Want proof that Joss Whedon is merely a nerd demi-god, and not a full-on nerd god? He can still make mistakes. To wit, you may recall a film called Alien: Resurrection, the fourth film in the storied Alien franchise that was written by no less than Joss Whedon! You read that right. Joss. Whedon.

So you probably already know that, but the subject of Alien: Resurrection came up again in a recent interview that Whedon did with the magazine Total Film. They asked The Avengers director about both the Alien film he authored and his views on the most recent installment of the franchise, Prometheus.

“Yes, I did see Pro-meaningless,” he joked. “In all seriousness, Alien: Resurrection was, I thought, the lowest I could ever feel. And then they cancelled Firefly. ‘Yup, there you go. That’s me feeling even lower.’ Let me quote King Lear – ‘The worst is not, so long as we can say, ‘This is the worst.’”

As for the exact hiccup in the execution of his Alien script, has an idea about that. “Casting is storytelling,” he explained. “I wrote two characters for Alien: Resurrection and their arc was that you would not know what way they were going to go. One of them turned out to be insane – and what do they do? They call Brad Dourif. So there is no plot twist. Brad is a very good actor but he has been pigeonholed into these roles. Then they cast J.E. Freeman as a thug – and his character was also supposed to be a mystery. So there you go again – the mystery is gone. Those are just a couple of examples because there are thousands of them when it comes to Alien: Resurrection.”

Well, perhaps Whedon can take some solace in now having directed the third most popular film of all time and basically having carte blanche for anything he wants to do in Hollywood. “Yeah – you don’t ever get over it,” he said matter of factly. “When you are making a movie you are making something that is going to last forever, especially now with the internet. So there is always going to be a shitty Alien movie out there. A shitty Alien movie with my name on it.”

But at least it’s not the shittiest Alien movie of all, right? I mean, look at Alien Vs. Predator.

“I actually like the first Alien vs. Predator. I’m a Paul W. S. Anderson fan.”

Well, there’s no accounting for taste.

Source: Comic Book Movie

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Whether you liked Prometheus or not, you can’t deny the film was popular. Mostly because it spurred a million and one theories on what the fuck the movie was actually about, but regardless, it got people talking. Now get ready for take two. While promoting her new film, Dead Man Down, Prometheus star and – SPOILER – sole human survivor Noomi Rapace mentioned she’s talked to Ridley Scott and can confirm they are working on a script for a sequel.

They’re working on the script. I met Ridley in London a couple of weeks ago. I would love to work with him again and I know that he would like to do another one. It’s just like we need to find the right story. I hope we will.

It’s unclear if she was meeting with Scott about returning for the sequel or just to get coffee and catch up, but I find it unlikely they’d pursue a Prometheus sequel without her. Rapace made these comments to Indiewire, who followed it up by asking what she thought about the mixed reactions to the flick. After discussing her experience making Prometheus, she added,

And it’s interesting because people, most people I’ve talked to who see the movie, see things that are quite different. Some people who see the movie many times and discover new things. There are all these religious aspects and there are very interesting conversations. And for me, if we do a second one, there are a lot of things to explore in there and to continue.

And if you had any questions about if she wanted to come back for the sequel, Rapace said, “I would love to do it.”

Prometheus 2, do you want it? What do you think it should explore? Personally, I’d love to see Rapace and Michael Fassbender‘s disembodied David head taking on whole bunch of Engineers, Aliens-style.

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Is there a more divisive name in nerdery right now than Damon Lindelof? The Lost co-creator and Prometheus screenwriter has stayed fairly busy lately with a lot of film work, but he made his name on TV, and considering the success of his last show, there would obviously be a lot of interest in his next project if he should have one.

And so he does. Vulture is reporting that HBO has decided to greenlight the pilot for The Leftovers, Lindelof’s next project which is based on the novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta (Little Children). The novel focuses on those left behind after “the Sudden Departure,” a Rapture-like event where millions of people suddenly disappear from the Earth. The novel picks up three years after the Sudden Departure as those that remain struggle with the aftermath.

“The fact that there’s this reaping which occurred, and you don’t make the cut, some of us don’t feel worthy, seemed very ripe territory for a cool character drama,” Lindelof tells Vulture.

Lindelof pitched the project just six months ago, so the project seems to be moving through development rather briskly. When will we see the finished series? Excellent question. My guess would be sometime in the summer or fall 2014. HBO has a pretty full plate right now, so maybe the premium cable channel is looking to the future with a plan to fill a whole in the schedule when one opens up.

The whole concept sounds very Lost-y if you ask me. Perhaps Lindelof is looking to do some penance given the way that series ended up in 2010. Or maybe he saw those awful Kirk Cameron Left Behind movies and saw potential. Anyway, are you anxious to see The Leftovers?

Source: Blastr

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It was bound to happen sometime, the blowback. You can make $1.5 billion at the box office, re-ignite the flailing comic movie subgenre and create a mini-mogul out of Joss Whedon, but you can’t convince Los Angeles Times readers that you’re not overrated.

In an online poll, Times readers were asked what film, in their opinion, was the most overrated of 2012 and the winner, by an overwhelming margin was The Avengers. Here’s the breakdown of the vote:

• The Avengers – 85.39%
• Prometheus – 4.62%
• Ted – 3.03%
• Cloud Atlas – 2.38%
• The Master – 1.78%
• Project X – 1.78%
• Brave – 1.02%

Now before you start getting your nerd Irish up, keep in mind that this is a web poll, and thus extremely unscientific. If you want to dump your nerd rage on someone, try David Cronenberg.

In a new interview with Playlist, Cronenberg clarified some earlier comments about the comic book film genre. Don’t worry, he just thinks that comic book movies are kept from true cinematic greatness because they’re based on material original meant for young people (I had to clean that up a bit). Read Cronenberg’s full comment below:

“What I was saying was that a comic book movie is really a comic book movie. Comic books were — especially those comic books which I was raised on (I loved Captain Marvel) — created for adolescents and they have a core that is adolescent [...] To me, that limits the discourse of your movie if you’re basing it accurately on that, and you cannot rise to the highest level of cinematic art. That’s my take on it. I went on to say that, of course, technically they can be incredibly interesting, since there are very clever people making the movie and of course have a lot of money they are throwing at it. But creatively, artistically, they are incredibly limited.”

I don’t think anyone would argue that Avengers is high art, but it seems that Cronenberg has a rather limited (or old-fashioned, if you like) definition of “comic book.” I don’t think you’d classify Maus or even Watchmen as “adolescent,” would you? It seems that Cronenberg knows about as much about comics as he does about teleportation, but I digress.

Source: Screen Rant

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Prometheus was one of this summer’s biggest disappointments for a lot of fans, and a lot of that blame, for better or worse, fell on screenwriter Damon Lindelof. But as development on the sequel gets underway, it seems that it will have to be done without Lindelof. Here’s what the writer had to say in brief…

“The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite.  Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it.  And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in.  The idea of building a sequel to it—from the ground up this time—with Ridley is tremendously exciting.  But at the same time, I was like, “Well that’s probably going to be two years of my life.”  I can’t do what J.J. [Abrams] does.   I don’t have the capability.  I’m usually very single-minded creatively.  I can only be working on one thing at a time.  So I said to him, “I really don’t think I could start working on this movie until I do this other stuff.  And I don’t know when the other stuff is going to be done.”  And he was like, “Well, okay, it’s not like I asked you anyways.”  He and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him.  But much to the delight of all the fanboys, I don’t see myself being involved in Prometheus-er.”

So I guess you won’t have Damon Lindelof to push around anymore… Not that I think that the faults of Prometheus are entirely his alone, but Lindelof is such a lightening rod for the fan community maybe it might help the sequel engender some trust if he’s not in the picture.

Here’s the full exchange from the Collider interview:

Collider: I know from people at Fox that they were really happy with the worldwide box office of Prometheus and that they are moving forward on a sequel.  Are you involved at all?

Damon Lindelof:  I am not.  Ridley [Scott] and I talked at great length during the story process of the first movie about what subsequent movies would be if Prometheus were to be successful.  And I think that the movie ended in a very specific way that hinted at, or strongly implied that there were going to be continuing adventures worthy of writing stories.  What those stories would be would not necessarily usurp or transcend the Alien franchise as we saw it because we know that the Nostromo hasn’t come along yet.  So the idea was to set up a universe that… Is it a prequel?  Okay.  If that’s what we want to call it, sure.  But the sequel to this movie is not Alien.  The sequel to this movie is this other thing.

So Ridley and I talked about what that other thing might be, and he was excited about doing it.  But then I think what ended up happening was that the movie came out, and there was a reaction to the movie.  And I got really wrapped up in Trek, and really wrapped up in this movie that I’m producing and writing with Brad Bird.  And I have a TV project that I was really passionate about.  Ridley and I had a meeting after Prometheus came out where we started talking again about where this journey would go.  And in that meeting I said to him, unfortunately, before he could ask me and go through the discomfort of whether he was going to ask me or not… It’s sort of like having a date where you’re letting the other person know, “I’m in another relationship.”  So I can’t tell you that he asked me and I said no.  But I did communicate to him that I was working on these other things.

The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite.  Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it.  And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in.  The idea of building a sequel to it—from the ground up this time—with Ridley is tremendously exciting.  But at the same time, I was like, “Well that’s probably going to be two years of my life.”  I can’t do what J.J. [Abrams] does.   I don’t have the capability.  I’m usually very single-minded creatively.  I can only be working on one thing at a time.  So I said to him, “I really don’t think I could start working on this movie until I do this other stuff.  And I don’t know when the other stuff is going to be done.”  And he was like, “Well, okay, it’s not like I asked you anyways.”  He and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him.  But much to the delight of all the fanboys, I don’t see myself being involved in Prometheus-er.

At least he’s self-aware about it. But despite the hate, Lindelof is staying busy, writing and producing Star Trek Into Darkness and Brad Bird’s super-secret 1952. He also did re-writes on Marc Forster’s World War Z.

Source: Collider

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Interested in seeing what Jon Spaihts had in mind for the Alien prequel before Ridley Scott and Damon Linelof came aboard and made Prometheus? Well, now you can satiate your curiosity by reading Spaihts’ original script for yourself by clicking here.

The entire thing was leaked online by the website Prometheus Movie, and Spaihts himself confirmed that it is legit via his Twitter page.

So any big differences? I read the first 30 pages of the draft called Alien: Engineers and it kind of follows the same beats as Prometheus with the introduction of a pair of scientists seeking the origins of life on Earth, the attachment of elderly Weyland to the mission, and the introduction of company woman Vickers and the android David. Others who have hear the script, say that’s a perfectly serviceable monster movie, complete with more throwbacks to Alien including facehuggers and chestbursters.

Give ‘er a read and let us know what you think. Is this the version of Prometheus you rather would have seen? Sound off below.

Source: Blastr

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Fans of Ridley Scott‘s Blade Runner and Alien movies can get an interesting look at Scott’s ideas and plans for the sequels to both movies. The big news is Scott’s confirmation that there will be a Blade Runner sequel. The Prometheus sequel is pretty much a given even with the lackluster US gross ($140 million) and the moderate worldwide success ($400 million) of the film. That monetary return will be boosted by the current Blue-Ray/DVD sales happening now.

Recently, Scott sat down with Metro and talked sequels:

First up is Prometheus:

What made you want to tackle sci-fi again?

I hadn’t done sci-fi for so long and  I enjoyed doing it. Plus, when it comes to the Alien world, no one else had addressed the origin question and I thought that was interesting to tackle. Prometheus evolved into a whole other universe. You’ve got a person [Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw] with a head in a bag [ Michael Fassbender’s David] that functions and has an IQ of 350. It can explain to her how to put the head back on the body and she’s gonna think about that long and hard because, once the head is back on his body, he’s dangerous.

So that’s the sequel?

[Laughs] I wish it was that easy. They’re going off to paradise but it could be the most savage, horrible place. Who are the Engineers?

Was it your idea to shoot in 3D?

Yes, but it was an obvious thing to do. I may as well join the club, you know? Celluloid is disappearing. The labs don’t exist any more except to service the old films.  I like the digital process. It’s more reliable. You push a button and  you get 5,000 prints that are all exactly the same but if I was  going to do it physically with film, at the end of the process the chemical has gotten so used it’s no longer functioning. I would never use film again.

Why did you use a lot of real sets rather than full CGI like,  say, Avatar?
[Laughs] Because it was a quarter of the price of Avatar. Sorry, Jim! I’m a cameraman, primarily. My films have always been criticized for being too visual, too misty, too this or too that, but I don’t care. We’re dealing with a visual medium; storytelling is entirely visual, as Hitchcock said. Because  I went to art school and I can draw, I know exactly how the script is going to evolve into a film.

Now we get to Blade Runner:

There is a rumour you’ll be making a Blade Runner sequel.

It’s not a rumour – it’s happening. With Harrison Ford? I don’t know yet. Is he too old? Well, he was a Nexus-6 so we don’t know how long he can live [laughs]. And that’s all I’m going to say at this stage.

Right out of the man’s mouth, there will be a Blade Runner sequel. 2012 marked the 30 year anniversary of Blade Runner’s theatrical release. Thirty years is a long time, I’m sure that Scott and others have kicked around the idea of a sequel before this so there is no telling how far or much of the sequel story line has already been put together by Scott. For all we know right now there could be a rough script put together already.

What do you think? Is there an argument out there about not making a sequel to such a beloved film? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Via: Metro

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Ridley Scott got a mixed reception with his recent release of Prometheus, some thinking it was great and others feeling like it was full of holes.  And while this Nerdbastard will admit there were more than a few problems with the film, I also think that there weren’t as many holes and many would like to claim.

One big-as-fck issue I had with it (as did the world at large) was the “WTF?!” moment when Millburn, the mentally handicapped biologist decided that playing pet-pet with a potentially dangerous alien life form was a good idea.  Never mind the fact that it could be filled with disease, poisonous as hell or any number of other bad things that could kill him.

So was Millburn really just that fkn stupid, or is there a method to his madness?

Well, I’m glad you asked!  The Blu-ray release of Prometheus is coming soon and with it many deleted scenes that may explain away some of the movie’s nonsense.  One of them happens to give a slight bit more insight into the Millburn conundrum.

Check out the following clip to get a sort-of explanation to his stupidity:

He’s still not the smartest monkey in the barrel, but it does at least establish the character’s awe over new forms of life.  All-in-all, it probably wasn’t the best scene to leave out of the final cut, whether you agree with the set-up or not.

Check out more exciting deleted scenes when the Prometheus Blu-ray releases on October 9^th.  For those of you who can’t read a calendar, that’s one week from today.

And thanks to screenrant for the info.

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Every day the internet produces an astounding amount of goodies and gems. Most hilarious, some amusing, but all worth at least a few seconds of your time. We here at Nerd Bastards try to bring you the best bits of news and nerdery the webz has to offer, with a bit of snark thrown in. But sometimes not everything makes the cut. Monday through Friday we’ll be bringing you our inbox leftovers, our forgotten bookmarks, the nerdy bits that simply slipped through the cracks. You can submit items to Nerdy Bits by emailing us at nerdybits@nerdbastards.com.

ABOVE: Dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria! Also, a Slimer glass pipe [ObviousWinner]

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The “go to” guy of Hollywood, James Cameron is a director who can do know wrong. He could film a reboot of the worst movie on the planet – that sickly horrible film that is Troll 2 – and turn it into a feature film capable of winning Best Picture at next year’s Oscars. But I digress, Cameron, with his many years of experience has a keen eye for feature films and strong opinions of those directed by other. So how does he feel about Prometheus?

With his directorial work on Aliens, Cameron was the first director to take over the Alien franchise after the departure of director and creator Ridley Scott. So go figure, Cameron has something to say about the creator returning to the Alien franchise. In a recent chat with Moviefone, Cameron said,

I enjoyed Prometheus; I thought it was great. I thought it was Ridley returning to science fiction with gusto, with great tactical performance, beautiful photography, great native 3D. There might have been a few things that I would have done differently, but that’s not the point, you could say that about any movie.

Turns out Cameron enjoyed the flick so much he watched it twice!

Oh, yeah. I’m a huge movie fan. I love watching films. I love watching films with the family, with the kids; I love watching films myself. I was out there opening night [for] Prometheus. I didn’t go to the Thursday midnight screening, but I was there Friday. I like to still get excited about movies and whether they pay off or not, that’s not the point — the fact that there’s still an excitement around a new movie, about the an unveiling of a new movie….Prometheus is a film I saw twice, and I thought about it ahead of time. The first time I would just enjoy it, go for the ride, not be too analytical and the second time I would allow myself to be a little more analytical about, you know, where the lights were and how they lit the shots with all the people in the helmets, how they probably had to do CG faceplates like we did on Avatar, things like that. But, sometimes, so that I preserve a fun, fan-like viewing experience, I won’t get into that level. I’ll just go for the ride, like, consciously.

Speaking of going for a ride, in a quote from the Huffington Post Cameron briefly touched on how he at one time almost purchased the rights to Jurassic Park before Steven Spielberg. And just like his films today, Jurassic Park would have included aliens,

I tried to buy the book rights and [Spielberg] beat me to it by a few hours. But when I saw the film, I realized that I was not the right person to make the film, he was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids, and mine would have been Aliens with dinosaurs, and that wouldn’t have been fair. Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds. We can all enjoy it, too, but kids get dinosaurs and they should not have been excluded for that. His sensibility was right for that film, I’d have gone further, nastier, much nastier.

Imagine how different that movie would have been if Spielberg hadn’t gotten the rights before Cameron. Yeah, we’re shuddering at the thought of it, too.

Source: /Film

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