McBride thinks ideas in Alien: Covenant will drive the franchise even further
When Danny McBride got the call to join Alien: Covenant — director Ridley Scott’s through line between his original Alien and the 2012 prequel Prometheus — he thought he was going to be there to make a couple of jokes and suffer a grisly onscreen death.
Instead, McBride — who plays the pilot, Tennessee — found himself an intricate part in an ensemble piece, which includes James Franco, Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston and Billy Crudup. Alien: Covenant is an unrelentingly dark horror that reintroduces movie fans to H.R. Giger’s iconic Xenomorph and will lead to at least two additional movies.
Following the world première of the film, McBride talked about the franchise’s revival and revealed what it’s like to come face to face with Alien.
Q Prometheus was missing a lot of the horror elements fans expect from this franchise. What did you think of Covenant ratcheting that up this time?
A This is a dark, dark, dark movie ... I’m someone who loved Prometheus. I know that some people missed the horror element, but I loved what Ridley was proposing in it. I had no idea where the hell it was going or what it was all going to add up to. And I just love what Ridley is going after in this movie and it makes me excited to think where this is all headed from here.
Q Ridley Scott is pushing this universe in a new direction. Was that surprising to you?
A I think he has managed to make Alien, once again, horrifying. That’s no easy feat. And there are some concepts at work here — everything to do with David and Walter, for example — that are going to push the franchise even further.
Q What did you think of the rumours that Katherine Waterston’s character Daniels was related to Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley?
A I thought the same exact thing. I asked Ridley when we were on the set, “How far before Alien are we? Is Daniels Ripley’s mom?” And he was like, “No, this is many years before Alien.” But I don’t know if that’s a smoke screen or if that’s reality. I have no idea.
Q What was it like to come face to face with the Alien?
A It was crazy. There actually was a contortionist in the Alien costume that would pursue you and run after you and that left little to the imagination.