Alien: Romulus - Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) to write/direct

[SixTwoSix]

Mentioned this in the Prey thread the other day but thought it deserved it's own thread.

If you didn't know, Fede Alvarez is onboard to write and direct a new Alien movie. I thought his take on Evil Dead was excellent and Don't Breathe was a tense, engaging thriller.

After the mess Ridley Scott has made across Prometheus and Covenant, i'm excited to see what Alvarez can do. I hope he can bring back a much needed deep unsettling horror to the series.

Oh - it's a direct to Hulu streaming affair - shame as i've seen all but Alien 3 at the cinema and would like to continue that trend.

Personally i'm hoping for a standalone story set in the Alien universe without direct ties to previous movies.

 

[SixTwoSix]

@cu3ed after District 9 i'd have thrown money at a Blomkamp made Alien movie blindly but was really let down with both Elysium and Chappie, less said about his Demonic movie the better.

I'd want blomkamp on board in a visual capacity, he has clear grand visions in his projects but I don't really think much of his writing skills.

Did you see the follow through he released last year that told his idea for the entire Alien movie has was going to make? It really wasn't very good but it would have been better than Scott's movies.

 

[SixTwoSix]

If you look at the history of production issues he has had realty some bad luck with things like Chappie and esp Elysium. That was basically a failed Halo film that was scrapped together to get that.

Definitely, he was hot property after D9 but ended up with a studio that interfered quite a bit. As a new director he clearly felt the need to capitulate to requests.

I do like his Oats studio stuff and shorts, that's where he shines, outside of District 9 I don't rate him highly as a feature length director - but as you say, that could be the studios fault.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Was that the one where they went to the alien homeworld to get the royal jelly? I seem to recall they had some fantastic exoskeletons and other weapons to take out the aliens along with the royal jelly that acted like a steroid for the marines?

That sounds like Genocide, Alien Royal Jelly is a commodity, they go to harvest, rival alien sub-species are warring and the steroid you mention I think was called Xeno-zip.

The story Ian mentioned is either Earth War or Female War.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Genocide is a good story but Aliens Book 1 which is before Earth War (that is book 3 I think) is really good it's a black and white comic first one they did.

I'm mis-remembering the names, yeah, Earth War is part 3 after series 1/2. I have a hardback edition of book 1 still shrink wrapped from a limited edition release a few years back.

I got the omnibuses for the entire Alien series from comixology before Amazon ruined it, think they were about 3 quid each on black friday years ago. I'd say I re-read all the dark horse Aliens content at least once a year start to finish.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Due to start filming in February, currently has the working title Alien: Romulus

 

[SixTwoSix]

@hudson86 the romulus angle could be directed towards the rape of the sabine women?

Can easily overlay this to a threat from Aliens, replace roman soldiers with aliens and women with humans, might just be overthinking it.

The new city was filled with colonists, most of whom were young, unmarried men. While fugitives seeking asylum helped the population grow, single men greatly outnumbered women. With no intermarriage taking place between Rome and neighboring communities, the new city would eventually fail. Romulus sent envoys to neighboring towns, appealing to them to allow intermarriage with Roman citizens, but his overtures were rebuffed. Romulus formulated a plan to acquire women from other settlements. He announced a momentous festival and games, and invited the people of the neighboring cities to attend. Many did, in particular the Sabines, who came in droves. At a prearranged signal, the Romans began to snatch and carry off the marriageable women among their guests

 

[SixTwoSix]

Is the TV series still planned?

Haven't really been keeping up with it.

I did enjoy Prey.

Yup, that's full steam ahead headed by Noah Hawley.

 

[SixTwoSix]

The casting for this isn't filling me with confidence, getting Alien: Covenant 'young, dumb, pretty' vibes

 

[SixTwoSix]

"a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before"
I couldn't give 2 ***** about xim/xer's back story just shut up and be fodder for the xenomorph!

I'd hope Alvarez hasn't succumbed to modern pronoun writing - I have a lot of faith in him as a writer/director so i'm torn on my expectations for this film

 

[SixTwoSix]

hopefully is more in line with prey than other recent offerings from hollywood

Yeah Prey was a pleasant surprise, it had it's issues sure but it was generally fairly decent. I think Disney are regretting not giving it a cinema release due to it's success which means Romulus should be at the big screen

 

[SixTwoSix]

On another note, based on the top billing of female characters, I assume this is yet another Alien movie where we'll have a female survivor - it's just been done to death in the movies, books, comics - let a guy win for once

 

[SixTwoSix]

i happened upon Aliens on tv the other evening. not seen it in ages so let it roll in the background. modern writers (or whoever is to blame) really do need to go back to school - strong female leads don't need to be the diarrhoea inducing woke superhuman witches we see in a lot of todays movies. ripley was ******* badass to the max without having seemingly superhuman abilites.
if they go the route of lone female survivor on this one you can be sure at some point whoever she is will body slam a xenomorph

For everything wrong with the new extraction movie, one of the standouts was Nik, she was well written, she wasn't strong and capable because reasons, she was believable, grounded, didn't just insta drop guys and struggled in her fights - she eventually got the upper hand because of technique and ability, not because the script demanded it, it was rather refreshing.

 

[SixTwoSix]

not sure what characters i'd want, but i do know i'm not overly excited to have Dora the Explorer, despite how easy she is on the eyes.

Seem to remember she was fairly scrappy in Sicario 2, maybe she'll do the body slam you're so eager to see

 

[SixTwoSix]

Yes, David.

How dare you assume it's gender!!!

 

[SixTwoSix]

For the flak Alien 3 gets for killing off Hicks and Newt, it's totally in keeping with the bleak nature of that universe, the good guys don't always get to win and survive, it's a stark reminder of that fact.

With regards Prometheus rating higher, that's clearly just recency bias and most people having not seen Alien 3 directors/workprint cut

Thankfully metacritic is rated higher for Alien 3, RT isn't worth the data it's stored on when it comes to realistic reviews/scores

 

[SixTwoSix]

A number of cast and crew associated with the series, including actor Michael Biehn, previous director James Cameron, and novelist Alan Dean Foster, expressed their frustration and disappointment with the film's story. Cameron regarded the decision to kill off the characters of Bishop, Newt, and Hicks as a "slap in the face" to him and to fans of the previous film. He eventually blamed 20th Century Fox for the film, saying that Fincher got handed "a big mess on a plate". Upon learning of Hicks' demise, Biehn demanded and received almost as much money for the use of his likeness in one scene as he had been paid for his role in Aliens.

I've seen the Assembly Cut of Alien3, still prefer Prometheus I do get why people would rate 3 more though.

Ah, i'm well aware of the outrage the deaths caused, i'm an Alien universe super nerd

I do like Prometheus, I can even forgive some of the stupidity based on the deleted scenes - it's just all a bit too slick and clean for what I expect from an Alien movie however.

 

[SixTwoSix]

But then -

But, ummmm...damn - let me drop into GD to for a brief reminder in arguing from an impossible position.

 

[SixTwoSix]

A TV series could be great if its done right.

There's one due next year.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Ridley Scott approves - however personally, doesn't carry a lot of weight with how Scott handled his own 'legacy' with his last two movies.

“I finished the director’s cut a week ago and had to go through the incredibly tense process of obviously sending [it] to Ridley. I wanted him to see it before anybody.

And everyone gave me the heads up that Ridley is really tough. He’s really tough, particularly if it has something to do with his movies. He was really tough on “Blade Runner,” which I thought was a masterpiece, and he had issues with it because it’s really hard for him because it’s his work.

So I was like ‘there’s no way I win this one’. Even if he didn’t ask for it, I was gonna go there and sit at a table and look at him and get it. Even if he was gonna say ‘you destroyed my legacy,’ I wanted to be in front of him and see him in the eye. I didn’t want to get an email where it says Ridley says…. I was like, ‘I wanna see him, if you’ll see me, I want to talk to him right after.’

I drove there. I see his executives, who couldn’t see it with him because he wanted to watch it on his own. Because it was ‘Alien’. It was very important to him. He didn’t want to have anybody in the room. That makes me even more terrified while I’m waiting.

Then he walks into the room and he did say ‘Fede, what can I say? It’s f—ing great’. For me, it was like…ahhh…My family knows it was one of the best moments of my life to have a master like him, whom I admired so much, to even watch a movie I made but particularly something like this…and talk to me for an hour about what he liked about it.”

Ridley Scott Reacts To "Alien: Romulus" - Dark Horizons

When it comes to the “Alien” franchise the gatekeeper remains the original film’s director Ridley Scott. Though others like James Cameron, David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet came along and helmed sequels, Scott took back the franchise with his “Prometheus” and “Alien Covenant” films. Sadly...

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