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Key Takeaways
- Ridley Scott initially thought the Alien franchise was over after Alien Resurrection, but rediscovered its potential with Prometheus.
- Scott avoided excessive blood and gore in Alien films to maintain tension and said proper handling of the monster is key to the franchise’s success.
- Scott’s direction adds realism, terror, and innovation to the Alien franchise, with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant exploring themes of creation and evolution.
Ridley Scott got candid about his thoughts concerning the Alien franchise. The English filmmaker known for directing science fiction, horror and crime genres admitted that he had thought Alien had been done since 1997.
The Alien franchise started with Alien, directed by Scott, and released in 1979. It was a massive hit, with a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It was well-received and made a mark in cinematic history. It even spawned three sequels — Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997). It also scored the Prometheus prequel series — Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017)– both directed by Scott. Scott shared a surprising thought about the franchise in a recent interview.
Scott has a long history in the Alien franchise. He was the first to direct the first film, and he admitted that he thought it was over after the third movie, Alien: Resurrection. However, he realized that it lived on when he worked on Prometheus. “I think, wrongly, on Alien, I thought the old beast had worn out. Because when we did the first [set of films], it was me, Jim [Cameron], David [Fincher], and the French guy [Jean-Pierre Jeunet] – there were four. They wore out. The beast wore out,” Scott told GameRadar+. Scott added that he found the beast by accident. The initial title for the first film in the series was Star Beast before it was changed to Alien. According to him, without the said discovery, there would be no such movie, and they had to make the creature right to make it effective.
However, he wanted to avoid some stuff that, for him, would only lead to its demise. “And it hangs on what that monster is, and also how you play with it when mostly less is always better for tension. And it’s easier to have a film that’s blood and gore with no tension. I tried to avoid that. And so it died,” Scott said. The director was sad for the franchise because he considered it huge, like Star Wars and Star Trek. So he discussed with screenwriter Damon Laurence Lindelof, who co-wrote Prometheus with him. “So I sat down with Damon Lindelof, actually. We sat down at a table, and spun a wheel to see: where could we go? And it all began with Prometheus,” Scott added.
Scott is a significant figure in the success of the Alien franchise because of his direction, which emphasizes realism and terror, making the sci-fi horror movie terrifying. In addition, his visual mastery is on-point, and the excellent pacing and innovative storytelling make Alien a classic. His return to the franchise through Prometheus and Alien: Covenant was probably the right choice because they present new story arcs while remaining true to the origins of the Xenomorphs. These films also raised philosophical questions about creation and evolution. Scott has expressed interest in exploring this theme further, and this is probably more than welcome to fans who love the franchise as long as they offer a new storyline while remaining faithful to the franchise’s core mythology to make the new films relevant.
Source: GameRadar+
