For a while there, it looked as though “District 9” and “Elysium” helmer Neill Blomkamp was going to direct a film that would’ve served as a direct sequel to “Aliens” – one that would’ve ignored the events of David Fincher’s “Alien 3”.
Blomkamp first revealed the project, complete with concept art, early in 2015. 20th Century Fox went so far as to greenlight the film, but by year’s end it was on hold and never came out.
It has long been believed to have been the intervention of filmmaker Ridley Scott that stopped the project from progressing, Scott wanting to make his “Alien: Covenant” feature.
Scott has previously said there never was a script, only an idea/treatment, but both actress Sigourney Weaver and “Aliens” director James Cameron have previously said that they had read Blomkamp’s script.
Last Friday, a screening of Scott’s original 1979 “Alien” took place at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris with Weaver on hand for a 60-minute masterclass.
During the Q&A, a member of the audience asked her about Blomkamp’s cancelled project, and she explained how keen she was for the project:
Yes. Well, I think like many of us, I was a big admirer of Neill [Blomkamp]. His movie was so striking and I worked with him on a movie called [Chappie]. And I loved working with Neil and he had this idea of bringing Ripley and Newt back.
It was a wonderful script and unfortunately, it was at that point I think that Ridley Scott decided to be very possessive about the series and really drilled down on his prequels.
And so I think it was a disaster for that project. We were never able to… I think Neil in fact just gave up and he’s so talented. I wish him all the best.
A 50-page treatment titled “Alien V” and written by Walter Hill has subsequently emerged in the years since, one boasting an approach Weaver says she finds ‘intriguing’. The full video of her masterclass is available on YouTube.
The comments come as Weaver has been confirmed to be starring alongside Meryl Streep in their first project together – the New York-set thriller “Useful Idiots” reports Empire. Joseph Cedar (“Constellation”) directs from a script co-written with Shachar Bar-On.
Streep plays a disillusioned veteran journalist on the New York luxury property market beat who uses the record-breaking imminent sale of a luxury apartment as an opportunity to dig into its enigmatic buyer and their dealings – a mysterious oligarch whose influence stretches globally.
Source: AvP Galaxy
