Ridley Scott returns once more to breathe life into his beloved brainchild
It has been a long and uncertain wait for the follow-up to what was the much anticipated next installment of the Alien series. Prometheus ended up dividing critics and audiences alike when it arrived in theaters four years ago, leaving the future of the franchise up in the air. Thankfully, Ridley Scott has put those fears to rest with the release of a terrifying trailer to the latest chapter in his much-adored sci-fi series.
With the return of the spellbinding Michael Fassbender and his equally talented Prometheus co-stars Noomi Rapace and Guy Pearce, it seems that Alien: Covenant may stick the same formula provided in the last film. But with the addition of a stellar ensemble cast, including Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Billy Crudup, Amy Seimetz, and James Franco, the picture may end up regaining the trust of critics and fans alike.
The red-band trailer below is one that will invoke ideas of terror, shock and disgust–all in deliciously appropriate manners. And although it promises to answer more questions as to the origin of the enigmatic xenomorphs, the trailer below will also leave one wondering: when will the Weyland Corporation ever learn?
Check out the trailer below before catching the flick May 19:
Check out what one of the film’s star Katherine Waterston had to say about the film:
DK: What a pleasure it is for me to bring to the stage one of the stars of Alien: Covenant. Please welcome Katherine Waterston. [LAUGHS]
KW: Oh, God. I feel like I’m gonna throw up.
DK : [LAUGHS] I think we all feel the same way, but that’s a good feeling, right?
KW : Yeah. I mean, I haven’t seen any of the footage from the film yet, so it’s nauseating on two levels. I can’t really handle scary movies and then it’s also just overwhelming just to see it.
DK : So no one told you this was gonna be a scary movie when you —
KW : I didn’t get the memo.
DK : [LAUGHS] I mean, in all seriousness, though, when you think about Ridley Scott, I mean, from the Alien movies to Thelma and Louise, this is a guy who regularly puts incredibly strong female characters on screen. Was that part of the appeal for you?
KW : Yeah, I mean, people are talking a lot these days about the progress we’re making, or, you know, storytelling, with great roles for women. But, I mean, I don’t know, maybe Ridley’s not getting enough credit. He’s been doing it for a very long time. And I think his attitude about it is very similar to my own. It just seems obvious. It’s interesting and there are a lot of cool, complicated women out there, and it’s not rocket science.
DK : Right. So when we see your character on the ship, she seems pretty queasy. She looks very nauseated, just with the ride. Can you tell us a little about, without giving anything away, what’s the evolution of her as the film goes on?
KW : And I’m not sure really what I can share except that she has really good instincts, and she has a concern about where they are going on that ship. So we were really rocking around in there when we shot that scene. And people had whiplash. I mean, it was really violent. So, probably, some of that is just genuine nausea. But she’s also — you know. She’s concerned about what they are doing. She’s questioning leadership there a little too, I think.
DK : Okay. And is it kind of a baptism by fire for her? Does she get thrust into a situation where she has to prove herself maybe for the first time? Or, has she been through things like this before?
KW : She, like Amy, in that scene, who is the pilot, y’know, they’re — they’re colonists. They’re scientists. Obviously Amy is a pilot. They are not — they’re not military experts or anything so they are all civilians dealing … and there are some military dudes around to protect us, but most of the — I don’t know if I’m supposed to say this, but I’m gonna say it anyway — like, most of the people on the ship are couples. And then there are all of these colonists who are in a kind of — in a cryosleep. … It’s one of those things, you always wonder, what kind of person you would be in an extreme crisis. Will you be a coward, or will you be courageous. And I think she’s just one of those people, who, if her kids were in a car that was on fire, she’d be able to lift up the car. You hear those stories about people doing extraordinary things, so, yeah. It’s like that.
DK : Well, what about you as an actor? I mean, you’ve done so many different kinds of movies, from Inherent Vice to Fantastic Beasts. Did you know that you had this action hero inside of you? Or, did someone have to convince you to do a film like this?
KW : Well, I don’t think anyone ever has to convince any actor to work with Ridley Scott, or to be a part of something like this. I feel like I’ve heard actors say this all of the time, and they say it all of the time because it’s true: we do find ourselves attracted to the things that we don’t think we can do. I’m always looking for new challenges, and, maybe, even on some level, I’m addicted to that horrible dread that you [LAUGHS] feel at the beginning of a project where you are not sure if you will have what it takes to, you know, pull it off, yeah.
DK : So, it’s hard not to notice, especially watching a montage of your character, just the haircut, I mean, it’s all very evocative of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley and I’ve heard you described as the new Ripley. Were there conversations between you and Ridley Scott, was that something that he wants to bring out with your character in this film?
KW : We never really talked about it. I mean, I obviously I love her, and I love what she did, and there are obvious parallels. Like, she had the good instinct about some things in that, in the first film, too, and she also, you know, found her courage, and that, in a way, that I think is similar. But we never — we never talked about that. And actually the haircut was my idea, because I had this like, goofy bob from Fantastic Beasts. And Ridley kind of liked it. And I just thought, I can’t be this like, goofy flawed witch in space. It just seemed really wrong to me. But I’d been hanging out with Ezra Miller on that film, and I really loved his dumb haircut [LAUGHS] from that movie. And, so, when I got this job, I was still shooting that, and it was near the end of — of shooting Fantastic Beasts, and in the hair and makeup trailer, they were making wigs, just in case we had to do pickups and people’s hair had changed. So, I saw his wig in the corner, and I said, “can I just try that on?” And, so, I put that on, and I showed it to Ridley, and begged him to let me do it and he did. So it’s really just, I’m just ripping off Ezra, and yeah. There were a couple of other ideas that I had there, but for that, I didn’t really think about her, and actually, in the first film, she had that great, big curly business.
