So last week-ish, an “Alien” prequel was greenlit, err announced, Ridley Scott apparently gave his blessing to the project and Tony Scott confirmed the initial report revealing the RSA Films commercial director (RSA is the Scott’s company) Carl Erik Rinsch — known for his futuristic style and dino robot work in a Saturn advert among other things — would be at the helm. Nerds rejoiced and some marveled how the “Alien” franchise still had legs considering how sullied it became by the cheap, “Alien Vs. Predator” series. But the project seemed to be moving forward.
Not so fast — this where the proverbial needle scratches the record to a grating halt.
According to Entertainment Weekly — in a piece not online yet (presumably on Hollywood Insider, later today?) — the Scotts may have given final approval of Rinsch, but 20th Century Fox has some conflicting ideas and they don’t want to greenlit a seventh, err fifth film (‘AVP’ apparently lives in fairy land only), without Ridley at the helm.
Further complicating matters are Tony Scott’s comments about Rinsch being “part of the family,” well not only is he part of RSA, he’s evidently also romantically involved with Ridley’s daughter Jordan, EW alleges (they note that Scott and Rinsch did not respond to comments for the article).
Fox obviously owns the property and perhaps they’re even showing owner’s remorse from having approved the legacy tarnishing ‘AVP’ series and want Scott to do it up right and not just assign the gig to one of his
trusted lieutenants? Sources at Fox tell EW the studio is not “interested in green lighting the project unless Scott directs himself.”
Frankly this might be a good idea. The poor ‘Alien’ series has been dragged through the mud by hacks (again, ‘AVP’), and even well-intentioned auteurs (David Fincher, Jean-Pierre Jeunet) and what more can one possibly do or say with it other than, the further adventures of… (Which is essentially what ‘AVP’ is)? The only way we’d be interested in this and the only way Fox should give it a go is with Ridley Scott on board in the slim hope that something new can be brought to the table, otherwise, what’s the point? Do you really want to see the “Terminator Salvation” of Aliens? But perhaps nothing radically new can be said here which is why Ridley himself would rather assign the job to someone else.
