No Sigourney Weaver, and a redesign of the xenomorphs...

Director Ridley Scott has revealed further details about the Alien prequel, though he hasn't commented yet on the 3D scoop that Shadowlocked got off original Alien art director Roger Christian early in March.

According to Scott, talking with MTV about the pending release of Robin Hood, Sir Ridley is working through the screenplay in the next few weeks and budgeting the much-awaited 'proper' sequel in the Alien franchise.

One thing that Scott did confirm is the absence of Sigourney Weaver - this will be the first time in the series (excluding the execrable AVP movies) that Fox has been able to save a few million on Weaver's fee. As Scott points out (regarding Weaver's character, Ripley): "It will be before she was born!"

Scott said: "It's set in 2085, about 30 years before Sigourney. It's fundamentally about going out to find out 'Who the hell was that Space Jockey?' The guy who was sitting in the chair in the alien vehicle — there was a giant fellow sitting in a seat on what looked to be either a piece of technology or an astronomer's chair... I'm basically explaining who that Space Jockey — we call him the Space Jockey — I'm explaining who the space jockeys were."

Since the space jockey is such a bizarre design, it's hard to imagine that the Alien prequel could be anything other than chock-full of CGI. Giger's original design for the creature suggested that it grew out of the telescope/gun. Was it a particular breed of the species designed to do that? Are there more ambulatory space-jockeys?

Scott reveals that he is not interested in returning to the identical design of the xenomorph used in Alien or the sequels. "I don't want to repeat it. The alien in a sense, as a shape, is worn out." He also expressed interest in returning to work with original conceptual artist H.R. Giger: "Once I get more serious and get going, and the big wheels start turning, we'll certainly talk. And maybe we'll come up with something completely different."

In the time-frame of the prequel, Weyland-Yutani - 'the company' - will not yet exist, but will instead be just 'Weyland', on a mission of "taking planets and planetoids and balls of earth and trying to terraform, seed them with the possibilities of future life".

MTV

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EXCLUSIVE: Alien prequel WILL be 3D

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