At this point, were it any other actor, we'd be moving on to smaller fry, as surely being in The Biggest Movie Of All Time, would be the defining point of their career. But this is Sigourney "Get away from her you bitch!" Weaver, and for her, "Avatar" isn't even the defining epic sci-fi blockbuster movie series of her career. Nope, there is an elephant in the room, and by elephant, we mean a lethal black xenomorph with concentrated acid for blood. How does she feel about Ridley Scott revisiting the Alien universe without Ripley, for prequel "Prometheus"? "Ridley and I talked about the idea of 'Prometheus' and I always thought that was the only story to tell...So I think it's great that Ridley is doing it," she said. "I will be as excited as anyone to see how he recreates this creature, re-energizes the Alien. I'm very proud of our four movies and I wish him all the best with it."
Those four movies would have been five, had Fox had its way. Joss Whedon, who wrote "Alien Resurrection" had a script written for the next installment but for Weaver, it lacked the challenge of the previous films. "I wasn't really interested in doing another Alien because Fox wanted us to come to Earth which I just thought was so boring," says Weaver. "I was like, oh my God, we'll be running through a mall and the Alien will be in Bloomingdale's or something." For the record, we'd be totally on board with a high-end-department-store-on-Black-Friday-set Alien sequel, as, whatever about prison planets and clone laboratories, that's a terror to which we can all relate. In any case, Weaver sends further good vibes to Charlize Theron who has the unenviable task of "following" Weaver's Ripley as the new female lead of an Alien movie.
"Well, you know [the iconic nature of Ripley] happened over four movies so let's give [Theron] a break. I'm sure they're not trying to create a blonde Ripley or anything. She's a wonderful actress, she'll want to do her own thing with it and not be in the shadow of the other one," she says. Indeed, Theron is playing the CEO of Weyland-Yutani, the shady company that sent Weaver and her crew into outer space in the first place, so she'll be adding a very different piece to the puzzle.
The "Alien" series also allowed Weaver the opportunity to work with some interesting talents on each of the subsequent films, including the now-stratospheric David Fincher on what was his feature debut in the notorious "Alien 3." The stories about that production are endless, but we had to ask Weaver about her reflections on that film.
"'Alien 3' was difficult in a sense," Weaver understates, "but I loved David Fincher, I loved the cast. What was hard was that we were under a lot of pressure to get the movie done and some movies are very hard to rush, so there was a lot of unnecessary tension." Smilingly, she adds, "I think creativity thrives in an atmosphere of joy and love, but not everyone agrees with me...but I think we made a good movie. When I think of 'Alien 3,' I don't remember the pain, I just remember what we were trying to do."
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/marrakech-film-festival-11-sigourney-weaver-talks-avatar-prometheus-and-the-forgetting-the-pain-of-alien-3?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter (http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/marrakech-film-festival-11-sigourney-weaver-talks-avatar-prometheus-and-the-forgetting-the-pain-of-alien-3?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)
Thanks for that! Interesting that she's referring to Theron as the heroine of this film whereas most have been assuming it's going to be Rapace.
Quote from: acidpits on Dec 15, 2011, 08:38:45 PMThanks for that! Interesting that she's referring to Theron as the heroine of this film whereas most have been assuming it's going to be Rapace.
I noticed that too, but she is probably just confused like the rest of us. I doubt that she would have any kind of insider knowledge. Unless she just let the cat out of the locker, but who knows.
-Chris
Theron has the highest profile, so it's not an unreasonable assumption. Though of course there's precedent in the exact opposite direction.
It is an interesting point, and she has talked to Ridley about Prometheus (in how much detail we don't know).
But what if that is the twist of sorts. We've heard that it's Theron that kind of stands in the background a lot. What if she steps up her game and becomes the hero. The evil cynical suit type becomes the righteous hero.
I really like that idea for some reason and would want Vickers to live until the end if she has a change of heart and turns out this way. Maybe she's responsible for what happens with the creatures because she wanted a bio-weapon for her company, but then decides all those infected and all the monsters must be eradicated. It might be very interesting. She basically decides no one should have this thing as a weapon. Then goes Rambo on all the creatures and the engineers. Maybe not full on hero, but she flips out and works with David and/or Shaw for survival.
It's probably more down to the interviewer. They heard Theron was in it (remember, Rapace has only recently got linked) and most likely asked Weaver, who might not have heard all that much about the production development and simply replied accordingly.
I don't like the recycled idea of 'can't use creatures as weapon, must destroy planet' (or whatever) That was Ripley's impetus for 3 of the films in part. I would rather watch pure chaos as whatever they decided to mess with blows up in their face.
Just thinking that because of the pushups, even if she is a robot, she's highly active and there really is a chance she'll be a warrior type at the end. Doesn't have to be the same as Ripley, I'm picturing her going out in a blaze of glory now.
Would make sense if it's just the interviewer focusing on Theron. I can tell you the company's not exactly called Weyland-Yutani like the interview says. It's just Weyland like what an old interview or even the commentary in Aliens said it would be pre-alien, and pre-merger. The interviewer is likely just saying Weyland-Yutani too.
Quote from: Malakak on Dec 15, 2011, 11:12:13 PM
Just thinking that because of the pushups, even if she is a robot, she's highly active and there really is a chance she'll be a warrior type at the end.
More likely to be the result of extended cryosleep/whatever they call it.
QuoteDoesn't have to be the same as Ripley, I'm picturing her going out in a blaze of glory now.
Burke didn't.
Quote"I will be as excited as anyone to see how he recreates this creature, re-energizes the Alien
So, did she just, like, confirm that this will be an Alien movie?
I dunno what this pushups thing is - but is it like Ash's little warmup thing he did in the science blister?
Precisely what I'm thinking if she's a robot. We don't know enough, and I imagine it's in part because of the cryosleep thing, but I think this means even if she's a human she's obsessed with being ready/warmed up and following routines. She has to follow her routine and do the pushups, not caring she's naked, like some sort of military officer or robot.
i think theron could be a key character in the movie, maybe rapace will be the lead in this one with theron possibly being a main character in possible sequels. this movie isnt a SECRETE project for nothing.
They didn't care about nakedness much at the start of Alien too.
Quote from: Malakak on Dec 15, 2011, 11:32:43 PM
Precisely what I'm thinking if she's a robot. We don't know enough, and I imagine it's in part because of the cryosleep thing, but I think this means even if she's a human she's obsessed with being ready/warmed up and following routines. She has to follow her routine and do the pushups, not caring she's naked, like some sort of military officer or robot.
I was thinking exactly the same...
Quote from: Malakak on Dec 15, 2011, 11:32:43 PM
Precisely what I'm thinking if she's a robot. We don't know enough, and I imagine it's in part because of the cryosleep thing, but I think this means even if she's a human she's obsessed with being ready/warmed up and following routines. She has to follow her routine and do the pushups, not caring she's naked, like some sort of military officer or robot.
Exercises really aren't that big of a deal... It's what astronauts do.
Personally, I couldn't care less whether they're shown naked, but seeing as, like SM said, they had it way back in '
Alien', it's really not a major thing. We're most likely going to see
all of the characters doing it (male and female) to reflect the original.
Quote from: SM on Dec 15, 2011, 11:48:30 PM
They didn't care about nakedness much at the start of Alien too.
Aye, a good point. It might only be telling if she does them immediately after getting out of cryo while no one else is doing them. And we still don't know when she's doing the naked pushups.
i think both women survive.
Quote from: tmjhur on Dec 15, 2011, 10:32:19 PM
But what if that is the twist of sorts. We've heard that it's Theron that kind of stands in the background a lot. What if she steps up her game and becomes the hero. The evil cynical suit type becomes the righteous hero.
The scope of this film and the exploration into our own origins is huge. I don't think that Ridley would place the heroine of it all in a suit for some corporation because this is still a mainstream Hollywood film after all. I like the darkness of this idea but I also think that this sort of twist is too twisted, so to speak. I prefer that everyone dies at the end of
Prometheus and all that is left for the WY corporate bosses is a vague log from Repace's ship that something strange, profound, and (possibly) valuable is on LV-426, opening the door for Scott's continuation into the original 1979 film.
Or something like that.
Quote from: Malakak on Dec 16, 2011, 02:07:50 AM
Quote from: SM on Dec 15, 2011, 11:48:30 PM
They didn't care about nakedness much at the start of Alien too.
Aye, a good point. It might only be telling if she does them immediately after getting out of cryo while no one else is doing them. And we still don't know when she's doing the naked pushups.
Space jockey Simon says, "Get naked!"
Space jockey Simon says, "Do 50 push ups!"
i think will be nearer the end haha.
Quote from: Ash 937 on Dec 16, 2011, 05:32:53 AM
I prefer that everyone dies at the end of Prometheus and all that is left for the WY corporate bosses is a vague log from Repace's ship that something strange, profound, and (possibly) valuable is on LV-426, opening the door for Scott's continuation into the original 1979 film.
Or something like that.
Really?
I mean, do you really need another movie where everyone dies at the end? Man, this is too cliché, and belongs to the 80's.
I'm expecting MUCH more than this from Mr Ridley... I want a movie full of suspense, fear, darkness, questions, mysteries and reveals... not another "Freddie Krueger" on a spaceship :P
And I want some of them alive for the sequel 8)
I don't see how it can be cliche when most of the time there is at least one survivor. Eg; the guy and his new girlfriend.
Personally, I'd like to see them all die.
I never knew Joss Whedon wrote a Alien 5 script? I'd love to get my hands on a copy!
It's never surfaced. He may have written a treatment as they were planning to do Alien 5 after Resurrection got a lot of good early buzz. But when it didn't perform they canned it.
I still heavily fault Sigourney for not knowing that the script for Alien Resurrection was pretty bad. She should've known better. AR featured every tired trope from the films preceding it, it was terrible, and she thought it was fresh and new (obviously she was only reading Ripley's portion).
In fairness to her, as an actress, the idea of Ripley that A:R presented was fresh and new. It's hardly surprising that that's what she'd hone in on - Ripley is of course the most important aspect to her. The script, while clunky, was nowhere near as grim as what ended up on film. All the wrong elements were brought to the party, alas.
Anyway, it's nice to hear her thoughts, and I shall be interested in her reaction to the finished film. She's every bit as important as the creature to the mythos and it somehow feels right that everything should have her blessing.
QuoteIn fairness to her, as an actress, the idea of Ripley that A:R presented was fresh and new. It's hardly surprising that that's what she'd hone in on - Ripley is of course the most important aspect to her.
Exactly. Not sure why it's so difficult for people to comprehend this. And as I said the early buzz was very positive.
QuoteThe script, while clunky, was nowhere near as grim as what ended up on film.
The shooting script was worse than what ended up on film. A lot of shitty dialogue thankfully got canned. Whedon did originally write more elaborate sequences in earlier drafts, but Fox kept taking money off them.
To clarify, it was an earlier draft I had in 1996 that I refer to (which was sold to me by a high street comic shop, amazingly!) - there was a lot I was excited to see, and not a jot of it appeared onscreen! Well done, filmmakers! ::)
Quote from: Spartan113 on Dec 15, 2011, 11:24:52 PM
Quote"I will be as excited as anyone to see how he recreates this creature, re-energizes the Alien
So, did she just, like, confirm that this will be an Alien movie?
She could have meant the space jockey? Maybe there will be a cameo appearance by Giger's alien at the end of the film. Ridley said the last 8 minutes would somehow tie into the first Alien film.
just stating folks that Ridley never said that the last 8 minutes of Prometheus would tie into
A L I E N at all, What was actually reported is the following quote -
'In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog, Scott says the last eight minutes of Prometheus will evolve into "a pretty good DNA of the Alien one." '
whatever that means.
Quote from: robbritton on Dec 16, 2011, 11:12:25 AM
To clarify, it was an earlier draft I had in 1996 that I refer to (which was sold to me by a high street comic shop, amazingly!) - there was a lot I was excited to see, and not a jot of it appeared onscreen! Well done, filmmakers! ::)
Assuming it was a legitmate script - again Fox kept making them cut stuff to reign in the budget.
Sigourney was a producer of the film, so it was also her responsibility to be mindful of the larger overarching integrity of the mythos. She only cared about Ripley and her payday. She doesn't know what a good story is, or, she just didn't care?
I also have (somewhere) Whedons earlier draft of AR and yes, most of it didn't make it to screen thankfully. It was all a big nutty steaming load, with a transparent alien with wings.
QuoteSigourney was a producer of the film, so it was also her responsibility to be mindful of the larger overarching integrity of the mythos. She only cared about Ripley and her payday. She doesn't know what a good story is, or, she just didn't care?
It wasn't simply down to her, plus she nailed Ripley. Not seeing an issue.
There have been interviews where Whedon has mentioned writing a script for a fifth film. Not sure it would necessarily be good, though.
It would've probably been around the time of the first 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' series. As someone who became a fan of that show, I'd say the first had a few glimmers of intrigue, but that the writing, itself, didn't get truly amazing until the second and third (after which, sadly, it never quite recaptured those heights; possibly because that was around the time he split his focus between that and the 'Angel' spin-off show, then 'Firefly'). The second, especially. It's easy to dismiss the guy as not having much talent when you only go by stuff like 'Alien Resurrection', but there were some moments of genuine brilliance in the second and third series of BTVS, where the balance between emotional drama, action and moral consequences was just perfect.
I've still yet to see most episodes of 'Firefly', but the film, 'Serenity', was paced and written well for a science-fiction film.
So, in reflection of all that, I'd suspect his fifth film's script would've still probably felt a lot like AR. Would still have had that unfortunately superficial comic book feel. It just strikes me as that being his period for that sort of style. If he'd done it around 1998/1999, there is a chance it would've been better. He was writing in a much more realistic tone around then, even when dealing with extraordinary subjects.
Sadly, he's never been able to write for the military without portraying it as ridiculous (this extends to even the canon 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' comics he wrote). If he included any such aspect to the fifth film's script, I don't think it would've gone over well. He deals a lot better when the military is left in the background.
Strangely, he said in an interview that, a little while back, a fan pointed out to him how the Betty crew and the one represented in 'Firefly' were so alike and that he never realised until then. I always thought it was obvious, but just goes to show that he can sometimes let his old work bleed into new and not realise it.
A steaming pile. Whedon is poorly suited for serious sci-fi
Quote from: ThisBethesdaSea on Dec 17, 2011, 03:10:41 AM
A steaming pile. Whedon is poorly suited for serious sci-fi
Like I said, I quite liked '
Serenity'. It had comedic elements, but could easily be justified as serious as most others are.
His speciality is primarily character-driven stuff. The '
Alien' films aren't really focused around that quality. They're driven by events.
Quote from: ThisBethesdaSea on Dec 17, 2011, 03:10:41 AMA steaming pile. Whedon is poorly suited for serious sci-fi
Whedon seems more interested in regurgitating old movie tropes than creating anything new, even though his characters are mostly well realized. Everything he does has a tongue planted well into it's cheek; the man takes the piss, and it works, just not in the Alien universe.
Quote from: Xenomorphine on Dec 17, 2011, 05:35:10 AMLike I said, I quite liked 'Serenity'. It had comedic elements, but could easily be justified as serious as most others are.
A masterwork of pulp science fiction: Bold, hilarious and engaging.
-Chris
In terms of comedic science fiction, yes, he's your man. Serious, straightforward realistic characters in a film like Prometheus? My nephew would be a more adept writer.
Quote from: ThisBethesdaSea on Dec 17, 2011, 01:19:27 PMIn terms of comedic science fiction, yes, he's your man. Serious, straightforward realistic characters in a film like Prometheus? My nephew would be a more adept writer.
Because 'serious' and 'straightforward' characters are easy to write.
There was no affecting character interplay in Alien, just an ongoing 'I hate you' snipe-fest. The characters cared very little for each other, and that worked.
Do you think that humor belongs in these films? Alien had only one humorous moment... and it was quickly forgotten. Aliens had several. Alien 3 had none, at least none that worked.
-Chris
Chris, we must have seen a different film. What you describe is tension...not 'I hate you' slash sniping at one another. I think the actors beautifully played that delicate balance between, I'm scared shitless, I need to survive, and a genuine care for their fellow crew mates.
My earlier comment wasnt alluding to serious characters being easier to write but that, seemingly anyone could have done a better job then he.
Quote from: ThisBethesdaSea on Dec 17, 2011, 02:07:19 PMChris, we must have seen a different film. What you describe is tension...not 'I hate you' slash sniping at one another. I think the actors beautifully played that delicate balance between, I'm scared shitless, I need to survive, and a genuine care for their fellow crew mates.
Maybe what I describe is cabin fever. You definitely got the sense that they had been together for a long time.
-Chris
I loved Firefly.
I play Traveller, the rpg game thats very much like Firefly but vanilla enough for any setting (including ALIEN, which I've played pastiche games of). Firefly is very Traveller-esque, a band of characters on a spaceship trying to keep it afloat by any means they can.
Serenity I found to be too dark theme-wise, but also including lighting-wise compared to Firefly, of course the Serenity's lighting could have broke between Firefly and Serenity! :D
I used to like Lexx myself, but after the excellent Firefly (recommended viewing, seriously) there is no comparison! :)