Ridley Scott Wants Gemma Arterton for New ‘Alien’ Movies

Famous director Ridley Scott is currently working on two new “Alien” movies, now that reboots and prequels have literally become tradition in Hollywood. He’s also looking for a female lead – and has settled on Gemma Arterton.

The British beauty, who’s already been in a James Bond film and many other blockbusters, like “Clash of the Titans” and “Prince of Persia,” has reportedly charmed Scott – so much so that he’s thinking about casting her in his new films.

Rumors of this first started to make the rounds online over the weekend, ScreenCrave reports. Since then, they’ve only intensified.

“The director has his eye on Gemma Arterton to star as the female lead in the latest installment of the sci-fi series. Does this mean that her character will be a complete rip off of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley?” the e-zine asks.

And the response comes almost immediately: “We’re not sure but we do know that Scott was impressed by Arterton’s performance in The Disappearance of Alice Creed.”

“After seeing her work in Creed, Scott requested a meeting with Arterton regarding the lead in the next Alien. As you all know his casting of Weaver in the 1979 film kick-started her career and made her one of the few female action stars in Hollywood,” ScreenCrave further says.

Then again, judging by her latest films, it could very well be that Gemma doesn’t really need “Alien” to “make” her career, since she’s already quite a good action movie actress.

Also recently, Scott revealed in an interview that he has plans to make “Alien” a new tentpole of modern cinema, challenging and even surpassing James Cameron and his groundbreaking “Avatar.”

In doing so, Scott will also be forced to make of the new “Alien” movies productions that are not easy to stomach, he says in his latest interview, as cited by DigitalSpy.

“The film will be really tough, really nasty. It’s the dark side of the moon. We are talking about gods and engineers. Engineers of space. And were the aliens designed as a form of biological warfare? Or biology that would go in and clean up a planet?” the director says.

“Jim [Cameron]’s raised the bar and I’ve got to jump to it. He’s not going to get away with it,” Scott adds.

Tentative release dates for Riddley Scott's "Alien" are set for 2011 and 2012.