Last week Clint Eastwood said that he expected Charlize Theron would join his John Edgar Hoover biopic J. Edgar alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer and Judi Dench. The actress was said to be playing Helen Gandy, a Justice Department file clerk Hoover selected as his personal secretary at the age of 21, and who wound up working for him for over 54 years.

However according to a new report Theron may not be joining the film after all, and 20th Century Fox are after her for Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel.

From Vulture:

Apparently, Theron’s reps at William Morris Endeavor were a bit ahead of the curve on their client’s willingness to star as Hoover’s longtime personal secretary Helen Gandy, putting the Oscar winner in the slightly awkward position of having to apologize to Eastwood for backing away from a role she never actually planned on accepting. All has since been smoothed over with Eastwood, but it’s also opened the door for 20th Century Fox. The studio is hoping the newly-available Theron can solve one of its more pressing problems: Casting its Alien prequel.

The site says Ridley Scott wants Noomi Rapace (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) as his leading lady, but the studio wants an actress who is more well known. The role of Elizabeth Shaw is apparently being beefed up for Theron, who will get the new version of the Alien script sometime this week and make her decision soon.

Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class) and Michelle Yeoh (Memoirs of a Geish) are also thought to be up for roles as crew members, but nothing is official yet.

Update: Deadline says that Naomi Watts and Amy Adams are being looked at to replace Theron, and the actress may be about to sign on for Snow White and the Huntsman so Fox may have to make that Alien script a bit beefier.

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Since her role as Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Noomi Rapace has been in demand, and recently signed up to play the female lead in Sherlock Holmes 2 with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Now the actress is apparently a contender to play the lead in Ridley Scott’s Alien prequels.

From Deadline:

I’m told that the studio and Scott have had general meetings with a number of actresses. I’ve heard that list includes the studio’s Wall Street 2 star Carey Mulligan, but another intriguing possibility I’ve heard more than once today is that Noomi Rapace also met and left a strong impression. The actress met Scott and Fox before she signed on to star in the Sherlock Holmes sequel. I’m told that meetings are ongoing with cast and no decisions have been made, but I could see Rapace taking a Ripley-esque turn in space.

Rapace kicked ass in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and i’m sure she will be able to kick some Alien ass in space for Ridley Scott. Clash of the Titans actress Gemma Arterton revealed last month that Scott wanted to meet her regarding the role, so it looks as though 20th Century Fox and the director are meeting with a bunch of actresses who are ‘hot’ at the moment.

In Ridley Scott’s original Alien, the cast came across the remains of a giant being with a hole in its chest. These giants had come into contact with the xenomorphs beforehand, and fallen victim to their chest-bursting tendencies. The prequel will tell the story of these “Space Jockeys,” and their encounter with the aliens.

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Back in July it was was announced that Sir Ridley Scott would be returning to the Alien franchise to direct an Alien prequel. His 1979 Alien movie spawned three sequels, however he wasn’t interested in directing any of them, which makes his return 30 years on quite intriguing.

Scott recently spoke to Empire and hinted at when it would take place and said he was looking forward to the prequel as it “is kind of interesting”:

“It’s a brand new box of tricks,” said Sir Ridley. “We know what the road map is, and the screenplay is now being put on paper. The prequel will be a while ago. It’s very difficult to put a year on Alien, but [for example] if Alien was towards the end of this century, then the prequel story will take place thirty years prior.”

“I never thought I’d look forward to a sequel,” said Sir Ridley. “But a prequel is kind of interesting. I’m looking forward to doing that.”

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Variety have confirmed that Ridley Scott will return to the Alien franchise to direct an Alien prequel.

Twentieth Century Fox is resuscitating its “Alien” franchise. The studio has hired Jon Spaihts to write a prequel that has Ridley Scott attached to return as director.

Spaihts got the job after pitching the studio and Scott Free, which will produce the film.

The film is set up to be a prequel to the groundbreaking 1979 film that Scott directed. It will precede that film, in which the crew of a commercial towing ship returning to Earth is awakened and sent to respond to a distress signal from a nearby planetoid. The crew discovers too late that the signal generated by an empty ship was meant to warn them.

The deal gives Fox another chance to keep the “Alien” franchise alive. There were three sequels to Scott’s original, but it is the first time the director has set his mind on directing one.

There had been speculation Ridley Scott would direct the prequel, and now it has finally been confirmed. Scott directed Alien in 1979 and it spawned three sequels – James Cameron’s Aliens in 1986, David Fincher’s Alien 3 in 1992 and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien Resurrection in 1997. We then got Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (but we can forget about them).

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