Alien 3 is undoubtedly one of the most discussed chapters of the franchise. The film, however, was supposed to be completely different: before Fincher, in fact, the direction had been entrusted to Renny Harlin, who had in mind a much more ambitious and revolutionary story. During a masterclass at the Mediterranean Film Festival, the director of Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger recounted how, after the success of Nightmare 4, he was entrusted with the sequel to the saga created by Ridley Scott and James Cameron.
“I thought: “I’m a 28-year-old Finnish guy and I’m about to follow in the footsteps of Ridley Scott and James Cameron?” When I arrived at the Fox gates and they pointed out my office, it felt unreal. “I thot that movie would change my life,” were his words. The enthusiasm, however, didn’t last long. The studio wanted to create a story set on a prison ship infested with Xenomorphs, an idea that Harlin found uninteresting: “They told me: “We want a movie where prisoners fight aliens on a space prison.” I replied: ‘Why on earth should the public care about prisoners on a prison ship?’ What’s original about it?
The director, on the other hand, had proposed two completely different ideas. The first would have brought the Xenomorphs directly to Earth: “I had even drawn a poster: a wheat field crossed by aliens heading toward a white farmhouse. But the study told me: ‘No one will ever believe in aliens on Earth'”. The other proposal aimed instead to finally tell the story of the Xenomorphs’ home planet: “I said: Let’s go to their planet. Let’s find out where they come from. Are they really evil? Or are they simply creatures trying to survive? But the answer was: ‘No one wants to see their world.’ People want the prison ship.
After almost a year of development, Harlin made a drastic decision and left the project: “I went to the Fox executives and said: “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe in this film. “I would die of embarrassment to shoot it after what Ridley Scott and James Cameron have done.” Cameron, for the record, spoke very badly of Alien 3. A risky choice that, paradoxically, truly changed his career. The following day, Fox actually offered him to direct Die Hard 2, a film that definitively consecrated him in Hollywood. Looking back at the saga’s history today, it’s inevitable to wonder how Alien 3 would have been if the Xenomorphs had truly arrived on Earth… Or if we had finally discovered their mysterious home planet.
Source: Collider
