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<  MOVIES & DVD  ~  ALIEN: COVENANT (2017)

PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 6:03 pm
GeneralGeneralPosts: 1947Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:16 pm
I guess that's the game plan.. and hopefully James Cameron will follow them up with Alien 7 to close the saga properly 8-)


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PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 8:09 pm
User avatarGeneralGeneralPosts: 3702Location: Almere, The NetherlandsJoined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:54 pm
James Cameron planned a Alien 5 in early 2003 together with Ridley Scott while James was writing the script Fox came with the news:

'Hey Jim we're also gonna do AVP'

Then James blew it off because it would interfere with the saga story.

As we all know AVP certainly lacks a good story to connect with the Alien movies.

I like to bring up this small interview with James Cameron in 2006.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKnS7CGWNmU


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PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2010 4:12 am
GeneralGeneralPosts: 1947Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:16 pm
Ridley only seriously considered going back to scifi after seeing Avatar.. those too are still in touch... there's hope that James will do a new alien after all! :lol:


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PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2010 11:40 am
User avatarGeneralGeneralPosts: 3702Location: Almere, The NetherlandsJoined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:54 pm
I guess you're right, I misread his small bio on IMDB :)

Quote:
''Ridley Scott and I talked about doing another Alien film and I said to 20th Century Fox that I would develop a fifth Alien film. I started working on a story, I was working with another writer and Fox came back to me and said, "We've got this really good script for AVP: Alien vs. Predator and I got pretty upset. I said, "You do that, you're going to kill the validity of the franchise in my mind." Because to me, that was Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. It was Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other. Milking it. So, I stopped work.''


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:25 am
User avatarGeneralGeneralPosts: 3702Location: Almere, The NetherlandsJoined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:54 pm
The script is done.

Image

Code:
Legendary director Ridley Scott helped close the first Los Angeles Times Hero Complex Film Festival in style Sunday. He screened two of his most accomplished films, Alien and Blade Runner, and in between simultaneously inspired and gave the world some awesome news on his two upcoming Alien prequels.

In the original Alien, right before Kane (John Hurt) gets planted with a Face Hugger, he sees the skeleton of a giant being sitting in a chair. This being is regularly referred to as “The Space Jockey” and Scott said he always wondered who being was and what was its story. He said that being now has a story. The script has been written and he is currently in preproduction on a set of films that will begin to tell how “The Space Jockey” fits into the world of Alien.

Festival host and moderator Geoff Boucher started off the Q&A by asking Scott how he was doing. He recently had knee replacement surgery and is still on the mend.

- Scott was amazed we were going to watch two of his films back to back. He joking said he wished we had done it when Blade Runner was released because it was a box office failure, not in small part because it opened the same day at E.T.

- As a child, Scott thought science fiction was sort of cheesy until he saw the Mad Max films and the art work of Moebius, who he mentioned on SEVERAL occasions.

- He told the story of how Alien came to be. He was trying to get something going after The Duelisits and after a meeting in Hollywood, his producer took him to see Star Wars at the Grauman’s Chinese. Scott said he felt a vibe in the packed theater that he hasn’t felt since and walked out sick with envy. A few months later, the script for Alien came across his desk and he had to do it.

- He said he was the fifth person the script was sent to and it was in danger of being killed. When he realized he knew how to shoot it, he went in and proposed they don’t change one word.

- The original budget was 4.2 million dollars, but after spending several months drawing storyboards, the studio got excited and doubled the budget. He feels storyboarding is almost as important as writing.

- When he can, Scott will spend two hours in the morning each day just reading with no distractions. He thinks it’s essential to read things pure.

- Scott loves the Alien franchise and was kind of upset they never asked him to come back. In fact, he didn’t even know they were making a second one when they started.

- He stressed that, though after Alien he had two flops with Blade Runner and Legend, filmmakers should be their only critic. Money doesn’t matter as long as you are proud of it. That dogma has paid off as both films are now revered.

- This was when he started talking about his new Alien movies. He said he was always amazed that no one explored the backstory of “The Space Jockey” in the sequels because it’s so obvious in the first movie. So now a script has been written and it’s being prepped. The story has no set timeline except that it’s WAY before the first Alien so that they can fit in enough history for two movies. Scott explained that once you learn the history of how the jockey encountered the aliens, you’ll also want to learn about how he got there.

- He’s done a lot of underwater research for the upcoming movies.

- This film will go very deep into the possibilities of terra forming and the realities of what it would actually take for humans to leave earth. He then started talking sort of technically about light speed and stuff.

- Sigourney Weaver wasn’t cast until 3 weeks before shooting and though she’d gained acclaim on Broadway, she hadn’t really done a film at the time. When he met her the short Scott (who is 5 foot 8 inches) was extremely impressed and kind of taken back by her size. She tested on the actual set, because they were close to shooting and it was being built. Scott said he could have cut the test into the movie.

- While casting Blade Runner, he decided he might want Harrison Ford for the lead role but his producers hadn’t heard of him. Ridley then said he was the guy who flew the “maltese falcon” which got a laugh. Anyway, he figured if Spielberg and Lucas cast him in their new movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, he must be good. That film was shooting down the street from where Scott was so one night Ford showed up for a meeting in full Indiana Jones gear. He got the job that night.

- He believes all the on set friction between him and Ford has been largely overstated, however, believes that tension keeps people honest on a set. He had a very specific look for Blade Runner and hated having to explain himself over and over.

- Scott operated the camera himself on Alien and Legend.

- Filmmaking is a team effort without question. The director is the coach and must be left in control.

- Working in advertising was his film school and didn’t get into films until much later. He was 42 when he directed Blade Runner and felt a lot of pressure.

- He has been doing physical therapy for several months now on his rehabbed knee and sees Harrison Ford every day at the same gym. Said he has put on a lot of muscle for Cowboys and Aliens, which begins shooting this week.

- Scott wasn’t able to pick which of his brother Tony Scott’s films was his favorite but he said his two student films, One of the Missing and A Loving Memory, were the best student films he has ever seen.

- They are currently on the 4th draft of a screenplay for the sci-fi The Forever War, based on a novel by Joe Haldeman. He hopes to make it in the future.

- Scott’s favorite Star Wars film is Episode 4, A New Hope, because it is so romantic. As a producer, he looks for “romantic bones in a director’s body” and that was Lucas at his most romantic.

- Growing up, his family was very strict and didn’t talk about sexuality. So, at the time, he felt sci-fi was very tawdry and he was discouraged from seeing the movies. The Day the Earth Stood Still and On the Beach changed that, followed by 2001.

The rest of the questions were from the audience.

- When setting up shots, it’s all through intuition from a lot of preparation. He used to do 100-150 commercials a year so he is used to shooting very fast and doing everything on the fly.

- He never rehearses with his actors outside of table reads. Many times, the first time he sees anything play out is on the set. He said that’s okay because the actors he hires do their homework.

- Boucher asked about a Robin Hood sequel but instead of answering that, he just started talking about his Robin Hood movie. He loves the Mel Brooks film, not so much the Errol Flynn, and felt the film was a challenge because everyone has incorrect preconceived notions of Robin Hood and he wanted to go against that.  He would, however, like to do a sequel.

- Alex Billington from FirstShowing.net said that in the past Scott said that “Sci-Fi is as dead as westerns” and asked why he changed his mind? He said he didn’t remember saying that but now has a western in development, and it’s being written by Larry McMurtry (Brokeback Mountain).

- If he had done the sequel to Alien, he would have made the movie he is making now about “The Space Jockey.”

- Blade Runner is so radically different from Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? because that book has way too much going on to be just one movie. It was Hampton Fancher’s choice to diverge from the book.

- The title Blade Runner came from a William F. Burroughs story and they bought the rights for $4,000. This sounded like a joke but maybe it wasn’t.

And that’s the end of the weekend. It was a total blast. A class operation that ran smoothly and professionally thanks to Geoff Boucher, the Los Angeles Times and the Mann Chinese Cinemas. Here’s hoping they do it again next year.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:38 pm
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Space Jockey Carcass a Suit?
14 June 2010

- [Ridley Scott] On the Space Jockey: “I think beneath that carcass… it’s not a carcass, it’s a suit. Inside the suit is a being.” An interesting hint at to what he’s doing with the prequels, perhaps?

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/45454



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PostPosted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 6:07 pm
User avatarGeneralGeneralPosts: 3702Location: Almere, The NetherlandsJoined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:54 pm
With this you could almost speculate that the 'Space Jockey' as we know it is just a ... suit !

I always thought he/she/it got screwed by a facehugger and something very interesting we have never seen crawled out of that chest but this hint is going way beyond my imagination.

I hope Sir Ridley won't give us too much hints though!

God it's unbearable that we'll still have to wait so long for this movie but I know it'll rock my socks when it comes out.


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:50 am
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Yeah, it's an interesting twist. The space jockey suit thing. Wonder if that hints at earlier human involvement... a secret Weyland-Yutani project gone wrong or something. The new movies will after all involve humans and it all takes place way before the first Alien movie which was supposed to be the first human contact with the Alien race...



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PostPosted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 2:05 pm
User avatarGeneralGeneralPosts: 3303Location: DoglandJoined: Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:49 pm
they only using the suit idea so we won't have to see giant cgi monsters in giant ships fighting aliens.from the first movie it really lokks like a skeleton of some being,not a suit but oh whell,i just want them to come out and forget that the second avp movie ever came out



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PostPosted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 2:39 pm
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*PinHead* wrote:
they only using the suit idea so we won't have to see giant cgi monsters in giant ships fighting aliens.from the first movie it really lokks like a skeleton of some being,not a suit but oh whell,i just want them to come out and forget that the second avp movie ever came out


For the prequels to be [quoting Ridley Scott] "real nasty" human involvement is essential. Monsters fighting monsters isn't as scary as humans fighting monsters. And Scott has admitted that humans are involved which is of course the only way to make a proper Alien movie.

I've always wondered whether the skeleton part of the space hockey you refer to is actually some different kind of face hugger which fingers grab the victim's upper body instead of the face. At least it seems it could be something like that...



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 3:58 pm
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Sir Ridley Scott AICN Interview – The Alien Prequels and 3D
15 June 2010

Sir Ridley Scott: I’ve heard now that audiences object if it’s not purely 3D, if it’s 2D to 3D. I could show you 2D to 3D and you wouldn’t know the difference. But when they’re told it’s 2D to 3D they say, “Fuck that, man! I’m paying another four dollars…” It’s about money, of course, but you’re still paying for the effect. Really, it’s very close. 2D to 3D is awfully close.

Quint: Speaking of, I know a lot of our readers, myself included, are very excited to see you return to the Alien franchise, but there was some concern over your interest in doing the prequels in 3D.

Sir Ridley Scott: People don’t want me to do it?

Quint: I think there’s just a worry there because of the technical limitations of filming a movie in 3D.

Sir Ridley Scott: Not at all.

Quint: None at all?

Sir Ridley Scott: Naw. You know, what’s happened is the scientists have gone in the room… because it is complex. The beam-splitter, the this and the that and blah, blah, blah… it all sounds very complex.

I always (camera) operate. I operated entirely on Alien, for instance. Because I’m an operator I think lenses. If you think lenses then the crossover to 3D honestly is nothing.

I was told it was going to slow us down… it didn’t slow (Michael) Bay down. Bay is moving like lightning. Once he realized, “Oh, Jesus… there’s no difference, really. Except I’m adding dimension.”

They say, “Aren’t you worried about how it’s going to cut?” No, because when I’m planning I think in 3D anyway. Even when I’m storyboarding the scene is already thought of in dimension. “When he comes in there, I’ve got a deep two-shot. Should I cover that in singles or not? Will I need a reversal?” You’re already thinking in 3D.

Quint: But will it effect the lighting? My understanding is you have to light 3D brightly for it to really work, which doesn’t seem to fit into the atmospheric mold of an Alien film.

Sir Ridley Scott: You need a stop more. This new (film) stock is running at 800 ASA (ASA being American Standards Association, which sets film speed standards globally). I think when it melts down is will be about as fast (as standard film stock). Normal stock is 500 ASA, so even that is going to be equalized.

I think what people forget is that sometimes you want to fill a little bit more so you have the information in the blacks. So then later, when I grade it, the digital grading will have something to pick up. If there’s nothing to pick up, there’s nothing to pick up.

So, you protect yourself, particularly if you’re doing a film where you see a lot of effects shots you want to protect your negative. If I was just pure film, I would worry less about that and shoot for what I want, but because I’m going to go through a phase, or a generation, digitally I have to protect the negative by having information.

Quint: So, as long as the information is there you can go in during post and put whatever shadows you want.

Sir Ridley Scott: Yes. Then later I can take it, if the information is there, and crush it and contrast it.

Quint: Thank you so much for your time. They’re pulling me away here. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what you’ve got in store. I hope we’ll be seeing a lot of real, practical Aliens running around!

Sir Ridley Scott: Yeah, you will!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/45468



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PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:49 pm
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Lost's Damon Lindelof to Do Rewrite Work on Alien Prequel
28 July 2010

"Exclusive: Damon Lindelof has taken his first big solo screenwriting job since concluding the ABC series Lost. I’m been told that he closed a deal to do rewrite work on 20th Century Fox’s Alien prequel."

"Lindelof is currently writing with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci Paramount’s Star Trek sequel, on which Lindelof is a producer. He also teamed with Kurtzman and Orci to write the Jon Favreau-directed Cowboys and Aliens, which is shooting now with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford."

"That’s plenty of action, but I’m told that Lindelof jumped at this opportunity because Scott's 1979 space thriller Alien was such a seminal influence on him. Resuscitating the Alien franchise has been a big priority for Fox."

http://www.deadline.com/2010/07/losts-damon-lindelof-boarding-alien/



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 12:02 am
User avatarGeneralGeneralPosts: 3303Location: DoglandJoined: Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:49 pm
i want the smoke monster to come and kick the alien ass.and maybe show what happened to walt,and who was in the cabin,and why were all the ancient temple,cork,statue built on the freakin island.were there alien eggs on the island?is that why the smoke monster couldn't leave the island cause he wanted to take the eggs in the outside world?ahhh questions questions



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PostPosted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 5:07 am
User avatarGeneralGeneralPosts: 3303Location: DoglandJoined: Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:49 pm
i just realized,how are tehy gonna get it out in 2011 if they are still writing it.then casting.plus i imagine there are a lot of fx,this means 2012.i doubt it will be out next year



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PostPosted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 12:08 pm
User avatarThe Orange AuthorityThe Orange AuthorityPosts: 4748Location: NetherlandsJoined: Tue Aug 29, 2006 6:39 pm
*PinHead* wrote:
i just realized,how are tehy gonna get it out in 2011 if they are still writing it.then casting.plus i imagine there are a lot of fx,this means 2012.i doubt it will be out next year


They will rush it, don't get more time, and then it'll be terrible. :lol:

By the way, why would any of you want to know what the story's about BEFORE seeing it? Don't you think the exitement comes from all the surprises? Please warn with a spoiler alert... I want to avoid spoilers. Stasz, you in particular... please relax with all that info man. :lol:



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