Movies
New ‘Alien’ Is a Collaboration Between Sigourney Weaver and Neill Blomkamp!
The dance that is the next Alien has exploded into epic proportions as Elysium, District 9 and Chappie director Neill Blomkamp is teaming with Sigourney Weaver for the hotly anticipated sequel.
The two, after playing coy, are finally opening up to press during their tour of Chappie, in which the they both worked together for a second time.
EW chatted with both and learned that Blomkamp was inspired by Weaver’s ideas. For those of you paying attention, she’s always been extremely vocal about her desire to destroy the Xeno’s home planet.
“It did have to do with having Sigourney on ‘Chappie’. It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to one day be a part of. Those first two [‘Alien’] films are probably my favorite films ever made. I didn’t know if it would ever happen. I just always wanted to participate in it if I was able to.
Over the years, I came up with a story for a film in that universe that I wanted to make. And then when I talked to her about her experience making those films and what she thought about Ripley and everything else, it informed and changed the film I wanted to make into something different.
It just sort of stuck with me. A year later, when post-production was winding down on ‘Chappie’, I started fleshing out the idea for a film that would contain Sigourney. Fox never knew. I just worked on it when I could. Before I knew it, I had this really awesome film with a lot of artwork and a lot of backstory. And then I didn’t know whether I was going to make it or not. So I just kind of sat on it for a while.
Thanks to Fox giving Deadpool a go after test footage leaked, Blomkamp used grassroots to hype his vision that ultimately caught the attention of the studio, too.
Also, as a bonus, below is a video with the duo that has Weaver talking about her vision mentioned above, while Blomkamp calls it a Freudian nightmare.
Blomkamp also dropped this gem: “I want this film to feel like it is literally the genetic sibling of Aliens, so it’s Alien, Aliens and then this film.”
They both elude to this being the final story: “I would love to take Ripley out of, sort of, orbiting around outer space and give a proper finish to what was such an excellent story,” said Weaver. “So when somebody like Neill Blomkamp suddenly said, ‘Well, I’m interested in finishing the story,’ my little ears perked up.”
The bugs are finally going to get what’s been coming to them.
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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