Neill Blomkamp's ALIEN is official!

[Rorywan]

no...

 

[Spartan Rex]

Alien vs. Predator screenwriter fires back at Sigourney Weaver's criticisms

Gem Seddon 18 hours ago

Earlier this week Sigourney Weaver gave a harsh verdict to Alien vs. Predator, describing how she chose to be killed off in Alien 3 to avoid appearing in the crossover. Meanwhile, Ridley Scott backed out of directing the third instalment for the same reason. Bad news travels fast: Peter Briggs, who tapped out a spec script for the movie in 1991, reached out to Bloody Disgusting with a lengthy response to her AvP bashing.
The entire reaction is worth perusing but here's the general gist: Weaver's comments are out of sync with what actually went down. Per his statement, Briggs submitted his Alien vs. Predator spec script to Fox in September 1991, after being inspired by the original Dark Horse Comics series published in late 1990. Alien 3 had already entered production - in January 1991. Unless Weaver has phenomenal precognitive abilities, the foundation of her argument is a bit crumbly.
"When I hear Sigourney Weaver recounting her killing off Ripley in Alien 3 because she’d heard Fox were talking about doing Alien vs Predator, despite the fact our project was first spoken about and initiated well over a year (not even counting Vincent Ward’s involvement!) after her movie had gone into active production, I really have to roll my eyes at her claims," says Briggs in his statement.

As it turns out, Briggs' screenplay wasn't even used for the 2004 film by Paul W.S. Anderson, or its terrible sequel, and it sounds like we probably missed out. "I’ll also be honest that I’m less-than-wild about the two Alien vs. Predator movies (particularly Requiem, about which less said the better), but I do wish Sigourney Weaver would stop beating on Alien vs. Predator as her pet piñata in “ruining” the Alien franchise, and acknowledge that two standalone Alien movies she was actively involved with unfortunately managed that first, all on their own." Ouch.
"And Alien vs. Predator — as a concept — is still killer, full of potential," he adds, before his final sign-off: "There’s a terrific Alien vs. Predator movie still to be made by someone. It just hasn’t happened yet."
That sound you hear is the development cogs beginning to whir, deep in the depths of 20th Century Fox. The studio recently greenlit Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5, for which Weaver is expected to return, but that's not to say an interconnected Alien-Predator universe is out of the question. Whether you like the sound of it or not.

 

[RIDDICK]

Ah, again FOX and their backstage drama no one should care about...

AvP as a concept is ****ing stupid with zero potential. It was the flagship of comic books which pretty much killed both franchises alongside the unwarranted and dumb bashing of P2 and A3.

 

[a-dev]

Have to say I was confused aswell. AvP didn't come out till 2004, so how could it have had any bearing on Sigourney's decision to kill Ripley in Alien 3. And now apparently even this unused script didn't come into play till after Alien 3 was already being made.

What I had heard was that Ridley Scott and James Cameron were considering joining forces to make another Alien film until Fox revealed they wanted to make an Alien Versus Predator film and they pretty much said ''well **** that then''.

I hope it's just the ''cheapness'' of the versus bit that they turn their noses up at and not the Predator franchise. The Predator is also a fantastic creation.

 

[Xenoburger_]

Have to say I was confused aswell. AvP didn't come out till 2004, so how could it have had any bearing on Sigourney's decision to kill Ripley in Alien 3. And now apparently even this unused script didn't come into play till after Alien 3 was already being made.

Well, Sigourney mentions the AvP film concept in an interview from the Alien: Resurrection era, so we know she knew about it then at least.

Start at 3:30:

I hope it's just the ''cheapness'' of the versus bit that they turn their noses up at and not the Predator franchise. The Predator is also a fantastic creation.

I don't think I've seen any of them say anything bad about the Predator franchise, just the idea of bringing the two characters together.

 

[greygoose]

Weaver was a part of A:R, the worst movie in the franchise, she should keep quiet!

 

[Rorywan]

Weaver was a part of A:R, the worst movie in the franchise, she should keep quiet!

Nah, requiem was completely devoid of quality. It had more in common with Sharknado than Alien.

 

[GasparZizou]

AvP as a concept is ****ing stupid with zero potential. It was the flagship of comic books which pretty much killed both franchises

This I don't agree with, it's a genius idea someone managed to completely ****

alongside the unwarranted and dumb bashing of P2 and A3.

This I agree with.

Thought I didn't know people disliked P2 that much.

 

[Spartan Rex]

The concept of a "Cleaner" predator in the Wolf was a good idea but the movie started to devolve into a teen slasher. That hybrid impregnating those women in the hospital should've been cut. It certainly didn't pull any punches with that father son hunting trip gone bad. A pred with a whip and dual shoulder cannons is a win even if he's surrounded by feces.

 

[Magpie 7]

AvP has its origins back in 1990 when for a joke the FX guys put a Xeno skull in the Predator's trophy room in Predator 2, fans started speculating and Fox eyed a way to double profits by having both their superstar monsters together on screen. What followed snowballed typically for Fox extremely slowly into the first AvP film we saw a decade later, but even as early as Alien3 the speculation was enough for Weaver to be cautious of where the franchise was heading.

Predator 2 was really unlucky that it had an inexperienced director who the studio was able to persuade to edit the film to get a lower censorship rating, they may have only cut seconds off certain scenes but it had the effect of making it seem sanitised compared to the previous film. The biggest cuts came in the scene where the Jamaicans storm the penthouse of the Columbian drug lord, the original cut was far more bloodier than even what was seen in the first film. What you end up seeing is nothing compared to the originally shot scene, cut out was :-

* The lead Jamaican cutting out the Columbian's heart and holding it up like a trophy
* Jamaican in the bush hat is shot from behind by the Predator same as Blaine in P1 but you'd see a close up of the hole through his chest
* The Jamaican who's caught in the net gets diced as the net slices through him, very bloody
* Another Jamaican gets decapitated with the Predators wrist blades

Its why the lighting was low, it covered the fact that dummy's were swapped for actors for the goriest bits. They even trimmed King Willy's death so you don't see him getting sliced open by the Predator's wrist blades and then tears his head off

 

[Master Wayne]

Nah, requiem was completely devoid of quality. It had more in common with Sharknado than Alien.

 

[GasparZizou]

Nah, requiem was completely devoid of quality. It had more in common with Sharknado than Alien.

I agree, initially I liked the design of Wolf, but I'm not even sure I like it anymore.

 

[67L88Stingray]

I agree, initially I liked the design of Wolf, but I'm not even sure I like it anymore.

Wolf existing almost makes up for the movie around him. The AvP idea is solid, just needs to be well done. I feel the same way about recent Alien/Pred SS stuff, great potential, just keeps getting poorly done and tarnishing the license.

 

[GasparZizou]

Wolf existing almost makes up for the movie around him. The AvP idea is solid, just needs to be well done. I feel the same way about recent Alien/Pred SS stuff, great potential, just keeps getting poorly done and tarnishing the license.

I've only watched AVPR twice, and both times I only paid attention when Wolf was on screen, but his design feels derivative of the City Hunter, which is why I don't like him as much anymore, and with that, the only reason I had to tolerate sitting through the movie

I agree that the idea of AvP has tremendous potential, that keeps getting wasted, so yeah, ditto on that.

 

[a-dev]

Well, Sigourney mentions the AvP film concept in an interview from the Alien: Resurrection era, so we know she knew about it then at least.

Start at 3:30:



I don't think I've seen any of them say anything bad about the Predator franchise, just the idea of bringing the two characters together.

Alright so she could have heard about the idea of Alien VS Predator without there necessarily being a script. She could have gotten a notion that ultimately the franchise was gonna go toward that and she wanted to bring an end to her involvement. Makes a kind of sense I guess. And perhaps when it (AvP) didn't immediately materialise she felt too nostalgic for Ripley to ignore and that's why she did Resurrection? (which incidentally IMO is as bad as either of the AvP films*)

*Alien 3 is the last true Alien film to me. My hopes for Alien ''5'' are that it presents a good quality alternate version of Alien 3 that I can choose to watch if I so wish - originally I was disgusted that Fincher's Alien 3 killed Hicks and Newt precredits. I came around to it and I truly appreciate Alien 3 as it is, but nevertheless I am very curious about seeing a film in which they never died at that point.

 

[Xenoburger_]

Alright so she could have heard about the idea of Alien VS Predator without there necessarily being a script. She could have gotten a notion that ultimately the franchise was gonna go toward that and she wanted to bring an end to her involvement. Makes a kind of sense I guess. And perhaps when it (AvP) didn't immediately materialise she felt too nostalgic for Ripley to ignore and that's why she did Resurrection? (which incidentally IMO is as bad as either of the AvP films*)

I think that is exactly what happened.

 

[Xenoburger_]

This I don't agree with, it's a genius idea someone managed to completely ****

Yup. AvP: Prey already nailed it. Should've just made a movie of that.

 

[Devil_666]

 

[Spartan Rex]

Im strangely attracted to Ripley in that pict.

 

[Xenoburger_]

Don't even joke about that Devil.