Neill Blomkamp on How His ALIEN Movie Deal Came to Be
A lot of people were excited about seeing Neill Blomkamp direct the first Alien film when that concept art was released. Then when the movie got a greenlight, fans were ecstatic. Shortly after that, Chappie was released in theaters, and some people's excitement turned to worry.
I personally still believe that Blomkamp is a solid filmmaker, and Alien might be the film to pull him out of his slump. During one of Empire’s recent Podcasts, the director talked a little bit more about how his Alien project and deal all came together. Here’s what the director had to say:
"2014 was a really weird year for me because I usually know quite decisively what I want to do, and in the process of post-production on Chappie, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I had a bunch of different ideas for different films. My favourite, on a gut instinct, artistic level, was Alien, by a long way.
"But I had this inhibiting mental roadblock about wanting to work on my own stuff – and not being held accountable, whether it’s by a studio or by fans, or whoever, I just wanted to be left alone to do my stuff. That’s kind of a big deal for me.
"If you go back even three or four years, I’ve wanted to make a film in that genre, in that franchise. I’d come up with an idea, and when I met Sigourney (Weaver) on the set of Chappie, I presumed that she would never want to play Ripley again. Rightly or wrongly, I had that in my head. I also didn’t know where you could go with her, given Alien 3 and 4.
"So when I started speaking to her, I just wanted to know more about the process of making the first two films. The first two are the ones that I care about. Then I started to realise there was a whole film – at least a film, if not more – that still contained Ripley, which I was really surprised by.
"So when I went back to Vancouver for 2014 unclear of what I wanted to make, I knew that my artistic compass kept driving me to Alien. Whenever I wasn’t needed on Chappie, I spent time on Alien, to the point where I hired my own concept artist and fleshed the entire movie out, basically. Even then, I still didn’t know if I wanted to do it.
"Every film I do, I genuinely believe it’s the last I’ll do. I didn’t think I’d make another film, let alone a big studio one. But it came from a place of love, and I was like, ‘If I’m a fan, then other fans should see the stuff.’ Here’s one person’s take on it, you know? So Fox didn’t know.
"I saw Sigourney again, and her enthusiasm in it, and me still not knowing what I was doing... Well, the thing that actually made it really clear was that we have xenomorphs all over the house [including drinking glasses depicting graphic scenes from the films]. No bullshit, that actually is what made me realise that there’s a massive portion of my brain that’s taken up by the world of the xenomorph. And I’m like, ‘Hmm. Valid point.'"
We’ve heard in the past that this next Alien movie could be the last one, and that it would close out the story of Ripley. But in this interview, the director leaves the door open and says there could be "at least a film, if not more.” If the first movie does well at the box office, you can bet that 20th Century Fox is going to want to cash in on the revitalized franchise.
To see some cool photos featuring a makeup test for Hicks, click here.