RidleyScott

I wish vampires were real. Not because I have any interest in seeing the world devolve into "True Blood" coming-out-of-the-coffin antics, but because I'm curious if their still blood boils at the thought of how Hollywood has been capitalizing on their image of late. Just when you thought the newly rekindled global studio lust for all things fanged could not possibly become any more saturated, along comes Fox to drop another title in the seemingly bottomless bucket of bloodsuckers: The Passage, an unpublished novel written by Justin Cronin under the pseudonym Jordan Ainsley.

Considering the seven-figures Variety reports Fox 2000 has already poured into the rights to turn the work into a film (news you should recall from Weinberg's article here), it's no surprise they're now breaking out an Oscar nominated screenwriting gun to help differentiate their vampire world from the rising cacophony of films it will be joining in the next year or two. In a secondary seven-figure deal, Fox 2000 has entrusted scripting duties to The Aviator, The Last Samurai, Sweeney Todd, and Gladiator screenwriter John Logan, with the ultimate intention of handing directorial duties to Gladiator helmer Ridley Scott. Though considering the log-jam of films Scott has in his 'maybe pile' at this point, I wouldn't hold your breath for that last part to see fruition.

Read the rest over at Cinematical

Does Ridley Scott have a clone I'm unaware of? I refuse to accept that one person has the time to be involved with as many projects as Scott is. Granted, few of his attachments evolve into actual films, but that's not stopping the Blade Runner director from being associated with almost every big budget, big talent science fiction project in Hollywood. This year alone has found him and his production company Scott Free in orbit of an Ellen Ripley centric Alien-less spin-off, a Ripley-less Alien prequel (which he is now set to direct), and The Forever War, an adaptation of Joe Haldeman's 1974 'future-shock' novel.

Now it's been confirmed that Scott Free is teaming up with Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way to shape Aldous Huxley's 1931 classic novel Brave New World for the big screen. The film will be set up for DiCaprio to star with an option for Ridley Scott to take over directorial duties. Apocalypto screenwriter Farhad Safinia is pinned as the man burdened with the tough gig of adapting Huxley's novel about a joyless, 26th century dystopia. Think of it as one part Equilbrium, one part Brazil, and one part Code 46.

Putting doubt to the side (this isn't the first time news like this has come out), I'd wager that of all of the projects on Scott's plate, Brave New World has the best chance of one day being seen. Apian Way, who own the film rights to Huxley's novel, are always on the prowl for DiCaprio centerpieces; so even if this turns into another Ridley Scott vapor-project, there's a backup outfit eager to make a depressing future a silver screen reality.

By: Scott Weinberg

We've been hearing a lot about a reboot / remake / prequel of the original A L I E N for quite some time now, but things have picked up in the last several weeks, and the latest news is actually pretty surprising: According to Variety, no less than Ridley Scott himself will be directing the prequel, and if I need to remind you that Mr. Scott directed the first A L I E N, then I think you may be at the wrong horror blog. The screenwriter for the flick will be Jon Spaihts, who's clearly one of those "mega-busy but untested" scribes. The guy has no less than five scripts in various stages of development, including Children of Mars and Shadow 19.

Read the rest over at Horror Squad

What would it take for you to get up, leave your house, spend a few dollars ... all to enjoy a film that you already own on DVD? Put another way, would you fly halfway across the country to see a brand-new 35mm print of your all-time favorite movie? Well I did last weekend! As it stands I only need the flimiest of excuses to visit Austin, Texas, but last week I had a chance to see a friend's film in front of a packed, horror-hungry crowd (it was The Collector, and I dug it) -- followed only a few days later by an Alamo Drafthouse sold-out screning of (wait for it) Ridley Scott's A L I E N. The near-flawless* sci-fi horror film that still resides at #1 on my lifetime list.

So I sat down with a bunch of great friends (and a huge batch of wonderfully well-behaved audience members) to see a film I've gone over ... about 25 times. So what new stuff did I see? First off, I was struck by how much the audience loved Yaphet Kotto as the ever-griping space mechanic known as Parker. He's the only real source of light humor in the film, and virtually all of his dialog was met by appreciative chuckles from the audience. Especially when he keeps warning Dallas and Ash to "freeze it, freeze the damn thing! Why don't they freeze it?"

I expected this seasoned movie crowd to hoot and holler through the little alien's dinner table debut, but nope ... a theater packed with hardcore A L I E N fans and they all sat stock-still, either frozen by the scene's impact (yet again) or choosing to remain dead silent out of respect for their co-viewers. (THIS is why you watch old movies at the Alamo, people.) I did notice a few unexpected giggles when nasty old Ash flips his lid, but I suppose that's inevitable for such a strange and shocking scene. But things got serious again in a hurry.

Here's one of the great things about Sigourney Weaver: She's probably cool with me using an old pic from Aliens with this post instead of one from her new project, the Lifetime movie Prayers for Bobby.

I spoke with Weaver for TV Squad recently about the Emmy buzz for her performance in Prayers for Bobby and her future TV projects. She also talked about some of her iconic film roles. I asked the three-time Oscar nominee if she'd ever consider revisiting some of those roles, like Ellen Ripley from Aliens and Ghostbuster's Dana Barrett. I found her answers to be quite surprising. Here's what she had to say:

Not long after 20th Century Fox announced they'd be making an Alien prequel, word got out that producer (and Alien director) Ridley Scott had assigned newbie Carl Rinsch to direct what could potentially be a very big film. Rinsch is a commercial director with RSA Films (Scott's company) who specializes in a sort of futuristic style (watch his Saturn commercial here). At the time I thought it'd be a strange move for Fox to hand what could potentially be a franchise reboot (even though they're calling it a "prequel" as to not piss off fans) to an unknown director -- one who, sources say, is also dating Ridley Scott's daughter. Hmmm ...

Well according to Entertainment Weekly (via The Playlist), Fox is definitely thinking long and hard about this one, and they apparently want Ridley Scott to direct the film himself. Also, they might stick to their guns on this and not make the film at all unless Ridley returns to the franchise. Fans, of course, will probably side with Fox on this one -- I know I'd kinda love to see a new Alien prequel from Ridley Scott, especially one that went back to the franchise's earlier roots and focused on one single alien onboard a ship.

This whole thing sort of reminds me of when the studios ditched the planned Halo film when Peter Jackson wanted to put his apprentice Neill Blomkamp on as director. Outcome: The movie was never made, though Blomkamp wound up directing the very cool looking District 9, due out later this summer.

Discuss: Would you be down with an Alien prequel regardless of who directs it? Or must it be Ridley?