Aliens Vs Predator - Requiem is in UK cinemas this week, and to celebrate its release, D+CFilm has an interview with director Greg Strause. Tune in tomorrow for a fantastic competition, giving you the chance to get your hands on an ultra-rare piece of AVPR memorabilia.
How did you land the AVPR gig?
Greg Strause: I’ve been working with my brother Colin (co-director) since I was about ten-years-old. For the last six years we’ve been doing music videos and commercials. This is our first movie together. Alien and Predator are two of our favourite movies. We have a lot of passion for those two properties and we had a strong vision for the film, which is a really important factor going in to pitch a movie, fixing on the story points and having good visuals.
What was your vision? How do you keep a franchise like this fresh and interesting?
Our take on this movie was to get back to the gritty, horror roots of Alien. I think Predator is a classic mission movie, we really liked that aspect of it, and you’ve got to have both those elements in an AVP film. We can’t really stress the grit and hardcore horror enough, that’s really what we’re bringing to this.
It sounds like you’re going for a very different tone to the first Alien Vs Predator film…
Yes, people won’t be expecting what they’re going to see. Daniel Pearl, our cinematographer, is bringing an incredible look and style to the film which will also set it apart. And we have a few more surprises up our sleeve.
Will this be the most graphically violent Alien-Predator movie to date?
We’re hoping for that.
What are the challenges of setting an Alien-Predator movie in the real world, as opposed to a Mayan pyramid or a spaceship?
Making any film is challenging, but what’s it interesting about bringing it to Earth is that we’re making a film that the average person can relate to. I think that’s really important. The people who are affected in this film are ordinary, everyday people, and all of us will be able to empathise with them.
Recently a number of films that, without insulting them in any way, could be termed ‘B-movies’ have been very successful. Is that the type of tone you’re aiming for?
No, no. What we’re going for is more… I’ve heard Ridley (Scott) say in interviews that [with Alien] he took an A-movie approach to what could have been a B-movie monster film. He talked about [Alien] as Texas Chain Saw Massacre In Space.
Does co-directing a movie with your brother take a particular mind-set?
Well, this is the only way we’ve ever worked so we’re pretty used to it. But it definitely takes a certain approach. Talking to each other before we do anything is very important so we’re speaking with a single voice.
Was it a conscious decision not to cast well-known actors, or was it purely a budgetary concern?
The way we looked at it is we wanted to go with very good actors. If you look at our cast, a lot of them have strong theatre backgrounds; the entire cast is made up of very strong actors. And opposite them are two of the greatest monsters in cinema history, so we’re pretty happy about the entire cast.
The Alien and the Predator are iconic movie monsters. What liberties can you take with them for the purposes of this movie?
Well, it’s important that you always show something new and fresh, things that will keep an audience on its toes. Colin and I are very respectful of what, in the geek world, is known as ‘the canon’, there are a set of rules with these creatures we have to adhere to, and that’s very important. That’s about as much as I can go into that without giving anything away.
Do the creators of the original Alien and Predator – H.R. Geiger and Stan Winston respectively – retain any proprietary control of the designs?
No. Amalgamated Dynamics, which is Tom Woodruff and Alec Gillis’s company, is doing all the creature work on the show. Tom Woodruff has been performing as the Alien, the guy in the suit, for decades; all the way back to Aliens, I think. He helped sculpt the Alien suit for [James] Cameron’s Aliens. These guys have been very involved with these creatures for a very long time and they’re experts in their field.
How much of this movie is going to be man-in-a-suit and how much is going to be CGI?
Well, Colin and I come from a visual effects background. We own a company that does CGI (Hydraulx), but again to bring it back too its horror roots, nothing beats doing stuff on camera. We’re making a lot of effort to do the creature effects, all the effects in fact, in camera wherever it’s possible and practical.
How do you account for the enduring appeal of the Alien and the Predator? Why are they such iconic movie monsters?
The key to any iconic monster is keeping them mysterious. We don’t really know where either the Alien or the Predator came from or where they’ve headed; we know virtually nothing about them, and I think that’s a really important part of the storytelling. The more we know about them, the less interesting they become. That’s a guiding principal for us: Less is more. Each [Alien and Predator] movie has introduced new aspects, especially the Alien films, which opens the door for us to introduce new things, but, again, without spelling anything out and retaining the mystery. What you don’t see scares you more than what you do.
Of all the Alien and Predator movies, which is your favourite and why?
That’s a tough one. I like aspects of them all, but I think my brother and my favourite is Ridley Scott’s original Alien. I could go into that for hours. There are so many classic elements to Alien, the pacing, the environment, the group dynamic – and, of course, this completely vulnerable woman running around in her underwear at the end!
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