Ridley Scott directed 1979's
Alien and two of its prequel films,
Prometheus and
Alien: Covenant. The filmmaker is thought to be the Alien franchise's most prominent creative figure - considering he birthed it - though Ridley himself recently confessed that, without the creature design of H.R. Giger and his work on the titular xenomorph, the franchise would certainly have not endured as long as it has.
The director recalled Alien's production to
Yahoo Movies:
In my career, which has been pretty long, there’s only been, with the greatest respect for the people I’ve worked with, two real, real originals. Funnily enough, I came across a guy called H.R. Giger and if I hadn’t got that monster you would not have had that movie.
The Swiss painter is an icon in the world of science fiction, with his paintings blending humans, aliens, and robots with the heavy use of biomechanical and sexual imagery. Scott and Giger's collaboration infinitely helped to make Alien a sci-fi masterpiece.
I saw the drawing – the drawing was drawn for the book, not the film – and I was so kind of taken, I flew to Switzerland where he lived because he didn’t want to get the plane as he was scared of flying. I met him in Zurich at his home and I persuaded him to travel by train to come to England and live at Shepperton studios for ten months. And he did.
It wouldn’t have been the same movie. Whilst the cast was wonderful, with Sigourney [Weaver] and Harry [Dean Stanton] and those people, but without that eighth passenger it wouldn’t have been the same film.
The renowned director went on to add:
What I’m trying to say is that there are rarities, there are those [ideas] that occur once in the while, not that often, but when they do grab them and hang on to them.
Perhaps Scott's comments indicate that the Xenomorph will return for the potential third prequel. He at least seems to have warmed to the idea. Scott’s comments about replacing the titular monster with artificial intelligence in its own series proved controversial with fans - it’s also doubtful the studio would be too eager to get rid of the iconic creature.
The series appears to be on hold while Scott works on other projects, but taking into account the underperformance of Alien: Covenant and the overall mixed reception to Scott’s prequel movies - and even Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox - the director may not get the chance to make another entry.
What do you think about the director's comments? Do you think the film and the franchise would've taken off if Giger hadn't have been brought on-board? What do you think about Giger's impressive legacy?