Following the actor's 60th birthday yesterday, Aliens and Terminator icon Michael Biehn sat down with Forbes to discuss a multitude of topics, from the Aliens 30th reunion which just passed, to whether or not he would work with James Cameron again. But, halfway through the interview, the inevitable topic of Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 came up and Biehn once again opened up about the project which currently awaits Alien: Covenant's release to get rolling again.
Forbes: Will we see you and Sigourney Weaver on screen together again?
Michael Biehn: Do you want to long version of the short version? When you think about Aliens, that final third part of the movie is about Sigourney’s character, Ripley, saving Newt and my character, Hicks, helping her. To have Newt and I gone when the third one started, I think, immediately turned off a lot of fans from the franchise. To me, it didn’t work and neither did the fourth film or Alien vs Predator movies so I thought the franchise was dead. I got a call a few years ago from Neill Blomkamp and my agent say he wants to put me in his new movie, he was interested in me playing the antagonist and could I film myself doing a scene for him – it didn’t feel like an audition. I thought I did a pretty good job but I got a call from my agent saying I didn’t get the part and I was surprised because I thought he wanted me to be in it. I was disappointed, I’ve been disappointed before when I didn’t get a part and with things like Avatar and the third Alien movie, but the next thing I hear is that Sigourney Weaver is doing the movie. I looked it up on IMDB and she was doing the part that I guess I was auditioning for! I was like, ‘Sigourney, you’re killing me!’.
Forbes: He’s working on an Alien-related project so what about that?
Michael Biehn: Well, she’s doing the movie, Chappie, and he pitches her an idea for another movie in the Alien franchise, which I thought was dead and gone as she probably did too as well as Fox. He tweeted out some pictures of me, he said he’s going take the third and fourth film and act like they never happened and things blew up. It looked like it was all go and then Ridley Scott decided that he was going to do a second and third film in the Prometheus series, but Sigourney says they are still doing their project. I think it would be very embarrassing to Fox if they don’t give Sigourney the movie that she really wants to go out on. I don’t know when it’s going to happen but I know it’s going to happen and I know I’m going to be in it and there’s going to be a new Newt, she’s going to be about 26 or 27 and looks a lot like Jennifer Lawrence to me but I don’t know. Maybe there’ll be a passing of whatever and then the franchise can move on so they can make more money because that’s what it’s all about.
You can read the entire interview over on Forbes' website!
Michael Biehn is expected to reprise his iconic role as United States Colonial Marine Cpl. Dwayne Hicks, along with Sigourney Weaver in Alien 5 - assuming further script revisions don't take place. As Michael reiterated, Newt is also going to be a main focal point of the new movie (possibly even series), which aims to run parallel to Alien 3 and Resurrection, but in an "alternate timeline" - essentially discounting the third and fourth Alien sequels while not writing them off completely.
For more breaking news on ALIEN 5, keep your motion trackers locked on Scified!
Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 project was inevitably canceled following the merger between 20th Century Fox and Disney. Blomkamp had hoped to revive characters Hicks and Ripley for a new film, rewriting the Alien timeline, chalking up Alien 3 and Resurrection to mere bad dreams. Studio executives decided to can the project and instead took the franchise in a new direction, tapping Fede Alvarez to direct Alien: Romulus.
Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 is indefinitely shelved.
