Update: “I want to make a film that’s connected to Alien and Aliens. That’s my goal,” Blomkamp says to Allocine, clearing up his comments. “I’m not trying to undo Alien 3 or Alien Resurrection, I just want it to be connected to Alien 1 and 2.” Check out the original story below.
Despite what the vast amount of press may tell you, Neill Blomkamp isn’t currently touring the globe to announce he’s making another Alien film. Rather, in just a week, we’ll see the release of his third feature, Chappie. While you’ll have to wait a few days for our review, we have yet another update on Blomkamp’s upcoming Alien 5, which after these comments, we might start referring to as Alien 3.
“I want this film to feel like it’s literally the genetic sibling of Aliens,” said Blomkamp in a now-deleted interview with Sky News (put picked up by IGN). “So it’s Alien, Aliens, and then this movie,” he adds, ignoring the third and fourth films from David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, respectively. As for what we might expect, Sigourney Weaver says, “I would love to take Ripley out of orbiting around in space, and give a proper finish to her story,” confirming she’ll take the lead in the project.
When it comes to what draws the director in most, he says, “It’s a Freudian nightmare. That element to me is what is so appealing; to put the audience on the edge of their seat the whole time in a traditional, monster-stalking-you, dark corridor-way. I love that. It’s a powder keg of creativity for me.” While we can’t blame him for ignoring some of what came before, this mix of a reboot and sequel is fairly strange, in a story sense, so hopefully Blomkamp can successfully pull it off.
As for his last feature, Elysium, which mostly a disappointment after his break-out District 9, he’s finally opened up about its failures. “The thing that bothers me is if I feel like I f*cked it up,” he tells Uproxx. “I feel like, ultimately, the story is not the right story. I still think the satirical idea of a ring, filled with rich people, hovering above the impoverished Earth, is an awesome idea. I love it so much, I almost want to go back and do it correctly.”
He adds, “But I just think the script wasn’t… I just didn’t make a good enough film is ultimately what it is. I feel like I executed all of the stuff that could be executed, like costume and set design and special effects very well. But, ultimately, it was all resting on a somewhat not totally formed skeletal system, so the script just wasn’t there; the story wasn’t fully there.” It’s certainly refreshing to see a director be so open about his misgivings, so head on over to the source for more from the helmer as we await updates on Blomkamp’s next projects.
What do you think of ignoring Alien 3 and 4? What about Blomkamkp’s Elysium comments?