STACK August 2017 Issue 154

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COVENANT
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Billy Crudup and Danny McBride discover why no one can hear you scream in space, as
members of the titular colony ship in Alien: Covenant.The actors share their memories of
working with Ridley Scott and being part of the iconic science fiction franchise.
Words Adam Colby
S et ten years after the events
depicted in Ridley Scott’s 2012
hit Prometheus, Alien: Covenant
returns to the roots of the director’s
groundbreaking 1979 masterpiece
Alien.
The Covenant is carrying 2,000
colonists and a thousand embryos
in stasis to the remote world of
Origae-6, when an interstellar detour
to investigate a possible distress call
results in a terrifying encounter with
the evolving, acid-blooded Xenomorph.
“One of the things that I thought
was most interesting about the script
was the fact that it was a colonization
mission,” says Danny McBride, who
plays the Covenant’s pilot Tennessee
Faris. “As soon as you start reading
the story and you see that these are
couples who are on this trip, it just
raises the stakes for everyone. It’s not
only about your own survival, but also
about the survival of your partner as
well. It sets the tone in a pretty interesting
way.”
Scott had envisioned the part of
Tennessee as an homage to the character
Major T.J. ‘King’ Kong in Stanley Kubrick’s
Dr. Strangelove, “so we worked on finding
the perfect cowboy hat and flight suit,”
says McBride. “But the character was clear
in the script, I could see what needed to
be done. And to work with a guy like that
on a franchise like this, where he created
this universe to begin with, is unreal.”
Billy Crudup, as first mate Christopher
Oram, who is thrust into a position
of command after the death of the
Covenant’s captain (James Franco in a
fleeting cameo), was similarly thrilled to
be working with Scott.
“Ridley Scott is an absolute legend.
If you make two good movies, you’re
going to be one of the great directors,
but if you make as many as Ridley,
you’re a complete anomaly. To get
to work with someone who has that
many creative resources and kicks ass
and is relentless with his energy, is a
one-of-a-kind experience,” he says.
Crudup adds that, as in the original
Alien, Scott’s commitment to the
characters and the group dynamics is
a crucial part of the film. “You have the
incredible alien and the unbelievable
effects and the suspense that he uses
in his filmmaking, but what you’re
really invested in is these characters.”
Crudup’s character is a man of faith
who finds himself uncomfortable with
his new position as captain. “As soon
as he is given the opportunity, I think
the weight of these 2,000-plus souls
becomes enormous and overwhelming,”
he explains.
“There’s a tremendous amount of self-
doubt at his capacity to manage his own
fear, about leading this many people into
the unknown. I think that’s a big part of the
story – how he relates to the other crew
members and how he, ultimately, finds
036 AUGUST 2017
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Billy Crudup
Danny McBride