Ridley Scott Says Fede Alvarez’s ‘Alien: Romulus’ is “F*cking Great”

Fede Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus” wrapped production in Hungary this past summer. It was shooting for around four months. Did we really need another ‘Alien’ movie? Of course not. I really liked Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus”, though! That one felt very different to all the other films we’ve gotten in this franchise.

By the looks of it, Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus” is not as ambitious as “Prometheus.” Based on what we’ve gathered so far about the film, it’ll basically be Gen-Z vs the Xenomorph, all done via the slasher genre.

At least Alvarez got Scott’s endorsement. AVP Galaxy reports (via The Playlist) that Alvarez sent an early director’s cut of “Alien: Romulus” for Scott to screen. Scott is a harsh critic, Alvarez knew it, and it turns out Scott loved the film.

I finished the director’s cut a week ago and had to go through the incredible tense process of obviously sending to Ridley. I wanted him to see it before anybody. And everyone gave me the head’s up that Ridley is really tough. He’s really tough, particularly if it has something to do with his movies. He was really tough on “Blade Runner,” which I thought was a masterpiece, and he had issues with it because it’s really hard for him because it’s his work.

So I was like ‘there’s no way I win this one. Even if he didn’t ask for it, I was gonna go there and sit at a table and look at him and get it. Even if he was gonna say ‘you destroyed my legacy,’ I wanted to be in front of him and see him in the eye. I didn’t want to get an email where it says Ridley says…’. I was like, ‘I wanna see him, if you’ll see me, I want to talk to him right after.'

I drove there. I see his executives, which couldn’t see it with him, because he wanted to watch it on his own. Because it was “Alien.” It was very important to him. He didn’t want to have anybody in the room. That makes me even more terrified while I’m waiting. And then he walks into the room and he did say ‘Fede, what can I say? It’s f*cking great.’ For me it was like…ahhh…My family knows it was one of the best moments of my life to have a master like him, which I admired so much, to even watch a movie I made but particularly something like this…and talk to me for an hour about what he liked about it.

This is the seventh film of the never ending franchise, and it stars a young batch of actors — Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn …

The ‘Alien’ saga, which began in 1979 with Ridley Scott's film, and Sigourney Weaver in the lead, has had many sequels over the years. Álvarez, best known for the excellent “Don't Breathe” and the “Evil Dead” remake, will try to follow in the footsteps of Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

While the premise for the movie has been kept under wraps, the studio did reveal that the film will follow “a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Scott remains as producer. This is 20th Century’s attempt at reviving the franchise. Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” was both a critical and commercial disappointment, only making $74 million domestically. Nobody cared about that movie, which was well-made, but felt like business as usual.

“Alien: Romulus” arrives in theaters on August 16, 2024. This is a co-production between 20th Century Studios and Scott Free Productions.