AvPGalaxy Interviews Wayne Haag, Alien: Covenant Concept Artist - AvPGalaxy Podcast #42

[Enoch]

I think everything Wayne said suggest Covenant wouldn't fail!
Alien must remain a mystery, and Ridley thinks the same...
that's enough for me!

[Corporal Hicks]

Ive never tried it before, but wouldnt a speech-to-text software help take the edge off some of the transcribing?

I've previously looked into it before but I don't think it was reliable. Will have to have another look.

[Xenorgue]

It is an incredible work !

However I can not enjoy it too. I am french. I am able to translate English when i read but my ears still struggling to discern English sound. Please can you make me a quick summary of that was said or subtitled version  .


Thank you very much I'm looking forward to the release of the movie. I am a very big fan of Prometheus.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

A written interview is possible? I understand it's a lot of work

Dude, the interview is an hour and fifteen minutes long with Wayne talking at a 120 mph without the need for breath. It's going to take the Corpo a year!  A bullet point summary might be more realistic.



A few interesting things he talks about:

-Why they decided to film at Fox studios, Sydney. (Wayne, I believe it was because Fassbender wanted to go surfing and managed to convince Ridley to shoot it there.  )

-Ridley only visited the art department once. Wayne only really got to meet him much later in production.

-Wayne speculates that perhaps Ridley wasn't really all that happy with the direction in which Prometheus went with regards to the sleek, high-tech look.

-Says the overall look is not quite as "used" looking as Alien but not as sleek and new as Prometheus either. It's more of a middle-ground this time around.

-Wayne claims that Ridley is a thief* and plagiarist*. Says the scoundrel is constantly stealing ideas from everywhere. 

-No bio-mechanical aesthetic unfortunately. Ridley continues the look that Prometheus established with regards to the Engineers.

-Only the one planet will be visited. No return to LV-223 or any other places.

-Says there were at least 3 to 4 different script revisions since he started working on the project in November 2015. But also says that Ridley is very clear and certain on his vision for the film. Not like Prometheus in which they didn't know where they were going.

-Says that Covenant might improve/uplift Prometheus a little.

-Says that he did indeed do backings which where printed onto vinyl for the sets.

-And something that I really like: Covenant draws a lot from Moebius, has the feel of a graphic novel like Blade Runner. Mentions the Long Tomorrow by Dan O'Bannon and Moebius.

-Says Chris Seegers (the PD) was really awesome to work with.

-Says Ridley wants to shoot another non-alien film over there as well. Maybe "Wraiths of a broken land"? Also wants to do the next two Alien prequels/Covenant sequels over there.






*but in a good way.

[Enoch]

- Xeno origin will remain a mystery... but Covenant will provide some cryptic answers.
- Wayne thinks black goo (and everything gigeresque) is in fact stolen technology. So Engineers are representation of Prometheus.
- Wayne mentioned that one David's sentence from Prometheus have certain significance regarding the plot of Covenant, or better said, that sentence explains some motifs in Covenant. David is the main force of the movies.

- There will be more Engineer technology... or technology they found somewhere in the universe.
They altered that technology and shit happened.

[Xenorgue]

Thank you 8 passenger !

I heard that engineers were thieves. Is what more explains about it? Who That was stolen the black goo ?

[426Buddy]

Heart broken that the biomechanical aspect of this series has been totally discarded for all intents and purposes. With each alien film the biomechanical look faded more and more. Starting with Prometheus and despite my hope that it would change in covenant, it appears that it has now been dropped completely. Sure we may get the original big chap design again, but the mysterious biomechanical beauty of the original Alien film is now extinct.

I'm still excited about Covenant and the directions it is going but Ridley Scott has completely and utterly ruined the idea that was the space jockey civilization from alien.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

- Xeno origin will remain a mystery... but Covenant will provide some cryptic answers.
- Wayne thinks black goo (and everything gigeresque) is in fact stolen technology. So Engineers are representation of Prometheus.
- There will be more Engineer technology... or technology they found somewhere in the universe.
They altered that technology and shit happened.

I interpreted that as basically speculation coming from Wayne not as de facto statements. It would be spoiler territory anyway, something he has been careful to avoid due to his NDA. He's basically theorizing as we do here.

Thank you 8 passenger !

Glad to help mate. Hopefully the Corporal can provide a more comprehensive summary. I just posted a few bits that stuck in my head. Hope I got it all correct.

[Enoch]

Speculations is the only thing I m interested.

Alien/Xeno is Giger's creation... that enough!
It's now totally obvious that Engineers aren't creators of Xeno, and there
is someone who created all that... Xeno, black goo and everything.

If I were the director of the new alien movies, I would have kept the gigeresque elements for the last movie!

FAN-FICTION
Scene at the very end... entering the great temple, everything is gigeresque, writings, statues, organic elements, sounds...
and there is a hall with one pod... strange writings; camera is coming to show us who/what is inside... and boom... contours of the face but we do not get to see the face, its wrapped in bandages and in black suit (organic)  with some kind of tubes from which the black substance is leaking into some kind of green crystal tank and behind is mural with crucified xeno/deacon similar to that from Prometheus, but there is a writing saying: From death comes the life.

sinister violin music and then ominous choir with trumpets and horns and then the last scene.
We see Foetuses in some kind of bio-mechanoid incubator... and we get to see several of those incubators...
Foetuses are lying still but we now see that the black supstance is inserted in their umbilical cords
We hear the sound of heart and  breathing...fade to black!

[Pvt. Himmel]

A written interview is possible? I understand it's a lot of work

Dude, the interview is an hour and fifteen minutes long with Wayne talking at a 120 mph without the need for breath. It's going to take the Corpo a year!  A bullet point summary might be more realistic.



A few interesting things he talks about:

-Why they decided to film at Fox studios, Sydney. (Wayne, I believe it was because Fassbender wanted to go surfing and managed to convince Ridley to shoot it there.  )

-Ridley only visited the art department once. Wayne only really got to meet him much later in production.

-Wayne speculates that perhaps Ridley wasn't really all that happy with the direction in which Prometheus went with regards to the sleek, high-tech look.

-Says the overall look is not quite as "used" looking as Alien but not as sleek and new as Prometheus either. It's more of a middle-ground this time around.

-Wayne claims that Ridley is a thief* and plagiarist*. Says the scoundrel is constantly stealing ideas from everywhere. 

-No bio-mechanical aesthetic unfortunately. Ridley continues the look that Prometheus established with regards to the Engineers.

-Only the one planet will be visited. No return to LV-223 or any other places.

-Says there were at least 3 to 4 different script revisions since he started working on the project in November 2015. But also says that Ridley is very clear and certain on his vision for the film. Not like Prometheus in which they didn't know where they were going.

-Says that Covenant might improve/uplift Prometheus a little.

-Says that he did indeed do backings which where printed onto vinyl for the sets.

-And something that I really like: Covenant draws a lot from Moebius, has the feel of a graphic novel like Blade Runner. Mentions the Long Tomorrow by Dan O'Bannon and Moebius.

-Says Chris Seegers (the PD) was really awesome to work with.

-Says Ridley wants to shoot another non-alien film over there as well. Maybe "Wraiths of a broken land"? Also wants to do the next two Alien prequels/Covenant sequels over there.






*but in a good way.

Thanks. 

[BonesawT101]

Fantastic interview and another great podcast from AVPG. Just wanted to say I have really enjoyed listening to this, and a big thank you to Wayne for taking the time to discuss all of this with us. And of course thanks again to Hicks, congratulations on yet another podcast homerun. 

[Enoch]

Yes, many thanks to Wayne... he is certainly a wonderful guy!
And we cant forget Corporal, really appreciate what he did. Great work.

[PsyKore]

Heart broken that the biomechanical aspect of this series has been totally discarded for all intents and purposes. With each alien film the biomechanical look faded more and more. Starting with Prometheus and despite my hope that it would change in covenant, it appears that it has now been dropped completely. Sure we may get the original big chap design again, but the mysterious biomechanical beauty of the original Alien film is now extinct.

I'm still excited about Covenant and the directions it is going but Ridley Scott has completely and utterly ruined the idea that was the space jockey civilization from alien.

I'm with you on this. But I think the problem is that Prometheus has already been done and they have to go from there. I get the feeling, however, that the biomechanical aspect will become more apparent over the course of the films. To me at least, it makes sense if the Engineers have stolen the tech that there maybe a gradual process, an overarching theme maybe, which will lead into the depiction of it. I dunno, just a thought.

[DorkiDori]

I dont think they're going to abandoned the whole gigeresque theme of biomechanoids... I have a feeling as the films go on and we get closer and closer to the origins of the xenos, things may start to get darker and more biomechanoid appearing.

I am really excited to hear the direction the film has gone and can't wait to see it in theaters (only 9 1/2 months to go everyone).

From the few people ive talked to that were directly involved with the film, along with the photo leaks of David's workshop along, I have a feeling its going to be a really horrific but intriguing experience!!!

One theory that popped into mind post listening to the pod cast is... Perhaps this planet isn't the Engineers home world. What if the engineers (much like humans) wound up colonizing other planets and this is just one of the planets they set up camp on? Also, another theory just popped into my head. If any of you played Aliens: Colonial Marines, there was an easter egg buried in the game that Fox said was canon to the series in regards to Prometheus. When on the engineers ship on LV426, if you shoot the engineers chair enough, a small hologram is projected from the chair above you that shows the circular disc ship from the beginning of Prometheus (during the scarifical engineer scene) persuing and shooting down a Juggernaut shaped craft. The craft is shown crashing toward LV426 and then the hologram repeats itself. Soooooo my interpretation (as well as many speculated fan theories based on LV223 being a military outpost) is that there were warring factions of Engineers. What it the "Paradise" that Shaw and David land on was the peaceful world of Engineers society and they were all destroyed by the war driven side that we saw on LV223. Perhaps the engineers WERE creators of life and peaceful beings, but you had a sect of them that wanted to use the Accelerant for their own means which lead to war and the desire to destroy all of the creations of the peaceful Engineers? Just food for thought

[Lonely Universe]

It's looking more & more like the Jockey & Engineers are a separate species. If the Engineers represent Prometheus rather than us then /they/ stole fire from gods right?

That def would make Prometheus better, at least in the sense that it wouldn't be a disappointing answer to the mystery of the Space Jockey or the origins of the Alien.

The SJ's themselves still could have discovered the Alien in ancient times rather than creating it, then structured their society around biotech derived from it. Even more likely, the SJ's evolved concurrently with the Xeno's, sharing the same homeworld.

Remember the UFO in the beginning of Prometheus isn't a Juggernaut, nor does it look bio-mechanical in any way. It's probably from right around the time they 'stole the fire'. Decided to seed a world to increase their ranks in a cosmic war with the gods. When we failed inspection 2000 years ago, they decided to wipe us out but were attacked before they could get the chance.

Perhaps Engineers created the goo from the 'fire' they stole, perverting it to create us (lesser versions of themselves) & crummier bio-weapons than the pure Alien. Maybe that's why the Deacon looks like a brand-X Dollar Store knockoff of the Big Chap with a horribly convoluted life cycle [emoji23]

EDIT - To reiterate a point that's been made a thousand times, the Space Jockey is WAY bigger than the Engineers. It also clearly has a mouth & teeth. Not a helmet!

Okay sorry, you can all go about your business now :p