We’ve probably all seen a high school production on The Sound of Music and Grease, but taking on the classic 1979 sci-fi film Alien, now that’s the kind of creativity in school dramas we want to see! North Bergen High School in New Jersey put together the first production of Alien: The Play last week, which went absolutely viral online. The actress famously known as the lead heroine, Ripley has taken notice and is showing her support with these words:
It looked incredible. You put so much heart and soul into that and the alien, I must say, looked very real to me.
Imagine getting props from Sigourney Weaver for your high school drama performance? Amazing! The actress’ comments come from a video message that was recently post the the Alien franchise’s official Instagram account @AlienAnthology. Check it out:
Weaver sent her compliments, not only personally but from Aliens director James Cameron and the original screenwriter Walter Hill. The actress went out of her way to especially speak out about the production’s iteration of the alien. Just take a look at this amazing images from Twitter of the terrifying creature below:
This is unbelievable! It’s no wonder Sigourney Weaver has taken notice. The original director of the 1979 classic also decided to show his support too! Ridley Scott penned a letter to the New Jersey drama club with these words, via Deadline:
My hat comes off to all of you for your creativity, imagination and determination to produce such an ambitious show.
Ridley Scott’s letter also includes some encouraging words about how limitations can often produce the best results because imagination is at work. The filmmaker encouraged the students to continue implementing this kind of creativity into their bright futures, along with announcing his production company Scott Free would advance some financial help to an encore performance of the show.
Alien: The Play originally had a two-night run on March 19 and 22, but thanks to all this attention online and from the Alien actors and filmmakers, maybe the students will opt to keep the show going. Ridley Scott closed out his letter with a recommendation to tackle one of his other famous films, Gladiator next.
Adapting Alien into a play is a seriously genius idea and is a great way to high school students buying tickets and supporting local productions and showing their appreciation to this impactful film, which has paved the way for so many Alien sequels and impacted other films in the genre after its release.
Sigourney Weaver has been teaming back up with James Cameron, who she worked with for 1986’s
Aliens for Avatar 2 & 3. Ridley Scott reportedly has plans for another Alien movie, but it looks to still be in development. Their support for the high school production will certainly led to inspiration for other drama departments to think outside the box for their next spring production.
