The 1988 film Alien Nation (and what a great title!) was a neo-noir film set in the near future of 1991, when a massive spacecraft had crash landed on Earth, effectively freeing the alien slaves inside. The aliens – who were referred to by the politically correct name of “Newcomers” – gradually, but not so gracefully, assimilated into human culture. By the time the events of the film take place, the Newcomers are more or less a brand new societal minority, complete with their own culture shock, poverty problems, and struggles with racism. Er, specism.
The plot of the film followed a human cop played by James Caan and a Newcomer cop played by Mandy Patinkin as they investigated malfeasance within the Newcomer underground. It’s a pretty great film and was something of a hit. It eventually spawned a short-lived TV series, which, in turn, spawned several TV movie sequels. It was recently announced that Fox would be remaking Alien Nation. As was reported by Variety this morning, the remake has found its director.
Check Out: ‘Alien Nation’ to Be the Next Big Remake
Jeff Nichols is a name that has been growing in esteen in the indie film world with soulful and thought-provoking dramas like Take Shelter, the deeply emotional Mud, and the superhero-cum-Messiah tale Midnight Special. Nichols’ most recent film, sue in theaters this November, is Loving, a biopic about the landmark case Loving v. Virginia which forbade laws enforcing miscegeny.
This is a curious choice, as Nichols is not known for rollicking action pictures, nor easily-consumed pop noir entertainments. Nichols, if he has his way, may turn Alien Nation into something far more culturally salient. Or perhaps Fox just saw what Nichols was doing with Loving, and said “yeah, let’s have that.” A release date for the new Alien Nation has not yet been set.
Top Image: 20th Century Fox
Witney Seibold is a longtime contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and the co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon. He also contributes to Legion of Leia and to Blumhouse. You can follow him on “The Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
