Could Ripley Return for Alien 5?
Actress Sigourney Weaver attended the Hero Complex Film Fest in Hollywood last weekend and between screenings of Alien and Aliens, she took to the stage to answer some questions. She talks about the Alien series as a whole and her character Ripley and of course, no Q&A session would be complete without the possibility of Alien 5 coming up. She seems very open to possibility of returning as Ripley in a potential Alien 5 movie.
“I feel after going to a couple of these Comic Cons and meeting so many fans who are so passionate about the series, passionate about Ripley — that there’s more story to tell; but I don’t know how to do that. I don’t think Alien belongs on Earth popping out of a haystack, which is where I was afraid it was going to go. I feel it should take place in the far reaches of the universe where no one in their right mind would go. There are very few filmmakers that I can think of that I would want to entrust this to. But I can think of a couple… I feel there’s a longing in certain groups of fans when I meet them for the story to be finished because we really left it up in the air and I feel a bit badly about that because I was part of that decision making process. I didn’t want to make four and five in a bundle. I think it’s hard to make these films all in a big lump. You need time to sort of let things resonate so I can imagine a situation where we could at least finish telling her story. I think that would be very satisfying at least to me — although I haven’t done anything about it; but I can understand why that could happen and I certainly know young filmmakers who are interested in doing that. So we’ll just have to see what happens.”
In the past, Sigourney always spoke about returning to battle the creatures on the xenomorph homeworld. That, I agree with. Alien 5 shouldn’t take place on Earth but a distant planet somewhere. So what do you think? Could an Alien 5 film featuring Sigourney Weaver be on the cards at some point in the future? With Prometheus 2 rumoured to be scouting for locations,I suspect we won’t see Alien 5 for a long time. Nonetheless, it’s still nice that’s she’s open to the possibility. Thanks to The Ultimate Predator for the news.
I do like the bit where the monks in the khazi get it though. And obviously the creature's death was awesome enough to make it into the final film.
*Is picturing a fourth wall breaking moment between Ripley and Cameron*
Ripley: Please... Kill me.
Cameron: u wot?
That and the fact they threw in the token chestbursting with something that's almost an Alien, but not quite, just because.
I still marvel at the fact they had the balls to kill Ripley in Alien 3. I can't think of a single other blockbuster franchise that offed it's lead character after a bunch of films. If Weaver was at all involved in that decision it was a good one. (Until they arbitrarily undid it in the next film.)
He actually didn't say that in his script. Not exactly. The broader stroked version we got in Prometheus came from Lindelof. Spaights was much more scientifically literate in his take, humanity already existed when the Engineers came along and fiddled with us. That actually is much more plausible.
Well, both the original draft and the film as shot/edited have some really great ideas, and some great scenes, and then they both just have some really dumb elements. I think the biggest thing with Spaights draft that doesn't work is some of the alien stuff just seems to happen because aliens need to be happening. The better film lies somewhere between the two versions of the story.
An Alien film would never be budgeted that high.
Unfortunately, I dont think thats really the case, otherwise Michael Bays movies wouldnt be such smash hits (transformers). It seems to me its all evened out, some hits are deeper , like Inception as an example given, and some are just pure "thrills" (for some), like Transformers or Avengers
Uh no, Spaihts' idea was that the engineers had a hand in creating humanity. He is a Princeton-educated man, don't shortchange him. He also came up with the caesarean on the spot. That scene got him the job.
And I don't think the eggs were different colors, perse, they were just merely different. I mean, he was hired to write an Alien movie after all.
I blame Spaihts as much or more than I blame Lindelof, to be frank. His big ideas were about different colored xeno eggs that produced different kinds of xenos.
I didn't say it would be a simple "mission" movie. Just borrowing the general idea of competent individuals being thrust into a very sudden change in situation. Something we haven't seen in the series since Aliens.
Inception is a straightforward action-suspense film with one added layer. People enjoy entertainment when it's executed with some finesse. Prometheus was the first film in the series since the early 90s to actually do something of visual scope. It's screenplay shortfalls, thanks Lindelof, are it's biggest failing.
I do question it. Severely. The character was laid to rest in 1992, and it should have stayed there.
It's not about Weaver's clout. If you get Weaver in another Alien movie, with a great director, it has blockbuster potential. A movie with Weaver in the lead role that's not an Alien movie? Okay, question that. But not a Weaver Alien movie.
I have to agree though, each of the three Alien movies are, if nothing else, fairly distinct from one another in most respects. Though I still think Aliens does a far better job of doing something different from Alien. It reuses some of the same framework as Alien, but it does a very different story with some of the same plot/action beats. Alien 3 is just kind of a glorious mess. Don't get me wrong, I say that with a lot of love. Alien 3, in either of it's two forms, is a mess. It's surprising it works at all given the BTS BS.
I would enjoy another action-suspense story with the Alien, the problem is you have got to get the characters right. Alien and Aliens still hold the best characters out of the whole series.
I'd love to see a 'Predator' style Alien movie. By that, I mean, using a similar plot/story structure, but using the tools of the Alien universe. Humans entering into a hostile situation, showing a high level of competence, and then having that sudden sharp turn where they come up against the Alien and have to deal with it in ways we haven't yet seen. You could have multiple aliens, or just one, but that's where i'd want an Alien 5 to go, personally. If you wanted, you could include Ripley into that, but frankly her character's time has come and gone. Nobody in Hollywood is going to want to lead off Resurrection. Everyone knows it wasn't a critical hit. Even people who enjoy it.
I doubt Weaver herself has much clout anymore, either. It's been quite some time since she did anything that I found to be particularly stellar or noteworthy. No offense intended to her, either. She's done a lot of amazing stuff in her career. Just not lately. Not that i'm aware of. If someone wants to point to something she's done in the last few years that's truly noteworthy I stand corrected.
I know that, and you know that. But many people still complain about this non-issue regarding Vickers.
The movie didn't promise anything, including answers. It may not be profound or meaningful, but it leaves much to discussion, and that's all I ever ask for a sci-fi film. At least with Prometheus you get myriad different great scenes like: David and the orrery, David alone, engineer sacrifice, c-section, etc.
The movie, lol, did not owe you anything. And couldn't, even if it tried, because it's a... it's a movie. It's not a living organism.
Fair enough. The second draft is the one I'd have liked to see.
Negro please.
It's terrible because it is a nonsensical hack job promising to explain the mysteries of creation when it ends up answering nothing at all. It isn't profound. It isn't meaningful. It is an average space exploratory film that is horrendously boring for major portions of its run time where the characters do incredibly stupid things to propel the plot forward.
If you like it fine.
But I hope to god no other movie in either Prometheus or the Alien series is anything like Prometheus. It is a pleb tier film on the level of Alien Resurrection.
And you just said "terribad".
Bad plot, sloppy editing, poor characters. It's a shithouse big budget fx piece with big names slapped onto it to draw in the masses.
bah dum tish.
Looking for 'like' button...
Not the second draft. The first draft, on the other hand...
As Kimarhi said, there's a hell of a lot more to a film than it's basic plot structure.
It doesn't matter now since Sigourney Weaver will have her fill of scifi because she just agreed to do 3 more avatar movies for Jimmy.
I'm not saying that hahahahahaha. The presence of guns does not an Aliens clone make.
Hell, you guys are hypocrites for saying that because Aliens has the exact same structure as Alien! And while other franchises around that time like Terminator, Lethal Weapon and Die Hard had sequels that kept getting bigger and better (and note the increase in box office!) Alien 3 was stuck with making $160 million worldwide. It could've followed the trajectory of those other sequels and make upwards of $200 million.
A good story...great visuals...good supporting cast. This is the formula for success for the another film in the ALIEN franchise imho
I don't want a bunch of sequel-clones of Aliens, because chances are they wouldn't be anywhere near as good.
Instead we get some... depressing, grimy solo adventure that features interspersed attacks from a cartoon alien shape? That's how you springboard off the backs of Alien and Aliens? Alllllll righty then okay thanks Sigourney cool nice.
Don't we have Weaver to thank for no guns in Alien 3?
I'd prefer it they did an original Alien film with new characters, new locations but familiar settings, in the future, with ships or space stations or colonies and etc. That said, Ripley 8 does have some potential in her character arc and what she could do for the story with her connection to the Aliens...but I really don't want it to become grandma vs Aliens and if they did do it, I'd like to see her story finally tied up but left open for spin-offs.
According to Ward, yeah. He recounts it in the stuff on the quad. She wanted out of the series, so he had her walk out into the fire... And then something happened, the studio wanted an alternate ending, so one of the other characters performed some strange exorcism type of thing to force the queen from her body. Then they of course found their way back to a wall of fire and self sacrifice.
As JC put it, between Alien 3 and Four, she got just about everything she wanted. (No guns, exit from the franchise in Alien 3, and pseudo-implied-maybe-sex with the alien in Res) Though I think if she had her way the alien sex may have been more direct and explicit. I don't know why she wanted to bone the damn Alien, but even in the commentary for the first one she remarks it would have been interesting to play around with that final sequence more and had the Alien more interested. Eeeh...
They did - but still went with Ripley in the end. I think Jonesy's right here -- especially if you take Sigourney's A:R package into consideration (wasn't she a producer on that one too? I'd have to check). The bankable star and all that...
Despite the fact they explored three different scripts that didn't have Ripley.
The story was dictated by Ward, Giler, Hill, Ferguson and Fincher.
The original intention was to do an Alien 5 right after Resurrection.
Unfortunately for most fans of the franchise, the direction that she wanted for herself and the storyline of ALIEN 3 was a big disappointment overall compared to the thrills of the previous 2 movies...especially after what had been hinted at in it's teaser trailer. It turned out to be an unnecessarily downbeat affair throughout...filled with mostly unsympathetic characters and a disappointingly unimpressive alien. And while interesting to see, it's eventual special edition version didn't improve things any, as far as I'm concerned. But if that had been the end of Sigourney's involvement in the franchise, then fair enough...even though it was a miserable, and nihilistic final chapter.
...except we then got an even worse follow-up in the shape of the ridiculous ALIEN RESURRECTION!
While I'd rather that the 4th entry had never been made at all, I would still prefer to see some kind of conclusion to 'Ripley clone 8's story, if there's a possibility that Sigourney is up for it still. One of that movie's many flaws is the fact that that we just end on a kind of open-ended conclusion (in both cuts) to what happens to Sigourney's new character. Not that I particularly cared either way at the time, as I was so annoyed with what had been done to an initially great franchise...UNTIL I happened to come across this brilliantly conceived 'what if' storyline a while back -
It's written by a guy called Gavin Singleton (formerly known as 'Snorkelbottom' on the site I'm linking to), and is well worth a read for anyone that would like to have some kind of conclusion for 'Ripley clone 8' and the rest of the gang once they landed back on Earth. Especially as another movie with Sigourney's character is unlikely to come about at this point, despite her latest comments.
This excellent little short story starts at the top of this page, and the writer then continues it in sections throughout the comments underneath over the next 7 pages (so be sure to click onto them at the bottom and keep reading till the end!) Well worth your time, and I would certainly be open to an ALIEN RESURRECTION follow-up that went along these lines... -
http://www.prometheus2-movie.com/community/forums/topic/13424