Sigourney Weaver on Alien vs Predator: Original screenwriter responds to Ripley's criticisms

The Oscar-nominated actress had said the spin-off makes her 'really depressed'

Just days ago, Sigourney Weaver admitted, after 11 years, that the sci-fi mash-up Alien vs Predator was pretty bad. She went as far as saying she chose to be killed off in Alien 3 just to avoid appearing in the sequel.

Unsurprisingly, the person who initially developed the story, Peter Briggs, heard about Weaver’s less than favourable comments and was not impressed.

Writing for Bloody Disgusting, the scriptwriter turned director retells the story of what happened, saying that the studio only began discussing an Alien vs Predator after Alien 3 had gone into production.

“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, best known for his work on Hellboy, went on to say that, while he was “less than wild” about AvP and its sequel, Requiem, he wishes Weaver “would stop beating on Alien vs Predator as her pet piñata in “ruining” the Alien franchise”.

He also pointed out how both the malingered AvP films grossed more than the third Alien film, finishing his long statement with: “There’s a terrific Alien vs Predator movie still to be made by someone. It just hasn’t happened yet.”

Alien 5 is currently in the works, with Neil Blomkamp set to direct and Weaver also said to be reprising her role as Ripley.