[_____V_____]

(via IGN)

April 23, 2010 - Whether or not you think it's a good thing that an Alien prequel (or two prequels) is being made, said film is nonetheless happening.

The good news, one supposes, is that the original film's director Ridley Scott is behind the new picture. And he's just revealed lots of new details about the films.

MTV spoke to the helmer, who said that they're on the fourth draft or so of the script at the moment.

"It's a work in progress, but we're actually making the films," he says. "There's no question about it, we're going to make the films. … Now it's a matter of, how good can I get the screenplay in the next few weeks so I can get a good ballpark figure of what it will cost. I've already got people working graphically on designs for the various requirements of the films."

Scott explains that the picture is set in the year 2085, some 30 years before the first film, and will "fundamentally [be] about going out to find out, 'Who the hell was that Space Jockey?' The guy who was sitting in the chair in the Alien vehicle -- there was a giant fellow sitting in a seat on what looked to be either a piece of technology or an astronomer's chair. Remember that?"

Oh yes, we remember.

But do we really need to learn about that particular mystery? Wasn't that one of the most appealing aspects of Alien, the ambiguity of things like that?

Anyway, the filmmaker also indicates that Sigourney Weaver most likely won't be back for the films, but that the main character will be a woman.

Also, Scott doesn't seem to be much of a fan of the AvP films, and that fact may lead to a new look for the monsters in the prequel.

"The thing about Alien vs. Predator is, I know it's commerce, but what a pity," he says. "I think, therefore, I have to design -- or redesign -- earlier versions of what these elements are that led to the thing you finally see in Alien, which is the thing that catapults out of the egg, the face-hugger. … I don't want to repeat it. The Alien in a sense, as a shape, is worn out."

Scott also says he's hoping to have the first film in theaters by late 2011 or "maybe the best date - in 2012."