Prometheus: The Art of The Film Review

It’s tricky review this book, given that it gives away so many of the film’s secrets.

While Prometheus is now on release in many countries around the world, there will still be many who have not yet seen it, so for that reason I will avoid any specifics, especially around areas of the book that cover the end of the film.

With that said, what we have here is a superbly presented coffee table book, that offers dozens of incredible images, ranging from on-set photos, pre-viz, hand drawn storyboards and more. This is accompanied by in-depth interviews with the key creative personnel on the film.

What becomes really clear is how much the focus of the film changed from being a direct Alien prequel to Prometheus. Through the evolving designs and interviews presented here, we get a real sense of how the team strove to retain recognisable elements of the work done on Alien by the likes of Ron Cobb, Chris Foss, HR Giger and Moebius, while trying to avoid direct copies. It’s interesting to note how Alien’s unused designs were retrieved from the vaults and poured over, serving as a jumping off point for new elements.

To that end, for example, the design of the Juggernaut was altered slightly from Giger’s original ‘derelict’, serving to both help the practicalities of achieving various shots, as well as making it clear that this was a different ship.

What we also see is what a huge physical undertaking the film was. With minimal blue/green screen used, huge sets were constructed both indoors and out, as well as fully working vehicles and so on, lending a realism that even the best CGI could never hope to achieve.

I have included a few images from the book here. While you will be able to find far more spoiler-filled images online, I have decided against doing the same here, as these are secrets that it’s far better to discover in the context of the whole book.