Latest News

John Logan “Revising” Alien: Paradise Lost Script?

According to a comment in a new article from Variety, John Logan is currently working with Ridley Scott to revise the script for the Prometheus sequel, Alien: Paradise Lost:

“Following that double-whammy, it was 30 years before Scott tried his hand at sci-fi again, though he now seems firmly re-entrenched in the zone. “Prometheus,” 2012’s oblique prequel to “Alien,” returned him to the extraterrestrial territory he revisits in “The Martian,” while he and scribe John Logan are revising the script for an as-yet-untitled “Prometheus” sequel — inspired, he says, by Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost” — set to start rolling in February.”

John Logan has written such films as the recent Bond films, Skyfall & Spectre and the very well received Hugo. John Logan "Revising" Alien: Paradise Lost Script?

John Logan has written such films as the recent Bond films, Skyfall & Spectre and the very well received Hugo.

This comes from an article about Ridley Scott getting his much deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last week so the comment about Prometheus 2 being unnamed in a recent article (the news of Prometheus 2 being titled Alien: Paradise Lost came back in September) is a little off.

John Logan has been writing for screen since the 1990s. He is responsible for the recent James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre. John Logan has previously worked with Ridley Scott on Gladiator in 2000, one of several films he has been nominated writing awards for.

What do you think of John Logan working with Ridley Scott for Alien: Paradise Lost? Let us know in the comments below!



Post Comment
Comments: 32
  1. redalert51
    I am big fan of " John Logan. He has the magic touch, They also call it '' Talent. The very last Trek film "Nemesis"
    which my favourite.John Logan wrote the screenplay . It is sad that it flopped..         
  2. Corporal Hicks
    Quote from: HuDaFuK on Nov 11, 2015, 04:08:13 PM

    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Nov 10, 2015, 12:29:13 PMThe parallels to Alien 3 are worrying. From the sounds of it, I don't think Ridley really knew what direction he wanted to take the sequel in but I think he figured it all out. Remember they were taking pitches from just about anyone.

    This is what annoys me more than anything about the first film. It came across as though it thought it was some high and mighty philosophical piece that was asking all these big meaningful questions about existence and what have you, but if the development of the sequel is anything to go by, even the people making it had no f*cking clue what the answers were.

    Unless they did and Scott actually realized what a hack Lindelof was and threw it out. I can hope.
  3. Xenomorphine
    In fairness, multiple rewrites are common in Hollywood. It's an old joke that the prevailing mentality is, "Great script! Who can we get to rewrite it?"

    And that's scarily closer to the truth than most realise.
  4. HuDaFuK
    Quote from: Whiskeybrewer on Nov 10, 2015, 01:25:16 PMIt worries me that they are still working on the script 3 or so moths before filming is meant to start.

    This. Such last-minute revisions are rarely a sign of good things. Not when it's supposedly been through so many drafts already. Really not expecting much from this movie.

    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Nov 10, 2015, 12:29:13 PMThe parallels to Alien 3 are worrying. From the sounds of it, I don't think Ridley really knew what direction he wanted to take the sequel in but I think he figured it all out. Remember they were taking pitches from just about anyone.

    This is what annoys me more than anything about the first film. It came across as though it thought it was some high and mighty philosophical piece that was asking all these big meaningful questions about existence and what have you, but if the development of the sequel is anything to go by, even the people making it had no f*cking clue what the answers were.
  5. 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯
    Quote from: CainsSon on Nov 10, 2015, 11:01:20 PM
    I also don't think Ridley was totally at a loss for what to do with this sequel. Both writers of Prometheus mentioned having very frank discussions about where the series was headed,.. I just think that after that film was released Ridley saw the errors he made, and decided to correct them, so he knew he had to add stuff to the mix, and that's what all this has been about.

    Scott also called Lindelof back for a chat with regards to a sequel after Prometheus was released.

    Of course Lindelof suddenly had all kinds of other engagements and excuses but thankfully it turned out that Scott wasn't going to ask him to write a sequel anyway.

    Quote from: Collider interview with LindelofCollider: I know from people at Fox that they were really happy with the worldwide box office  of Prometheus and that they are moving forward on a sequel.  Are you involved at all?
    Damon Lindelof:  I am not.  Ridley [Scott] and I talked at great length during the story process of the first movie about what subsequent movies would be if Prometheus were to be successful.  And I think that the movie ended in a very specific way that hinted at, or strongly implied that there were going to be continuing adventures worthy of writing stories.  What those stories would be would not necessarily usurp or transcend the Alien franchise as we saw it because we know that the Nostromo hasn't come along yet.  So the idea was to set up a universe that... Is it a prequel?  Okay.  If that's what we want to call it, sure.  But the sequel to this movie is not Alien.  The sequel to this movie is this other thing.
    So Ridley and I talked about what that other thing might be, and he was excited about doing it.  But then I think what ended up happening was that the movie came out, and there was a reaction to the movie.  And I got really wrapped up in Trek, and really wrapped up in this movie that I'm producing and writing with Brad Bird.  And I have a TV project that I was really passionate about. Ridley and I had a meeting after Prometheus came out where we started talking again about where this journey would go.  And in that meeting I said to him, unfortunately, before he could ask me and go through the discomfort of whether he was going to ask me or not... It's sort of like having a date where you're letting the other person know, "I'm in another relationship."  So I can't tell you that he asked me and I said no.  But I did communicate to him that I was working on these other things.

    The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite.  Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it.  And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in.  The idea of building a sequel to it—from the ground up this time—with Ridley is tremendously exciting.  But at the same time, I was like, "Well that's probably going to be two years of my life."  I can't do what J.J. [Abrams] does.   I don't have the capability.  I'm usually very single-minded creatively.  I can only be working on one thing at a time.  So I said to him, "I really don't think I could start working on this movie until I do this other stuff.  And I don't know when the other stuff is going to be done." And he was like, "Well, okay, it's not like I asked you anyways."  He and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him.  But much to the delight of all the fanboys, I don't see myself being involved in Prometheus-er.
  6. Corporal Hicks
    Quote from: oduodu on Nov 11, 2015, 10:25:11 AM
    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Nov 11, 2015, 09:21:38 AM
    Lindelof and Scott always made it sound like they had a plan for Promtheus sequels but considering how well thought out I found Prometheus to be that doesn't really please me.

    Correct. I am not sure that the DEPTH of thinking behind it was to the level it should have been.

    Then again, with Lindelof's departure it sounded like Fox didn't know what to do with the story. I'm hopeful that's sorted now.

    Quote from: Stolen on Nov 11, 2015, 10:23:00 AM
    Journalist is a very big word  ;D
    I work occasionally for the cinema section of my local newspaper.

    Ah! Fair enough! Where did you get speak to him?
  7. Stolen
    I discussed a few weeks ago with Sir Ridley Scott for the promotion of his latest film in France. I think the article Variety is late, the final script was finished early September and Scott was very enthusiastic about it. He said Green was an excellent writer. He did not talk about Logan but it will surely be a small contribution, it's probably a way to reassure people, 'oh it's a logan's script the guy who wrote Gladiator, Skyfall ... it will be epic "

    Scott said something exciting, there will be carnage in Paradise planet, many characters will die in the first part of the film. Elizabeth Shaw is still the main character, Scott wants to talk about the conflict science / religion, for him the two are not incompatible, he knows many scientists who believe in God and it will be even approaching A: PL. He also says that a scene will be even more intense than the cesarean section.

    The guy is really passionate, I am eager for his film, I loved Prometheus too.
  8. oduodu
    Quote from: CainsSon on Nov 10, 2015, 11:01:20 PM
    I'm all for this. It's certainly just a polish, for one... And honestly, I think the biggest mistake they made with PROMETHEUS is that the best version of those two scripts was a combination of both. So a 3rd writer to polish the thing, and a good one, like John Logan, is hopefully, just what this needs.
    I also don't think Ridley was totally at a loss for what to do with this sequel. Both writers of Prometheus mentioned having very frank discussions about where the series was headed,.. I just think that after that film was released Ridley saw the errors he made, and decided to correct them, so he knew he had to add stuff to the mix, and that's what all this has been about.
    The script is the most important thing.

    That's true but I just wonder how well the back story for Prometheus was thought out and to what DEPTH the sequels were discussed. In other words the overall story.


    Like with the martian. The story was there before the script was written.
  9. CainsSon
    I'm all for this. It's certainly just a polish, for one... And honestly, I think the biggest mistake they made with PROMETHEUS is that the best version of those two scripts was a combination of both. So a 3rd writer to polish the thing, and a good one, like John Logan, is hopefully, just what this needs.
    I also don't think Ridley was totally at a loss for what to do with this sequel. Both writers of Prometheus mentioned having very frank discussions about where the series was headed,.. I just think that after that film was released Ridley saw the errors he made, and decided to correct them, so he knew he had to add stuff to the mix, and that's what all this has been about.
    The script is the most important thing.
  10. Darkness
    I doubt they're still working on the script. Sounds like that article on Variety was written a while ago... but then again, he mentions the Paradise Lost poem in the same paragraph. You'd have to be living under a rock not to know the title by now. Could just be a mistake listing Logan instead of the other chap who was doing rewrites.
  11. locusta
    Only positive vibe of this news to me is, that I respect and recognize him as a good writer since I love "Penny Dreadful" and he did good work on the last Bond movies as well. Let´s see.
  12. reecebomb
    Quote from: oduodu on Nov 10, 2015, 12:37:35 PM
    3 script writers and at least 16 dafts ?? At least he is heeding advice it seems but it doesn't bode well.

    Terrible news for us  :-\, Spectre had four writers and one of them was John Logan, the result is pure worthless trash. Skyfall looked great yet the script was so shallow. Haven't seen Rango, but none from his filmography are known for their good script, some are really poor.
  13. david8
    Logan's probably been revising the script with Ridley for a while now, and this is pretty shoddy journalism; the whole article seems rushed, not to mention the fact that the reporter is ignorant of the sequel's title. 
  14. Whiskeybrewer
    It worries me that they are still working on the script 3 or so moths before filming is meant to start. But I trust john Logan's writing ad hopefully, its not a complete rewrite, just a polish and sorting out a couple of bits
  15. whiterabbit
    Yea that is odd; how it is referred as the "untitled prometheus sequel". Then again one guy makes a mistake and everyone copy pastas the text everywhere. I don't know who the guy writing is but I sure hope he knows how to write movies. :P

    Nah this isn't going to be another alien³, if Ridley f**ks it up it'll be his fault. :P
  16. Corporal Hicks
    Quote from: Kenneth Nation on Nov 10, 2015, 12:17:09 PM
    Still working on the script three months before production begins. Sounds familiar. Alien3 would be a good example as to why a script should be ready before production starts. Prometheus had how many screenwriters and how many alterations just before filming? I know films have their scripts tweaked all the time, but we've heard this story before.

    The parallels to Alien 3 are worrying. From the sounds of it, I don't think Ridley really knew what direction he wanted to take the sequel in but I think he figured it all out. Remember they were taking pitches from just about anyone.

    From what we know Logan would be the 3rd writer mentioned in conjunction with the script but whether the other 2 named writers actually did work, I'm not sure. It was said Jack Palgen was "in talks" and numerous articles list Michael Green as rewriting the Palgen script.

    That said, I do feel positive about Logan. He seems to have a nice battery of work and accolades behind him.
  17. Keyes
    Hopefully this is just a polish and not a re-write, as I was encouraged by Ridley's recent comments that this film would steer back into the Alien mythology as we know it. Though it's interesting how a couple of trade sites (Variety, Deadline) have been referring to the film as "untitled Prometheus sequel" again, as did the Australian government when it was announced it would be filming there.
  18. Kenneth Nation
    Still working on the script three months before production begins. Sounds familiar. Alien3 would be a good example as to why a script should be ready before production starts. Prometheus had how many screenwriters and how many alterations just before filming? I know films have their scripts tweaked all the time, but we've heard this story before.
AvPGalaxy: About | Contact | Cookie Policy | Manage Cookie Settings | Privacy Policy | Legal Info
Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Patreon RSS Feed
Contact: General Queries | Submit News