In space, no one can hear you spread misinformation.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Brian Duffield, writer and director of the alien invasion thriller “No One Can Save You” and this week’s wonderful survivor thriller “Whalefall,” was in talks to write and direct a new installment in the long-running “Alien” franchise for 20th Century.
This, as it turns out, is not the case.
While speaking to TheWrap about “Whalefall,” he clarified his involvement in a new “Alien” movie, saying, “I’m not writing. I’m not directing.”
Duffield continued: “I helped on a script. They needed some help for a few weeks over Christmas and Steve Asbell at 20th asked — as I was taking a break on ‘Whalefall’ over the holidays — if I would help them out a little bit. It was a very brief window. I’m not a part of it. I haven’t been asked to be a part of it, but it’s cool. I know what they’re doing and it’s really neat. But that’s not an adventure I’m going on.”
So there you have it – he worked on the screenplay for the next entry in the series over Christmas, most likely a necessary punch-up designed to get the project to the next stage of development or stoke enthusiasm from within the company. But he’s not still on it and is not, as he said, writing or directing a new “Alien” movie.
When we asked if it was something Duffield would want to be a part of, he said: “I don’t think so. I haven’t been talked to about it. I really like what they’re doing and I like the actors and everyone. I don’t know. It’s a tough question because I feel like I’ve just been married to the whale for three years, and I have no idea how to think about life without the whale, and so I don’t know what I’m doing next.”
Earlier this summer, shortly before the release of his critical and commercial disappointment “The Dog Stars” (which made just $39 million on a reported budget of at least $70 million), original “Alien” director Ridley Scott told a French outlet that he’d gotten involved in the new film, which will return Michael Fassbender’s villainous android character Walter to the forefront.
“I’ve already got a footprint for the next ‘Alien.’ We did ‘Prometheus,’ and then ‘Alien: Covenant.’ So, I’m picking up where we left off in ‘Covenant’ with Micheal Fassbender, who now thinks he’s Ozymandias,” Scott told the outlet AlloCiné.
Just don’t count Duffield in. But either way, “Whalefall” is in theaters Friday.
