Neill Blomkamp’s ALIEN 5 | Cancelled Sequel | Project: Red Harvest

[geektalk]

Neill Blomkamp’s ALIEN 5 is a project that was so close and yet so far away. The project aimed to re-unite Michael Biehn and Sigourney Weaver as Hicks and Ripley in the the latest chapter of what is the greatest saga of Science-Fiction-Action-Cosmic-Horror of all time.
This video will take a look at why, between 2015 – 2017, the project unraveled.

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Summary : The film everyone wants is dead The crap nobody wanted got made

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set deep in the cold infinite expanse of

space light-years away from Earth where

no one can hear you scream the alien

quadrilogy for accounting the ongoing

story that pits humanity against a

terrifyingly hostile and hybrid species

of alien creatures the series began when

Ridley Scott in at 1979 directed alien

and brought us the concept of truckers

in space James Cameron with 1986’s

aliens would evolve the concept with

Marines in space

David Fincher in 1992 made alien 3

showed us prisoners in space Jean Pierre

June 8th and 1997 sequel Alien

Resurrection presented us with

mercenaries and the military in space

20th Century Fox were keen to

immediately move forward with a part 5

in 1997 from the set of Alien

Resurrection studio boss Tom Rothman

would go on record saying all I can say

is that the end of alien resurrection

points towards the locale of alien 5 we

firmly expect to do another one

Joss Whedon will write it and we expect

to have Sigourney and Winona if they’re

up for it Joss Whedon would then tell

the interviewer there’s a big story to

tell in another sequel the fourth film

is really a prologue to a movie set on

earth imagine all the things that can

happen Whedon would later elaborate on

the matter saying

if I write this movie and it has my

writing credits on it then is going to

be on earth and it’s going to be very

different from the last one with this

one I can promise you something new

something completely different from

what’s been seen before the studio would

eventually commit Sigourney Weaver to a

twenty two million dollar rolling

contract with the commissioned treatment

by Joss Whedon rumored to be titled

alien revelation Whedon’s enthusiasm

wasn’t shared by Weaver she said I’m not

interested in returning back to her

Whedon would move on saying I’m not

interested in making somebody else’s

franchise any more any movie I make will

be created by Mae Ridley Scott would

later show interest in the project when

asked about a fifth Alien movie the

director said you know I thought it’d be

nice I do it

it really is entirely dependent on the

take of the material it’s all about

material we’ve started a script meeting

I mean I’ve started it off so I may as

well close the door if in fact this is

meant to be the last one in 2002 James

Cameron announced his intention to

possibly return to the alien universe

saying what came up was the idea of

doing alien 5 and at one point I pitched

that I would write it and produce it and

Ridley would direct it and we had lunch

talking about this and we were in

violent agreement then nothing happened

Cameron would also tell BBC 1 we’re

looking at doing another one something

similar to what we did with aliens a

bunch of great characters and of course

Sigourney I’ve even discussed the

possibility of putting Arnold

Schwarzenegger and to be alien

and speaking of casting Ridley Scott who

at the time had directed Nicolas Cage in

matchstick man would tell total film

magazine if there’s room for him in the

new alien movie we’d love to get him

Scott would also say at the end of the

day a studio has to be pleased a core

audience has to be pleased and a

director has to agree to all that I am

glad to say things are proceeding in

broad terms it’s something for those

folks that want to see Ripley’s journey

come full circle momentum would slow

down upon the release of alien versus

Predator a crossover based on the

long-running series of comic books

published by Dark Horse Comics the film

had been in development since the early

90s and it was director Paul Anderson

who would pitch Fox a storyline that

would get the project Greenland Ridley

Scott would remain connected to the idea

of going back to the beginning and

developing the unexplored origins of the

alien species and Scott would finally

return to the alien universe in 2012

with prometheus Scott would fall in love

with the material and the world building

of entirely new landscapes and

mythologies pertaining to the aliens and

origins of man and would announce grand

plans to make a sequel a three crew and

maybe even complete a fourth and a fifth

Fox would give the green light for Scott

and his team to enter script development

on the prometheus sequel initially

titled

alien Paradise Lost before the change to

alien covenant and it was around this

time that director Neill Blomkamp

entered the frame the director producer

screenwriter had burst onto the scene

with the critically acclaimed

oscar-nominated district 9 in 2009 as

far as debuts go the sci-fi action

allegory had shown the director to be up

there with the most innovative creators

of science fiction cinema in the world

having an extensive background in

special effects in 3d animation

Blomkamp already had a cv of short films

commercials and other credits that had

already gained him a wave of Industry

recognition famously Peter Jackson the

producer of district 9 had earlier put

forward Blomkamp’s name as a potential

director for the big-screen adaptation

of halo which would unfortunately amount

to nothing

the director followed up district 9 with

2013’s

Elysium and 2015 s chappie chappie the

story of an artificial general

intelligence law enforcement robot

captured and taught by gangsters would

feature Sigourney Weaver leading the

director to reveal to her that he was a

self-confessed fan and that the first

movie he ever became enamored with was

alien you know ironically I think the

first science fiction film I remember

seeing is alien and it was in a coastal

town in South Africa that we used to

have like a sort of holiday flat in

Oldham slum gets next to Durban and I

saw like I was really young I mean I was

probably six or five and I saw maybe 40

minutes of it and then my family wanted

to go down to the beach and I basically

likes past like fully because I just

wanted to keep watching it and then over

the years I found out that there’s a VHS

machine in the bottom of the apartment

block that the woman at the base of the

building would like cyclo films that

were filtered through all of the

different flats and I was like what is

that that you were playing you know it

took me like two years actually gets to

the bottom of it like this pre-internet

like super young phase so yeah it was

alien I had no idea what it was and we

terrified by III I saw everything up and

sold the chest bursting scene right so

most of it like my memory of it was in

the ship with the eggs and the space

jockey like that was the imagery that

yeah and then I didn’t see it again like

was 40 minutes and then I just never saw

it for like several years so I did I the

scary fact that wasn’t in there yet on

New Year’s Day 2015

Neill Blomkamp released some alien

universe artwork in a commissioned work

by Jeff Roy Thorens a talented

illustrator concept artist and painter

Blomkamp described the artwork as

a mental stroll into the world Ridley

Scott created he didn’t initially

elaborate as to whether this was an

officially sanctioned project or simply

work he was doing as a fan a

representative from Fox confirmed that

this was a project Blomkamp undertook on

his own as there was at the time no deal

in place between the studio and the

director

Blomkamp would also say I just sort of

self-funded the artists to work on the

artwork the speculative art seemed to

take place in a world where the event of

alien 3 and Alien Resurrection never

happened

Hicks facial wound was clearly a

continuation from the end of aliens but

remembering the character had been

declared dead at the start of number

three

speculation mounted over how Blomkamp

would hypothetically resurrect the

character

there was also designs by artist Doug

Williams of what appeared to be Ripley

in a sort of battle suit and helmet and

of a new style of face hugger

the face hugger was originally done back

in 2012 as prometheus fan art but

Blomkamp later released it alongside his

alien 5 artwork which seems to imply

that he had hired Williams for the

project the art would instantly began

trending around the world and would

generate an online buzz had prompted

Blomkamp to address the situation on

twitter saying PS this has nothing to do

with the studio I just feel like I might

do something else instead in which case

why not show some work Sigourney Weaver

would say after repeatedly discussing

another film’s potential I finally said

you know it’s a pity we didn’t really

finish the story it’s such a good story

it’s really loved I said I should

probably talk to Jim Cameron about that

and he said don’t talk to Jim Cameron

ababa talk to me about that so we kept

talking about it Blomkamp’s public pitch

seemed to do the trick as a new headline

broke that a new alien sequel was

officially in the works to be directed

by Neill Blomkamp Fox had called him in

for a meeting and the deal had been

struck Blomkamp would hire a frequent

collaborator Philip IV as his production

designer and a phase of design and

pre-production would officially begin

in February 2015 Blomkamp took to

Instagram to say so I think this is

officially my next film a lien is a

long-standing franchise this is because

you had a great idea t came up with that

you pursued them or yeah yeah I mean

I’ve definitely you know I pursued them

to the point that Fox didn’t even know I

was working on it

so um you know that’s I mean that in

itself is just unique like you you

should you should always be working on

something that the studio doesn’t even

know you’re doing and that way you’re

like I want to do that by the time it’s

done and then they can decide you know

yeah I mean when you get hired to do

something you’re in dangerous territory

but so the truth about you know projects

that are my own like the thing that’s

annoying about films they take three

years to make it’s a constant thing that

I that I face all the time which is like

whatever you commit to you’re gonna be

out of the game with everything else and

you’re gonna be doing this one thing for

that amount of time so that’s a very

true thing I mean you know that would

still be my on so with almost everything

it’s just that alien isn’t almost

everything alien is like the one thing

that’s just I think I I actually think

it’s the first science fiction film I

ever saw right

and it’s my first memory of like film

and so it’s just emblazoned into my head

in a way that I it would be a shame for

me to not do it for myself you know

even if it even if it doesn’t live up to

what people want like for my own self

like I need to at least try I think that

what I think the combination of what

Ridley did and the end the usage of

gigas Freudian sexual terre imagery and

the set up of the first film and then

what Cameron did with the second film

like what just the perfect storm of what

those ingredients were and for my own

like visual style and what I like and it

just was this weird perfect unity of

everything you know and I think that’s

really what it is it’s just it’s it I

can’t think of anything that that comes

close to to it in terms of an existing

franchise alien is or is a unique thing

for me it’s a unique storm of perfect

ingredients I think that people think I

was like playing some kind of game with

the studio where I was like releasing

stuff to try to create

hi to try to go back to them and like

I’m totally not Machiavellian in that

way and like him just not and that’s

what alien was where I was like maybe I

should just go off for a couple of years

and do some other stuff and I had this

all of his accumulated work of a project

I thought was really awesome so I was

like I know there’s gonna be some fans

out there that like this here you go you

don’t I mean and my apprehension with

alien was that I had never worked with

with someone else’s material you know

and especially not even someone else at

this point it was like I’m gonna count

Fincher in with with the third one even

though the third one I don’t like as

much as the first two it’s all three

awesome filmmakers so it’s it’s not

about living up to it and being nervous

about it it’s like I just don’t want

other people to tell me what to do it’s

a different thing we think in this film

this should happen because it happened

in that one yeah kind of scared me a

little bit so then I was like I’m just

not gonna do it I’ll put it out yeah

but then you know I spoke to Sigourney

and like she was she was I loved

Sigourney and her her wanting to execute

the story that I wrote and she thinks

it’s the right story for Ripley that I

was like now I’m fully gonna do this

20th Century Fox confirmed they had

closed a deal with the director and that

the as-yet untitled sci-fi project was

separate from prometheus – which Fox was

still making with Ridley Scott that Neil

who is very very cool and not fazed by

anything the moments ago he walked on

set it was literally that’s true it’s

true I mean it is I was saying to shool

like recently about how thing I’m really

sort of non self reflective and I don’t

spend a lot of time thinking

III don’t feel like I take enough time

to really be sort of thankful for things

in general and it’s kind of ridiculous

that that you know I mean even aside

from alien just just Sigourney being

involved in this film where you know

you’re like a struggling artist trying

to get into films when you’re young when

you’re younger you know and it’s like

just getting any film made is difficult

but to have someone in it that was you

know connected to one of my favorite

pieces of art ever I need to I need to

be in touch with

that more and I’m not really I kind of

just like motive through things too much

so yeah I mean alien is it’s insane that

that you know it’s a possibility

um how big a possibility is it very very

big I mean you’d say possibility I think

it’s happening yeah no that’s true

[Laughter]

we found the host and it’s been news was

officially announced that month that the

Ridley Scott creative group would carry

production with Ridley Scott as a

producer and Blomkamp in the director’s

chair working from his own screenplay

the alien 5 project would carry the

working title read harvest and what was

seen as likely to be a nod to blue

harvest the fake working title to Return

of the Jedi

yes there is an incredible script and to

be directed by Neill Blomkamp who was a

love these movies so much that he broke

the tapes and when we were working

together on chappie a movie I love he we

started chatting about how the series

left and I had not wanted to do a fifth

one I just I didn’t want to go to earth

I thought the earth was boring so anyway

that whole first day we started just

talking about it and four months later I

got a script that was so amazing and it

gives the fans everything they are

looking for plus innovates in a lot of

ways

with things that just immediately for me

became part of the world so he has work

to do

oh I have work to do and I’m hoping when

we finished those jobs we all circle

back and start to do it thanks for

asking

talk of the proposed new entry into the

alien series would continue to arise in

many of the interviews Blum camp and

Weaver would do when promoting the

release of chappie we have a new alien

movie coming out with Neil you’re the

head of it

Sigourney you’re coming back give us a

little what kind of fans expect I don’t

want to give too much away it’s just

early days I get I’ll say I’m extremely

excited I cannot believe Sigourney’s in

it I wanted to feel like alien 1 and

alien 2 and that is all I would add that

probably the alien is going to be in it

as well let’s let’s let’s assume that

there will be a xenomorph in the film a

xenomorph could you explain that to the

crowd that did it just in case for

anyone who isn’t a fan or doesn’t know

the Alien franchise well a xenomorph is

what they refer to the alien as thank

you now it’s very very serious about

avian like do you feel kind of nervous

taking on like this kind of friends

residue that’s how you write in it no no

I I don’t right now I whatever phase I’m

in in my career I don’t feel that I

don’t feel that you know like the idea

of of artists that get caught up in if

they’ve had previous success and then

they’re like well I’m so scared to put

something out now what if it doesn’t

live up to it you know I don’t feel that

and in terms of taking oh and stuff like

alien

I don’t feel the negatives either I

think I think if you’re ever gonna do

good work you just have to like go out

and like you know swing large swings and

just be committed and love what you’re

doing so I I feel the good pressure

meaning as a massive fan of

those movies I want to make a film that

I as a fan would love and I think that

I’m ill suited to other franchises I

think that there are many other

franchises where I would want to turn it

upside down and like totally just screw

with it an alien isn’t one of them alien

is like I want to do my best to sort of

honor the lineage of the first two

movies and give fans like myself what I

think we deserve from where it went off

the rails in July 2015

further art appeared on Instagram this

piece featuring Ripley and a

battle-scarred Hicks is titled

mercenaries and was released alongside

the message alien going very well

the artwork of Hicks tended to raise

more questions than it answered the

majority of fans were now curious as to

whether or not alien would be playing

out a retroactive continuity which would

mean alien 3 and Alien Resurrection

never happened or whether those stories

were the events of one of Ripley’s

nightmares and crassly

or if it would be a time travel slash

wormhole plot or just simply a parallel

universe

either way lots of people were excited

by the prospect of bringing back Hicks

as naturally this would mean a return to

the alien universe for actor and fan

favorite Michael Biehn

[Applause]

it’s such a brilliant straightness every

intention of doing as we were asked to

wait this is prometheus movie make us

understandably they did 100 movies

coming out at the same time so I think

now they think now Neil is directing

gone world and and I have a little thing

called Avatar to do but then

[Applause]

the idea of an entire Armada of colonial

marines and mercenaries in the year 2204

led by corporal Duane Hicks as they

confronted weyland-yutani and waged war

against genetically modified aliens was

becoming more and more appealing by the

day in an interview beam would say

they’re talking about doing another

aliens movie with Neill Blomkamp and Fox

came and announced it and Sigourney has

come out in an asset the basic idea is

acting like alien 3 & 4 never existed

I know Ridley Scott is doing his movie

first and is going to be the executive

producer on this one so I’m really

looking forward to that I know that

Ridley’s focus is on the second

Prometheus and I’m sure that he and Foxx

both don’t want that and Neil’s movie to

come out right next to each other

because they’re kind of two different

worlds with aliens taking place

thousands of years later which is how

they explained it all to me but at the

same time they want to give them a

similar feel I know they’re putting the

brakes on Neil’s movie just for a little

while

Ben then made a pose to Facebook stating

that he was purely speculating what the

plot could be and obviously if he knew

the plot as a professional actor he

wouldn’t do such a thing before a movie

was released I have to I have to ask

this out because there’s been yes no

rumors the next aliens are you coming

back as hitch there’s a huge where

there’s a bacon again or if Neill

Blomkamp

if Neil and Neil Blomkamp and Sigourney

get to make their a movie yes absolutely

absolutely and what will happen is that

they will bring back new also new will

be 2627 don’t get some great actress for

it you know wonderful actress for that

but right now Ridley Scott is doing

aliens the Covenant or something like

that this procedure so continues from

what if you if you didn’t deep enough

into Ridley’s interviews or interviews

the tour and so forth you get the

feeling that he’s gonna do his and once

he’s finished with his then he’s gonna

they’re gonna let me do his cuz and

he’ll have to change a few things

yeah and Neil’s got the one that

Sigourney really really wants to finish

up with and I think they’ll be kind of a

passing of the torch between that’s my

guess you know I haven’t even seen a

script to talk to Neil and it was it was

on a it was on we they were moving ahead

with it and then readily decided I think

that he wanted to get his his finishes

did his in there first and so if they

make Neil’s and they should he’s a

brilliant filmmaker and I think they owe

it to Sigourney and they’ve already

announced they’re gonna make it so I

think it’d be a true embarrassment to

Fox that he never made the movie all be

in it

Amalgamated dynamics incorporated known

as ad I are responsible for the

practical alien creature effects on

alien 3 and Alien Resurrection and the

alien versus Predator films they would

take one of the concepts

Blomkamp had shared and turn it into a

physical reality the makeup test was

done by David Woodruff and the man in

the makeup standing in for Hicks is his

father Tom Woodruff and the armor is

actually Michael beans armor form aliens

Woodruff jr. did the makeup test through

his company generation of facts

Incorporated saying this Neil Blomkamp

project is the first possibility I’ve

seen or heard of of another alien film

and I’m all about it I know the guys at

amalgamated Dynamics are pushing for

something like this – it’s time lot

details were still non-existent beyond

guesswork and speculation from the

artwork as both Weaver and Blomkamp were

happy to confirm the project was still

proceeding but were somewhat shy about

revealing too much too soon

yes yes we’ve been talking about it for

a year and actually it’s it’s been a

huge secret to keep you know no secrets

anymore and I think we’re both delighted

and I can’t think of a director I would

trust more with this I hate to call it a

franchise to sounds like french fries or

something but with this story and

telling the ending of the story which I

could never figure out how it should end

and and I never wanted to do just

another one to do it so I feel that this

was meant to be and you’ll be doing

alien next and you worked with the star

Sigourney for this film so did your time

with Sigourney on the set of chappie

kind of influenced your ideas for the

next alien totally speaking to her made

me understand her point of view on

Ripley and also how she felt about the

whole franchise in general so that led

to a

five years there was also a brief

flirtation with the idea of the film

being broken into two parts

after Blomkamp told Empire the first two

are the ones that I care about then I

started to realize there was a whole

film

at least a film if not more that still

contained Ripley which I was really

surprised by in October 2015

Blomkamp released a photograph of a

pulse rifle with a strong hint that it

would appear in the upcoming film yet

soon to follow was a tweet from the

director stating the project was now on

hold pending prometheus – in April 2016

we saw more concept art this image

featuring a grownup version of Newt from

aliens it was seen that this all but

confirmed the inclusion of the character

in bloom cams film and that as a direct

sequel to aliens the events of part 3

would be erased from the continuity

despite to the uncertainty of whether or

not production would proceed Sigourney

Weaver would tell Entertainment Tonight

that it’s just as if you know the path

Forks and One Direction goes off two

three and four and another direction

goes off to Neils movie so it was now

clear that Blomkamp’s alien movie would

veer off and I divergent chronology and

Weaver also suggested that the alien

sequel would delve into the motivation

of the aliens themselves exploring what

it is their race has been seeking she

said

the script itself has so much in it

that’s so original but also really

satisfies the I would say the primal

needs of the aliens it’s a tribute to

all of the great work that the other

directors have done in a way but goes in

a completely new direction

I hope he’ll do it it’s at this point

all talk of the project seemed to stall

Ridley Scott would confirm that he’d

seen a draft of alien 5 and it was still

on course for a 2017 release that he was

concentrating all of his energy into

prepping his Prometheus sequel alien

Paradise Lost later retitled alien

covenant

if you’ve made comments on Blomkamp’s

alien 5 that they were working on of

course we should have continued the

Ripley story

yeah have you had any thoughts at all

perhaps kind of bridging the prequels

and the original thought ever thought

about maybe D aging people like

Sigourney as they do in a lot of films

at the man well I think that’s not

particularly new idea first of all

secondly I think they cooked it put an

oranges mug with crackling on his back

frankly when they did alien vs. predator

about the bikes so I think you want to

keep what you’ve got something really

good don’t spread it around and I think

I was part of the process with that with

Broome camp and I was going to be in

their sub you said yeah yeah by all

means but there was no real script came

out and I was doing my other thing so if

Fox doesn’t want to decide not to some

don’t I think we’ve got this is enough

just keep going down this route Ridley

Scott would begin to publicly play down

his involvement in the new part 5 it

seemed as if Scott felt the sequel to

aliens would somewhat distract from his

own direction for the alien universe and

so alien 5 was put on ice so Scott could

prioritize the completion and release of

his own sequel whatever wondering is

what is your relationship with the Neill

Blomkamp like there’s been a lot of

rumors circling around that he had to

scrap his alien movie his version of the

alien universe for you to gain back

control of your version

not only that I did the first one so I

don’t really give a [ __ ] you know I read

okay excuse me write in an extended

podcast interview with IGN whilst

promoting alien covenant Scott wood in

referencing alien fives postponed

production reveal Blomkamp’s working

title of alien awakening

they want to do a lien was a wakening

yeah I said fine I was gonna be the

producer yeah if I could have I would

have except I do question why I have

both of it yeah seems just like shooting

your big toes yeah yeah it doesn’t make

sense but they didn’t go forward with it

Fox yeah so I kind of just kept out of

it

so I mean I’d literally ignited yeah

this thing to bring it off the ground

again because I was lying that in in

dormant on himself and I had this thing

to bring it back up and here we are I

was obviously being you know encouraging

saying yeah yeah by all means

and Fox saying do you want to produce it

yeah of course but it didn’t really I

don’t know what happens yeah did

involved I think it was a Neil with

Sigourney because he knew that don’t

something was to go that’s right yeah

she’s in chappy another film with his

yeah yeah in October 2017 Scott spoke of

his intention for a sequel to alien

covenant saying I think the evolution of

the alien himself

is nearly over but what I was trying to

do was transcend and move to another

story which would be taken over by a is

the world that the AI might create as a

leader if he finds himself in a new

planet we have actually quite a big

layout for the next one

as time passed Scott would appear

indifferent to the idea that there was

room for his work and Blomkamp’s to

coexist in the same universe

a question from spare attorney and he

says and what do you think of the

project that nailed Blanc um started for

alien alien number five and with the

return of Sigourney Weaver Weaver in it

well there was never a script it was an

idea which was evolved on I think a ten

page pitch and I was meant to be part

the producer on that and it didn’t

evolve Fox decided they didn’t want to

do it so that was it so I just I was

already on to I think I’ve done

Prometheus I was already planning

covenant so don’t know that’s never

gonna happen I don’t think so no no

whether or not Scott used leverage to

mega power play is unknown but what is

now is that pre-production on alien 5

had now all but ceased and Weaver would

now fulfill our obligation to film the

Avatar sequence and bloom camp would see

his name attached to an upcoming Robocop

Returns sequel I think the part of

Hick’s is just a beautifully written

part of this very cool

you know marine with great heart and

strength and intelligence in Neil

Blomkamp’s you see a lot more of them

together you guys would would like to

see it’ll happen we have to wait till

after prometheus 2 is made and then we

get to start or a lot more challenges in

Neil’s sequel but I can’t discuss it it

was really fun to it’s it’s gonna be

very satisfying you know I kind of felt

like we left the character after four it

was all gonna end up on earth and I

didn’t want to end up on earth I just

thought so it seems so mundane to me

compared to the beauty of space so you

know I didn’t we kind of just left the

whole story hanging in on and and I’d

always sort of felt a little incomplete

to me like and so when Neill Blomkamp

started to talk to me about a sequel to

this movie

gosh that would be so great to know that

Ripley has has a resting-place kind of

eventually and wouldn’t it be great to

to end a series like that not that the

other two didn’t happen but that they’re

sort of parallel you know I love them

all but I just thought you know you

can’t the the filmmaker has to be

inspired by what he’s inspired by and

what he grew up with and I think or the

tapes out of South Africa so anyway

we’ll see what happens

actor Lance Hendrickson was asked if he

was involved to play another incarnation

of the Android Bishop and if he knew

whether or not the sequel was still

happening we don’t know that we don’t

know that that’s happening especially

not with bloom camera I haven’t heard

anything recently I think that that

really Scott was taking too long to make

up his mind or what to give to pull the

trigger on it so that blue can’t just

said I’m gonna go make movies man I

can’t wait around forever in December

2017 Blomkamp would post more concept

designs with the message just going

through the volume of art created for

this never to be made early in sequel

from environments to characters to set

design we did a lot mostly over 2015

this would show the corporation’s

uniforms and accessories as drawn by

character artist Callum Alexander what

what would later say my first costuming

work was for Neill Blomkamp’s unmade

alien project I think he had seen my

work on alien isolation and wanted to

tap into the future slash retro styling

in December 2017

Blomkamp would share more concept art a

Geoffroy Thorens piece featuring alien

climbing up a ventilation shaft as a

Marine weights atop and a second one by

renowned concept artist pooled chandus

on painting over 3d work by the talented

artist

ty ribbon Ellingson was of aud for

utility dropship the one primarily used

by

the united states colonial Marine Corps

seen stationary in a hangar in April 20

2011 would release previously unseen

concept designs featuring a sky crane

variant on the dropship ellingson’s

credits include design work on Avatar

Pacific Rim Blomkamp’s Elysium and

sequels to Hellboy & Blade and he would

work as a conceptual designer in

pre-production and were specifically

selected by Blomkamp to be one of a

handful of designers tasked with

bringing his vision for the film to life

he is Ellingson speaking briefly on his

time on Blomkamp’s pre-production to the

talking bay 94 star wars podcast Neil’s

project like if there was one more thing

I could add to my life that I really

really wanted to have happen it was

really to be connected to the Alien

franchise in a big way I actually was

involved with alien 3 and was all set to

go to England to work with David Fincher

on that and then at the last minute

there was a an issue that arose out of

with the studio and and and an

industrial light magic doing the facts

which had to do with Fincher being from

Marin County that was in his home turf

and I think the studio didn’t want him

up there and you know own but that was

the closest I’d come and then of course

you know when Neil was developing his

project I was super enthusiastic about

it and I actually feel like we worked

over the course of a summer maybe three

months which was a pretty long haul

doing like 10 pictures a lot longer but

those are actually ones that are gonna

get you know they’re going into

production but this was all part of a

pre-production phase and I was extremely

disappointed because not only did I love

what lll was trying to do but I thought

that our collaboration because we don’t

collaborate before was just it was like

we hit the perfect pitch like I was so

proud of the work and yeah and I

actually was doing the same thing

there’s I was actually going like I

can’t believe

this is gonna happen yeah I mean I was

just so what’s the Mars movie he did

with Martian it was so successful yeah

and it seemed like now he’s all teeing

up science fiction again you know what I

think that that but I know it was I

think Neil was very heartbroken about

yeah I don’t I honestly and you know I’m

not talking about any of its content but

the likelihood of that coming back now

seems very unlikely special effects

wizard Alec Gillis from Studio Adi would

give an interview saying I said to nail

why aren’t you doing this all digitally

because if it’s biomechanical and

harder-edged

it lends itself to digital and he said I

want a real man on set because it forces

you into a certain way of shooting that

would be more like what Ridley did in

the first film if it’s all digital I

won’t have those parameters to work

within it and it’s gonna end up looking

like something different and I don’t

want that I want it to look like Ridley

Scott did it that’s how he thinks and I

guarantee you there’s no studio

executive in the world that would say

that because they don’t see things in

that specific and nuanced kind of way

here’s Gillis together with David

Woodruff speaking to alien versus

Predator galaxy lamenting the loss of

the chance to work on alien 5 we we were

brought in for a while to work with

Neill Blomkamp on on his alien five-ish

story you know to say any more than it’s

like you know had a great idea of Neil

had the right he was in the right place

at the right time with the right people

and still it did not happen so the

prospects of it happening were worse are

so remote that there’s no reason Neil is

one of our favors and he’s got great

ideas I have no doubt that everybody

would have loved his alien 5 but it’s

all kind of under wraps until he says so

in February 2018 Carlos went a the

phenomenal artist and renowned creature

designer would temporarily put up images

he designed during Blanka

pre-production quente had already

produced volumes of work that had been

used in prometheus and alien covenant

and would label his work with the

caption for a project that never got

made

obviously unsuccessful creatures that

wouldn’t have functioned all that well

which makes you wonder what these were

for well all I can say is they were for

a version of a storyline that never got

made so not for covenant or Prometheus

but for something else the artist would

allude to the fact that work was similar

to what he’d done on Jurassic Park for

it seemed likely that weyland-yutani

had been experimenting and creating and

weaponizing an array of xenomorph

hybrids that were being kept in a secure

enclosure bomb camp didn’t say a lot

about why his project was over he later

tweeted I have moved on what I meant was

that I wish there was a way for fans to

see some of what we had designed it was

an amazing chance to work in the world

Ridley and James Command created and

collaborate with Sigourney but the

subject was one that would arise during

interviews I basically worked on alien

for about you know I met Sigourney on

chappie and I I had a different idea for

an alien film that I wanted to make I

mean that’s probably my favorite

franchise I suppose I hate the word

franchise I hate anything that

quantifies things financially but I was

obsessed with alien and aliens and they

probably made me want to get into film

and and then so I had this idea for a

story set set in the world of those two

first films that was not a continuation

of James Cameron’s it was just in the

world of it and it had it had a totally

different character that was the lead

character because my assumption was

Sigourney just would never make another

one and and then I told her about it on

chappie and she was like no no no I

actually would make another one because

I felt like Ripley’s story didn’t end

correctly so I was like oh okay nothing

that’s amazing so I went back to

Vancouver and while I was editing Chafee

I started to think about what I would do

with Sigourney as basically a sequel to

to James Cameron’s film and I spent

about a year working out on it with only

Sigourney knowing and I hired I hired

one

really awesome concept artist and then

who basically puts we we put together

essentially a script and all the artwork

and that’s what I went to 20th Century

Fox with and they seemed really into it

and then Ridley came alone as a producer

and then it just you know unraveled it’s

very difficult to speak about on several

levels because it’s it’s like Ridley it

you know Ridley created alien it was

something that inspired me deeply I got

into film because of it everything that

happened with my script and with you

know the way the film collapsed it’s

like it’s hard to talk about it without

it seeming like I’m kind of bashing him

which is like one of my idols to get

into film Joan I mean it so it’s a super

strange psychological place but films go

down in Hollywood all the time and it’s

like that’s just essentially I think

what happened and it sucks for me and it

apartment it’s not that it sucks for

Sigourney I mean it’s not gonna make any

difference to her but I think that she

really did like the story because it

allowed Ripley to it really felt like a

cool third film in 2019 even more quite

stunning art by Farzad Farah Ramya

titled

alien 5 design sketches would appear on

line the art was dated August 2015 with

the artist saying in 2015 studio adi

asked me to submit some quick concepts

for genetically altered aliens for Neill

Blomkamp’s alien this one was mutated

with centipede inspirations but I

thought the interesting part of it was

the flexible secondary alien mouth and

tongue the tongue could move like a

snake when you see the imprint upon the

alien reading unit b22 batch nine eight

nine one five zero six zero along with a

barcode and the number thirteen

it would heavily imply that the aliens

are finally the property and stock of

weyland-yutani the company has seemingly

achieved their goal of taking

experimental control of the species to

create biomechanical artillery create

weapons out of their biology and ensure

that humanity would remain the elite

species in the universe artist Jeff Roy

Lorenz was later asked about his time

work

the visual development of alien 5 saying

I was contacted by Neill Blomkamp in

2014 while he was finishing his film

chappie because he wanted to collaborate

with me to illustrate different projects

the first of which was alien 5 it was at

the beginning only a simple personal

project then Neill obtained the rights

from Fox to direct the film alien 5 was

part of the continuity of the second

opus disregarding the following films

Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn were

assigned to take over their roles and

the script was set 25 years after alien

2 it was very promising

however Ridley Scott decided to modify

Prometheus to 4 alien covenant which put

alien 5 on standby then Fox was bought

by Disney and to date the alien 5

project was aborted it was a very

enriching experience for me to have been

able to participate in these projects

because I have never drawn as quickly as

with him his ideas abound at a sustained

pace which has resulted in me producing

an average of one concept per day for

very long periods so that I can keep up

with this pace James Cameron’s name

would re-enter into conversation once

the buyout of Fox by Disney was complete

Cameron’s enthusiastic response to

Blomkamp’s idea had led the director to

publicly toy with the idea of working as

a producer to bring the project back to

life can you give me or Blomkamp a call

about aliens just I’m working on that

yeah Sigourney Weaver would also accept

that the project had all but officially

died but still held out hope that Ellen

Ripley story would get the conclusion

she deserved which Fox wanted to do Hey

and then Ridley Scott wanted to make his

prequels first so it was put to one side

and Kim was actually has been very

interested in producing that showed us

actually what happened to Ripley and

kind of gave her an ending because

instead of complaining or showing

bitterness or speaking out against the

industries and justices Neill Blomkamp

would instead set up a self-sufficient

self-funded movie studio that

sidestepped Hollywood altogether

producing a wave of high budget high

concept short films that are free to

enjoy on out Studios YouTube channel the

idea is to turn the best received shorts

into features theoretically reducing the

blind risk of the Hollywood process in

the same way his initial features were

developed the studio’s debut feature

raka featuring Sigourney Weaver in a

plot set in a near-future Earth which is

attacked by technologically superior and

highly aggressive reptilian aliens

Blomkamp’s final word on the topic would

be an uploaded image of alien sculpt and

amalgamated dynamics Incorporated saying

how much he enjoyed working on alien 5

Alec Gillis of the ad I would say in

response

happy he’s letting you all see some of

the design work we did there’s no doubt

in my mind you would have loved what

Neel had planned until further word from

the director or until perhaps the studio

system and Blomkamp crossed paths once

again and the project is reignited in

one form or another I guess we’ll never

know

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