"Alien" prequel still moving ahead

From EW.com 's blog PopWatch comes news of the ongoing prequel to the movie "Alien"

Rumor has it that Gemma Arterton, of Prince of Persia fame, might be Ridley Scott’s choice for the heroine in his latest project in the Alien franchise.

A rep from the Arterton camp is claiming though that there was no truth to the rumor. BUUUUUUUUUT EW reports that when they talked to Gemma directly, she didn't rule out the possibility.

From the article :

• (Arterton said) “The honest truth is that Ridley Scott has approached me to meet with him about something in the next few weeks,”

No Aliens For Alien 5?!! WTF?

From IO9: Sigourney Weaver has revealed that she and Ridley Scott have talked about teaming up to make Alien 5 - but are thinking about leaving the alien out of the movie altogether. Is that WTF or the work of genius?

Weaver told MTV's Movie Blog that she and Scott have discussed returning to the character of Ripley in a new movie: What we’re interested in is taking the character of Ripley and seeing what other science fiction story we can tell about someone who has lived several lives.
Knowing the 4 preceding films as we all do I and IO9 have to ask: "Other science fiction story"? As in, one that isn't the latest iteration of "Bad Ass Woman Fights Aliens, Rinse And Repeat"?

And as you are all now groaning with the idea, lets think a moment - After Alien and then maybe Aliens....did you really get much into Ripley fighting of the aliens in 3? In 4 we saw Weaver bring some real kick ass strength to Ripley. I mean really - the line "Who do I have to .... to get off this ship? " was both so different for Ripley and instantly made her someone you didn't want to screw around with. I mean my contention for the Alien movies is that for science fiction movies they make great monster movies. You know? And yes I know most science fiction movies are a monster waiting in the wings somewhere to destroy everyone. As scarey as this is, quite frankly it's not really good science fiction. So the thought of Ripley, who has become so very much more than what she was in the start, doing something else besides kicking monster butt has some ummm charm. I'm game.

<- MTV movies blog via IO9 ->

Scott to do "Forever War"

Variety reports that Ridley Scott is planning to make "The Forever War," into his first science fiction film since he delivered back-to-back classics with "Blade Runner" and "Alien." Scott attained the rights to the Joe Haldeman classic, after working to obtain them for 25 years, from Richard Edlund, who spent $400,000 of his own money and intended to make the book his directorial debut, but the project foundered. After a Sci Fi Channel miniseries stalled, Scott became interested again and Edlund was ready to make a deal. It took six months to secure all the rights.

The Forever War revolves around a soldier who battles an enemy in deep space for only a few months, only to return home to a planet that has moved many years into the future. Due to time dialation he has remained young but his home planet has continued to change. Now he doesn’t recognize his home and no one remembers him.

<- Variety via IO9 ->

Sci-fi films are as dead as Westerns, says Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott was the director of two of the most critically acclaimed science fiction films, now he believes that the genre is so tired and unoriginal that it may be dead. At the Venice Film Festival for a special screening of his seminal noir thriller Blade Runner, Scott said that science fiction films were going the way the Western once had. “There’s nothing original. We’ve seen it all before. Been there. Done it,” he said. Asked to pick out examples, he said: “All of them. Yes, all of them.” The flashy effects of recent block-busters, such as The Matrix, Independence Day and The War of the Worlds, may sell tickets, but director Scott believes that none can beat Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Scott said “There is an over reliance on special effects as well as weak storylines,”

Click HERE for the complete TimesOnline story