Ridley Scott labels new ‘Alien’ movie as “fucking great”
Director Fede Álvarez has discussed the “incredibly tense process” of sending the new Alien: Romulus movie to Ridley Scott. Thankfully, he responded with utter excitement, calling the new franchise revival “fucking great”.
Álvarez co-wrote the sequel with Rodo Sayagues, which tells a new story within the Alien universe, following the halting of Scott’s prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.
During his conversation with Guillermo del Toro at the DGA Latino Summit 2023, Álvarez announced the completion of his director’s cut for Alien: Romulus, adding that he recently experienced the nerve-wracking procedure of submitting it to Scott.
“I wanted him to see it before anybody,” Álvarez said. “And everyone gave me the head’s up that Ridley is really tough. He’s really tough, particularly if it has something to do with his movies. He was really tough on Blade Runner 2049, which I thought was a masterpiece, and he had issues with it because it’s really hard for him because it’s his work.”
The director continued: “I asked him about the new Top Gun and he’s like ‘Meh.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And he was like, ‘My brother’s was original and this is like eh.’ He really respected it, but you could see how tough he was. So I was like, ‘There’s no way I win this one.’”
Álvarez admits he was “terrified” to meet in person with Ridley after he watched Alien: Romulus for the first time, but he knew he had to hear the director’s thoughts.
“Even if he didn’t ask for it, I was gonna go there and sit at a table and look at him and get it,” Álvarez said. “Even if he was gonna say, ‘You destroyed my legacy,’ I wanted to be in front of him and see him in the eye. I didn’t want to get an email where it says ‘Ridley says…’”
Adding: “And then he walks into the room and he did say, ‘Fede, what can I say? It’s fucking great,’ […] For me it was like… My family knows it was one of the best moments of my life to have a master like him, who I admired so much, to even watch a movie I made but particularly something like this… and talk to me for an hour about what he liked about it. One of the best compliments he said was, ‘The dialogue is great. Are you the writer?’ Yes!”
Production officially wrapped on Alien: Romulus earlier this year, and will mark the first Alien movie released since Disney acquired Fox.
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