Jeff Nichols has a rare filmography for a director. Out of his first five films, he has yet to turn in a dud. Sure, films like “Mud” and “Midnight Special’ weren’t the massive hits that he might have hoped for, but looking at all five of his films, there’s no denying that each one is pretty great. That’s what makes the promise of a Jeff Nichols-directed “Alien Nation” film so interesting. Let’s just hope it actually gets made.
Speaking to Slash Film, Nichols talked about the progress on “Alien Nation” and why we haven’t heard so much about it over the last couple of years. Originally announced as the writer-director of the film back in 2016, it’s been a little more than two years since we’ve had an update. Thankfully, the lack of updates doesn’t mean there’s been a lack of progress.
“So I’ve been working on ‘Alien Nation’ like for two years, the screenplay. And I’m still … I’m almost done with it. I’m hoping this draft that I’m working on now will be my last. The studio seems to really love it, and we’re working on conception design of the aliens and everything else, and it happens to be a studio that’s being bought by Disney right now,” explained Nichols.
He continues, “I’m working with Fox on it, so it feels a little bit like you’re one of those monks doing those giant murals in sand. It might just blow away, which would be a real shame, but everybody at Fox has been so good to me about it. And they’re so positive about it, obviously I’m trying to stay in the positive zone, and hopefully knock out this last draft.”
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For those not familiar with the “Alien Nation” franchise, the basic premise is simple — aliens make first contact with humans and instead of mutual destruction, humans find a way to co-exist with these new neighbors. The 1988 film (and eventual TV series spin-off) followed a human detective and his alien partner as they investigate crimes in this new world. “Alien Nation” isn’t the biggest franchise of all time, but it does feel timely, with its racial allegory. And Nichols is an inspired choice to tell this updated story, which he thinks is going to be epic.
“It’s epic. I mean, it’s the biggest canvas I’ve ever painted on, but it 100 percent feels like a Jeff Nichols film, which I’m sure there are gonna be some ‘Alien Nation’ fans out there that are like, “What the fuck?’” he said. “But my hope is if they … If people come to it just ready for a new story, that they’ll like it. And I put my heart and soul into it. To be the project that’s supposed to be me being a sellout, it is like the least … I’m not saying that to save face or be cool. I put so much of myself into it, it takes place in Arkansas. There’s so much of me in it.”
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As for the future, it appears the Nichols has plenty on his plate. It’s just a matter of seeing what comes first. He explains, “…I’ve got a couple of things that I won’t say are more serious films, because ‘Alien Nation’ is actually pretty serious, but there’s a lot more traditional kind of adult movies. I’ve got a couple of those but I haven’t settled on one, and then I’ve got a really another big PG, PG-13 kind of like summer blockbuster family film, which makes it sound real lame, but it’s not. It’s more like Mud, but with some bigger fantastical elements in it.”
For those sci-fi fans hoping to see Nichols take on “Alien Nation,” it sounds like the future of the film is up in the air, pending the deal between Disney and Fox. However, if it happens, we only have one question — can we please have Michael Shannon as an alien?