Ridley Scott’s ALIEN Prequel has been batted around Hollywood for awhile now being put on hold numerous times due to apparent conflicts between Ridley and Fox. Ridley is looking for a hard R while Fox wants the cute and friendly 12A/15 rated feature. The logger heads have thankful come to an end with, according to Script Flags, Fox agreeing on Ridley’s budget and R ratings BUT the film being solely released as a 3D feature.
More stories are surfacing now with Vulture announcing the possible official title of the film as PARADISE. Also they have uncovered the film will act as a reboot of the ALIEN franchise;
“We’re told that Paradise reboots the original Alien franchise, in that the story follows a group of space travelers who encounter a monstrous alien creature that picks them off, one by one. Since there’s no working budget yet on the film, formal offers have not gone out to actors, but our spies tell us that several are at the top of Scott’s list for leading roles.”
There have been a number of meetings with actresses for the lead role over the last month with Ridley with Noomi Rapace (GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO etc) and Gemma Arterton (CLASH OF THE TITANS) as front runners but with Rapace slightly ahead. Also looking to have been cast are Michael Fassbender (HUNGER) as an android and Michelle Yeoh (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON). There was also the possibility of Leonardo Di Caprio (INCEPTION) as a male lead but due to scheduling conflict with Clint Eastwood‘s J Edgar Hoover project, Ridley had to pass on him.
The idea that PARADISE will act as a reboot comes from the story description that has been mentioned where a small group of space trekking people, Fassbender etc, discover a vessel contenting an alien that hunts them down one by one. Also there will be a segment featuring a large alien figure that will be filmed using motion capture technology and will probably be revealed as the much talked about and anticipated space jockey.
PARADISE is the first of two films that will be filmed back to back with a possibly release late 2011 and 2012.