Ridley Scott Was 'Pissed' He Wasn't Invited Back To Direct Aliens
Give a sci-fi action script to either Ridley Scott or James Cameron and you're gonna get one hell of a movie. So it shouldn't be that surprising that both directors knocked it out of the park with their respective "Alien" films. Of course, Scott's original 1979 effort still reigns supreme, but if Cameron is known for anything besides consistently making obscene amounts of money at the box office and proving every single naysayer wrong, it's his ability to churn out some of the best sequels Hollywood has ever seen.
Such was the case with "Aliens," the 1986 follow-up to Scott's first movie that will soon be getting the full 4K Blu-ray release treatment along with some other classic James Cameron films. The sequel saw the return of Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley, who this time was at the center of a film that veered more into action blockbuster territory than the sci-fi horror of its predecessor. It also featured The Queen, one of the creepiest aliens in the "Alien" franchise. The result was a critical and commercial success that earned its star an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. But you've gotta wonder what would have happened if Scott was allowed to direct his sequel.
According to Scott, he was never asked to come back for "Aliens," with the filmmaker telling The Hollywood Reporter:
"I was never asked to do the sequel. Maybe because I was such a tough guy when I was doing it, they didn't want me back. But I was also in the habit of not wanting to do a sequel then either. So I would never have done it."
Now, however, the man behind the historical epic "Napolean" has revealed that he was actually quite miffed not to have been at the helm for the sequel.
'I was pissed'
Ridley Scott is a grump. My favorite moment in the voluminous archives of Scott grumpiness is when he defended the role of director as essentially a dictator, saying in a "Blade Runner" featurette:
"I don't like discussion. I know exactly what I want [...] that's the director's job. The director's not meant to stand there and consult with half a dozen people in the room. The term director means 'Direct, mate. Do the job.'"
Perhaps Scott was right about not being asked back for "Aliens" due to his temperament. There's also the fact he was forced to shoot scenes he knew wouldn't make the cut, which must have irritated the infamous grouch further. Either way, the director was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a bit cross about the whole thing. Asked about not coming back for "Aliens" by Deadline, Scott revealed that he discovered he wouldn't be directing when James Cameron called him, explaining:
"When Jim called me up and said, listen ... he was very nice but he said, this is tough, your beast is so unique. It's hard to make him as frightening again, now familiar ground. So he said, I'm going in a more action, army kind of way. I said, okay. And that's the first time I actually thought, welcome to Hollywood."
According to Scott, he and Cameron "talk often," with the director adding, "We're not exactly friends, but we do talk and he's a great guy." Don't sugarcoat it, Ridley. Still, despite the apparent lack of animosity between the two, Scott wasn't too pleased to have been replaced. He added:
"I was pissed. I wouldn't tell that to Jim, but I think I was hurt. I knew I'd done something very special, a one-off really. I was hurt, deeply hurt, actually because at that moment."
Moving on from Aliens
Ridley Scott was clearly in a weird place when he learned he wouldn't be directing "Aliens." According to the filmmaker, he considered himself "damaged goods" at the time due to the fact he was "trying to recover from 'Blade Runner'." Evidently, Scott was already disheartened by the fact his cut of the 1982 film had been reworked by Warner Bros., leading to what are now multiple endings to "Blade Runner." At the time, he'd been forced to watch as the studio added a more upbeat conclusion and a voiceover to his movie, passing over the director's more ambiguous finale.
As such, Scott wasn't exactly in the best mental space when he got the call from Cameron. In order to rediscover his confidence, the director claimed that he "did a lot of pushups" and played a lot of tennis, where he would "thrash the s**t out of a tennis ball and look at the next movie." That movie was 1985's "Legend," which helped. Scott claimed it "was a success for [him], just great."
Meanwhile, James Cameron was busy making one of the best sequels Hollywood has ever seen, only to repeat that feat with "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" in 1991. Of course, that wouldn't be the end of Scott's involvement in the "Alien" franchise. He'd return to helm 2012's "Prometheus" and 2017's "Alien: Covenant," neither of which quite matched up to either "Alien" or "Aliens." Now, we're all awaiting what was supposed to be the third entry in Scott's "Alien" prequel trilogy, "Alien: Awakening," which unfortunately looks unlikely to ever happen. Perhaps if it does, Scott and Cameron can team up for the ultimate "Alien" film. But then, Ridley doesn't like a "discussion" does he, so on second thought, maybe not.