Fansite Scores Interview with Ass. Art Director for Alien vs. Predator 2

Tuesday, May 29, 2007 -

I didn't realize right away that this guy was so low on the totem pole, which I guess explains why the fansite alienexpereince was able to get an exclusive interview with the guy. Andrew Li has some interesting credits to his name over the years, mostly as a set designer, but I'm sure he has some interesting things to say about the coming AvP sequel.

A little about that, first, AvP was nothing but a fanboy film. I'm sorry to denigrate it like that and I know a lot of people liked it, but it was a complete disgrace to both the first two Alien films (you can't disgrace the most recent two) and the first Predator, and is it any surprise that those films were written and helmed by industry luminaries, while the sequels were made by second and third tier people for a studio that obviously has no interest in making quality films, only sucking every last drop of money they can from old ideas.

I am really hard on studios that time and time again avoid new ideas and risks like the plague, even though they wouldn't have these franchises to freeload off of had they not had the courage to experiment in the first place. Of course nobody thought Alien was going to be a hit, but they gave it a go, and look what happened?

AvP was moderately amusing, and it served its purpose (to make money at the cost of quality) enough to get another sequel made. So good for them, we get to suffer through another crappy film so they can make a few bucks to make up for all the other sequels and failed adaptations that nobody wants to see that blew up in their face this year, and last year, and the past five years.

Now that I've expressed my obvious displeasure with this kind of film making, here's a snippet of the interview with Andrew Li, an art and set guy who actually has two bosses above him when it comes to designing sets. Yeah, I think he's got a ways to go.

Question: Neither of you are strangers to science fiction and horror; what from your experience have you brought to the sets of AVP 2?

Andrew Li: I worked mainly on the sewer set and the predator spacecraft. Andrew drew from his experience in designing Dawn of the Dead to create the creepiness of the sewer set. We wanted to keep the sewer relatively small so that the aliens and predators would look very menacing and horrifyingly huge in the set. In fact, when the predator is standing in full costume, he is over 8 feet tall!!!

Aliens, fighting Predators..in a sewer. That's actually fitting because that's where this film belongs, floating next to feces at the bottom of a sewer. My apologies to everyone working on this film, my feelings do not represent a personal dislike of you or a lack of respect for your talents.

I am laying this entirely at the feet of a bored, cowardly studio. For all it's worth, I hope the film succeeds for the sake of these people's careers. And for what it's not, I hope it fails, because the studio deserves to eat this one.

Topics: Film, Alien vs. Predator

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