‘Alien: Covenant’s Katherine Waterston Talks About Her Character And What Drives Her
Alien: Covenant is scheduled to hit theaters on May 19, 2017, which is still a long wait to go.
Fortunately, the star of the upcoming film shared a few details about her character and what motivates the newest heroine in Ridley Scott’s latest sci-fi masterpiece.
Katherine Waterston, the star of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, recently sat down for an interview with ComingSoon.net and she spoke candidly about her involvement with the upcoming film Alien: Covenant.
Kristy Puchko of ComingSoon.net spoke with Waterston and asked her how her character, Daniels, compares to Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley.
Waterston said that she tried not to think too much about the similarities, or the differences, between her character and Weaver’s iconic role because she wanted to avoid becoming too intimidated by the task at hand.
Being cast in Alien: Covenant was already such an enormous joy for Waterston that she didn’t even think of comparing her role to Weaver’s.
She said that after reading the script, her only thought was to work on the film and that thinking about the similarities between her character and Ripley only sprung up after journalists brought it to her attention.
Waterston also said that it was important for her to keep her focus on doing her job because many people put in a lot of effort and money into making Alien: Covenant.
She said that if she compared her role to Weaver’s it would definitely prevent her from focusing on her role because it would have been too intimidating to try and top off a character as iconic as Ripley.
Working with the Neomorphs
Alien: Covenant may be an extension of the Alien franchise that Sigourney Weaver popularized, but according to Ridley Scott there are some subtle changes to the antagonists in his upcoming film.
In Alien: Covenant the monsters that lurk in the shadows are no longer called Xenomorphs. They are now called Neomorphs and according to Waterston working alongside these new monsters gave her quite a fright.
According to the actress, Ridley Scott used both practical effects and CGI in creating the Neomorphs, but Scott used more of the former than the latter, which helped the actors react with more sincerity.
Waterston said that working with puppets that looked like Neomorphs and acting alongside actors pretending to be Neomorphs made the scenes in Alien: Covenant realistic enough that she actually felt scared whenever she encountered the monsters.
A deeper look into Alien: Covenant
Waterston also spoke with reporters during a screening of the film at a Fox Showcase event in New York City wherein she provided more details about the plot of the film.
According to MovieFone, the film Alien: Covenant features a group of explorers who set out into deep space to set foot on a mysterious planet in a remote part of the galaxy.
Waterston said that the people aboard the ship are scientists and civilians, people with no military backgrounds making them ill-equipped in handling a terrifying encounter with Neomorphs.
Waterston added that the people who are going to that planet are actually colonists and couples who are looking for a new world to populate. Although they are accompanied by some individuals who are skilled in providing security most of the passengers on board are civilians.
So when the passengers encounter the alien monsters, their terror is much more real, and their reactions are much more frantic because they’re clearly unprepared to deal with horrific creatures.
But despite the overwhelming odds against them, Waterston said that her character might find the courage to fight back against the Neomorphs. Waterston said that Daniels could be the kind of person who will lift a car if she knew that her kids were trapped underneath while it was burning.
Even if the monsters in Alien: Covenant are terrifying and the odds of defeating them are great, Waterston says that Daniels would still be up to the task of being a hero if she needs to be.
[Featured Image by John Shearer/Invision/AP Images]
