It's a Ridley Scott-packed weekend. The filmmaker's secretive, kinda "Alien"-related film, "Prometheus," is right around the corner and the buzz and promotion are at an all time high. That film's star, Noomi Rapace, is on the cover of the New York Times magazine this weekend (with some spoilers along to boot), and as an extra added incentive to see the film in theaters (like you need one), Fox and The Weinstein Company evidently plan to put the trailer for Quentin Taratino's "Django Unchained" in front of it when it opens on June 8th.
But the 74-year-old director is already looking towards the future. His next film, "The Counselor," starring Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz, shoots later this year (Fassbender has to deal with "Twelve Years A Slave" first which begins in late June in New Orleans), and potentially percolating after that — if a "Prometheus" sequel doesn't come first — is the return to another beloved sci-fi franchise: "Blade Runner."
Hampton Fancher, who wrote the original draft of "Blade Runner," was recently hired to develop the story for the project and it appears that he and Scott have agreed that it should be a sequel (not a prequel, not something else). Scott confirmed that news himself in a very recent interview with the Independent. And while a screenplay might not be written yet, it sounds like Fancher and Scott have a pretty good idea of the story they want to explore. Or at the very least, Scott says he'd like original star Harrison Ford to appear in the film, but he won't be featured prominently. "I don't think it'll be Harrison [starring]. But I've got to have him in it somewhere. That'd be amusing," Scott said.
Meanwhile, did you know that Walter Hill ("The Warriors," "48 Hrs") and Robert Altman were in line to direct "Alien" before Scott? They passed, so he got the gig and he was the studio's fifth choice. The independent article is worth reading for Scott's ego alone. Plus this bon mot: the director reveals he wanted to kill off Sigourney Weaver at the end of "Alien," but the studio intervened.
"I thought that when the alien went for her in the shuttle [at the end], he should actually slam his fist through her helmet and kill her. Then you cut to the desk, and a shadow of the alien's head comes over, and the finger of the alien starts tapping out coordinates, with obvious intelligence… But when I suggested that to the studio, they had an executive out there on set within 24 hours, saying, 'You will not do that!' And I guess they were right, because Sigourney made a great run of Ripley."
And finally, here's something a bit fun. The folks over at Boing Boing have uncovered some of the magazine covers that were on the newstand in the background of a scene from "Blade Runner." Check 'em out below:
