I am – Hercules!!
Chubbing up at the thought of Ridley Scott ordering around a bunch of face-huggers one more time? Yeah, me too!
Friday morning's Variety confirms the news Entertainment Weekly broke early last month: original "Alien" helmer Ridley Scott is indeed directing a prequel to "Alien."
More than that, a screenwriter has been hired. Jon Spaihts, a hot Hollywood talent who hasn’t quite gotten anything produced yet, is now penning the script.
Variety explains where Fox dug up the writer:
Spaihts has become a go-to-guy for space thrillers. After Keanu Reeves became attached to his Warner Bros. sci-fi script "Shadow 19," Reeves hired Spaihts to write the space journey epic "Passengers," which is berthed at Morgan Creek. That script got Spaihts the meeting with Fox and Scott Free, and he won the job with an "Alien" reboot take that the studio and Scott loved.
Fox has separately hired him to rewrite "The Darkest Hour," which Timur Bekmambetov to produce with Tom Jacobson. Spaihts is writing "Children of Mars" for Disney and Scott Rudin, and he will follow by rewriting "St. George and the Dragon" for Sony and Red Wagon.
It’s Scott’s first time directing an “Alien” movie since the 1979 thriller that launched the franchise.
Earlier reports suggesting one Carl Erik Rinsch, the commercial director romantically involved with Scott’s daughter, would direct the prequel were apparently premature.
Find all of Variety’s story on the matter here.
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