FOX Loves Damon Lindelof's ALIEN Prequel Script, and They Want Natalie Portman to Star

As many of you know LOST co-creator Damon Lindelof recently rewrote and turned in a PG-13 rated version of the script for Ridley Scott's Alien prequel to Fox. According to Vulture FOX loved it. 

I don't ike the idea of a PG-13 Alien film at all, but that's what the studio is hell bent on doing, and it's one of the reasons the studio likes this script so much. Apparently it effectively pulls it off. Here is the studio's thinking in justifying the PG-13 rating,

The thinking is that if the original Alien were released today, minus the F-bombs, you could still get a PG-13. Alien is a very Jaws-ian movie: There’s no sex, and while there’s lots of violence, most of it is off-camera. Maybe you’d have to cut away from certain scenes two seconds earlier, but it could be done.

I don't think that makes me feel any better. Ridley Scott promised us a "really tough and really nasty" film, and I guess that he can still do that with a PG-13 rating. They obviously wont reveal any major plot details of the film, but it is set 35 years before Scott's original Alien film. The report goes on to say,

One reason Fox execs are so thrilled with Lindelof’s Alien draft is that, not only is it creatively engaging, but it adds no expensive "set pieces" — production-speak for elaborate, effects-heavy action sequences that add millions to the cost of a film — to the movie. 20th Century Fox and Scott have been wrangling over the director’s proposed budget. One insider familiar with the situation puts Scott’s suggested budget at between $150 million and $160 million; Fox obviously, would like that number to shrink. Still, this is some good news for Fox, which has almost nothing resembling a blockbuster in the hopper for the summer of 2012, and could certainly stand to reinvigorate a wildly popular multi-part sci-fi franchise.

Scott and the studio have been meeting with several different actresses to take on the lead role in the film as well. The character they are casting for is a female Colonial Marine general. At the top of everyone's list is Natalie Portman, but if she doesn't take it then the runner up is Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) as we previously reported. I would be happy to see either one take on the lead role in this new Alien film, I think both of them would do a great job, Portman has got the bigger name though.

The film still doesn't have an official title, but the project is moving forward fast.

What do you all think about a PG-13 Alien film being directed by Ridley Scott, written by Damon Lindelof, and possibly starring Natalie Portman?

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