THE BIZ

“Alien III,” the gothic sci-fi sequel directed by David Fincher scheduled for release next summer, has been through more rewrites than you can shake an alien’s mandible at. The latest, however, by Rex Pickett, a rewrite of Walter Hill and David Giler’s draft, begins with something entirely new to the screenplay genre. The first page of the script that went to the producers was an apology. “I was hired by 20th Century Fox,” writes Pickett, “four weeks prior to the start of principal photography (1-14-91) on ‘Alien III.’ First on my agenda was a complete rewrite of the second half of the Walter Hill/David Giler screenplay due to certain major character and narrative changes mandated by Walter Hill. Once that was accomplished, I was to attend to the first half and write an amalgamated version, which was to include the scenes from their draft and new scenes that I wrote. Thus the resultant screenplay--particularly the first half--contains scenes that I was instructed to include whether I wanted to or not. In short, this was a ‘crunch time’ rewrite, and to fully appreciate the work that is represented here, the reader should refer to the Hill-Giler draft that I was rewriting from.”

But will Fox provide copies for the audience?