Last week it was announced that James Cameron is returning to the Terminator series to “godfather” a reboot from Deadpool helmer Tim Miller, and now speaking to Vulture, the filmmaker has been chatting about the Alien franchise, and whether he has any interest in it going forward.
“The franchise has kind of wandered all over the map,” said Cameron. “Ridley Scott did the first film, and he inspired an entire generation of filmmakers and science-fiction fans with that one movie and there have been so many films that stylistically have derived from it, including my own Aliens, which was the legitimate sequel and, I think, the proper heir to his film. I sort of did it as a fanboy. I wanted to honor his film but also say what I needed to say. After that, I don’t take any responsibility.”
“I don’t think it’s worked out terribly well,” he continued. “I think we’ve moved on beyond it. It’s like, okay, we’ve got it; we’ve got the whole Freudian biomechanoid meme. I’ve seen it in 100 horror films since. I think both of those films stand at a certain point in time, as a reference point. But is there any validity to doing another one now? I don’t know. Maybe. Let’s see, jury’s out. Let’s see what Ridley comes up with. Let me just add to that — and don’t cut this part off, please — I will stand in line for any Ridley Scott movie, even a not-so-great one, because he is such an artist, he’s such a filmmaker. I always learn from him. And what he does with going back to his own franchise would be fascinating.”
Seems those comments could equally be applied to the Terminator franchise?
Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created in ALIEN with ALIEN: COVENANT, the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with PROMETHEUS — and connects directly to Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
Alien: Covenant is set for release on May 19th, 2017 and is penned by Michael Green, Jack Paglen and John Logan. Prometheus stars Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace return alongside new cast additions as Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice), Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), Demian Bichir (A Better Life), Billy Crudup (Watchmen), Jussie Smollett (Empire), Carmen Ejogo (Selma), Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color), Benjamin Rigby (That’s Not Me), Callie Hernandez (Machete Kills) and James Franco (Why Him?).
Originally published January 29, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
