Legendary Hollywood director Ridley Scott has said Gladiator 3 is “in the process right now,” and that he’s open to doing another Alien prequel if he has a good enough idea.
Gladiator 2 came out last year and made $462 million worldwide. IGN’s Gladiator 2 review returned an 8/10. We said: “Gladiator 2 finds strength and honor in a familiar story, with enough fresh perspective to feel relevant and an unmissable Denzel Washington supporting turn which practically screams “are you not entertained!?”
So, will there be a Gladiator 3? That’s exactly what the 87-year-old English film director and producer was asked in an interview with The Guardian, and he replied to suggest it was very much on. “Gladiator is in process right now,” he insisted.
In the same interview, Scott was asked if he’d make another Alien prequel. Scott directed 1979’s seminal sci-fi horror Alien, then years later returned to the franchise for prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Given the renewed interest in Alien after the release of the well-received Alien: Romulus and TV series Alien: Earth, fans are wondering whether Scott will dip his toes back into the franchise.
“Another Alien prequel — yeah, if I get an idea, for sure,” he said.
This latest comment seems to contradict a statement Scott issued just two months ago, in June. Then, Scott indicated he had moved on from the Alien franchise, declaring: “I think I’ve done enough.”
Scott talked about how the Alien franchise dropped off after 1997’s Alien: Resurrection, and how that fueled his desire to revive the series with Prometheus. Scott followed up on Prometheus with 2017’s Alien: Covenant, where the Alien franchise was left in terms of mainline films until last year’s Alien: Romulus.
“I think I felt it was deadened after 4,” he said. “I think mine was pretty damn good, and I think Jim’s [Aliens director James Cameron] was good, and I have to say the rest were not very good. And I thought, ‘F**k, that’s the end of a franchise which should be as important as bloody Star Trek or Star Wars,’ which I think is phenomenal.”
He added: “A number of years after, I said, ‘I’m going to resurrect this,’ [and wrote] Prometheus from scratch — a blank sheet of paper. Damon Lindelof and I sat then hammered out Prometheus.
“It was very present and very welcome. The audience really wanted more. I said, ‘It needs to fly.’ No-one was coming for it, [and] I went once again [and made] Alien Covenant, and it worked too. Where it’s going now, I think I’ve done enough, and I just hope it goes further.”
There’s a lot more fun stuff in the interview, including the revelation that Scott turned down $20 million to direct 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines because, as he explained, “it’s not my thing.”
“I’m proud about this. I turned down a $20 million fee,” he said. “See, I can’t be bought, dude. Someone said: ‘Ask what Arnie gets.’ I thought: ‘I’ll try it out.’ I said: ‘I want what Arnie gets.’ When they said yes, I thought: ‘Fuck me.’ But I couldn’t do it. It’s not my thing. It’s like doing a Bond movie. The essence of a Bond movie is fun and camp. Terminator is pure comic strip. I would try to make it real. That’s why they’ve never asked me to do a Bond movie, because I could fuck it up.”
And, perhaps inevitably, Scott was asked about the various cuts of Blade Runner, his influential cyberpunk film. “I think they all had their day,” he said.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
