It was recently announced that Ridley Scott himself, and not his protégé Carl Rinsch (as originally planed; Scott was simply going to produce), would be directing the long-gestating "Alien" (1979) prequel. That gust of wind that blew threw the cities following the news wasn't in fact? Not a gust of wind, but widespread sighs of relief. Might this thing be good after all? (And Robert Rodriguez's "Predator' sequel - which, contrary to earlier rumours, isn't a remake; and will apparently be five times bloodier than that ‘Requiem' thing that hit the screens Summer before last - is sounding pretty shit hot too. If they can entice Arnie to don the guns again for the surprise cameo at the end, we might just have the first-real respectable sequel to John McTiernan's original blockbuster on our hands). Has Tom Rothman finally come to his senses and put fans before fat cheques? (And I tell ya, if you get the fans Tom - those fat cheques will still come; if not more so than they would've had you raped another beloved franchise).

Scott's been pretty tight-lipped about the new "Alien" film, but has shed some light on ‘when' Jon Spaihts' script will be set.

In a new interview with Empire, Scott hints that the new film will be the "Caprica" to the original's "Battlestar Galactica".

"It's a brand new box of tricks," said Sir Ridley. "We know what the road map is, and the screenplay is now being put on paper. The prequel will be a while ago. It's very difficult to put a year on Alien, but [for example] if Alien was towards the end of this century, then the prequel story will take place thirty years prior."

The magazine asked Ridley, who's always busier than a chicken cook at Christmas, why he'd return to the "Alien" franchise after all these years.

"I never thought I'd look forward to a sequel," said Sir Ridley. "But a prequel is kind of interesting. I'm looking forward to doing that."

And what I want to know is... which role is Russell Crowe going to play!?