Corona | Coming Attractions

There's speculation that Charlize Theron is being courted by the movie studio to play a part in the Alien prequel, possibly for a character named Vickers. The story goes that Fox wants to beef up the prequel's acing quotient by casting a better known actress in a key role to counter their reluctance in hinging a big budget sci-fi movie on relatively unknown Noomi Rapace. Vulture, the site that broke the story, states that the Alien prequel's main character (the part that Ridley Scott wants Rapace to play) is named Elizabeth Shaw, and that the script is getting a quick rewrite to add more weight to the Vickers character should Theron commit to the part.

A video interview with the wife of Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger informs us that the creator of the Alien design will be working on the upcoming prequel (as well as the possible sequel.) The video can be watched here, and the story received attention when a translation appeared on the AvP Galaxy website.

Giger won an Oscar for his creature design on the original Alien (which included designing the Space Jockey and its ship.)

Two more actors are now rumored to be talking with Fox about taking parts in the Alien prequel. They are Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada, Get Smart) and James Franco (127 Hours, Fox's upcoming Rise of the Apes). It's not known what the roles that they are interested in are.

Insider movie news website Vulture reports that Damon Lindelof handed in his draft of the Alien prequel last Saturday and Fox loves it for a few reasons:

• Lindelof found a way to take away some of the perceived R-rating that Jon Spaihts' first draft would have had, making this Alien story more fitting for a PG-13 rating.
• No extra "set pieces" were added to the story, keeping the cost of the film around the estimated $150 million mark.

Here's also an interesting fact uncovered by Vulture: the female main character in Lindelof's version is described as a "Colonial Marine general". That veers away from the main female character in the Alien prequel script we reviewed a few months ago who was the captain of a military-like ship.

Also mentioned by the website was the top two choices Fox likes for the female general part: Natalie Portman (who is said to be the studio's first choice) and Noomi Rapace.

The names of three new actresses as potential candidates for the female lead in the Alien prequel have appeared over on Deadline, and they are Carey Mulligan (An Education), Abbie Cornish (A Good Year) and Noomi Rapace (who played Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy of Swedish films.)

Of the three, the one that's said to have made the biggest impression on Ridley Scott and Fox was Rapace. The actress recently took a part in the Sherlock Holmes sequel.

During an interview with The Independent, Ridley Scott touched a little bit on the progress and potential of the untitled Alien prequel. "The film will be really tough, really nasty," said Scott about the themes in the prequel's storyline. "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?"

He also offered the paper's reporter a reason why he's going back into the same universe he created three decades ago. "Jim's [Aliens director James Cameron] raised the bar and I've got to jump to it... He's not going to get away with it."

Prince of Persia and Clash of the Titans star Gemma Arterton is set to meet with director Ridley Scott about taking the lead female role in the Alien prequel. If our review of what's purported to be the screenplay for the movie holds up, we're guessing that the part is for the Captain of the Arrowhead, a spaceship that is involved with the lead-up to when the Space Jockey's ship crashes on the alien planetoid.

The site reports that Scott became interested in meeting with Arterton after the filmmaker saw her performance in The Disappearance of Alice Creed.

Lost producer/writer Damon Lindelof has stepped onboard to perform a rewrite on the untitled Alien prequel for 20th Century Fox. Why Fox chose to have Lindelof work on Jon Spaihts screenplay and to what extent the rewrite will be remains unknown.

At a special presentation of Alien and Blade Runner held by The Los Angeles Times, director Ridley Scott was on hand to field questions from the audience. During the panel Scott spoke about how he came to direct Alien and also revealed new details about the two Alien prequel films he is currently working on.

• "What we're going to try to do is squeeze in two prequels. . . if you explain who he was [the Space Jockey] and where did he come from. . . then you may want to find out where they came from, you might want to go to him and go to the place where his people come from," said Scott.
• The second prequel would follow after the first one only if the first was well received. The script for the first prequel is done and filming could begin as early as January 2011.
• Scott hinted that the Space Jockey's remains may not be skeletal as we assumed but the exterior of a suit. "I sat thinking about the franchise, which now has died on the road somewhere way back and lying in the dust, and thought what I should do is go back… in the first Alien, when John Hurt climbed up and over the top of the rise… there was a massive giant lying in a chair. The chair was either a form of engine or some piece of technology and I always thought no one has ever asked who was the space jockey."
• He also hinted that the way faster-than-light travel is accomplished in the prequel will be scary. "But what we’re allowed to do by movies is to cheat like hell. But I think the closer it is to the truth, the closer it is to the technological feasibility then it becomes that much more interesting. And if it’s a film like the one I’m going to do, then it becomes that much more frightening," Scott was quoted as saying by Ain't It Cool News.
• We will learn who the Space Jockey was and where his people come from.

New details about the Alien prequel film's premise and one of its characters have emerged courtesy of an interview with the movie's director, Ridley Scott. Speaking exclusively with MTV, the filmmaker revealed new details about the storyline of the film without discussing major spoilers.

• the prequel's main character will be a woman.
• Scott wants to rejuvinate the appearance of the Alien because he feels that what the franchise needs now is "something fresh."
• Scott will consult with the designer of the original Alien, H.R. Giger. "Once I get more serious and get going, and the big wheels start turning, we'll certainly talk. And maybe we'll come up with something completely different," he said.
• the movie is set in 2085, about 30 years before the events seen in Alien.
• the film will explain who the Space Jockeys are and where they came from: "I'm explaining who the Space Jockeys were."
• "The film is about the discussion of terraforming - taking planets and planetoids and balls of earth and trying to terraform, seed them with the possibilities of future life."
• The Weyland company is involved in the plot. The film is set before the conglomeration between the Weyland corporation and Yutani.
• It looks very likely that this film will be Scott's next. "As we speak, I've got a pile of pages next to me; it's like the fourth draft. It's a work in progress, but we're not dreaming it up anymore. We know what the story is. We're now actually trying to improve the three acts and make the characters better, build it up to something [we can shoot]. It's a work in progress, but we're actually making the film. There's no question about it, we're going to make the film."
• Scott is hoping that the movie will be in theaters by late 2011 or 2012.

When Ridley Scott shoots his new Alien picture he might be using the latest 3-D technology. Shadow Locked spoke with director Roger Christian who related the story that he had recently spoken with Scott who told him that he wanted to film the new Alien so that it would be presented in the third dimension.

"Ridley told me some of his ideas when we were here in Toronto," Christian told the website. "He has a very clear understanding of where this should go. They kind of stopped dead one of the greatest horror franchises there's ever been, and it had legs to go on. So I'm hoping he'll revive another three. The world certainly wants it, and the fans want it - everybody."

Ridley Scott spoke with Empire about the Alien prequel movie he's developing and the Brit mag got a nice little exclusive from the filmmaker that reveals a scrap of new info about the storyline:

"It’s a brand new box of tricks," the director said. "We know what the road map is, and the screenplay is now being put on paper. The prequel will be a while ago. It’s very difficult to put a year on Alien, but [for example] if Alien was towards the end of this century, then the prequel story will take place thirty years prior."

That doesn't sound like a film that will show us the origin of the Space Jockey's crashed ship, does it? Scott also has something else to say about why he's doing this movie, which you can read about over on Empire.

After pitching his idea for a story for the untitled Alien film, screenwriter Jon Spaihts has won the job and will write the script for the sci-fi/horror prequel. Furthermore, Ridley Scott is now the one attached to direct the new Alien movie, marking his return to the franchise that he helped launch back in 1979.

In their coverage of the story Variety states that whatever Spaihts idea was, Scott and 20th Century Fox loved it. The writer came to prominence for his Passengers spec, a sci-fi drama onboard a starship en route to a far-off solar system and that revolves primarily around just two characters.

In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly the magazine reports to its readers about the new developments happening with Fox's new Alien movie. Along the way the periodical mentions a new piece of news: according to EW's sources, while the Scotts may have their ideas about who they want to direct the new Alien, the studio wants Ridley Scott behind the camera. What makes the matter even more complicated is that Carl Rinsch, the Scotts' man, is supposedly romantically involved with Ridley's daughter Jordan, so Fox could be stepping on sensitive toes if they don't want to greenlight the new Alien with Rinsch onboard.

Collider has confirmed that 20th Century Fox has a new Alien film in development, that Ridley and Tony Scott are producing it, that Carl Rinsch is directing the movie and that it is a prequel to the first Alien movie. At the press junket for The Taking of Pelham 123 Collder's Steven Weintraub asked director Tony Scott about the rumors that Bloody Disgusting reported this week.

"Yes, Carl Rinsch is going to do the prequel to Alien," Scott told the online reporter. "He's one of our directors at our company... I'm excited cause Ridley created the original and Carl Rinsch is one of the family."

Weintraub asked Tony Scott some hard questions about whether Fox will be able to not interfere with the creative process, a complaint that has been frequently leveled against the studio in recent years. Scott chose to phrase his responses in a carefully worded manner, as well as suggesting that the movie could be rolling in front of cameras before the end of the year.