笔础搁滨厂听鈥 Alien creator Ridley Scott says he鈥檚 convinced that there are aliens out there 鈥 and one day they could come for us.

There are aliens out there says director Ridley Scott

The veteran director said late last month that he believed in higher beings as he prepared to release the sixth episode of the sci-fi horror series, Alien: Covenant.

鈥淚 believe in superior beings. I think it is certainly likely. An expert I was talking to at NASA said to me, 鈥楬ave you ever looked in the sky at night? You mean to tell me we are it?鈥 That鈥檚 ridiculous.

鈥淭he experts have now put a number on it having assessed what is out there. They say that there are between 100 and 200 entities that could be having a similar evolution to us right now.

鈥淪o when you see a big thing in the sky, run for it,鈥 he joked.

鈥淏ecause they are a lot smarter than we are, and if you are stupid enough to challenge them you will be taken out in three seconds.鈥

Alien: Covenant, the second of the prequel films, is set in 2104 on board a spaceship carrying 2,000 cryogenically frozen colonists to a distant planet when they chance upon an uncharted paradise.

But their voyage soon turns into a gory nightmare that makes Alien鈥檚 original 鈥渃hestbuster鈥 scene seem tame in comparison.

鈥楬ideous beyond belief鈥

The 鈥渘eomorph鈥 aliens in the new film are based on the goblin shark 鈥渨hich has a jaw which hinges in two ways. It鈥檚 scary, hideous beyond belief actually,鈥 Scott said.

The 79-year-old British-born director 鈥 who was also the brains behind Blade Runner 鈥 said he never tired of scaring people out of their skins.

鈥淲hen I did the first Alien I had to get a sense of responsibility because the reaction to the kitchen (鈥渃hestbuster鈥) scene with John Hurt was beyond anything I expected 鈥 and it was not good,鈥 he told AFP.

鈥淏ut the film was very successful because people are perverse.鈥

He said he could not believe the terror he had created when he went to see people watching the film.

鈥淓verybody was half underneath the seat watching by the time you get to the kitchen scene. There was a woman underneath the seat with her husband holding her. I said this is not healthy.鈥

Scott, however, claimed that he was unshockable.

鈥淣othing scares me. I have a 9mm (pistol),鈥 he said.

鈥淚f there is a problem I tend to close down into calm. When you walk in the morning on a film and 600 people turn and all look at you, that is scary,鈥 he said.

Alien: Covenant has a religious subtext, the director insisted.

He said he was 鈥渁gnostic,鈥 but this did not stop him making a film about Moses, Exodus: Gods and Kings, in 2014.

鈥淓ither religion is the greatest trick played on mankind. Or it is not, and that poses some great questions, and this film is a great context for those,鈥 he said.

The film sees Irish actor Michael Fassbender return to his role as the cerebral android David which he played in the last prequel Prometheus in 2012.

But this time with a twist. Scott uses him to pose questions about the nature of humans.

鈥淭here is an artist in there somewhere,鈥 Fassbender said in an earlier interview. 鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely an ego in there… So again these are very human things.

鈥淲e all want to leave something behind after we go. There鈥檚 a legacy of some sort that we鈥檝e left behind,鈥 he added.

Scott, who was knighted in 2003, is about to make a film about the Battle of Britain during World War II, when the Royal Air Force fought off the German Luftwaffe. 鈥 AFP