While it’s still hard to believe that the project is happening, it was only last week that we heard of Fox’s joy with Damn Lindelof’s Alien prequel script, which was apparently approached with a mind for a much tighter budget than Ridley Scott originally planned. While there’s nothing wrong with trimming fat and excess, this is Fox we’re talking about and that same news came with whispers of a possible PG-13 rating, the reaction to which was understandably nasty. No comment from Scott or any other news that would give context about the changes to the script have emerged, but fresh casting talks are being added to the mix.
As we’ve heard so far, Natalie Portman was being considered for the project (though we’ve heard wrongly before that she was involved in a giant space epic), and Noomi Rapace (who sports a Dragon Tattoo from time to time) was also a candidate, along with Carey Mulligan. Two more names have been added to the list according to Bloody-Disgusting; James Franco and Anne Hatheway. It’s completely unclear where the overlap in role interest lies. For all we know, the five of these actors could be all be up for a single currently genderless lead (Scott indicated that the lead would be a woman, but also referenced the gender change during pre-production of the original Alien), or any other imagineable breakdown of parts.
If you’ve missed or forgotten the very few details that are available about the film, feel free to catch up while we wait for the official word that is no doubt coming soon.