Fox Happy With Damon Lindelof's 'Alien' Prequel Script; Natalie Portman Tops Casting Wishlist

Despite rumors of budgetary troubles, and our extensive campaigning (in case you missed it, it kicked off our new "Should This Be Made?" feature last week), 20th Century Fox's prequel to the "Alien" series is moving full-speed ahead. Recent casting rumors have linked the likes of Noomi Rapace, Gemma Arterton, Carey Mulligan and Abbie Cornish to the lead role, and Damon Lindelof, of "Lost," "Star Trek" and "Cowboys & Aliens" fame, was brought on to rewrite Jon Spaihts' draft in July.

Well, it looks like Lindelof did a decent job, as Vulture report that Fox are 'thrilled' with his version, which is not only 'creatively engaging,' but has also managed to keep the set-piece count low, which will help with the budgetary wrangles -- the film's currently set at around $160 million, and Fox would prefer it to get smaller, rather than bigger.

While confidentiality clauses remain in place for everyone involved, so details remain fairly unclear, Vulture confirm that the project is set 35 years before the original, and focuses on "a female Colonial Marine general." As for who'll take that role, Vulture back up earlier claims that "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" star Rapace is a front-runner, but have added a new name to the list: Natalie Portman. Supposedly, while Scott has met with a slew of actresses (presumably including some of the aforementioned names), it's Portman and Rapace who've made a particular impression, and it's the former who's at the top of the studio's list.

With the actress looking like an Oscar nom lock for "Black Swan," and set to have a high profile in 2011 with "No Strings," "Your Highness" and "Thor," she's in high demand at the moment and, having turned down Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" and dropped out of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" in the last week, has a relatively clear slate, apart from possibly The Wachowskis/Tom Twyker's "Cloud Atlas," which she's attached to. If Portman wants to do it, than the role seems to be hers, but that's a pretty big if, unless the script is as good as Vulture suggests.

The report also confirms recent rumors that Fox are aiming for a PG-13 with the film, one of the apparent conflicts with Scott. Lindelof's draft is geared to that rating, and one source is quoted as saying "The thinking is that if the original "Alien" were released today, minus the F-bombs, you could still get a PG-13. "Alien" is a very "Jaws"-ian movie: There's no sex, and while there's lots of violence, most of it is off-camera. Maybe you'd have to cut away from certain scenes two seconds earlier, but it could be done." This, of course, suggests that everyone involved has forgotten the first film's most indelible moment, of a phallic alien bloodily ripping its way through John Hurt's chest. If the scene would retain its power by cutting away from it to stay family-friendly, then our name's Harvey Weinstein.

It's also worth reporting that, while at one stage there was talk of making two back-to-back films, there's no mention of this in Vulture's story, so it may have been cut back to one film by now. We're not that much more optimistic about "Untitled Alien Prequel" (as it's still being referred to -- apparently Fox and Scott haven't been able to agree on any of the other potential possibilities as yet) than we were before, but it is at least comforting to hear that the script is shaping up.