Aliens vs. Predator Requiem Retrospective, A Chat with Liam O'Donnell - AvPGalaxy Podcast #60

Started by Corporal Hicks, Dec 15, 2017, 11:50:29 AM

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Aliens vs. Predator Requiem Retrospective, A Chat with Liam O'Donnell - AvPGalaxy Podcast #60 (Read 19,011 times)

Corporal Hicks

We have just uploaded the 60th episode of the Alien vs. Predator Galaxy Podcast (right-click and save as to download)!

This Christmas marks the 10th anniversary of Aliens vs. Predator Requiem. Opinions on the film aside, AvP Requiem was an important film for this community as it saw an explosion in activity. The directors were posting on our forums and we had direct interaction with the people who were making the film. One other such person working on the film and posting on the forums was the mysterious man known as Crom.

After much detective work, we unveiled the identity of Crom as none other than Liam O’Donnell, the man behind the upcoming Beyond Skyline which has been receiving some pretty good reviews! It took some arm twisting but we eventually got him to agree to join us on the last episode of 2017 for a chat about his time working on Aliens vs. Predator Requiem!

Credited as a visual effects creative consultant, Liam did a lot of uncredited work with the Brothers Strause, seeing the film go from pitch to release. Liam talks frankly about his time on the film, detailing some of the challenges they faced working on the film, dealing with a narrative they knew wasn’t what the fans really want, his fondness for Wolf, that infamous scene during the sewers, his work on the Skyline franchise, his treatment for Aliens vs. Predator 3 and plenty more!

What did you think of our latest episode? Be sure to let us know down below! You can also listen to any of our previous episodes in the Podcast section under the News tab on the main menu. The Alien vs. Predator Galaxy Podcast is also available via iTunes, PodBean and Stitcher.

Keep a close eye on Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest on Alien and Predator! You can follow us on FacebookTwitter and Instagram to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums!

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Xiggz456

Great podcast guys! Certainly had me chuckling throughout. Recently rewatched both AVP movies as I finally purchased them on Blu-ray and watching them without my initial high expectations does make them somewhat more enjoyable. However being from Colorado (and having a friend who went to college in Gunnison when this film came out) I have to suspend my disbelief to an absurd degree, especially when the town gets nuked. But at the same time I always get a kick out of it whenever I go camping down in Gunnison. Fun fact: the next town over from Gunnison is Crested Butte (also mentioned in the film) and James Cameron owns a cabin there. The citizens of Crested Butte have had a long history of fighting and trying to preserve their mountain town from big mining corporations and the mayor of the town who led this fight was a paraplegic. So although Cameron has never admitted this, many locals believe that the history of Crested Butte is the inspiration behind Avatar.

XENOMORPHOSIS

I got that vibe that the brother and sister kids plot was similar to the brother and sister in the Fox movie 28 weeks later that came out in the same year

Hyperdyne120-a2

That treatment for avp3 is so close to one I created it's scary!! Man that's weird. Mine ended up with space jockeys coming in at the end and was kind of a Star Wars-esque space battle at the end, along with 2 protags battling a space jockey in the pilot chamber at the end. Even had some sweet Space jockey creature designs which were suuuper creepy. Got the design from a Nightmare I had. Maybe I'll turn it into a comic...

RidgeTop

RidgeTop

#4
10 years just goes by so fast.

I very much enjoyed this conversation and learning a bit more about what went on in development. AVPR really was the horror/sci-fi film that resonated with me at the time, and while I've seen more of its flaws since then, the positive feelings around the film stuck. And all things considered... it could've been a lot worse.

Glad to hear Beyond Skyline is getting a lot more love than its predecessor. I'm excited to check it out this weekend.

Quote from: Xiggz456 on Dec 15, 2017, 09:28:05 PM
Great podcast guys! Certainly had me chuckling throughout. Recently rewatched both AVP movies as I finally purchased them on Blu-ray and watching them without my initial high expectations does make them somewhat more enjoyable. However being from Colorado (and having a friend who went to college in Gunnison when this film came out) I have to suspend my disbelief to an absurd degree, especially when the town gets nuked. But at the same time I always get a kick out of it whenever I go camping down in Gunnison. Fun fact: the next town over from Gunnison is Crested Butte (also mentioned in the film) and James Cameron owns a cabin there. The citizens of Crested Butte have had a long history of fighting and trying to preserve their mountain town from big mining corporations and the mayor of the town who led this fight was a paraplegic. So although Cameron has never admitted this, many locals believe that the history of Crested Butte is the inspiration behind Avatar.

Some years back I took a road trip to Colorado (my neighboring state) through Vail and onto Denver. I must admit I was tempted to make a detour to stop in Gunnison.

Xiggz456

@RidgeTop haha it's an extremely boring town but the mountains are absolutely stunning. I'd recommend visiting at least once if you're only a state away. I'm from Denver and it's about a 3 to 4 hour drive to Gunnison depending on conditions so it is a tad bit out of the way but always good scenic camping. There's also a few ski resorts if you're into that.

SiL

That was a really interesting and informative listen!

Darkness

I'm really glad this podcast turned out as good as it did. I know I personally had aspirations to get Colin back but whether or not he would have done it or not is another story. Lucky that Liam contacted just as we were looking for somebody. Instead of the typical roundtable discussion, it was nice to hear from someone who worked on the movie post-release. There's a lot of nuggets in there we need to add to our Trivia page.

It's a shame the Kendra stuff never made it to the DVD. I did hear from Colin that was like a whole second day of the film that had been totally cut out. It was me who told you about the west and east coast stuff. Colin told me Fox refused to show them the DVD masters and it turned out to be way darker than it was supposed to be.

Say what you want about the Strauses, I do feel sorry for them.

Nukiemorph

Kind of depressing that the studio was dumb enough to want the predalien to cloak.

Perfect-Organism

Great podcast as always Guys.  This one was so good it should be included in the next reissue of AVPR on blu-ray if it ever happens.  It really adds value.  ...and yes they need to add a lot of the deleted footage and brighten things up to give it a chance of success...

AVP-CAPCOM

AVP-CAPCOM

#10
Brilliant interview with Liam O Donnell. I'd heard he did a "surprisingly good trailer for a follow-up to the lambasted SKYLINE, with SKYLINE 2- BEYOND SKYLINE".

The fact the Brother's Strauss were attached to SKYLINE made me want to see it more. No seriously I think the "micro-budget" approach made me watch SKYLINE and avoid the bloated "Battle Los Angeles".
SKYLINE is actually a very decent movie but has a lot of dodgy unintentional LOL moments which merited it a 101 things I learned watching SKYLINE on IMDB- before liberal censorship of anything funny (sorry I meant "trolling" that offended snowflakes).

No need for apologies I actually like AVP-R and I probably have seen it more than any other ALIEN or PREDATOR film. Its a mixture of guilty pleasure but also some genuinely good film-making, stunt-work and practical suit effects from Tom Woodruff.
I also felt the cast was good despite an odd "stiff script" and its still watchable. Kristen Hager as Jesse was hot and Steven Pasquale, John Ortiz and Johnny Lewis were functional.
Also the Brother's Strauss have made, and continue to make, sleek CGI effects for some "critically accepted" Marvel movies.

The film AVP-R didn't get a UK cinema release until January 18th 2008. January is a dumping ground for films the studio think don't deserve a prime release- hence "redllettermedia.com" mockingly calling it "f**k you january".
Personally January 2008 was a great month for sci-fi with this sandwiched between "I AM LEGEND- Will Smith" and Cloverfield.

I wish they had somehow made the exact same movie BUT managed to set it on a futuristic off-world colony trying to make "the power plant" an atmosphere processor and the Forest an extraterrestrial boundary.
Other than that all other elements the same with the Maternity Ward being a "med-lab", Pizza guy working the blue-collar colony Bar job for powerloader operators and the sewers being the "atmosphere cooling and airvents" .
The hospital rooftop climax would be a dropship landing pad via the Xenomorph nest- so on and so fourth.
I get the budget constraints but wish they somehow got creative and an extra $10 million for sets.

Still AVP-R is a solid 3/5 movie for me; 5/5 for fun-factor and nostalgia. Plus 2008 was a great year prior to the events of the 2009 recession etc.

Corporal Hicks

Corporal Hicks

#11
Quote from: Hyperdyne120-a2 on Dec 15, 2017, 09:50:00 PM
That treatment for avp3 is so close to one I created it's scary!! Man that's weird. Mine ended up with space jockeys coming in at the end and was kind of a Star Wars-esque space battle at the end, along with 2 protags battling a space jockey in the pilot chamber at the end. Even had some sweet Space jockey creature designs which were suuuper creepy. Got the design from a Nightmare I had. Maybe I'll turn it into a comic...

I will have a more detailed write-up of that treatment up at some point. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Quote from: RidgeTop on Dec 15, 2017, 10:15:01 PM
10 years just goes by so fast.

It's hard to think. I can still remember all the time prowling the internet looking for details, all the time I spent on that trivia games on the official website. I had so many of those posters.  :laugh: It was such a fun time.

QuoteI very much enjoyed this conversation and learning a bit more about what went on in development. AVPR really was the horror/sci-fi film that resonated with me at the time, and while I've seen more of its flaws since then, the positive feelings around the film stuck. And all things considered... it could've been a lot worse.

It was easily one of my favorite interviews that we've ever done. Opinions of the films themselves aside, I appreciate learning more about the experience the people working on the films had and I think Liam offered some really interesting insights into AvPR's production.

Things like their insecurity around the plot leading to them putting more homages in. That kind of thing fascinates me.

QuoteGlad to hear Beyond Skyline is getting a lot more love than its predecessor. I'm excited to check it out this weekend.

I'm really interested in seeing it after reading the positive reviews. I'm hoping I'll find a showing somewhere nearby.

Quote from: Darkness on Dec 16, 2017, 08:28:04 AM
I'm really glad this podcast turned out as good as it did. I know I personally had aspirations to get Colin back but whether or not he would have done it or not is another story. Lucky that Liam contacted just as we were looking for somebody. Instead of the typical roundtable discussion, it was nice to hear from someone who worked on the movie post-release. There's a lot of nuggets in there we need to add to our Trivia page.

It was incredibly fortuitous. Liam was incredibely honest and I think that made for some really interesting responses. There's definitely plenty of interesting trivia in there! RidgeTop mentioned it after recording but I do wish we'd have asked if Liam had known about any other R words they explored for the title.

QuoteIt's a shame the Kendra stuff never made it to the DVD. I did hear from Colin that was like a whole second day of the film that had been totally cut out. It was me who told you about the west and east coast stuff. Colin told me Fox refused to show them the DVD masters and it turned out to be way darker than it was supposed to be.

I would certainly buy another release if they sorted out the colour grading and put all the deleted scenes back in.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Predalien39

I've spoken with Dan Zimmerman before and what he told me contradicts some of the things in this interview.
He said that what was shot was crazy dark already to the point that one of the Fox execs got really angry and ordered the footage be brightened.  According to him, what we see is actually better than what they got.
He also said the stuff with the kids was rushed and not good

Huggs

"Personally January 2008 was a great month for sci-fi with this sandwiched between "I AM LEGEND- Will Smith" and Cloverfield."

So true. I was in college at the time and still remember using the PC's before classes to get on youtube and watch leaked scenes from AVPR and Cloverfield. Ah to be young, and to have Aliens, Predators, and  monster movies playing in the theaters. It was heaven.


"I actually like AVP-R and I probably have seen it more than any other ALIEN or PREDATOR film. Its a mixture of guilty pleasure but also some genuinely good film-making."

I agree. Guilty Pleasure is about the right way to put it. It was a bold departure from the first film, and gave me exactly what I wanted at the time. Predators and Aliens destroying each other in "R-rated" fashion with armed humans caught in the crossfire. I hope we get more AVP films in the future, hopefully one set in space. Perhaps now that Disney will be in charge, that dream may someday become a reality.

Funny thing, people always complain about how dark AVPR is. The dvd version is indeed horrible. However, my Blu-ray copy is fine. Everything is perfectly visible with zero eye strain, even with the cinema mode and power saver running. I was pleasantly shocked. Is the darkness still an issue with the blu-rays for anyone else?

Nukiemorph

Quote from: Predalien39 on Dec 16, 2017, 07:51:56 PM
I've spoken with Dan Zimmerman before and what he told me contradicts some of the things in this interview.
He said that what was shot was crazy dark already to the point that one of the Fox execs got really angry and ordered the footage be brightened.  According to him, what we see is actually better than what they got.
He also said the stuff with the kids was rushed and not good
The well-colored trailers seem to contradict that though.

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