Alien: Covenant: Heading towards release

leading from
Alien: Covenant

a) Renaming Prometheus 2 as an Alien film?
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.  This movie would ask who made the beautiful monster that was the alien and why.

b) Further revelations

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

Ridley sent his crew to New Zealand for the purposes of prepping. In his film he intended to include a landscape with monumental forests and rocks, and at the time he revealed this, one might want to imagine that this was to be the planet perceived as a Paradise. The humans go to the planet where the engineers came from, and come across the evolving creature that they had made.

Two weeks before the Global Awards, he had been over down under for a visit and took a chopper across the landscape of New Zealand and South Island, being able to closely look at the peaks of the mountains, and the day after the awards ceremony, Ridley would take the 14 hour flight down under again to get the Alien Covenant going.

c) 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. 

d) Production
16th November 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 it would be getting towards answering the question about why the space jockey were there and why it had an alien inside him. 

17th December 2015 
It's revealed that Katherine Waterston has signed on for Prometheus to play the role of Daniels

29th of January 2016
Ridley reveals that Noomi wont be working with him in Australia where Prometheus would be filmed which after it was announced that she would only have a brief role, cast doubt on the fact that she would be in it at all.

25th February 2016
Jussie Smollett, Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez have signed on as the cast while Billy Krudup is in talks to join the cast of Prometheus

16th March 2016
Benjamin Rigby has a role in the movie, and as far as he knows, Noomi isn't in it

20th May 2016
Daily Mail reveal leaked photos from the Alien Covenant set, showing multitudes of bodies, some in standing positions looking as if they had been roasted, at the bottom of a slope with stairs either side. A giant head as large as the from Prometheus is also seen as another sculpture. It seemed quite eerie wondering what was supposed to have been going on. In another photo elsewhere, a series of huge, tree-like stumps were shown growing out of a barren rocky landscape

20th June, 2016
Deadline reveal that Noomi Rapace has joined the cast for Prometheus

e) After the shoot

20th October, 2016 
Michael Fassbender is on the Steve Wright show being hosted by Michael Goodier and lets slip the word Neomorph when describing his experience seeing the original Alien movie and then as if happens, because of that word, on 24th October 2016

Aaron Percival (AKA Corporal Hicks) of AVPGalaxy felt obliged to spill some information that he was told about the nature of the Alien creature in Alien Covenant, they would be a result of the local ecosystem being mutated by the accelerant/black good. Over time, pods started to grow on the trees and the ground and release a spore when disturbed, and these spores would infect several members of the Covenant crew by entering the body through the ears and nostrils, and this would lead to the growth of Neomorphs inside the infected hosts , which one would immediately say was borrowed from the William Gibson script for Alien, which certainly took the idea of the word Spore to its limits.

The birth would start with the eruption of two small dorsal spikes, and these spikes with a pointed skull would be used to break out of an embryonic sack, near enough as we see with the birth of the Deacon in Prometheus. However these Neomorphs would move around on all fours and this would be similar enough to the Bambi-Burster from Alien 3

When they mature, they would grow significantly larger and walk on their back legs. They would be more animal-like in behaviour with fang-like teeth and would have tails unlike the Neomorphs in the Prometheus concept art. These creatures would develop a slightly translucent appearance, which as we know was the aim with the original Alien.

28th October, 2016
More photographs leaked, of what appeared to be photos from the set of Alien Covenant on the website http://www.soisitanygood.com. Very intriguingly they shows various small aliens on display, as well as skeletons of birds and the head of a very large alien. The context doesn't ultimately make much sense to us casual viewers other than it might be a display for Aliens as animals of study that one ought to find in the Natural History Museum. There's a face hugger as well on display and drawings and diagrams of these creatures. Also a photo of the pilot chamber from a Juggernaut as seen in Prometheus is seen amongst the photos. Later the film studios would be trying to take down these photos wherever they were to be found.

30th October, 2016
AVPGalaxy is able to share a snipper from the Irish Times in which Michael Fassbender is able to talk about the fact that he plays two robots, Walter and David.  This might be perhaps as a gesture to the former Alien producers, Walter Hill and David Giler, and then some might want to think about Walter the Wobot as the personal servant to Judge Dredd in the comic book stories from 2000AD comic book. Fassbender also talked about how it went back to the original DNA or Alien, in terms of the horror element of that while it also bore the scope of Prometheus. By now Ridley has already cut the film, but we would later discover that more work is to be done still

With that, Alien vs. Predator Galaxy can also also tell us that Walter is not a fan of David. Walter is a more advanced and up-to-date version of the David model and is distrustful of David 8 because the older model has gone without any form of maintenance or upgrades during the ten year interval he has been in isolation between the Prometheus incident and the Covenant crew making landfall on the supposed paradise planet that Alien: Covenant takes place on.

17 November, 2016
Tina Earnshaw reveals on Twitter that she is ready with her makeup station for reshoots at Leavesden Studios, which comes as a revelation to the public, that the reshoots are being done in England now.

9th December , 2016
a) News comes from AVP Galaxy that James Franco has a small role in the movie as Branson, the captain of the Covenant, although it will only be brief, and so he is the husband of the character Daniels played by Katherine Waterston, and will also appear in the role for viral footage for the movie.
b) Photos revealed by 333zzz at AVPGalaxy from the Alien Covenant set, showing more of what we saw in May in the Daily Mail of dead humanoid bodies amongst the temple with ancient writing (as seen in Prometheus on the walls) and the main section of wall with the writing can be seen in one of the Daily Mail photos from last may, this time is seems that at the top of the slope we find a large gate with walls either side. The dead humans appear to have been once clothed and consist of both males and females. Another photo shows a body of a small alien much like the models in the photos on display earlier, this one I'm inclined to believe is a body from a chest burster that erupted from cheese pig and this goes well with the zoological display photos seen amongst the shots at the SOISITANYGOOD.COM photos. A wheeled vehicle in a garage perhaps aboard a spacecraft and a Space Jockey chair in the studio are also to be seen. Photos would soon be ordered to be taken down at many sites.

13th December, 2016 

Comingsoon.net talked to Michael Fassbender, and he talked about his role as Walter the android. While David the android from Prometheus was definitely a work in progress or even a prototype, the  elements of him that were human elements were what he found disturbed people, but Walter was a more straightforward Robot which was basically logical with more of a need to be a servant than a machine with an ego.

4th May 2017
Alien; Covenant has its premiere in central London

12th May 2017
Alien:Covenant is officially released in England

19th May 2017
Alien: Covenant has its release in the USA. Why such a delay is probably a bigger question than the ones asked in the film itself.

Quote Source

1. 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/)
2. 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/)
3. 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)
4. 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)
5. 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)
6. 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)
7. 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)
8. Michael Fassbender to play two roles in upcoming sci-fi, Australian government to build on incentives.
   Ridley Scott will shoot at least one of his potential Alien origins trilogy in Australia.
   Scott is currently in Australia scouting locations for the first of his Prometheus sequels, Alien: Covenant, which will shoot for 16 weeks at Sydney’s Fox Studios Australia facility in March 2016.
   The director provided new details about the film at a press conference held at the studio on Friday November 27, where he spoke alongside state and federal politicians, including Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop MP.
   Scott explained that Covenant will pick up the sci-fi storyline where 2012’s Prometheus ended, and is the first of a trilogy that will connect directly with his original Alien.
   “Prometheus 1 was borne out of my frustration with Alien 1,” he said.
   “I never did any more because I don’t normally do sequels but I was amazed with the three that followed, no one asked the question about the alien: Who made it and why?”
   The new film will focus on the crew members of colony ship Covenant, who mistake a remote planet for an undiscovered paradise, until they encounter ‘synthetic’ David (Michael Fassbender), the planet’s only occupant and the lone survivor of the ill-fated Prometheus expedition.
   Scott explained that Fassbender will play two roles in the film, and that Prometheus star Noomi Rapace would return in a minor part. He said that casting of the Covenant crew roles is in the advanced stages, but declined to name names, saying “we haven’t signed the contracts yet”.
   He confirmed that a number of Australians will feature in the cast – “I would always look for that; it’s a natural thing to do,” he said, adding, “Aussie actors are in my DNA”.
   Scott raised the prospect of working with his Robin Hood Maid Marion, Cate Blanchett again.
   The pair had been set to work together on The Martian, until a scheduling clash made her unavailable and the role went to Jessica Chastain instead.
   Scott’s decision to film Down Under comes after the Australian Government amended its locations incentives for offshore production specifically for the film.  
   Scott had attended a location scout in Australia in May 2014, as part of an Ausfilm-sponsored excursion for international filmmakers, but he was underwhelmed by the 16.5 percent locations incentive.
   Some 15 months later, he sought a meeting with Bishop and made an appeal to have the rebate system re-examined. 
   Taking the podium in Sydney, Bishop announced that the Federal Government would build upon recent amendments to Australia’s locations offset, announced in October, by seeking permanent changes to the Income Tax Assessment Act in the May 2016 Budget.
   “The opportunity to have a film of the stature of the next in the Alien series by a director of Sir Ridley’s standing is not to be missed,” Bishop said.
   “I know the film industry here and abroad have been lobbying successive Australian governments for a very long time to make our tax arrangements more competitive and more attractive. For a long time there’s been resistance on the part of the treasury and others to such a concept.”
   The October amendments to the Locations Incentive almost double the rebate from 16.5 percent to 30 percent. The changes bring it into line with the Post Production, Digital and Visual Effects Incentive (PDV).
   “Our concern is that our Location Offset was less competitive than other countries,” Bishop explained.
   “We made the decision to increase ours to 30 percent, and this immediately generated a response from Twentieth Century Fox and Alien and Disney/Marvel and the Thor series with our own Chris Hemsworth.”
   The latter will shoot at the Warner Roadshow Studios on Queenland’s Gold Coast in June 2016, and will be directed by Taika Waititi.
   It is estimated that Covenant will create over 600 jobs for the local Australian screen industry. New South Wales Government data predicted that the film would contribute over AUD60 million (GBP28 million) to the state’s coffers. 
   When asked about whether he would shoot all three origin films in Australia, Scott said: “That’s the whole point. The key is bringing in a film that will employ upwards of 600 people. If this is successful it’s already a nice flag to say let’s do the next one [here].”
   Location scouting is currently underway, with Scott on the lookout for “monumental forests and monumental rocks”.
   “The rest will be in studio with some formidable CGI,” he added. Companies are expected to include Fuel VFX, part of the Animal Logic group.
   Alien: Covenant is scheduled for release in October 2017 through Twentieth Century Fox. (November 27th 2015: http://www.screendaily.com/news/ridley-scott-confirms-alien-covenant-details/5097418.article)
9. Interviewer: Your next film is a sequel to “Prometheus.”
   Ridley Scott:Yeah. Well, really it’s “Alien.” They’re going to go to the planet where the engineers came from, and come across the evolving creature that they had made. Why did they make it? Why would they make such a terrifying beast? It felt bio-mechanoid, it felt like a weapon. And so the movie will explain that, and reintroduce the alien back into it.
   There was always this discussion: Is Alien, the character, the beast, played out or not? We’ll have them all: egg, face-hugger, chest-burster, then the big boy. I think maybe we can go another round or two.
   Interviewer: When you were making the first “Alien,” did you think there was more to explore with that creature?
   Ridley Scott: Yeah, definitely. I knew we had done something special. I mean, I knew it as soon as I met with [painter, illustrator and creature designer] H.R. Giger. He was an artist in every sense of the word, but very businesslike. There was no rock ‘n’ roll — well, there was quietly, but he never brought it to the set. And I knew I had something special with this creature that he designed. Without that creature, the film wouldn’t have been the same. (http://www.thewrap.com/ 11th December 2015)
10. EXCLUSIVE: Katherine Waterston, who co-starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, is set to star in Alien: Covenant, the Ridley Scott-directed sequel to his Prometheus. In what will be the biggest role of her career to date, Waterston has been cast as the lead, Daniels.(December 17th 2015: http://deadline.com/2015/12/katherine-waterston-alien-covenant-casting-ridley-scott-1201669025/)
    
11. MCTV:We have just received the first casting brief for Ridley Scott's new movie Alien Covenant shooting in Sydney from April. The first casting is for supporting roles for people based in Sydney, Australia only. We need: Age range 8-40. Physical attributes; Skinny and very tall and very short but strong and very physically agile. Other skills; Fast in movement. Acrobats, Dancers, Gymnasts, Contortionists, Cirque du Soleil type performers. If you think you fit the description and are already on our books, please contact our head booker Paul in the usual way. If you know somebody who fits the description and might be interested in joining our agency, please let them know about this amazing opportunity to get involved with this major motion picture. They would need to be based in Sydney, Australia. This is the first of what we hope will be many castings for this movie, so if you want to get on board, you should make sure you are on our books quick smart. (http://www.mctv.com.au/alien-covenant-casting-has-begun/)
12. Baz Bamigboye: I asked if Noomi Rapace, who was in his film Prometheus (from which Covenant follows), would be working with him in Australia and he said no. ‘We’re still casting the main roles,’ he said. ( 29 January 2016 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3422086/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Helen-McRory-dives-deep-end-love-cheat.html#ixzz3z0SI1Rpl)
13. Ridley Scott: To now we go to the next one, the next one is who made it and why, and I'm not going to tell you, and erm, and why will be explained (http://alienexplorations.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/ridley-talking-about-alien-in-behind.html)
14.  EXCLUSIVE: Katherine Waterston, who co-starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, is set to star in Alien: Covenant, the Ridley Scott-directed sequel to his Prometheus. In what will be the biggest role of her career to date, Waterston has been cast as the lead, Daniels.
    Ridley Scott & Steven Spielberg In Hunt As Directors Race Intensifies - AwardsLine
    Scott, of course, had put the 20th Century Fox project on hold to do The Martian, which is in the thick of the awards-season race. Covenant is his next pic. Specific plot details are being closely guarded, but it is believed to follow the crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet, who discover what they believe is an uncharted paradise. But in fact it’s a dark, dangerous world whose the only inhabitant is David (Michael Fassbender), the “synthetic” and survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
    Covenant is believed to be the first in a conceived trilogy of new films that will link the events of Prometheus with the Scott-directed 1979 classic Alien. (http://deadline.com/2015/12/katherine-waterston-alien-covenant-casting-ridley-scott-1201669025/) 
15. Ridley Scott: It needs monumental stuff – monumental forests, monumental rocks, And the rest will be in studio with some fairly formidable CGI. (February 10th 2016, www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/ridley-scott-casting-tall-and-agile-prometheus-giants-for-alien-covenant-shoot-in-sydney-20160210-gmquoh.html)
16. EXCLUSIVE: Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant is in the process of rounding out it main cast ahead of production, which is now being eyed to start next month. Jussie Smollett, Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez have signed on to a cast that already features Micahel Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Demian Bichir and Danny McBride.
    Plot details are mostly under wraps for what is the second of the planned three pics at 20th Century Fox acting as a prequel trilogy to Scott’s Alien movies. Only Fassbender is confirmed to reprise his character from 2012’s Prometheus; it remains unclear whether Noomi Rapace will return we’re told.
    Smollett plays Jamal Lyon on Fox’s hit primetime soap Empire which is in the middle of its second season. He’s repped by CAA and Vince Cirrincione and Associates.
    Seimetz (Upstream Color) is co-creator of Starz’s upcoming The Girlfriend Experience and wrote and directed half of the episodes in Season 1 in addition to her supporting role. She’s repped by WME and One Entertainment.
    Ejogo played Coretta Scott King in last year’s Oscar Best Picture nominated Selma and is up next in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. She’s repped by Management 360.
    
    Hernandez (Machete Kills) recently wrapped shooting Damien Chazelle’s La La Land at Lionsgate opposite Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. She is repped by CAA and Management 360. (http://deadline.com/2016/02/alien-covenant-jussie-smolett-amy-seimetz-carmen-ejogo-cast-1201708727/)
    The “Eastbound & Down” star is in early discussions to join 20th Century Fox’s blockbuster sci-fi movie

    Following a hilarious run as Kenny Powers on HBO’s “Eastbound & Down,” Danny McBride is preparing to move from comedy to sci-fi, as he’s in early discussions to co-star in Ridley Scott‘s big-budget blockbuster “Alien: Covenant,” TheWrap has learned.
    - See more at: https://www.thewrap.com/danny-mcbride-to-join-michael-fassbender-in-ridley-scotts-alien-covenant-exclusive/#sthash.HS2ZvUOz.dpuf
17. EXCLUSIVE: Billy Crudup, who was part of the killer ensemble cast of Best Picture Oscar nominee Spotlight, has lined up two more big pics. He is in advanced negotiations for a key part in Alien: Covenant, the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Prometheus that is set to begin production next month in Australia.   (http://deadline.com/2016/02/billy-crudup-alien-covenant-jackie-movie-natalie-portman-casting-1201709420/)
18. Plot details are still under wraps for Alien: Covenant, envisioned as the second in a prequel trilogy for 20th Century Fox that sets up the world first seen in 1979’s Alien but said to take place 10 years after the events of 2012’s Prometheus. Michael Fassbender is confirmed to reprise his role from that pic, with Katherine Waterston, Demian Bichir, Danny McBride, Jussie Smollett, Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez also aboard. (http://deadline.com/2016/02/billy-crudup-alien-covenant-jackie-movie-natalie-portman-casting-1201709420/ )
    
19. Benjamin Rigby: Because there's an end result being the original Alien, it has to connect. People can expect similar things to happen, it is an Alien franchise [film]. It does translate. Obviously it's a completely different cast - Noomi isn't in it. I think it goes from the first to second one pretty fluidly.(http://if.com.au/2016/03/16/article/Australian-actor-Benjamin-Rigby-to-star-in-Ridley-Scotts-Alien-Covenant
20. Antipodean woman in the audience: Hi, hello, I'm in the middle
    Ridley Scott: Wave your hands. Where are you
    
    Antipodean woman in the audience: Over here
    
    Ridley Scott: It's a bit foggy out here, 
    
    Antipodean woman in the audience: Here
    
    Ridley Scott: Oh there, gotchya
    
    Antipodean woman in the audience: You're about to erm, head down under, to do some shooting
    
    Ridley Scott: Tomorrow
    
    Antipodean woman in the audience: Tomorrow you're going
    
    Ridley Scott: Yah
    
    Antipodean woman in the audience: Um, does it feel better starting a new project with with one or these (Global Awards) under your arm
    
    Ridley Scott: Of course
    
    Antipodean woman in the audience: I haven't, what what sort of mind set does it put you in
    
    Ridley Scott: Erm, erm, very chirpy, I'll withstand the fourteen hour to Sydney. Sydney is a marvelous marvelous city, if you haven't been there for a holiday, that's a good place to go for a holiday, but so is New Zealand, so I've got my crew out there already prepping, we're going to start shooting, I don't know, roughly around there, in about two months, and er, we got the, we're working at the Fox studios in Sydney which are really nice, beautiful.(Ridley Scott. Global Awards, Backstage interview January 10th 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzWGaTKsm4A) 
21.  Man in audience: Um, your work has taken you around the world and to Mars now. Erm is there any place that really spoke to you where you were shooting, you learned about a country and we should all go visit and visit
    
    Ridley Scott: Everywhere I shoot. That's why when I have a holiday, I never want to go anywhere except go home because I'm travelling all the time and two weeks ago, I think I saw all of South Island and New Zealand in a couple, two and a half days, cause I can Chopper and that means I can go within nine feet of the highest peak in Zealand,  examine the top and then we go everywhere that you couldn't normally go. That's part of the job, that's a passion that I have for the job because I get to Morocco, I'd go back there in a flash, I've been there four times, I probably know Morocco as well as any Moroccan, so yeah we get to travel and that's, that's that's why I partly love the job. (Ridley Scott. Global Awards, Backstage interview January 10th 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzWGaTKsm4A)
22. A video recorded at Milford Sound of an explosion at the airlock set that had been constructed at the foot of Mitre Peak. Recorded by a crewman on one of the sight seeing cruises that operates at Milford Sound. (10th April 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_DRwJJs4aU&feature=youtu.be)
23. Corporal Hicks: We’ve also got some additional details about the Neomorphs for you! These Aliens are the result of the local ecosystem being mutated by the accelerant/black goo. Over time, pods started to grow on the trees and the ground, and release a spore when disturbed.
    These spores infect several members of the Covenant crew by entering the body through the ear and nostrils. The spores cause the growth of the Neomorphs inside the infected hosts – something that is reminiscent of William Gibson’s first draft of Alien 3. One of the Neomorphs bursts from the back of one of the infected crew, a backburster. The other crewmember’s Neomorph erupts through their throat.
    The births are preceded by the eruption of two small dorsal spikes. These spikes and a pointed skull are also used to break out of an embryonic sack (similar to the Deacon in Prometheus). The Neomorph resembles some of the older concept art of the proto-Aliens from Prometheus  specifically the white colouration, with a pointed head and two dorsal spines. Upon birth, the Neomorphs move on all fours similar to the Bambi-burster from Alien 3.
    When they mature, they grow significantly larger and walk on their back legs. They were more animal-like in behaviour with fang-like teeth. Unlike the earlier Prometheus concepts, the Neomorphs also have tails. In addition, the adult Neomorphs also developed a slightly translucent appearance (harkening back to unused concepts from Alien and Prometheus) as previously rumored. (http://www.avpgalaxy.net/2016/10/24/neomorphs-alien-covenants-new-aliens/)
24. Michael Fassbender“I am allowed to say I am playing two robots – Walter and David. I think what’s great about it is that Ridley has gone back to the original DNA of Alien, the horror element of that. But is also has the scope and the scale of Prometheus. Ridley has cut it already. He is a machine. He is an incredible human being and he was in such good form. He is such an imaginative and mischievous figure.” (Irish Times , http://www.avpgalaxy.net/2016/10/30/introducing-walter-alien-covenants-new-synthetic/)
    
25. Corporal Hicks: Alien vs. Predator Galaxy can also also tell you that Walter is not a fan of David. Walter is a more advanced and up-to-date version of the David model. He is distrustful of David 8 because the older model has gone without any form of maintenance or upgrades during the ten year interval he has been in isolation between the Prometheus incident and the Covenant crew making landfall on the supposed paradise planet that Alien: Covenant takes place on.  (http://www.avpgalaxy.net/2016/10/30/introducing-walter-alien-covenants-new-synthetic/)
26. Comingsoon.net: “I think Walter’s a real different kettle of fish,” Fassbender told us. “David was definitely a work-in-progress, somewhat of a prototype I suppose. The elements of him that were the human elements I think people found a little disturbing, so Walter’s more of a straightforward robot. Pretty logical, much more of a servant without the ego.”( http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/794915-exclusive-michael-fassbender-talks-his-new-alien-covenant-robot-walter#toQk06Jpc0iRZpeF.99)
27. Tina Earnshaw ‏@TheTinaEarnshaw 
    
    

    Ridley Scott reshoot for Alien covenant my makeup station all ready for the chaos!!!! #brushes… https://www.instagram.com/p/BM6rzUUA9mZ/ (Twitter, Nov 17 2016)
28. Corporal Hicks: Franco will be appearing in Alien: Covenant as Branson, the captain of the Covenant and husband of Katherine Waterson’ Daniels. Franco’s appearance in Alien: Covenant will only be brief, though. He appears in the first ten minutes or so of the film with later small appearances. Franco will also be reprising the role as Branson in some of the viral footage that has been shot for Alien: Covenant. (http://www.avpgalaxy.net/2016/12/09/exclusive-james-franco-to-appear-in-alien-covenant/  )
29. My last thing for you – ‘cause I know I’m almost out of time: I am a fan of Prometheus and I love Ridley Scott when he’s doing sci-fi – so I’m excited about the next Alien movie. What can you tease people about it, and what was it like working with Ridley again on the project?
    
    
    
    FASSBENDER: I just love Ridley. You know, he’s become a really good friend, and he’s just a natural, he’s one of a kind.  Anybody that works with him in any department is just totally blown away by him. He’s such a visionary and I think he has such a great, understanding of storytelling. You know, coming from an art background, how referring to something being put in the frame, working with the art department, working with costume design, working with the actors, he’s very vigilant and fun, you know? We have a lot of fun; we laugh a lot, and he’s also got very intelligent but also off-center notes. He would never tell you directly to do something, but just give you little flavors. In the first Prometheus film, he just sort of walked over, and [said,] “I imagine David’s like a butler” and he runs his finger over the desktop checking for dust. And that was enough for me to go off and explore elements of the character with that in mind. We work really well together. I have to say, this Alien is going to be – I’m really excited to see it and everybody in the film was saying that there’s a film that we all wanna see. It’s much scarier than Prometheus, but it’s got that sort of same scope as Prometheus, that imminent sort of disaster feel, that Alien had. So it’s kind of a beautiful meeting of both of those films. I’m really excited to see it, I think it’s gonna be super scary, number one. And again, with the massive scope of Prometheus.
    Dude, that’s the greatest description I could’ve gotten for you saying that it’s gonna be scary. I love hearing that.
    FASSBENDER: Yeah, you know once it starts and the ball starts rolling, it’s definitely going to bring chills to the cinema. (http://collider.com/michael-fassbender-light-between-oceans-alien-covenant-interview/)
     
    

The “Eastbound & Down” star is in early discussions to join 20th Century Fox’s blockbuster sci-fi movie

Following a hilarious run as Kenny Powers on HBO’s “Eastbound & Down,” Danny McBride is preparing to move from comedy to sci-fi, as he’s in early discussions to co-star in Ridley Scott‘s big-budget blockbuster “Alien: Covenant,” TheWrap has learned.
- See more at: https://www.thewrap.com/danny-mcbride-to-join-michael-fassbender-in-ridley-scotts-alien-covenant-exclusive/#sthash.HS2ZvUOz.dpu