Ridley Scott has given Fede Álvarez’s upcoming Alien movie an enthusiastic seal of approval after viewing a director’s cut of the sci-fi film ahead of its 2024 release.
“I wanted him to see it before anybody, and everybody gave me the head’s up that Ridley is really tough,” Álvarez said at the 2023 Director’s Guild of America (DGA) Latino Summit, as reported by Variety.
“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.”
Little is known about Álvarez's Alien movie, save the fact that it will feature a new cast of young characters who find themselves on a distant world, locked “in confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe”, according to the official synopsis. Production began in March 2023, with 20th Century Fox eyeing an August 16, 2024 release.
Álvarez said work on the director’s cut was completed a week prior to his October 14 appearance at the DGA summit. One of his first moves upon reaching this production milestone was to put it infront of Scott, who is acting as a producer on the project.
“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,” said Álvarez. “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…’.”
Scott directed the original 1979 filme that kicked off the beloved sci-fi franchise and returned to helm the fifth main instalment Prometheus and its 2017 sequel Alien: Covenant. He watched the director's cut of the latest entry in the Alien universe on his own, as a nervous Alvarez waited nearby for the verdict.
Happy #AlienDay everybody! pic.twitter.com/vWyWtThUfj
— Fede Alvarez (@fedalvar) April 26, 2023
“And then he walks into the room and he did say: ‘Fede, what can I say? It’s f**king great.' 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!”
The cast of Álvarez's Alien movie includes Mare of Easttown’s Cailee Spaeny, Shadow and Bone’s Archie Renaux, Industry’s David Jonsson, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu, and Isabela Merced. In a post for Alien Day back in April, Alvarez had shared a rare image of the set of his untitled movie, which featured an ominous hallway and a clapperboard being attacked by one of the series iconic facehugger critters.
Check out IGN’s guide to find out how to watch all nine mainline movies - and the Alien vs Predator crossovers - in chronological order to get you ready for the latest entry in the beloved sci-fi horror franchise.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
