Tag: Ridley Scott

Posted on in Television News

Noah Hawley Reveals His Earthbound ‘Alien’ Series Is Returning To Franchise Roots By Tackling Class Warfare Again; “A Story About Inequality”

In December, FX confirmed they were indeed moving forward with an original series set within the Alien universe with Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) and producer Ridley Scott. However, the project wasn’t going to be a continuation of the David or Ripley stories, as it would be taking place on Earth.

During a new interview with Vanity Fair, Noah Hawley is giving tiny tidbits about the project and reaffirming his plans to take more of human angle with the show. Something that sort has got lost with Scott’s wishy-washy prequels and the horrible cash-grab Alien vs. Predator films.

“Those are great monster movies, but they’re not just monster movies. They’re about humanity trapped between our primordial, parasitic past and our artificial intelligence future—and they’re both trying to kill us. Here you have human beings and they can’t go forward and they can’t go back. So I find that really interesting…It’s a story that’s set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a space ship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of ‘What happens if you can’t contain it?’ are more immediate,” Hawley told Vanity Fair.

He also brought-up returning to the franchise’s main dynamic between the greedy corporation (Weyland-Yutani) exploiting it’s workforce, something that was a key element of the first three Alien movies.

Hawley states the show will focus on the human dynamics, “On some level it’s also a story about inequality. You know, one of the things that I love about the first movie is how ’70s a movie it is, and how it’s really this blue collar space-trucker world in which Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton are basically Waiting for Godot. They’re like Samuel Beckett characters, ordered to go to a place by a faceless nameless corporation. The second movie is such an ’80s movie, but it’s still about grunts. Paul Reiser is middle management at best. So, it is the story of the people you send to do the dirty work…In mine, you’re also going to see the people who are sending them. So you will see what happens when the inequality we’re struggling with now isn’t resolved. If we as a society can’t figure out how to prop each other up and spread the wealth, then what’s going to happen to us? There’s that great Sigourney Weaver line to Paul Reiser where she says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t fuck each other over for a percentage.'”

Folks seem to be losing their minds about these comments, however, I have to question if they have actually watched the Ellen Ripley movies that mainly focused on the rich exploiting the poor workforce to get their hands on the xenomorph to make billions off it by turning it into a bio-weapon.

The original film saw the company secretly install a robot (Ash) and direct the Nostromo crew to the derelict ship, Ripley discovers the company sees the crew is expendable (seen as glorified space truckers) and Ash tries to kill her when she discovers the company is willing to sacrifice them all to get their hands on the alien. Walter Hill and David Giler (did rewrites on Alien and co-wrote Aliens with James Cameron) seemingly took elements directly from the Joseph Conrad (his book Heart of Darkness inspired Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now) novel Nostromo, that was about human greed connected to a fictional silver operation in South America.

Parallels of greed from Nostromo was doubled-down in Aliens (Sulaco name came from the book too), as seen when Ellen Ripley tries to explain what happened to the ship and crew they simply dismiss her story. Carter Burke, a Weyland-Yutani suit, pretends to be concerned about Ripley as a manipulation tactic and it’s discovered that he personally got all the colonists on LV-426 killed (colonists and Newt’s parents shown in the director’s cut) without warning them about the alien. Not only that, he also was willing to kill the Marines (sabotaging their freezers on the trip home) alongside turning Ripley and Newt into hosts to bring back the xenomorph back to Earth for the company’s weapons program. Silver being replaced with the promise of a perfect bio-weapon. When he was caught by Ripley, he tries to rationalize his greed and when that doesn’t work he unleashes facehuggers upon her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=casQQhO1jkw

In David Fncher’s Alien 3, Ripley crash lands on a prison colony planet and the Warden blindly is following orders from the company only for her to warn them that they might kill everyone in the installation just for witnessing the xenomorph to keep it a secret as the previous two movies backed-up that conclusion.

Lastly, Alien Resurrection saw a black site military operating trying to clone an alien queen, then hiring space pirates to hijack a transport full of innocent workers kidnapping them to become hosts (essentially killing them) for soldier aliens before everything hits the fan. Yet, another attempt to get a bio-weapons program going.

To say the Alien franchise isn’t about politics is complete ignorance.

SOURCE: VANITY FAIR

Posted on in Film News

‘Alien’ Series Creator Noah Hawley Wanted To Watch Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Alien 5’ Movie; “I Would Have Paid Money To See That”

There has been lots of fantastic artwork from Niell Blomkamp’s Alien 5 aka Red Harvest making the rounds online thanks to concept artist Geoffroy Thoorens (new concept art pictured above). It looks like the former Blomkamp project is getting some support from another creative working within the Alien franchise.

Deadline sat down with Fargo’s Noah Hawley and the subject of his new Alien series was brought up, but he wasn’t dishing details. However, when talking about the franchise’s legacy of directors, Noah mentioned that he wanted to have seen Neill Blomkamp’s unmade Alien 5 starring Sigourney Weaver in the Ellen Ripley role. A sequel that would have acted as a direct companion to James Cameron’s Aliens, resurrecting characters that died early on in David Fincher’s Alien 3.

“For five minutes Neill Blomkamp was going to make an Alien movie, I would have paid money to see that,” Hawley told Deadline during a video podcast chat.

As far as we know, Neill Blomkamp doesn’t have a desire to return after 20th Century Fox pulled-the-plug to make Ridley Scott’s lackluster Alien: Covenant. Scott has mentioned in previous interviews that he’s speaking with the studio about a third prequel film and is attached as a producer on the new streaming series led by Hawley.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Salma Hayek Joins Lady Gaga & Adam Driver In Ridley Scott’s ‘House of Gucci’ – Spotted On Set

Filming on Ridley Scott’s fashion industry thriller House of Gucci has been underway in Italy and there is a news of yet another excellent addition to the film’s cast that already consists of Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto, Jack Huston, and Al Pacino among others.

It will focus on the murder of fashion icon Maurizio Gucci.

The fashion-focused true-crime drama, based on the book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, will focus on the murder of fashion trailblazer Maurizio Gucci (Driver), with Gaga playing Patrizia Reggiani, Gucci’s ex-wife who was convicted of orchestrating his hit after he had an affair.

The Daily Mail posted set photos from Rome yesterday that revealed actress Salma Hayek is appearing in House of Gucci. It’s been confirmed Hayek will be playing Pina Auriemma in the film, the clairvoyant friend of Gaga’s Patrizia.

Hayek recently filmed Marvel’s Eternals directed by Oscar nominated director Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) that will release on November 5, 2021.

MGM has given House of Gucci an release date of November 24, 2021. The fall spot should allow the Ridley Scott film a prime spot for awards considerations as there is an expectation it could a contender at next year’s Oscar ceremonies given the subject matter and fantastic cast.

SOURCE: DAILY MAIL

Posted on in Film News

Jodie Comer Reuniting With Ridley Scott For Napoleon Film ‘Kitbag’ Starring Joaquin Phoenix – Will Play Josephine

Deadline reports that Jodie Comer has been selected by director Ridley Scott for the role of Josephine in his upcoming Napoleon feature film Kitbag, starring Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix. Comer recently worked with Scott on his period drama The Last Duel, that sees Jodie co-starring with Matt Damon and Adam Driver.

However, the actress is only in early talks for the key role in the new film.

Filming is expected to begin in early 2022.

The film is an original and personal look at Napoleon’s origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine. The intention of the film is to capture Napoleon’s famous battles, relentless ambition and astounding strategic mind as an extraordinary military leader and war visionary.

Ridley and Phoenix previously worked together on Gladiator.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Kitbag’: Apple Studios Nabs Ridley Scott’s Napoleon Film Starring Joaquin Phoenix – Shooting Early 2022 In The UK

Deadline has revealed that Apple Studios has secured Ridley Scott‘s Napoleon film Kitbag that will star recent Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix, the pair had previously worked together on Gladiator. They also reveal production is expected to begin early 2022 in the United Kingdom.

All The Money In The World screenwriter David Scarpa penned the script.

The film is an original and personal look at Napoleon’s origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine. The intention of the film is to capture Napoleon’s famous battles, relentless ambition and astounding strategic mind as an extraordinary military leader and war visionary.

Ridley Scott is supposed to begin shooting his fashion world crime thriller Gucci next year and is finishing-up the post-production of The Last Duel. He’s also producing an original earthbound Alien universe series for FX on Hulu coming from Noah Hawley and has stated he’s talking with 20th Century Studios about a follow-up to Alien: Covenant.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

‘Alien’ Series Officially Coming From Ridley Scott and Noah Hawley – Will Be Set On Earth

Over a year ago I first reported at HN Entertainment that there was a rumbling of a potential live-action Alien series from producer Ridley Scott was in the works at Hulu and later on it was revealed that Fargo‘s Noah Hawley had attempted to pitch an Alien series then played coy about show’s current status when Deadline confronted him with sourced information that it was happening.

READ MORE: Noah Hawley Suggests His Unmade ‘Alien’ Series At FX Would Have Been Character-Driven and Further Explore The Universe

There was a sense after HBO Max announced that Ridley Scott’s mature sci-fi series Raised By Wolves was their their most viewed original on the streaming service, that it was only a matter of time before Disney came to their senses with a series set within the Alien universe.

During the Disney Investor Day event earlier in the week, it was officially announced that the series was moving forward at FX on Hulu with a combined effort from Ridley Scott and Noah Hawley. Nothing was revealed outside the project will be the first to be set on a near future Earth, of course, they’re ignoring the Alien vs. Predator films.

Noah had recently telegraphed in an interview with the Observer his series would focus on the human-side of the Alien universe which is just as dangerous as the xenomorphs as profits come before lives.

HAWLEY: “Alien is on some level the complete opposite of Stark Trek. It’s sort of about humanity at its worst. There’s this moment in the second film when Sigourney says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t screw each other over for a percentage.’ If you look at what Aliens tends to be, it’s usually a trapped story – trapped in a ship, trapped in a prison, etc. And because the Alien has this life cycle to it, where it goes from egg, to chestburster, to xenomorph, there becomes a certain routine to it.”

“I thought it would be interesting if you could expand. If you’re going to make something for television, you’ve got 10 hours let’s say. Even if you have a lot of action, like two hours, then you’re still going to have eight hours left. So what is the show about? That’s what I tried to talk to them about. As I did with Legion, the exercise is: Let’s take the superhero stuff out of the show and see if it’s still a great show. What’s the show about? Let’s take the Alien out of the show. What’s the show about? What are the themes, who are the characters and what is the human drama? Then we drop the aliens back in and we go, ‘This is great. Not only is there great human drama, but there’s aliens!’”

READ MORE: Walter Hill Reveals ‘Alien V’ Script Co-Written With David Giler Is From March 2020 – Teases Retconning ‘Alien 3-4’?

READ MORE: Ridley Scott Says Next ‘Alien’ Film Still In Development – Teases It Might Be Something New?

Ridley Scott has suggested in various interviews that his Alien: Awakening (working title) could still happen and was in development at 20th Century Studios. A third incarnation of Alien V was recently being written on spec by franchise screenwriters/producers Walter Hill and David Giler. The pair have worked on Scott’s Alien, James Cameron’s Aliens, and David Fincher’s Alien 3.

We’re still waiting on Disney and 20th Century Studios to make announcements concerning the feature film side.

SOURCE: DISNEY

Posted on in Film News

‘Gucci’: Jeremy Irons Joins Ridley Scott Crime Drama Starring Lady Gaga – Releasing November 24th, 2021

The Hollywood Reporter along with other outlets are reporting that veteran actor Jeremy Irons has taken a role in Ridley Scott’s next feature film Gucci, a true-crime drama based on novel The House of Gucci with Lady Gaga in the lead role of Patrizia Reggiani.

The fashion-focused true-crime drama, based on the book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, will focus on the murder of fashion trailblazer Maurizio Gucci, with Gaga playing Patrizia Reggiani, Gucci’s ex-wife who was convicted of orchestrating his hit after he had an affair.

Irons has previously worked with Scott on the underrated film Kingdom of Heaven and most recently had a supporting role in HBO’s Watchmen series. Other actors zeroing-in on deals to appear include Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Al Pacino, Jack Huston, and Reeve Carney.

Jeremy will play Rodolfo Gucci, the father of Adam Driver’s Maurizio Gucci.

Ridley Scott had only just wrapped on the period drama The Last Duel after the pandemic paused production that was taking place in France and Ireland.

Filming is expected to take place in Italy and MGM has set the release date for November 24th, 2021.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Television News

Noah Hawley Comments On The Status of An ‘Alien’ Series – Plus Talk of Renewed Interest

A while back it was reported that Fargo and Legion series creator Noah Hawley had attempted to pitch 20th Century Fox to develop a series at FX set within the Alien universe which was ultimately rejected before the merger with Disney.

An Alien series wouldn’t be the first new project that was purposed.

District 9’s Neill Blomkamp had tried to finally get an Alien 5 movie (Ridley Scott and James Cameron pitched a version before AVP years ago) off the ground with Sigourney Weaver attached to star and Ridley Scott producing but that never materialized. As Scott has been talking up a third installment of his Alien prequel, a follow-up to Alien: Covenant that had been once called Alien: Awakening and more recently has been indicating that it’s in development stages. Franchise screenwriters/producers Walter Hill and David Giler seemingly inspired by Blomkamp’s concept of erasing the two sequels had written a couple of drafts for Alien V with Weaver reading an early draft of it.

It was announced that Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Land, Black Mirror) would be directing Predator 5 aka Skulls, that according to him had been in the works for almost four years. An old synopsis for the project suggested it could be taking a period western setting with the main human character being “a female Comanche warrior”.

There had been some hints that Disney might want to circle back to Noah’s Alien series idea and Deadline asked him about it in their interview for Season 4 of Fargo. Admitting he’s since had talks about the show since the merger which sounds like new interest in making it as Deadline suggests a deal for a show is incoming.

DEADLINE: Are you still involved with the Alien reboot TV series? I understand deals are trying to be done.

HAWLEY: “I know that there’s an effort to reshuffle a lot of things post-Disney takeover and it was a conversation that I had a couple years back. And I have not in the last few weeks been having those conversations about it. But I know that like any studio that there’s a great desire to make the most of one’s library so I wouldn’t be surprised to see something like that.”

DEADLINE: But you’re involved in it?

HAWLEY: “Ya know, I have conversations from time to time but I’m not committed.”

DEADLINE: And there isn’t a hard conceit to it yet?

HAWLEY: “No, I haven’t — nothing is at that stage.”

Back in September, Noah gave some insight to Observer what he wanted to do and hinted that he would like to explore a character-driven series set in the universe that may have focused on the humans behind the Weyland-Yutani company and those underneath them. An interesting proposal given that filmmakers have really only scratched the surface of what that futuristic universe looks like.

HAWLEY: “Alien is on some level the complete opposite of Stark Trek. It’s sort of about humanity at its worst. There’s this moment in the second film when Sigourney says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t screw each other over for a percentage.’ If you look at what Aliens tends to be, it’s usually a trapped story – trapped in a ship, trapped in a prison, etc. And because the Alien has this life cycle to it, where it goes from egg, to chestburster, to xenomorph, there becomes a certain routine to it.”

“I thought it would be interesting if you could expand. If you’re going to make something for television, you’ve got 10 hours let’s say. Even if you have a lot of action, like two hours, then you’re still going to have eight hours left. So what is the show about? That’s what I tried to talk to them about. As I did with Legion, the exercise is: Let’s take the superhero stuff out of the show and see if it’s still a great show. What’s the show about? Let’s take the Alien out of the show. What’s the show about? What are the themes, who are the characters and what is the human drama? Then we drop the aliens back in and we go, ‘This is great. Not only is there great human drama, but there’s aliens!’”

We had heard a while back there had been some interest in Ridley Scott getting involved with a Hulu series, the streamer now has a strong relationship with FX’s programming post-merger and would be a perfect home for an Alien series if/when it come together. If there were to be any Alien series Scott is most likely landing an automatic executive producer credit given his current status on the franchise and previous involvement with Alien 5 as a producer.

It’s also worth noting that Ridley Scott’s sci-fi series Raised By Wolves (formerly at TNT) had been touted by HBO Max as their most successful original series and that could help influence folks at Disney, 20th Century Studios, FX, and Hulu to give Noah’s series a second look as it sounds like they might already have.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘The Martian’ Production Designer Arthur Max Confirmed For Ridley Scott’s Thriller ‘Gucci’ – Stars Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, Adam Driver, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro

The Ronin can now confirm independently that veteran production designer Arthur Max will be reuniting with director Ridley Scott for his thriller Gucci. The MGM project stars Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jack Huston, Robert De Niro, and Reeve Carney according to a previous casting report from Deadline.

In the new film, Gaga will play Patrizia Reggiani, the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, who was tried and convicted of orchestrating her ex-husband’s assassination on the steps of his office in 1995. Maurizio had two daughters with Reggiani, but he left her for another woman. She’d had a brain tumor removed, and her children blamed it for her actions; the media took a darker view of her during a sensationalized affair, depicting her as a hot-blooded woman scorned and dubbing her “Black Widow.” She was originally drew a sentence of 29 years.

Max’s credits include Gladiator, Se7en, The Martian, Robin Hood, Prometheus, American Gangster, Black Hawk Dowan, All The Money In The World, and worked on Ridley’s most recent film The Last Duel that recently has wrapped in Belfast after pausing for COVID-19.

Posted on in Film News

Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix To Reunite On Napoleon Film ‘Kitbag’ For 20th Century Studios

Deadline reports that Ridley Scott has completed his period drama The Last Duel and will next move on to his Gucci crime film starring Lady Gaga, but has also lined up his project after that as well with a period epic titled Kitbag for 20th Century Studios.

The Napoleon project will star Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix as the French military leader and emperor, the pair previously worked together on the Oscar-winning film Gladiator.

The film is an original and personal look at Napoleon’s origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine. The intention of the film is to capture Napoleon’s famous battles, relentless ambition and astounding strategic mind as an extraordinary military leader and war visionary.

The script was penned by David Scarpa, who previously wrote on All The Money In The World, a version of the upcoming Cleopatra film, and episodes of The Man In The High Castle.

Despite the myth, the French leader was not short but of average height.

One of the most famous unmade Stanley Kubrick films was also going to focus on Napoleon and more recently had been planned as HBO mini-series from Cary Joji Fukunaga (No Time To Die, True Detective) using Kubrick’s research as inspiration with Steven Spielberg producing.

Ridley will begin filming Gucci for MGM in Italy starting in March and when Kitbag is aiming to start shooting is a little unclear. Joining that Gucci cast led by Lady Gaga includes Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Adam Driver and Jared Leto.

SOURCE: DEADLINE