Ridley Scott Is Bringing HR Giger’s Acid-Blooded Xenomorph Back To The Big Screen In Alien: Covenant. Jordan Farley Reports From The Fright-Filled Set.
It's June 2016, and in a decommissioned reservoir just outside Sydney the crew of Alien: Covenant has constructed Paradise. But a paradise this ain’t. At one end of the drizzly basin, giant stone steps are littered with immolated Engineers, the porcelain smooth old gods perfectly preserved in their chargrilled final moments like the haunting spectres of Pompeii. At the other end of the vast, open-air space stands a blue screen so big it’s being held up by cranes and a wall of shipping containers stacked three high. The centre of gravity around which everything orbits: Ridley Scott – the eclectic Brit filmmaker and 79-year-old workhorse who’s presiding over sets as staggeringly huge as SFX has ever seen. And it all started with a flaky pastry. Sort of.
“It came out of me thinking about the croissant – what I call the beautiful croissant – that was on the ground in Alien, and what was inside it,” says Scott, who sidles up to SFX during a break from filming on the Prometheus sequel/Alien prequel. “Throughout the series no one ever asked the question: ‘Who would want to make such a thing?’ Prometheus started to ask that question. Covenant will tell you who made the Alien, and why.”
This story is from the July 2017 edition of SFX.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 2017 edition of SFX.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Making Alien - Jaws in Space - Forty-five years on from its original release, Alien continues to terrify. We dissect what arguably remains the most chilling instalment in the saga
The seven-strong crew of the commercial mining spacecraft the Nostromo seal their fate after reluctantly responding to a mysterious distress signal on a hostile planet. Here, a face-hugging alien from a derelict ship impregnates and later kills executive officer Kane (John Hurt) after its offspring is birthed onboard. After being unleashed, the fearsome newborn with acid for blood proceeds to dispatch the remainder of the crew.Ridley Scott's much more convoluted prequels have yet to reveal how the knowledge that led to this initial interception was acquired. However, the premise of the original Alien is perfect in its uncomplicated purity.
PURE AND SIMPLE
IN THE FINAL PART OF OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, SHOWRUNNER RUSSELL T DAVIES TALKS RELAUNCHING DOCTOR WHO
TO CAP IT ALL OFF
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE BBC SERIES THE TRIPODS
FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE WALKING DEAD SPIN-OFF SHOWRUNNER DAVID ZABEL ON BEING GIVEN THE TOUGH TASK OF REUNITING DARYL AND CAROL IN FRANCE
SILENT KILLERS
THE DIRECTOR OF HOLLYWOOD'S SPEAK NO EVIL REMAKE ON HORROR, COMEDY AND JAMES MCAVOY
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THE GHOST WITH THE MOST RETURNS FINALLY - IN BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
TEENAGE DREAM
JOE LOCKE HITS THE ROAD RUNNING
MOB RULE THE PENGUIN
GOTHAM'S UP FOR GRABS IN BRUISING NEW CRIME SAGA BUT WHERE IS THE BATMAN?
SEASON OF THE WITCH
AS MARVEL TELEVISION CARVES OUT A NEW PATH FOR ITSELF, WE SPEAK TO CREATOR JAC SCHAEFFER, PLUS A CAST OF STARS LED BY KATHRYN HAHN AND JOE LOCKE, ABOUT THE MAGIC OF WANDAVISION'S SPIN-OFF AGATHA ALL ALONG
Ghouls Allowed
Even silence can't save you at this year's Halloween Horror Nights