In Origins I also enjoyed linking him up with Rosenthal. I consider him the blue collar champion of the film somebody who’s really good at his job but doesn’t make a big deal of it. Lope as one of the most professional and competent characters in Covenant, but because of the number of characters and pace of the film, there wasn’t much time to delve into his personality. It’s easy to write heroes and villains ordinary folk are more difficult. Within what I was requested to write, I was given a great deal of freedom.ĭo you have any favourite characters or sequences from the book? The Lope chapters seemed like a lot of fun to work on. The more elaborate a movie franchise becomes, the greater the restrictions that come to the fore. There was a good deal of discussion between myself, Titan books, and Fox as to where the story could/should go. How did you go about crafting the storyline? Origins is your first original novel in the universe. The final story chosen was the one that I was asked to write. No story was in place and several alternate plots were discussed. In a novelization I have far more time, greater opportunity to provide insight into story and character, and an unlimited budget. Fixing the science (where allowed), correcting lapses in story logic, expanding on the characters and especially their inner thoughts, and giving greater weight to interpersonal relationships are all important. You’ve penned a number of movie novelizations in the past what are some of the challenges involved with turning a screenplay into a compelling novel?įirst and foremost, the reader must get a good deal more than exists in the screenplay: otherwise you might as well just read that.

The more I’m left alone, the more enjoyable the project.

Origins is your fifth Alien novel is it a particularly fun series to play around in?Īs is always the case with playing in someone else’s playground, it always depends on how much freedom I’m allowed. Kind of like being in Deep Sleep on the ship: I wake up, and no time has passed for me at all. How does it feel to be back in the Alien universe after so many years away?

Dark star alan dean foster