Hollywood isn’t exactly paradise. Now, I don’t know this for a fact — I’ve only been to Hollywood once, to visit a friend — but it’s basically the gist I get from a report over at The Playlist, which claims Fox is chomping at the bit to produce director Neill Blomkamp‘s vision for a new Alien film. The problem? Blomkamp is hesitant to fiddle around with the Hollywood mega-franchise machine, known for wooing filmmakers with its shiny exterior and subsequently chewing up and spitting out directors one franchise installment at a time.
“Sometimes Hollywood just sort of gets to me. I love movies, but Hollywood itself is a difficult animal to negotiate. So, then I was like, if I don’t do any [movies], I should put some of this artwork out and that’s exactly what happened.”
The artwork Blomkamp speaks of is what many reported on earlier this year — and you can see it for yourself below — when the director took to his Instagram account to release some concept art he was developing for an Alien project no one knew even existed, if in fact it did at the time. This prompted the Internet to wonder whether the project was a personal undertaking or if it meant a Blomkamp-helmed installment was on the horizon, but a tweet accompanying one particular photo the director released made it seem as though the project, whatever its previous status, was dead in the water. However, from the sounds of it the situation is actually quite the opposite.
While making the rounds for his upcoming film Chappie, Blomkamp explained to Uproxx that he is actually the one holding everything up, because Fox is apparently ready to move forward and bring the director’s vision to the big screen. And they want to do so tomorrow. Tomorrow! If you need proof, here’s Blomkamp again:
“I’m the problem. Fox, they would make it. Like, tomorrow. They would make it.”
There you go, there’s your proof. Surely there are plenty of dollars still to milk out of the popular sci-fi franchise, but if the concept actually is as interesting as Blomkamp claims it to be, perhaps we are in for a treat. Then again, I’m not really a Blomkamp fan, so I’m taking the wait-and-see approach on this one. The director told Uproxx there was “a high possibility, a high degree of chance” he would revisit the project given the studio’s interest, but for as much as he wants to make it, he is still weary of taking the leap. Read on:
“[The situation i]s totally abnormal. But it’s for the reason that you bring up, if it’s going to happen, it has to be on my terms. So, I came up with [the concept] and I’m bringing this to you. It’s not like, ‘Would you like to do Spider-Man 36?’ I still love it, I love the idea of the movie and I produced way more art than I put out.”
As Blomkamp says, he “basically developed an entire movie and did all of this artwork as well,” so if indeed he does decide to make an Alien film in the near future, it sounds like he’s got a solid foundation to start with. Anyways, check out the artwork below and let us know what you think — should Blomkamp do it? Do we need another Alien film? Will we actually see this thing get made tomorrow?!
