Fede Alvarez has talked about his upcoming sci-fi horror sequel, Alien: Romulus, and reveals that James Cameron has seen a cut of the film and “loved it.”
The teaser trailer for this August’s Alien franchise entry Alien: Romulus emerged like a chestburster yesterday, and we’ve already had a bit of a poke around to see what details we can learn from it.
To mark the trailer’s launch, though, writer-director Fede Alvarez talked to The Hollywood Reporter, and talked about how the idea for the sci-fi horror began as a pitch to Ridley Scott (who’s producer on Romulus).
We’ve heard before that Scott, who directed both the original Alien in 1979 and its 21st century prequels Prometheus and Alien Covenant, has been heavily involved in the film. What the interview reveals is that James Cameron was also involved – offering notes and suggestions to Alvarez on its script and also watching a cut of the resulting movie.
“James Cameron is also someone I’ve met through the years, and when he learned that I was doing it, we started chatting about it,” Alvarez said. “So I also had that conversation with him at the script level. He’s now seen the movie and loved it.
“It’s also fascinating because [Cameron and Scott’s] notes and comments are completely different. (Laughs.) They wouldn’t repeat a note. Whatever Ridley said, Cameron said something different. They were all super smart comments, notes and thoughts on the film and the filmmaking, et cetera, but both of them have completely different approaches. So the fantastic part of being able to make this film is to have the chance to work with them.”
Alien: Romulus takes place between the events of Alien and Aliens, so to get the approval of those films’ directors is something of an achievement; last October, Alvarez revealed that Scott had seen an early cut of Romulus and said it was “fucking great.”
It’s worth being a little bit cautious around these kinds of comments, though, given that James Cameron has a track record of endorsing sequels of his films, only to change his mind later – see Terminator: Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate.
Still, things are looking positive for Alien: Romulus right now – and with Alvarez talking up the film’s use of practical effects and puppets for the creatures in that interview linked above, the ‘interquel’, a it’s being dubbed, could be the creative jolt the 45 year-old franchise needs.
Alien: Romulus is out in UK cinemas on the 16th August.
