Fans of the Alien franchise likely aren’t complaining about the fact that Alien Covenant clocks in at just over two hours. What might be surprising to know, however, is that the film was almost a half hour longer!
In a lengthy chat with Collider, Alien Covenant director Ridley Scott revealed that a good 20 minutes of the film ended up on the cutting room floor before the final version hit theaters worldwide.
According to Scott, as soon as he saw the first cut of the film, he knew he had to figure out how to make sure the sixth installment of the Alien film series didn’t stretch too far over the two hour mark.
So how did Scott figure out which parts to keep and which bits to axe? As Scott explains it, test screenings helped a lot in that regard!
“The only reason I tip my hat off occasionally to screenings is: you think you know everything but you know you don’t,” Scott told Collider. “Something inordinately simple you’ve assumed everyone understand but they don’t. You know when it’s a bit too long…right speed, too slow, too fast…if they go, ’it’s too fast,’ you go, ‘Oh shit, I’ve got to slow it down.’”
It’s nice to hear that directors like Scott take pacing into account when trying their films out on test screenings! Even so, we’re sure we’re not the only ones curious to know what ended up not making the cut in the final version of Alien: Covenant.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound as though we’ll get too much as far as deleted scenes go. When asked if we could expect any, Scott replied with a resounding “no.”
We guess we’ll just have to wait and see if they decide to release a director’s cut somewhere down the line!
Head on over to Collider to check out their full chat with Alien: Covenant director Ridley Scott!
[H/T: Digital Spy]
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