When I think of Ridley Scott my funny bones don’t exactly feel like they’re being rubbed with a comically large feather. I mean, people were upset when his funniest movie I can think of THE MARTIAN, was even nominated for Best Comedy at the Golden Globes, let alone won.
So reading this news about ALIEN: COVENANT actor, and all-around funnyman, Danny McBride talking about the overall dark tone of the film I didn't exactly feel a sense of Hitchcock-level shock. But once it all sunk in even he has me shaking in my boots a bit now.
In an interview with Hitfix, McBride talks about how when he first met with Ridley Scott he had “no idea what movie it was for.” Only after being shown diagrams of spaceships did he realize, “Jesus, this is f*cking ALIEN he’s talking to me about right now.” I believe that’s how we would all react. He continued to wonder about why he was being sought after by Scott, as if probably for “comic relief.” But then, McBride read the script…
I got the script and I’m like this s–t is dark! There is no comic relief in this at all. This is a dark horror movie. And that was exciting. To be able to step into something like that and to participate in a way that not relying on things I’d done before.
I don’t remember the original ALIEN being funny, exactly, but I at least remember a little bit of banter among the crew, particularly in the beginning before they start being ripped apart by E.T.’s shady cousin. Regardless, this lack of humor would probably scare many people in a post, humorless BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN blockbuster world, but this seems like classic ALIEN-style Scott—dark, horrifying, brutal and hopefully smart. And who knows, maybe we will see a different side of McBride that we’ve never seen before. Or maybe he’s just throwing us off the trail and COVENANT is a laugh riot. Sneaky, sneaky McBride.
McBride blasts off with Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Katharine Waterston, Billy Crudup, and Demián Bichir on August 4, 2017.