie.

But of course they would be different as James Cameron and Ridley Scott have their separate styles of directing.