FX Chairman John Landgraf Talks Alien Series Setting

Started by RidgeTop, Aug 04, 2022, 02:52:46 AM

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FX Chairman John Landgraf Talks Alien Series Setting (Read 10,495 times)

RidgeTop


SiL

QuoteAsked if the Weylan-Yutani corporation is the show's focus, Landgraf says, "The Alien cinematic universe is that it's a world where that's sort of dominated by large corporate entities, and Weylan-Yutani has been in an important component of the movies. There are references to that corporation in this show. But it actually takes place in the territory of a different corporation that Noah invented."

The executive went on to compare the series to the first two Alien films, both of which were critical and box office hits with their own uniquely creative approach.

"I'm a big fan of Alien and Aliens and I remember watching both of them in the theater and how how shockingly original and surprising each of them was in its own way," Landgraf says. "And so, similar to his approach to Fargo, Noah decided to not to take Ripley or any character from Alien – except perhaps the xenomorph itself – but go back and figure out what made the franchise so great and so durable in the first place and see if he could find an experience that felt like walking into a theater and seeing one of those first two movies, where you get caught off guard. That's all I can say at this point though."

TL;DR: it takes place somewhere some time and is hopefully good

Nightmare Asylum

The bit about this centering around a new corporation lines up with the leaks we've seen and Hawley's own comments from interviews a year or so ago, so not much surprise there.

Mike’s Monsters

Maybe they'll take a hint from Prey and go back to basics. From the leaks, not sure if that's the case. But with Hawley's track record, I'm very optimistic. Cautiously optimistic.

SiL

He seems to think the basics are transhumanism and class struggles so I'm really, really not optimistic on that front.

Immortan Jonesy

Quote from: SiL on Aug 04, 2022, 05:50:24 AMclass struggles

But what about "crew expendable" and the "bonus situation":o

SiL

Important thematic elements but not the foundation of the film's success. The foundation was that it was a f**king scary movie about a face-raping chest-erupting monster with production design infinitely better than the concept deserved. The rest is icing on the cake.

T Dog

What's the cannon situation with this show? Is it in it's own timeline apart from the movies?

BlueMarsalis79

BlueMarsalis79

#8
Quote from: SiL on Aug 04, 2022, 06:02:39 AMImportant thematic elements but not the foundation of the film's success. The foundation was that it was a f**king scary movie about a face-raping chest-erupting monster with production design infinitely better than the concept deserved. The rest is icing on the cake.

And yet Landgraf's making the point that Alien was scary, but each entry after that's put their own spin on the concept for better or worse.

The thematic stuff's what survived from entry to entry and has persisted, not the fact it is horror, or action or thriller, or drama. 

And the Alien itself, although I'd argue it's not really been the focus for the last three films at all in the franchise either, not including the AVPs.

SiL

So neither scary nor exciting?

Which seems accurate from everything said so far.

Nightmare Asylum

Quote from: Mike's Monsters on Aug 04, 2022, 05:45:22 AMMaybe they'll take a hint from Prey and go back to basics. From the leaks, not sure if that's the case. But with Hawley's track record, I'm very optimistic. Cautiously optimistic.

I don't really expect something "back to basics" from this series. From the Alvarez film, however...

T Dog

Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Aug 04, 2022, 11:19:04 AM
Quote from: Mike's Monsters on Aug 04, 2022, 05:45:22 AMMaybe they'll take a hint from Prey and go back to basics. From the leaks, not sure if that's the case. But with Hawley's track record, I'm very optimistic. Cautiously optimistic.

I don't really expect something "back to basics" from this series. From the Alvarez film, however...
"We are planning a dark, gritty reboot of Alien, a take like nobody has ever seen before!

BigDaddyJohn

I'm more keen on seeing the Alvarez movie also, but I'm still interested in what this show will bring to the table.

BlueMarsalis79

BlueMarsalis79

#13
Quote from: SiL on Aug 04, 2022, 10:51:30 AMSo neither scary nor exciting?

Which seems accurate from everything said so far.


This' more horrific to me than Alien ever was honestly, in a completely different way though, and it is in essence about body horror through transhumanism.


The Alien being the catalyst for that or intervening aspect, could be absolutely fantastic, like Cold Forge or Into Charybdis.



It's what I'd call conceptual horror, (Enigma of Amigara Fault, Legion FX in this example being having your body taken over and your personality changed unwillingly and Under the Skin) instead of adrenaline horror, (Alien and The Thing and Predator and Jaws) my favourites being where you mush the two together though, such as Silent Hill and Dead Space as big examples.

But I have always found the psychology stuff more scary than the monster chasing you part.

SiL

As Prey seems to be proving, you don't need to reinvent the wheel to keep the franchise fresh.

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