Star Wars is a juggernaut in the industry that, in its initial days, showed audiences and creators how the art of filmmaking can push the envelope of storytelling. Turns out, the the film’s influence was bigger than what fans had expected.
Filmmakers often have checklists of the kind of films they want to do before they retire from the industry. This is partly due to how much revenue they bring in for a studio, and where they end up during awards season.
Ridley Scott wanted to do a film in space, but George Lucas beat him to it. However, this also ended up spawning one of the best films that the auteur would ever make, reinventing the horror genre, and giving it one of its most iconic monsters.
Ridley Scott did Alien inspired by Star Wars
Ridley Scott was offered Alien six weeks after he watched Star Wars. Star Wars was a film that completely changed how Scott viewed the business of cinema. When someone stormed into his room and said ‘Ridley, you’d better go see this new movie called Star Wars,’ the director was quick to find a seat in a theatre that was showing the film. After watching the film, he said (via Wired):
I was stunned. Star Wars just turned my head about completely. So much so that when I walked out of the theater, I thought, Why the hell am I doing Tristan and Isolde?! Things are changing! It’s time to get down to business! Six weeks later, I was offered Alien. I was the studio’s fifth choice.
Star Wars was nothing like Alien. Despite the fact that both films were in the science fiction genre and that Scott had enjoyed Lucas’s film, their themes and tones were completely different. Alien was a relentless exercise in suspense and visceral horror, something that would be echoed by horror films to come, whereas Star Wars embodied awe and exhilarating adventure, something that would shape the space opera genre.
Naturally, Scott wasn’t going to talk himself out of a job by pointing out these differences to Fox executives.
Ridley Scott is working on another Alien film
With the success of Alien: Romulus and Gladiator II being received just as well, it seems that Ridley Scott is hard at work on another Alien film. This is a completely separate film from the Romulus Sequel, which is also in development. Scott is also currently busy developing Gladiator III, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Ridley Scott’s pretty busy working on a slew of projects based on some of his best IPs in Hollywood. However, there needs to be a focus in the industry to develop new and original films, which seems to be increasingly becoming a thing of the past. As franchise films take center stage, it is difficult to come across films like Alien and Star Wars, films that would disrupt the market with their creative storytelling and novel approach to filmmaking.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
