Your screams in space will be heard if Fede Alvarez has something to say about it.
The director behind Don’t Breathe and a 2013 remake of Evil Dead was used to write and direct an original stand-alone alien film for 20th Century Studios.
Ridley Scott, who directed the original science fiction horror film, released in 1979 and returning for two installments in the 21st century, will produce through his banner Scott Free. The project is intended to be made for Hulu as part of 20th Century’s ambition to make more than 10 films a year for the Disney-owned streaming service.
Alien and his many sequels and backstories focus on the horror of a ferocious race of aliens called xenomorphs who implant eggs in living bodies through “face-hugs” that forcibly explode from the crates when they reach a certain stage of maturity.
Dan O’Bannon wrote the first film, which played out as a restrained horror story about the doomed crew of the cargo spacecraft Nostromo. Survivor Ripley and the actress who plays her, Sigourney Weaver, became the human face of the Fox franchise when James Cameron directed the sequel, Aliens, in 1986, developing it into an action film that became a huge cultural hit.
Two more films, with Weaver, followed in the 1990s, while a crossover with the other science fiction franchise of Fox Predator, without Weaver, carried the Xenomorphs in the 2000s. Scott returned to his collaborations with the backstory of Prometheus, an ambitious and theologically minded film released in 2012, and Alien: Covenant from 2017; they both tried to tell the origin of the species.
Alvarez’s photo is kept deep in the studio’s chest, but sources describe it as unrelated to previous films.
According to sources, Alvarez is a fierce fan of the franchise and carelessly approached Scott many years ago. The idea remained implanted in Scott’s brain until late last year, when he suddenly called Alvarez and asked him if the younger director was still ready for it. Alvarez did not have to be asked twice.
20th Century has embarked on a project “purely from the power of Fede’s terrain”, said division president Steve Asbel. “It was a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.”
Asbel, who recently spoke to THR about the future of 20th Century Studios, said that by doing the Hulu project, there would be no pressure to reduce the potential sharpness that could come with theatrical considerations. “This is not a film that should be everything for all people with these huge budgets. They must be authentic what they are. And that’s closer to his genre roots. “
Alvarez is certainly a director who loves his genre work. He has won followers for his passionless horror projects, including writing and directing a 2013 remake of Evil Dead and co-authoring and producing a Netflix remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He achieved commercial and critical success with the thriller Don’t Breathe, a story he co-authored and directed. Breathe spawned a sequel that was released in 2021.
Alvarez is represented by WME and Jacoway Austin.