Filmmaker Neill Blomkamp has already made a name for himself in the sci-fi world with District 9 and Elysium, but a new series of images allegedly featuring concept art from one of Blomkamp’s scrapped projects suggests that at one point he had his heart set on diving into one of the genre’s greatest franchises.
The images were posted to unverified Twitter and Instagram accounts (so it’s uncertain if they’re legitimate), and include a series of concept-art renderings of various characters, creatures, and settings from the Alien franchise — specifically, several characters from James Cameron’s 1986 sequel to Alien, the more action-oriented Aliens.
http://instagram.com/p/xVUvaEKhEq/
“Was working on this. Don’t think I am anymore. Love it though.” reads the caption on an image of a massive Alien posted to the account.
The gallery of images features several illustrations of Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, including one in which her face is seen on the head of an alien — whether she’s intended to be “wearing” the alien or has become one herself may never be known.
The concept art also includes several shots of Michael Biehn’s character, Corporal Hicks (complete with scarred face), as well as some new “face-hugger” aliens and some scenic shots of various sets. One particular set piece features a massive alien spaceship in a human-built hangar.
“This has nothing to do with the studio,” reads a post on Twitter added mid-way through the stream of photos. “I just feel like I might do something else instead. In which case why not show some work.”
“They didn’t really even know I was working on it,” reads an additional post.
Blomkamp has already gone on record saying that Aliens is his favorite film of all time, so it’s conceivable that he would take on a project like this without studio approval, just to experiment with the universe conceived by Ridley Scott. The filmmaker’s next project is Chappie, which hits theaters March 6, 2015. Weaver is among the film’s cast members, so the pair and should have a few things to talk about if the concept art is indeed authentic.
You can see a few more of the images from Instagram below, and the rest at user neillblomkamp’s gallery.
http://instagram.com/p/xVU9omqhFR/
http://instagram.com/p/xVW5v4qhJZ/
http://instagram.com/p/xVY5xpKhMp/
