Alien: Covenant will be a dark horror film, there will be no comic relief says Danny McBride.
Chris for Scified2016-07-12 12:22:312016-07-12 12:22:31https://www.scified.com/articles/alien-covenant-will-be-a-dark-horror-film-there-will-be-no-comic-relief-says-danny-mcbride-5.jpg
According to Danny McBride himself, our assumption that Alien: Covenant would help expose his more serious acting chops was correct! Speaking to HitFixhaving just got back from filming scenes for Alien: Covenant in Australia, McBride discussed his first meeting with Ridley Scott and how his initial reaction was to assume he was wanted for a comedic role - but after reading the script he realized very quickly that there will be no comic relief.
Then I got the script and I’m like this shit is dark! There is no comic relief in this at all. This is a dark horror movie. And that was exciting. To be able to step into something like that and to participate in a way that not relying on things I’d done before.
Danny McBride plays the pilot of the USCSS Weyland-Yutani space vessel COVENANT as he and the rest of the COVENANT crew travel to an alien world, inhabited entirely by the lone android David (played once again by Michael Fassbender). Mcbride's character name has yet to be revealed.
It's great to hear McBride will bring his serious A-game to Alien: Covenant. Ridley Scott's Prometheus featured a few comedic moments throughout, but it seems as though Alien: Covenant will be severely focused on sharing the sh*t out of you rather than making you laugh.
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Thoughts_Dreams, that is true and I mentioned that in another topic here (currently the last comment). I think the tension was kept up throughout 'Alien', by leaving lots of mystery/darkness/weirdness looming over every scene, however in 'Prometheus', there was more time spent on awe/wonder and therefore, kept the overall tension down. But part of it surely is I was only 10 or so when I saw 'Alien' and 37 when I saw 'Prometheus'. I hope to be scared again like I was with 'Alien'.
Membrane: I think that the more that people experience in real life the more is needed to scare people. For example when you are a kid you might be afraid that there are monsters under the bed and when you get older you realize that there are not so there is one fear less and so on.
The less fears you have the more it takes to make you scared so that probably goes for movies also. Gore could work but to make people really scared of a movie would require a lot and I am not sure if it would succeed.
I should say that even to this day, even though I know what is going to happen in 'Alien', I feel the tension it builds up. I don't feel that level of tension build in 'Prometheus'. There are moments of tension, but it is not kept at the same "constant" level as in 'Alien'.
Membrane: Yeah but that shows that Alien achieved what it wanted to do as far as the emotional reaction goes. Prometheus didn't do this but parts of Alien still does this IMO, for example when the Alien attacks Lambert and Parker which is partially because we don't see what happens except for that there is something nasty going on.
'Alien' certainly did achieve that. And I agree, I was hoping when Scott said he intended to do that in 'Prometheus', that he would. I believed him as he directed 'Alien' as well. However, that didn't quite happen. So, I may be a little more skeptical now as a result, but I still have faith he can scare audiences again in the next installment.
However, I doubt humour will be dropped altogether. I can imagine that Danny will be like a Parker (Yaphet Koto) type of character, dropping a bit of banter in there every now and then.
The tension in Prometheus was of a different sort, I think they knew that the scares of Alien were not to be repeated.
Prometheus was more about mystery and being the victim of higher powers (Weyland/David/Engineers) billions of miles from safety. They tried for subtlety but found it wasn't what the market wanted.
I'm excited by this news, Ridley wanted a hard R and huge budget/ long runtime for Prometheus, maybe Fox shares his opinion this time around.
Not many films truly scare me. The Exorcist still tops my list, I never watch it alone in the dark!
As NOOB said PROMETHEUS had a different approach. From what we have heard and seen of Covenant so far, I do believe Ridley is going for darkness, shock and fright!
"THey really weren't any more stupid than the people in Alien."
Yup. This. They were stupid to let Kane back on the ship. They were also stupid to let Brett go off by himself to fetch the cat. Horror films are full of questionable behavior. It's just a fact of horror films.
There is bound to be stupid things as to drive the Plot....
I hope they give it more thought this time, and its nice that they are going for a Horror Flick, but then they said the same with Prometheus to a degree and i think we best not try and build our hopes up and expect to be Scared Sh"$"less....
That way if we are Scared then its a pleasant surprise.
We have to also remember some Scares dont have to come from Gore and Horror... the cheap jump out of your skin scare trick still works to this day.
Prometheus had a few if you watched it with Good sound set up.... one shot for instance when the Hammerpedes Tentacle hits the window as Shaw peers into the Med Pod room.
Combination of sound and the shot worked...
But i do hope they are going to combine Core, with Suspense and Thriller Terror ride style of Horror.
I really liked that scene, Shaw looking through the blood smeared glass, random tentacle slapping the door. Everything about it, the photography, sound, lighting, it just felt so creepy and alien.
I'm just talking about the overall tension in Alien that really can't be repeated in another Alien film. But if they do have a good jump scare they need to leave it out of the trailers!
Prometheus DID scare the **** out of people (case and point: Shaw's cesarean!) As big fans of horror and Alien films (like us) we shouldn't expect to be scared in the same way that the general audience is. I think Ridley might be talking more about the general public that will be scared as ****. But Shaw's C-section was effing epic the first time I saw it. I was giddy as a school girl. Easily one of my favorite movie theater experiences. But it's more about tension than being "scared." It's not jump scares, which is the current horror movie trend. I hate that ****. Horror is how you move the camera with music and edit it all together, what you choose to show and choose not to show. It's about the actor's performance under horrible situations. Shaw's cesarean is perfect.
So I expect there to be something of similar horror/drama in Alien: Covenant.
It's true Prometheus was more of a spectacle then a horror flick. The goal of Prometheus was to throw a ton of questions and clues on the table, expose us to vague concepts. I feel like Alien: Covenant will focus on one of these concepts more predominantly and so will allow for a more narrow-view of that concept. A more close quarters, scary atmosphere is attainable when you're not trying to get a million concepts pushed within 2 hours.
Patient L: Yes humor can be very twisted and dark, I think that it could fit into the movie as long as it is done right (which is to say that they put it into situations where it is needed). There is no need to have humor in it just for the sake of it but to have it a bit here and there to create some balance. I think that they could put some situations that create laughter as long as it fits with the movie as a whole. Maybe have a person making a very strange but (unintentionally) hilarious face when they get into a stressful situation would make me laugh but I have a silly sense of humor.
It didn’t scare me at all but maybe that is just me. The cesarean was gory and nasty though but I didn’t get scared because I can separate fact and fiction but maybe it is me who is boring. Maybe they can try to have more gore (gore as in Zombie movies) that would work for me because at least that creates disgust but it doesn’t scare me because disgust and fear are two different things.
I don’t think that here is a huge difference of how horror fans and people in general get scared of. You wrote:
“As big fans of horror and Alien films (like us) we shouldn't expect to be scared in the same way that the general audience is.”
Lone: Yeah me too, the only one that scares me as far as I can think of is the Exorcist but I haven't watched that movie for many years.
Brego: I totally agree, they really messed up the characters in Prometheus.
Big Dave: Maybe I am odd but that tentacle scene that you mention didn’t scare me at all my reaction was “Oh there is a tentacle” although that might have been their intention with it.
The Scene did not scare me as i knew about it as i studied the trailers...
Nothing Scares me on Film, only one movie freaks me out and that was The Thing because the Dog Town Scene i first saw as a child has etched a horrific scar in my mind... i found it unnerving then and its still not comfortable now lol
Cheap Jumps do work on me though lol
But the Trilobite Window Scene, made a number near my in the Cinema jump, i think to a lesser degree the Milburn Mouth Buster Scene did similar but not as effective as the Trilobite Window Scene mainly due to the use of sound.
A bit of sense of humor would work for the movie, but it has to be done on a very lesser tone for me.... Alien 3 and Alien had this...... Aliens and Alien R had more goofing humor.
And Prometheus... well it was like Aliens but a bit less well done and cheesy lol
See, the first time I saw the cesarean scene I was laughing and cringing all at the same time. I loved it. I didn't watch any of the trailers before seeing the film, though. To me it was darkly humorous and much more creative than simple blood/guts or a jump scare. Jump scares are not true horror.
I'm a major Alien franchise fanatic, & can't wait 4 this next instalment.
As much as Prometheus left a lot of viewers confused & frustrated, I had a more intrigued response. It drove me on 2 review & research the many possibilities. It was a thinking person's movie in a way, & i believe that due 2 this, it distracted from & even neglected the fear/horror factor. In the end it served more of a catalyst 2 what lies ahead - a setting up of what numerous possibilities await us.
With this next instalment, Alien Covenant, I'm hoping it will return 2 the historical fear & nail-biting suspense that ultimately rewards the viewer with some real horror & scares! Considering that they are going 2 so called 'Paradise', that in itself sounds promising within the Alien universe, as we all know it's far from the usual truths!
As an Ozzie, I'm proud & excited that the filming has wrapped! Things seem 2 be on track re production times, which will see a timely post-production process.
On a side-note it will be interesting how they approach the looming production of the next Alien 5 movie staring Sigourney. That is where the true horror & scares will come!
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