Chappie director Neill Blomkamp made major web waves earlier in the year, when he published a raft of concept artwork from a secretly-developed Alien movie to his Instagram account. As fans frantically shared the images and the Internet became flooded with talk of another genuine xenomorph outing, the big news eventually hit: Fox had finally commissioned him to helm a new Alien.
It seems Blomkamp’s reticence to work on another studio picture – following the Halo fiasco – has been forgotten. “I’m really excited,” he told EW (via The Playlist). “The movie itself is so wicked.”
When prompted by the industry outlet for further details on how the movie developed, why he created the concept art and where it stands, he had this to say:
It did have to do with having Sigourney on Chappie. It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to one day be a part of. Those first two [Alien] films are probably my favorite films ever made. I didn’t know if it would ever happen. I just always wanted to participate in it if I was able to.
Over the years, I came up with a story for a film in that universe that I wanted to make. And then when I talked to her about her experience making those films and what she thought about Ripley and everything else, it informed and changed the film I wanted to make into something different.
It just sort of stuck with me. A year later, when post-production was winding down on Chappie, I started fleshing out the idea for a film that would contain Sigourney. Fox never knew. I just worked on it when I could. Before I knew it, I had this really awesome film with a lot of artwork and a lot of backstory. And then I didn’t know whether I was going to make it or not. So I just kind of sat on it for a while.
Now that Fox has given him the go-ahead, we can expect to hear much more from Blomkamp and Weaver in the near future. Given that the artwork indicated that the film would carry on from James Cameron’s 1986 sequel Aliens, the movie certainly offers up plenty of head-scratchers.
Namely – how does Hick survive? In the images, an older version of Michael Biehn’s Corporal Dwayne Hicks is featured (sporting a unsightly scar) alongside Ripley. As fans of the franchise know, he perished at the beginning of Alien 3, which means Blomkamp’s going to have some explaining to do.
