Excuse us while we when just sweep away the tumbleweeds and cobwebs.
Right, where were we? Oh yes… after a deafening silence from the world of Prometheus, Noomi Rapace has revealed in an interview with The Playlist that she has already met with Ridley Scott to work on the story for a sequel.
While publicising her new movie Dead Man Down, Rapace brought us up to date on how develpment is going:
“They’re working on the script. I met Ridley in London a couple of weeks ago. I would love to work with him again and I know that he would like to do another one. It’s just like we need to find the right story. I hope we will.
“… it’s interesting because people, most people I’ve talked to who see the movie, see things that are quite different. Some people who see the movie many times and discover new things. There are all these religious aspects and there are very interesting conversations. And for me, if we do a second one, there are a lot of things to explore in there and to continue. I would love to do it.”
It’s certainly good to know that, despite committing himself to a Blade Runner sequel, Scott is still working on bringing us Prometheus 2. Whether he’ll find the time to direct it himself is another matter…
You may remember back in September one of our readers ‘Zeus’ wrote an article “Prometheus for Dummies”, which attempted to explain many of the questions raised by the film.
Since then, he has been hard at work refining his ideas, taking into account new information on the film and addressing some of the responses to his original piece.
Now we are happy to present “Prometheus Demystified”.
It’s a long read, with plenty of illustrations, so we’re providing it in PDF format, which you can download via the link below:
On hiatus from the fright-film industry, I think we are all glad to see Ridley Scott return to this realm with Prometheus. Somebody should have told him a while ago to lay off the partycasino.com, and get back to what he knows—films! If there is one thing Scott should be noted for, it is his masterfully-crafted ability to blend the Sci-Fi and Horror genres into a cinematically-spectacular experience for viewers. Luckily, to say that Prometheus was a hit would be a complete understatement. It might even be safe to say, “He’s Back!”
To further exemplify this, for those of us who saw Prometheus know that Scott ended the movie with Elizabeth Shaw embarking on a journey into the unknown, hoping to track down the Engineers. With questions still left to be answered, and a fate unknown to us, it seems as though there is still a story to tell (or at least finish). I don’t know about you, but to me, this seems like the perfect opportunity for a sequel to Prometheus to evolve.
Even better, Scott personally hinted to the idea of a Prometheus sequel in an interview with publishing giant, Metro, when he says, “Prometheus evolved into a whole other universe.” He goes on, mentioning how Shaw still has the head of David, which is still fully functioning. Furthermore, the detached-head is completely capable of assisting Shaw in the reattaching the head to its body, which of course means that David is dangerous once again. Not to mention, there is still the begging question—“Who are the engineers?”
After the initial hint to a sequel, Scott moved into a discussion of film-making, and how he prefers digital film-making, as well as 3D viewing. So if you loved the look, the feel, and the overall aesthetic qualities of Prometheus, you will most likely enjoy the sequel since it appears Scott will stick with the same tendencies in his film-making. Not only is talk of a Prometheus sequel buzzing around the cinema scene, but Scott also verifies that Blade Runner will also see a sequel too.
While development is still presumably in its early stages, Prometheus co-screenwriter Damon Lindelof has officially ruled himself out of working on the sequel.
“The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite. Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it. And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in. The idea of building a sequel to it—from the ground up this time—with Ridley is tremendously exciting. But at the same time, I was like, “Well that’s probably going to be two years of my life.”
I can’t do what J.J. [Abrams] does. I don’t have the capability. I’m usually very single-minded creatively. I can only be working on one thing at a time. So I said to him, “I really don’t think I could start working on this movie until I do this other stuff. And I don’t know when the other stuff is going to be done.” And he was like, “Well, okay, it’s not like I asked you anyways.” He and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him. But much to the delight of all the fanboys, I don’t see myself being involved in Prometheus-er.”
I think that’s a shame. While many were frustrated by perceived shortcomings in Prometheus’s script, I like what Lindelof did. Not all of his revisions to Jon Spaihts’s script were ideal, but overall he elevated the movie away from a general Alien movie into something that could stand alone and head off in its own direction.
On the other hand, given some of the vitriol sent his way, I don’t blame him for wanting to step away. It’s pretty clear that the basics have already been thought out for the sequel’s storyline, and hopefully Lindelof at least played a part in that. And who knows, maybe he might be persuaded to come back for a little script polish if it’s needed!
While Fox have confirmed that a sequel is in development, an exact release date is yet to be set. We’ll bring you more as we get it!
Following the appearance last week of a Jon Spaihts draft of the then Alien prequel script, Collider have now posted a later revision, written by Damon Lindelof, and called “Paradise”.
As Spaihts did with his, Lindelof has confirmed that this script is genuine, so feel free to download it and read it here.
It’s well worth taking a look at both scripts side-by-side to see how the story evolve; it’s not often us fans get such a chance, as old scripts are often consigned to the studios’ dustbin.
Ever since Prometheus was announced, the speculation on the storyline was intense, and along the way many alleged synopses and scripts ‘leaked’ online. Even last week, someone hilariously claiming to be Damon Lindelof sent out a fake script to several websites, including this one, though thankfully we smelled a rat and didn’t fall for it.
Now though, finally, we have a script, written by Jon Spaihts, and confirmed by him as the real deal.
Before Lindelof came on board, the movie was a more direct prequel to Alien, as evidenced by the title here, ALIEN: Engineers.
The broad strokes of the story are of course much the same, though there are some significant differences, including:
Much of the movie is on LV426
Some character names are different
Holloway suffers death by chestburster, contamination & flamethrower
Is it better than the script they eventually used? Well, that’s down to personal preference, of course, but there are some nice moments here that could have worked very well on screen.
So, this week sees the release of Prometheus on Blu-ray and DVD, and by now you will have seen the ads promising “questions will be answered”.
Of course, given that, in interviews with Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof at the time of the film’s release, much was made of the desire to remain mysterious and let the audience draw their own conclusions, it now seems odd that the marketing is going the other way. Do Fox feel that the movie was too mysterious, to the point of alienating audiences? Were Scott and co right or wrong to give the mainstream movie-goers’ intelligence too much credit? Does the marketing around the home video release, with its hours and hours of superb documentaries and deleted scenes, serve to dumb down the movie for those who just didn’t ‘get it’?
Adam Batty, editor of the always excellent Hopelies.com, gave the discs a spin over the weekend, and has written on this very subject:
“The advertising campaign in question boldly declares that “Questions Will Be Answered”. It adorns the print posters, the television spots and even the casing of the disc itself, while the packaging also leads it’s synopsis with a statement that reappropriates one of the films key thematic slogans in to a cheap statement of empty promise concerning the extra material (How Far Would You Go To Get Your Answers?), with the promise of both an alternate opening and alternate ending leading many online commentators to speculate on what hadn’t been re-devised. The most unusual aspect of this whole affair is that while the film does have it’s fair share of undeniable problems, “missing” information isn’t one of them.”
Check out the full article here, it’s well worth a read.
Don’t forget you can order the various editions of Prometheus now via our UK and US stores!
Thanks again to the UK’s BBFC, we now have a couple more extra features confirmed for the Blu-ray release of Prometheus.
First, up is the feature length documentary ‘The Furious Gods: Making Prometheus’, which, according to Amazon runs for 205m, but the BBFC have listed at 243m. The extra running time may be down to the inclusion of animated menu running times, artwork galleries, or similar. Either way, we’re getting an epic 3hr+ look at the making of the movie, just in this piece, never mind all the enhancement pods.
Next, the deleted and alternate scenes are getting an audio commentary from the movie’s editor Pietro Scalia and VFX supervisor Richard Stammers.
To get all of these features you will need to pick up the 4-disc (USA) or 3-disc (UK) Special Editions. The UK set just drops the DVD disc – all the extras are the same.
From what we can see, the full list of extras now stacks up like this (if we’ve missed any, please let us know!):
Commentary by Director/Producer Ridley Scott
Commentary by Writer Jon Spaihts and Writer/Executive Producer Damon Lindelof
THE FURIOUS GODS: MAKING PROMETHEUS – Running time according to Amazon 205m, according to the BBFC 243M
Conquest of Paradise: Renewing The Story
Under The Pyramid: LV-223
Reverse Engineering: USCSS Prometheus
The Human Manifest: Casting and CostumesA World Without Green: Pinewood Studios, 2011
Demons in the Dark: Creature Design
Hazard Pay: Stunts and Action
Fire From the Sky: Visual Effects
Prometheus Unbound: Post-Production and Release
ALTERNATE AND DELETED SCENES WITH COMMENTARY BY EDITOR PIETRO SCALIA AND VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR RICHARD STAMMERS – Running time 34m 56s, consisting of:
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Excuse us while we when just sweep away the tumbleweeds and cobwebs.
While development is still presumably in its early stages, Prometheus co-screenwriter Damon Lindelof has officially ruled himself out of working on the sequel.
or 
Blu-ray Special Editions (The UK set just drops the DVD disc – all the extras are the same).
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