Alien: Covenant: Heading towards Prometheus: Paradise Lost

leading from

Alien: Covenant

Still collating 

a) See: Lindelof offed

Gustave Dore's "The Vision of the Empyrean" from Dante's Divine Comedy

b) See: Replaced by Jack Paglen whose script is rewritten by Michael Green

Jean Giraud / Moebius homage to Gustave Dore, "La Rose Céleste"
(source: http://www.moebius.fr/shop-diassec-Moebius)

c) See: Elizabeth Shaw towards Paradise

"Satan Exulting over Eve" by William Blake

d) See: Dark Angels and The biggest source of Evil

Fall of Rebel Angels by Gustave Doré from Milton's Paradise Lost

e) Reports of multiple Davids
Reports by March of 2014 suggested that the movie would feature multiple David androids, and at this suggestion, one might jump back to the fact that a teaser was shot featuring David as one copy of a robot on an assembly line, or even think about the fact that David Fincher wanted multiple Bishops running around at the end of Alien 3, one might also go back to thinking about the scene in the episode of "We'll Always Have Paris" of  Star Trek The Next Generation where members of the Enterprise crew were seeing doubles of themselves and the episode culminates with three versions of the robot Data from different time continuums all trying to patch the source of the time distortion

Jean Giraud / Moebius homage to Gustave Dore, "Vers le premier mobile"
(source: http://www.moebius.fr/shop-diassec-Moebius)

f) Will David get his head back on?
Ridley's points of discussion about a coming Prometheus 2 appear to be about the fact that if they're going back into the galaxy, you can't have a person who's still have his head separated from his body.

The other thing though was that once David does get his head back on, he's very dangerous.

However he is very seductive and perhaps he'll persuade Elizabeth to help him put the head back on.

However by September 2015, really is asked about whether Fassbender will spend an entire movie as a disembodied head and he utters his "better than ... " catchphrase as he tells them it's going to be better than that, he has a nice big idea that's going to be really great and we're just going to have to wait, but indeed there is the matter of the android being in two parts and so she'll slowly put him back together and so they will go to the world of the engineers.

1. Ridley: You have to . You can’t have a person go off into the... into the the the whatever you call, it, the galaxy and have a person who’s still got his head off. Once that head goes back on, he’s really dangerous, but he’s also very seductive. So maybe he’ll persuade her to help him put the head back. (MTV, 1September 12th 2014)
2. Ridley Scott: The beast is done. Cooked, I got lucky meeting Giger all those years ago. It’s very hard to repeat that. I just happen to be the one who forced it through because they said it’s obscene. They didn’t want to do it and I said, ‘I want to do it, it’s fantastic’. But after four (he has conveniently forgotten the ‘AvP’ movies), I think it wears out a little bit. There’s only so much snarling you can do. I think you’ve got to come back with something more interesting. And I think we’ve found the next step. I thought the Engineers were quite a good start.
   Yahoo: So what can audiences expect to happen?
   Ridley: You’ll probably have to go with [Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw] and [Michael Fassbender’s android David] – without his head. Find out how he gets his head back on!”
   (uk.yahoo.com/ 24 September 2014)
3. Ridley Scott: So I’m now going to the next one, which is the next evolution directly connected with the first one, which was this Shaw, when he replaced Michael Fassbender in two pieces and we’ll kind of pick it up there and it will evolve. When that’s finished there’ll be another one and then another one which will gradually drive into the back entrance of the film in 1979 . (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ridley-scott-alien-covenant-is-844051 November 26th 2015)

g) Here be no dragons!
By November, the Script had been written and of course Ridley thought it was really good, it was fresh and was getting away from gods and dragons and that sort of stuff.

Ridley was fed up with the sight of dragons, so it seemed.

Was this due to the various films recently featuring dragons or did he think about all the aliens just being the same old dragon like thing?

However, he had compared the alien to a dragon back at the time of the Alien interviews.

But now he is stating that the alien from the first movie was the definitive dragon.

It was "real" and that is why it's probably one of the scariest monsters in film history.  

(See : The Alien as a dragon)

1. REEL Time spoke to Ridley Scott recently about his coming drama Exodus: Gods and Kings, which opens here in two weeks. More of that in The Weekend Australian’s Review section this Saturday. The British director, who turns 77 in two weeks, isn’t slowing down. He has already begun production on his next film, The Martian, starring Jessica Chastain and Kate Mara, and confirmed he plans the Prometheus sequel, starring Michael Fassbender, at the end of 2015. And his Blade Runner sequel is ready to move. “That’s written (and) it’s really good.” But his Prometheus sequel has him very excited because, he says, “it’s fresh” and “getting away from gods and dragons and shit. If I see one more dragon I’m going to shoot myself. Stop the dragons.” Rather than a dragon, Scott describes his original Alien as “the definitive dragon and he’s a motherf . . ker. The alien’s real which is why it’s probably one of the scariest monsters in film history,” Scott says. “So with Prometheus 2 what I’m trying to do is reintroduce a fresher form of alien in the third act.” The Prometheus “baby” alien was, he concedes, “awfully close to the alien” that tormented Sigourney Weaver. His next one promises to be very different. (www.theaustralian.com.au/ via http://www.scified.com/ November 18th 2014)

William Blake's Great Red dragon for Paradise Lost

h) The Next Step
So his next step was to reintroduce a fresher form of the alien in their third act.

The baby alien in Prometheus was awfully close to the alien.

He didn't want the alien that we knew about any more back in his movies, there was only so much snarling that you could do with this creature and he thought that he had found the next step.

But he thought that the Engineers from Prometheus were quite a good start, they were entities who were superior to us humans, but they were not gods, and with that there would be the question who is God who made them?

If the viewer were to get an old testament vibe from watching Prometheus, then Ridley would feel that he had done his job.

While the expedition to the planet in the film "Prometheus" was about finding the makers of the human race, Ridley Scott has no intention in meeting God in the first of this proposed series of movies so that allowed at the end Dr Shaw to tell David " I want to go where they came from, I don’t want to go back to where I came from."

There was some thought about leaving the first film alone and jumping ahead, but he couldn't because it ended on too specific a plot sentence because of what Shaw had said

Ridley saw the subtext of the film as a bit florid and grandiose but it asks a good question"who created us?"

He is someone really intrigued by those eternal questions of creation, belief and faith that would be in the back of everyone's mind.

i) See: Impossibility of existence leading to Kubrickian Questions, leading to the hunt for the big boy 

Illustration for Paradise Lost by William Blake

j) See: Engineers and Use of Bioweapons

The Engineer

k) Questions after Prometheus

However in Prometheus, by the end of, they were to going to use the flasks of black goo to either destroy or upgrade the human race on Earth. 

So was that enough of an answer? 

Was there any basis for questions anyway? 

However as we came closer to the sequel to Prometheus.  

So the questions that Ridley was focused upon were about the so called Engineers, who are they, why did they create such evil biology or bacteriology in Prometheus and there is the whole point is to explain the Alien Franchise and how, why and when the creation of the aliens or indeed the beast of Alien, this awful bio-mechanoid creature,  as if it were like a massive piece of bacteria, and what were they using it to protect themselves from? 

With that they would be going into the back door of the movie Alien.

Years Ridley kept mulling over what Alien 2 could be, fiddling around with some ideas,  and was always fascinated by why this thing would be made, by whom and for what purpose. 

The planet it was on, he kept looking at what he would think of as "the dark side of the moon", and it would be called Paradise, and in this case, Paradise is a very ominous word.


l) Paradise Lost
Somewhere down the line the Prometheus franchise would in a sense get into the Alien franchise, but not until about the third or fourth episode in the series. 

By the 24th September 2015, it is announced that Prometheus 2 will actually be called Alien: Paradise Lost. 

We already knew that Ridley had an interest in calling his sequel Paradise because of Milton's Paradise Lost poem and that would form a subtext.   

During the time of the interviews for Prometheus, Ridley had already revealed that he had been thinking about the war over heaven taking place in Paradise Lost and the nature of dark angels. 

See also: Questions about God and Paradise Lost

1. On the title change, Sir Ridley said it had been a long time coming. At one point, Paradise was a possible title for Prometheus, but its origins stretch back further than that: “Years ago, I kept mulling over what Alien 2 could be. I was fiddling around with some ideas. I was always fascinated with why this thing [the xenomorph] would be made, by whom, and for what purpose? The planet it was on – and I was looking at the dark side of the moon – would be called Paradise. Paradise is a very ominous word...” (25th September 2015 http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=45507)
2. The main story of Alien: Paradise Lost will see Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw and the head of Fassbender’s android, David, travel to the planet of the enigmatic space arseholes, The Engineers, to find out, once and for all, their part in the birth of mankind. Will this mean that we can expect to see, at some point, the alien? Scott has previously said that going back to the design of the classic H.R. Giger xenomorph didn’t excite him. Good news – he’s changed his mind.
   
   “I think I have to go again,” he said. “We will see who made it, and why. That’s what’s interesting.” Whether that happens in this movie, or in the other two planned Promethalien movies, remains to be seen. ( 25th September 2015 http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=45507)
3. Den of Geek: I heard yesterday that Prometheus 2 is actually called Alien: Paradise Lost. That’s the final title, is it?
   Ridley Scott: It’s a subtext. Because where we go to is Paradise Lost, really.
   Den of Geek:So it’s Miltonian...
   Ridley Scott:Yeah. Did you ever read it?
   Den of Geek:Yes, I did.
   Ridley Scott:Wow. The handsome guy gets all the fun and all the girls, doesn’t he? And he’s the evil son of a bitch! He’s the good-looking one who gets all the girls and goes to all the nightclubs. The good one is kind of dull and depressing! [Laughs] So in a funny sort of way, it touches on that. It’s too simplistic to call the bad element in [Alien: Paradise Lost] evil, but it’s closer to answering the question, who and why would any being create such a monster, and for what reason? There was a reason for that, right?
   Den of Geek:And you’re directing that yourself?
   Ridley Scott:Yes.
   Den of Geek:You are?
   Ridley Scott:I’m starting at the beginning of March.
   Den of Geek:Are you going to direct all the sequels yourself, do you think?
   Ridley Scott:[Mischievously] This time? Definitely. Last time I should have done it.
   Den of Geek:You did want to do Aliens, didn’t you.
   Ridley Scott:Well, I didn’t know that it was happening. I was fine with it. I just thought, “Welcome to Hollywood” and got on with it. I didn’t know. I was the last to know! Funny, isn’t it? (http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-martian/37130/ridley-scott-interview-the-martian-prometheus-sequels, Ryan Lambie, Sep 29, 2015)
4. HeyUGuys: The word is that you've got more than one Prometheus sequel in words,
   Ridley Scott: Yes
   HeyUGuys: I was wondering if that was the case and if we can expect the franchise to connect up to the Alien franchise
   Ridley Scott: Well, actually , really, it's going to be called Alien: Paradise Lost, so Prometheus 2's not really going to be, it's going to be Alien: Paradise Lost now, so, you know the poem, I'm sure, I doubt you've ever been through it have you, the poem's a book
   HeyUGuys: Giggle
   Ridley Scott: Paradise Lost, it sounds intellectual but there's a similarity to it, that's where it stops ( 24th September 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=10&v=A524UjfdoA8)
5. Hey U Guys: I'm going to ask you about Prometheus as well. Erm, you've just announced the title of the next film, erm, why is it called Alien: Paradise Lost
   Ridley: Well, because we're heading back to why, how and when the beast was invented, we'll go back into the back door of the very first Alien I did thirty years ago.
   Hey U Guys: Well, I look forwards to it, thankyou, thankyou very much. ( 24th September 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qvcRiCzeWs)
6. Den Of Geek:As for that title, Alien: Paradise Lost, Scott had this to tell us.
   Ridley Scott: It's a subtext. Because where we go to is Paradise Lost". (25th September 2015 http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/prometheus/37099/prometheus-ridley-scott-to-direct-all-three-sequels) 
7. Ridley Scott:  Prometheus One was an attempt to resurrect and reinvigorate the Alien character. I felt it was a little worn out and so we started out on a brand new path of imagining many years before Alien One and discovering, ah, these creatures which are called Engineers which are superior to us. Are they gods, not really and therefore it raises a bigger question, well, who is God, who made them, so it, I'm trying to layer this cake into a much bigger larger question than a monster in a tin can killing people, even though it was formidable, we've got to go bigger than that okay. So er, Prometheus started the ball rolling, and we have the deacon at the end which is the forerunner to the alien. And now we're picking up on on what will be called, Alien: Paradise Lost, the scripts done, I'm starting the film in February which is the Alien pre-pre-prequel. Neil's film will be going on a separate tangent  side-tangent, sidetrack which will be named, I don't know quite what it will be named, Alien something, with Sigourney, I'm a producer, and that will go out after mine. We'll see how we're gonna drive that bus. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTnKXfDyNVU Sky Cinema, 26th Sep 2015)

m) Renaming Prometheus 2 as Alien: Paradise and then Alien: Covenant

The change to it being an Alien movie becomes the cause of much confusion by the public and that day on Twitter, Neill Blomkamp jokes that his own new film is Alien V: Prometheus before revealing the next day that his film doesn't really have a title. 

Another revelation was that Ridley's movie would even go so far as to have connections with Ripley.   

1. Neill Blomkamp: new film is ALIEN 5: PROMETHEUS  ( 24th September 2015 https://twitter.com/NeillBlomkamp/status/647186673730646016)
2. Neill Blomkamp: No. Actually has no title yet. (https://twitter.com/NeillBlomkamp/status/647423975266476032)

Gustave Doré illustration for Paradise Lost

n) Further revelations

Elizabeth Shaw and David the android were on their way in a croissant shaped space ship to the planet of the Engineers and they would see what happened there, and so on October 7th 2015, the new fact that he reveals is that on that planet, there was a disaster. 

One might assume that this is why the ancient buildings on LV223 had been left abandoned. 

But in the movie there would be a new group of travelers introduced in the beginning of the first act and Ridley was busy designing a new ship. 

o) Evolution

"Evolution" has been a key word for Ridley and there was an evolution to this Prometheus sequel and so it would result in a part 3 where probably it gets nearer to being connected to the Alien film, but that might be happen in part 4 if it went that far. 

There seemed to be ideas in the air without much certainty, but Ridley was trying to layer this cake into a bigger larger question than about a monster in a tin can that's killing people, which is what we got in Alien. 

Even though it was formidable, he had to make it bigger than that. Prometheus started the ball rolling, and at the end of that film, there appeared the Deacon that would be the forerunner to the alien.

But by November 16th 2015, after it was revealed that John Logan who was one of the scriptwriters for Spectre was revising the script,  it is revealed firmly that the new film has been renamed Alien: Covenant after it had been let slip the day before in an interview with Empire. 

Now a fragment of the story has been revealed that a colony ship Covenant discovers that what they think is an uncharted paradise is actually a dark dangerous world whose sole inhabitant is the "synthetic" David,  survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. 

(This new title might come as a shock to the person by the username Covenant whose led many discussions in the old alt.cult-movies.alien newsgroup)  

As we read Ridley's words, we wonder what has happened to Noomi's role in the movie, we find out that there is more than one David robot in this movie but Noomi is revealed to have only a minor appearance in the sequel. 

Somehow we would be getting towards answering the question about why the space jockey was there and why it had an alien inside him

p) See: The plot of Paradise Lost  ( Carlose Huante reveals the plot of Paradise from late February 2019 onwards)

Source quotes

1. Scified:POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD! According to our source:The movie will have 2 Monsters, one is new and both are different yet similar to the Xeno DNA. The NEW Monster is a New Event, so it’s nothing created before the Events of the end of the First movie.... it's created by an event in the movie... and this New Monster is going to be based off of the Original Concept that Alien drew influence from, and this idea is something they had planned with Spaights’ Ultramorph and so Gigers Necomonicon 4 is the starting point. This Monster will be transparent like a Jelly Fish to a degree.... and it’s hinted that David plays a part in its creation.
   The movie won’t be going the route of an Alien movie, just we will see more clues and things that we can relate and make connection to the Xeno DNA and Bio-Mechanics of the Engineers.  The movie will loosely touch up on themes that can connect to the Prometheus Mythos and the Bible but more in respect to the Paradise Lost version of events but again loosely.
   They won’t be going a full blown Ancient Aliens in detail on us, just we can make subtle links to themes, such as Rebellion, Order of Creation (that has multiple layers that does not start with the Engineers and does not end with David). Stealing of Forbiden Knowledge and Fire and how playing God and going against God always has dire consequences. (http://www.scified.com/prometheusmovies/exclusive---information-on-the-new-monsters-in-prometheus-2-alien-paradise-lost-leaked)
2. Doch das alles ist natürlich bereits bekannt. Im Interview verriet Ridley Scott jedoch noch mehr zu seinen Plänen, wie er das Prometheus-Franchise mit seinem Alien-Film verknüpfen will: (aus dem Englischen)(Translation) But all this is of course already known . In an interview, Ridley Scott revealed still more to his plans , as he wants to link the Prometheus franchise with his Alien film : ( from English .(http://www.filmfutter.com/news/prometheus-3/ 15 Nov 2015 )
3. Ridley Scott: Der ganze Sinn besteht darin, das Alien-Franchise und das Wie und Warum der Erschaffung des Aliens zu erklären. Ich sah den Alien immer als eine Art der biologischen Kriegsführung. Für mich ist das ursprüngliche Raumschiff, das ich als Croissant bezeichne, ein Kriegsschiff, der diese biomechanoiden Kreaturen enthält, denen es nur um Zerstörung geht. (translation)The whole point is to explain the Alien franchise and how and why the creation of the aliens . I always saw the Alien as a type of biological warfare . For me, the original spaceship that I call the croissant , a warship that contains these biomechanoids creatures , which is all about destruction .(http://www.filmfutter.com/news/prometheus-3/ 15 Nov 2015 )
4. Auf die Nachfrage hin, ob denn Prometheus 2 direkt an Alien anbinden würde, gab er dann die überraschende Antwort, die darauf hindeutet, dass wir uns auf mehrere Prometheus-Sequels freuen dürfen: (translation) On the demand towards whether because Prometheus 2 would connect directly to Alien , he then gave the surprising answer , suggesting that we can look forward to several Prometheus sequels :(http://www.filmfutter.com/news/prometheus-3/ 15 Nov 2015 ) 
5. Ridley Scott:Ridley Scott: Ja, aber es wird nicht der nächste sein. Es wird in dem übernächsten
   Prometheus sein oder vielleicht sogar in einem danach, bevor wir gewissermaßen zurück im Alien-Franchise sind.  (Translation) Yes , but it will not be the next . It will be in the next but Prometheus or perhaps even in a later ,before we are in a sense back in the Alien franchise.(http://www.filmfutter.com/news/prometheus-3/ 15 Nov 2015 )
6. Da haben wir es also: Prometheus 3 und vielleicht sogar 4 sollen folgen. Nachdem Scott lange kein Interesse an Sequels hatte, scheint er wohl endlich ein Franchise gefunden zu haben, das ihn langfristig begeistert.  (Translation) There we have it so : Prometheus 3 and maybe 4 to follow. After Scott long had no interest in sequels , it probably seems at last to have found a franchise that inspires him long term.(http://www.filmfutter.com/news/prometheus-3/ 15 Nov 2015 ) 
7.  Ridley Scott:"The film will be really tough, really nasty. It’s the dark side of the moon. We are talking about gods and engineers. Engineers of space. And were the aliens designed as a form of biological warfare? Or biology that would actually go in and clean up a planet?” (Ridley tells Mike Goodridge of Screendaily.com, 26 April, 2010)
8. Does this indicate that Paradise will be the name of the Engineers’ planet in Alien: Paradise Lost? Could be. Sir Ridley said that the title change has not affected the story of The Artist Formerly Known As Prometheus 2. “In a way it is Prometheus 2. It’s exactly the same story. But it was always in the works to be called that [Alien: Paradise Lost]. Is Prometheus actually taking us off course from where I’m going, which is actually backing into the first Alien... I’ve even got connections with Ripley [in this], but I’m not telling you what.”( 25th September 2015 http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=45507)
9. So what does this mean for Neill Blomkamp’s sequel? There had been speculation that Alien: Paradise Lost might mean that it wouldn’t get made, but Sir Ridley has scotched those rumours. “I’m producing it,” he reiterated. “The design is for it to go out next, after this. This will go out first. It’s more associated with Ripley, it’s a completely different angle, it’s more of a sequel. I’m coming in from the back end.” (25th September 2015 http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=45507)
10. But onto the big question: can we really expect Michael Fassbender to spend an entire movie as a disembodied head? “It’s going to be better than that,” chuckled Scott. “It’s a very nice big idea I’ve got. It’s really great. You’re going to have to wait...” ( 25th September 2015 http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=45507)
11. Ridley Scott: It’s going to be it’s own separate thing because they are going to the planet of the Engineers and they are going to see what happened there. It was a disaster, And they will be in that alien craft that takes them there, but with a new group that’s incoming, a new group of travelers in the beginning of the first act.  (http://awardscampaign.com/2015/10/07/ridley-scott-teases-new-group-of-travelers-in-prometheus-sequel-alien-paradise-lost/ by Gregory Ellwood October 7, 2015)
12. Ridley Scott:There is an evolution to this one so if we can get something down I don’t not see how we go [forward without a third].” (http://awardscampaign.com/2015/10/07/ridley-scott-teases-new-group-of-travelers-in-prometheus-sequel-alien-paradise-lost/ by Gregory Ellwood October 7, 2015)
13. Ridley Scott: I’m trying to keep this for myself. I let the other one [Alien] get away from me – I shouldn’t have… I’m trying to re-resurrect the beast and let if off the hook for a while because I’m coming back into the back-end of Alien 1. I’m gradually getting to Alien 1. (http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/11/11/ridley-scott-says-prometheus-sequels-will-reveal-who-created-aliens November 11th 2015) 
14. Ridley Scott: Prometheus 2 will start getting shot in February and I’ve already begun now so I know what the script is. Then there will be another one after that and then maybe we’ll back into Alien 1, as to why? Who would make such a dreadful thing? (http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/11/11/ridley-scott-says-prometheus-sequels-will-reveal-who-created-aliens) November 11th 2015 
15. Empire Online: “I’ve got no plan,” Scott said, discussing his overall career and which project follows another. “I go from pillar to post randomly. I have this childlike fascination and thrill of doing it. I was going to be doing what will be called Alien: Covenant, which starts shooting next February, and we were struggling then with the screenplay there and then there was a phone call, somebody saying, ‘Listen, we’ve got this thing which is completely written called Martian’, and I said, ‘Huh.’ And I sped read it in an hour and by mid-afternoon, I talked to Fox and said, ‘I need to talk to ‘Drew Goddard…’”(http://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/ridley-scott-says-prometheus-sequel-now-alien-covenant/ 15 Nov 2015 )
16. Bloody Disgusting: Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created in ‘Alien’ with ‘Alien: Covenant’, the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with ‘Prometheus’ — and connects directly to Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. ( 16th November 2015 http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3370169/release-date-logo-and-synopsis-for-alien-covenant-released/)
17. Ridley Scott: Its a very complex story. Its an evolution of what I first did with Prometheus 1.
    (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ridley-scott-alien-covenant-is-844051  November 26th 2015)
18. Ridley Scott: Prometheus 1 was borne out of my frustration that on Alien 1 in 1979 - I only did one as I don't normally do sequels. I was amazed that in the 3 that followed  that no-one asked the question "why the Alien, who made it and why?" Very basic questions. So I came up with the notion of Prometheus 1, which starts to indicate who might have made it and where it came from. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ridley-scott-alien-covenant-is-844051 November 26th 2015) 
19. Ridley Scott: So in other words, why was this space jockey there and why did he have an Alien inside him? And those questions will be answered. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ridley-scott-alien-covenant-is-844051 November 26th 2015)
20. Hollywood Reporter: Alien: Covenant will shoot at Sydney’s Fox Studios from March with Michael Fassbender to reprise his Prometheus role as the synthetic David. Other casting hasn’t been confirmed although Scott did say that Prometheus 1 star Noomi Rapace will only appear briefly in Covenant. Scott is keen to use Australian actors, revealing that that he wanted Cate Blanchett for The Martian but she was unavailable. Shooting will be  a mix of location and studio shoots with location requiting “monumental forest and monumental rock and the rest will be in the studio with fairly formidable CGI. The Martian was made for the most part 94 pecent in a Budapest studio. With green screen I now can’t tell what was studio and what was shot in Wadi Rum,” Scott said.
    Michael Fassbender will arrive in Sydney in mid-March for the 16 week shoot.
    The NSW state government said the film will contribute more than $43.3 million (AUS$60 million) to the state’s economy and employ more than 600 local cast and crew.
    The Australian government committed a one off grant  to get the film made in Australia. That grant in effect raised Australian location tax offset from 16 percent to 30 percent,  a move which its now considering making permanent for all productions. A decision will be made on that before May next year, foreign minister Julie Bishop, who secured the shoot for Australia, said. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ridley-scott-alien-covenant-is-844051, November 26th 2015)