Ever since it was first announced that acclaimed director Ridley Scott would be returning to the sci-fi genre after more than 25 years away — 1982's Blade Runner was his last — to direct a prequel to his 1979 sci-fi classic Alien called Prometheus, the internet has been rife with rumor, speculation, and outright disinformation.
Screenwriter Damon Lindelof (Cowboys and Aliens), who came aboard to perform significant rewrites to the original script written by Jon Spaihts, has been the greatest source of information about the movie thus far, dispelling many of the rumors by revealing in June the origin of the movie and its relationship to Alien, and clarifying the roles Charlize Theron ("corporate entity") and Michael Fassbender ("a robot") will play in the movie in another interview in August.
Now that principal photography on Prometheus has wrapped, Scott himself has opened up quite a bit about the movie in a new interview with The Wall Street Journal, discussing the movie's theme, how the movie will tie in to Alien and what it's like to work with 3-D and CGI technology.
Speaking with the Journal's Speakeasy blog, Scott revealed that the reason he hasn't gone back to sci-fi before now is that he hadn't come across a script that he liked, but that Prometheus "developed and came out extremely well." He said that the theme of the movie is based on the myth of Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus and was punished for it eternally. Scott said that the movie is about a "higher being" who steals knowledge of some sort and is punished "in perpetuity in a horrible fashion."
As far as tie-ins to the Alien franchise are concerned, Scott seemed to indicate that there will be a pretty major connection toward the end of the movie, with the last eight minutes of Prometheus evolving into "a pretty good DNA of the Alien [story]." Alas, 20th Century Fox confirmed that fan-favorite Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) will not have a cameo appearance in the movie.
Scott also said that he has "completely taken off into this cyberworld" of 3-D and CGI technology and that working on Prometheus has been "the best time" he's had "in a number of years making a movie." That being said, Scott still prefers practical filming as much as possible, versus "all the tricks, the toys" of 3-D and CGI technology.
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I’m a great believer in filming the real thing if you can and so I did a lot of building the real thing.
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Scott also revealed to Speakeasy that he will definitely be following Prometheus with a return to the universe he helped create in Blade Runner and that the movie is "liable to be a sequel." Scott said that he is "quite a long way in" on the development of the movie, and that he's "close to finding a writer that might be able to help [him] deliver." Like Prometheus, the sequel will be an all-new story with an all-new cast, so don't expect to see Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) trolling for Replicants.
Prometheus opens June 8, 2012.