Peter Briggs, a screenwriter who penned the first draft to Alien Vs Predator in 1991, has responded to Sigourney Weaver’s criticism of the spin-off franchise. Recently, Weaver was asked about her thoughts on the spin-off, and called in “depressing”, saying that she chose to die off in Alien 3 in order to avoid appear in it.
Recently, she was asked if her death in Alien 3 was anything to do with then current plans to make Alien Vs Predator, to which she replied:
“Well, yes – because I heard that Fox was gonna do Alien vs Predator. Which really depressed me because I was very proud of the movies.”
Now, however, Briggs seems to be firing back at Weaver’s claims, responding in a statement to Bloody Disgusting that many of the drafts for Alien 3 had Weaver’s character Ripley dying; according to Briggs, these drafts were written before there was the thought of making an Alien Vs Predator movie. Part of Briggs’ statement reads:
“Larry Gordon would later tell me Alien vs Predator had only been discussed for the first time at Fox literally days before Steve gave him the script in September 1991, which is why I was in the right place at the right time to make my first sale. Maybe they were in a panic about Alien 3…I have no idea.
“And so when I hear Sigourney Weaver recounting her killing off Ripley in Alien 3 because she’d heard Fox were talking about doing Alien vs Predator, despite the fact our project was first spoken about and initiated well over a year (not even counting Vincent Ward’s involvement!) after her movie had gone into active production, I really have to roll my eyes at her claims.”
Briggs’ entire statement is a stark contrast to what Weaver has stated about the events that led to her death in Alien 3, and he may actually be right in what he says, although the events that both he and Weaver are recounting are from 25 years ago, so there may be some hazy memories as to what actually occurred.
