James Cameron was not happy with David Fincher’s “Alien 3,” especially when it came to the big twist at the beginning of the movie …
“Alien 3” is a much maligned entry in the “Alien” franchise with director David Fincher effectively disowning the project from his own filmography due to constant studio interference and a lack of control over the production.
Now James Cameron — who famously directed the 1986 sequel “Aliens,” which is by far the most beloved film in that series alongside Ridley Scott’s original “Alien” — is speaking out against the controversial storyline that started that film.
After escaping LV-426 and battling the queen Xenomorph, Ripley manages to save Hicks and Newt before all three of them go into hypersleep for the long trip home back to Earth. But “Alien 3” decided to have Ripley’s ship crash land on a prison planet with both Hicks and Newt being killed offscreen just as the movie begins.
“I thought that was the stupidest fucking thing,” Cameron told “Aliens” star Michael Biehn on his podcast. “You build a lot of goodwill around the characters of Hicks and Newt and Bishop, and then the first thing they do in the in the next film is kill them all off, right?
“Really smart, guys. And replace them with a bunch of fucking convicts that you hate and want to see die. Really clever.”
Of course long before “Alien 3” actually landed in theaters, the project underwent numerous script changes and rewrites along with several directors dropping out of the film prior to production. Fincher eventually got the gig as his feature directorial debut after his career started behind the camera for music videos.
The film shot with a budget of around $60 million and earned around $170 million at the box office but reviews were far less kind to this sequel than “Alien” or “Aliens,” which are both regarded as modern horror and science-fiction classics.
As much as Cameron clearly hates “Alien 3” and how it wrecked the conclusion of his film, he still doesn’t hold any ill will towards Fincher, especially knowing how much the director seemingly hates his own movie.
“That was his first feature film and he was getting vectored around by a lot of other voices and all that, so I give him a free pass on that one,” Cameron said.
While Cameron has been spending most of his time lately making “Avatar” sequels, there have definitely been calls for him to return to the “Alien” franchise, especially with the recent success of the film “Alien Romulus” and the FX series “Alien Earth.”
Unfortunately, Cameron has no desire to revisit the past and he never plans to return for another “Alien” film.
“You couldn’t pay me enough money to go back to that franchise there,” Cameron said. “It’s sort of almost become fan-driven at this point.”
