Michael Fassbender says ‘Alien: Covenant’ director Sir Ridley Scott understands the fear factor required in modern cinema.
The 40-year-old actor is reprising his role as prototype android David in the sci-fi thriller – the sequel to ‘Alien’ prequel ‘Prometheus’ – and also playing new Weyland-Yutani Corporation synthetic Walter.
Fassbender has promised cinema goers they are going to be in for a fright-fest because the new movie has the same horror tropes as the original Sigourney Weaver-led 1979 film.
Speaking to ShortList magazine, Fassbender said: "Ridley Scott understands sophistication, that’s how so much of this franchise is still effective all these years later. Whether it’s a little red blip on a screen that flashing dot, that monotonous beep. I watch the first film now and the scene with the red blip triggers anxiety in me every time. It seeps into your psyche."
The ‘Assassin’s Creed’ star can recall watching ‘Alien’ with his parents and says the film, which saw the crew of the ‘Nostromo’ battle the Xenomorph creature, had a "profound effect" on him.
He said: "I remember being very quiet that night. I don’t know why my parents let me watch it – they wouldn’t let me see other 18-certificate films. This one though … I think they recognised that there was a sophistication to it. It had a profound effect on me."
Fassbender thinks one of the fundamental reasons why the ‘Alien’ films are "terrifying on a deeper level" is because the creature grows from within the human body.
He mused: "It’s about more than just an alien species because that species has evolved biologically. The concept of something growing inside of you is terrifying on a deeper and more profound level. "Something parasitic, incubating inside of us, and using us as a host. It triggers our fear element in a very elevated way. The idea of giving birth almost, as well, and the birth killing the host. Humans have a fear of that, our own nature turning against us in some way."
Michael Fassbender: Ridley Scott understands modern horror
