Prometheus - reviews, discussion and BD/DVD release **WARNING - SPOILER-HEAVY**

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Screenwriter Jon Spaihts On The Prometheus That Never Was

With Prometheus out on Blu-ray today, Empire spoke to the man behind the original script for Ridley Scott's sci-fi epic, Jon Spaihts, about how he originally envisaged the prequel-cum-franchise reboot.

Read on to find out more about the evolution of the xenomorphs - crab-like aliens, anyone? - Scott's creepy crawly collection and David forcibly attaching a facehugger onto Shaw's fizzog.

I don't believe my draft has been released into the world. There was talk for a while about my final draft being included in the Blu-ray release of the film. But I've recently heard that there are legal complications around that and it may not be happening. So I talk a bit on the Blu-ray about the creative process, but I'm not sure the draft is on there.

I had gone into Scott Free for a general meeting, because they'd liked a script of mine. Late in the meeting, the head of the company brought up the notion of an Alien prequel and asked if I had any thoughts on it. I hadn't prepared for that and hadn't developed a story, but I found in the moment that I had a lot of opinions about it.

...

The medpod sequence is one of the reasons I got the job in the first place. It's one of my favourite scenes and it's visually realised in an extraordinary way.

One of the things I realised was that we hadn't seen anyone survive a classic Alien chest bursting. And I was really intrigued by the notion that a character might be infected by the parasite and know that it was coming, know they had a timeframe of a few hours, and that we would have set up previously a nearly omnipotent medical device, designed to extend life for explorers in foreign places. Our heroine would have a short time to get to the machine and extract the thing inside her. It was a very gory sequence and it plays out very much like the sequence in the film. The main difference is in choreography. At the end of the sequence as I first conceived it, the heroine manages to get the creature extracted from her and it is expelled from the pod and she's sealed inside, whereas in the final film it goes the other way.

Then she lapses in and out of consciousness for a number of hours as the machine puts her back together. As she comes back to consciousness, she sees the thing growing in the cabin outside and even killing people. So by the time she emerges from the pod eight hours later, the thing is abroad in the ship and big enough to be a huge danger. That was the original conception of the medpod scene.

As for how she recovers from her surgery so fast - well, it was more of a protracted process in my original notion. My script underwent a number of major evolutions as we were working on it, and then Damon came in and made further changes still. But that sequence and its place in the story was one of the anchors.

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I wrote five different drafts of the script, working with Ridley very closely over about nine months. And even as we were working, we were constantly toying with the closeness of the monsters in the film to the original xenomorph.

And so he was always pushing for some way in which that Alien biology could have evolved. We tried different paths in that way. We imagined that there might be eight different variations on the xenomorphs - eight different kinds of Alien eggs you might stumble across, eight kinds of slightly different xenomorph creatures that could hatch from them. And maybe even a rapid process of evolution, still ongoing, in these Alien laboratories where these xenomorphs were developed. So Ridley and I were looking for ways to make the xenomorphs new.

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The creature did change in some pretty dramatic ways from draft to draft. But the most dramatic change was the removal of the xenomorph from the film. That was a shift that happened at the same time as I stepped off the film. A lot of that push came from the studio very high up; they were interested in doing something original and not one more franchise film. That really came to a head at the studio - the major push to focus on the new mythology of Prometheus and dial the Aliens as far back as we could came down from the studio.

So one of Damon's major jobs when he came onboard was to replace the menaces of the xenomorphs with other things. Largely the other menaces in the film were present in my drafts as well - there was a black mutagenic compound that could change people in unpredictable way, Fyfield did morph into a monster and become a real danger in his own right, and of course the Engineers, the Space Jockeys, proved to be terribly dangerous creatures. In my draft, as well, we did resurrect one and he tore off David's head. Much of the mayhem of the final film was present in the drafts I wrote, but the xenomorphs were the major change, as well as the stockpiling of this black liquid as opposed to Alien eggs.

I did have facehuggers in my original draft. David, as he began to get fascinated by the science of the Engineers, doesn't deliberately contaminate Holloway with a drop of black liquid. Instead, Holloway hubristically removes his helmet in the chamber, is knocked unconscious, facehugged and wakes up not knowing what had been done to him, and stumbles back into the ship. In my draft, he returns to his cabin, is embraced by Shaw, who is delighted to see him having feared that he had died, and the two of them make love. And it's while they're making love that he bursts and dies. So that lovemaking sequence echoed my original lovemaking sequence where he explodes! It was messy.

Subsequently, David, fascinated by these creatures, begins delaying the mission and going off the reservation on his own, essentially because he thinks he really belongs with the Engineers. They're smart enough and sophisticated enough, great enough, to be his peers. He's harboring a deep-seated contempt for his human makers. So at one point Shaw goes to stop him and David ties her up and deliberately exposes her to a facehugger. He caresses an egg open and out comes a facehugger. David doesn't smell like a person - his breath isn't moist - so he can handle the thing like a kitten. It doesn't want him; it's not interested. But then he exposes it to her and it goes for her like a shot. He toys with her for a bit and then lets it take her. That, in my draft, was how Shaw was implanted with the parasite that she had to remove with the medpod sequence.

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In my draft David was a little more bloody-handed and the scene with his betrayal was a little more baroque.

I left the two of them on the surface of that planetoid. It was plain that David and Shaw were going to have to work together and deal with one another if they were to survive. That one shot of the ship taking off in the finished film really focuses you on a particular outcome, whereas my ending was much more open as to what was going to happen next. But it was very much about this shattered android and this scarred woman being left with no-one but each other to carry on with.

I did have a plan for multiple films and the conversations I had with Ridley was about a new franchise, from the beginning. We talked about a possible trilogy, or a duology, but more often as a trilogy. And I did have pretty broad notions as to how we were going to get from this world to the original Alien - the baton pass, closing the circle, if you will. So yes, I did have plans for two other films. I came up with an even more twisted sequence than the Medpod, but I cannot tell you what happens...

My vision of the trilogy would have involved the arrival of the Yutani Company and a couple of other major plays around the Engineers themselves: the revelation of an additional grand Engineer design, and the possibility of seeking an Engineer homeworld. That shot of the ship flying at the end offers a lot of creative ways to play with this. But it feels like it brackets you into the search for the Engineer homeworld and home civilisation. That's an interesting challenge.

http://www.empireonline.com/intervie...w.asp?IID=1563

[ImmortalSlasher]

That screenwriter interview is pretty good. Prometheus is easily better than Alien 3, 4, and those vs movies. It does have flaws because the story is setup to be multiple films. Where the original Alien could be seen as one movie even with all the unanswered questions. I can't wait to see how Ridley Scott integrates Blade Runner with the Alien world. As right now Prometheus is in far better shape than the Star Wars prequels, Star Trek reboot, and Tron sequel.

[MichaelMyers]

I have now seen the film. As I noted last week, my expectations when the film began were quite high, due to V's extensive coverage of Prometheus on horror.com. This was a strong movie. It is truly a visual feast, as others here have noted. I particularly enjoyed the first two kills, and of course the climactic battle. I was not distracted by its tie-ins/compatibility with the Alien series, since I am not a huge fan of that franchise. Perhaps that helped: it is the best horror film I have seen released so far this year. I do have a quibble, and a query.

First, I do not believe David is a plausible AI. I do not see how he can have some human traits (the ability to manipulate, for example) and not others (want/desire). I felt that his capacity for agency was fitted too much to the demands of the plot. The same might be said, to give an obvious example, of HAL, but HAL was limited in a way David was not.

Second, at the risk of asking a dumb question: why did the sole surviving alien want to kill the humans? Perhaps I'm missing something here. But I thought the aliens had changed their minds about destroying Earth, so why kill the crew?

[Ferox13]

I never noticed this at the time (I saw this posted elsewhere) but what the Engineer consumes at the start looks very different from the goo in the chamber:



Also the bottom of the Mural shows waht looks like a facehugger:

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Originally Posted by ImmortalSlasher

I can't wait to see how Ridley Scott integrates Blade Runner with the Alien world.

I think it's just extended viral marketing to keep the interest in the franchise going, now that they have announced two more sequels to Prometheus.

Originally Posted by MichaelMyers

I do have a quibble, and a query.

First, I do not believe David is a plausible AI. I do not see how he can have some human traits (the ability to manipulate, for example) and not others (want/desire). I felt that his capacity for agency was fitted too much to the demands of the plot. The same might be said, to give an obvious example, of HAL, but HAL was limited in a way David was not.

The earlier viral marketing clip of David explains this aspect. He shares a lot of common traits with normal humans, even emotions. Yes, he even emotes. The viral clip had him weeping at one point.

That's why Weyland proudly presents David to the Engineer in that climactic scene, proclaiming himself as a God as well - "we are both creators, we are both gods".

Originally Posted by MichaelMyers

Second, at the risk of asking a dumb question: why did the sole surviving alien want to kill the humans? Perhaps I'm missing something here. But I thought the aliens had changed their minds about destroying Earth, so why kill the crew?

The Engineers had wanted to destroy the humans for awhile. That's the reason why the craft's pre-destined co-ordinates were set for Earth, and that's why the Engineer cranked up the engines for the craft - to fly to Earth and extinguish mankind.

Why? Ridley Scott has hinted to that in many of his interviews, and it concerns our treatment of Jesus, whom Scott refers to as an Engineer.

But I do feel like, embedded in this movie are the fundamental ideas behind why it is the Engineers would want to wipe us out. If that's the question that you're asking. The movie asks the question, were we created by these beings? And it answers that question very definitively. But in the wake of that answer there's a new question, which is, they created us but now they want to destroy us, why did they change their minds? That's the question that Shaw is asking at the end of this movie, the one that she wants answered. I do think that there are a lot of hints in this movie that we give you quite and educated guess as to why. But obviously not to the detriment of what Shaw might find when she goes to talk to these things herself.

Ridley Scott: We definitely did, and then we thought it was a little too on the nose. But if you look at it as an "our children are misbehaving down there" scenario, there are moments where it looks like we've gone out of control, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, "Lets' send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it. Guess what? They crucified him."

Read this - http://io9.com/5917448/all-of-your-l...tions-answered

Prometheus 2 might be able to answer that a bit more clearly, because that's the precise reason why Shaw flew to the Engineer's home planet, which David described as "Paradise".

Now that you have seen the film, MichaelMyers, this is for you :-

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/11...led-prometheus

Originally Posted by Ferox13

I never noticed this at the time (I saw this posted elsewhere) but what the Engineer consumes at the start looks very different from the goo in the chamber:

Yes, it's different. Because it's a weapon of mass creation.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

Also the bottom of the Mural shows waht looks like a facehugger:

Sort of reminds you of the climactic battle, doesn't it? It either depicts the creation of the ultimate killing machine, or it is a depiction of possibly (several) such scenes similar to the climactic battle on the planets on which the Engineers have created life.

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Quentin Tarantino's opinion of Prometheus:-

"On one hand... it was actually kind of cool to see a big deal, serious science-fiction epic by a director like Ridley Scott," he said. "Overall the experience was pretty cool having seen it."

"But there was also a lot of dumb stuff in it," Tarantino said with emphasis. "When it got to the point where they're on another planet and then a space cobra literally shows up, opens up its hood and the guy who's in charge of alien creatures goes, [adopts girlish dumb voice] 'Hey, little fella! How ya doin??' I was like, uhhhhh.... It's a space cobra!"

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...tm_medium=feed

[ImmortalSlasher]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

Quentin Tarantino's opinion of Prometheus:-



http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...tm_medium=feed

Tarantino is right. But I think the flaws are because of the Lost writer. I downloaded both scripts. I haven't read them yet but I will eventually. At least the guy is off the sequel. I don't know why Ridley Scott didn't catch some of these while making the movie. Maybe he did and the movie could have been a lot worse.

[Straker]

Figured I would post my review here, since I was so disappointed in this one....

Prometheus: Total shower of shit.... I think this one got lost somewhere up its own asshole at around the 10 minuite mark. The dialogue was a fuckin joke the character development was piss poor. For the most part I didnt understand any of the characters motivation or more importantly why I was supposed to give a fuck. It really felt like an exercise in how not to make a film. As a horror fan I'm kinda use to cheesy dialouge and characters doing dumb shit but really, this was just total horse shit.

I really wish Ridley would've listened to one of the many bullshit lines that came out of this movie and thrown this one in the bin: "Sometimes you have to destroy in order to create".

How could they have made this movie better? Easy! Opening scene where Weyland turns up and explains whats going on, midway through that scene he pulls out a sports almanac and waves it at the crew; "You see this book? This book tells the future. Tells the results of every major sports event till the end of this century..."

[MichaelMyers]

Originally Posted by Straker

Figured I would post my review here, since I was so disappointed in this one....

Prometheus: Total shower of shit.... I think this one got lost somewhere up its own asshole at around the 10 minuite mark. The dialogue was a fuckin joke the character development was piss poor. For the most part I didnt understand any of the characters motivation or more importantly why I was supposed to give a fuck. It really felt like an exercise in how not to make a film. As a horror fan I'm kinda use to cheesy dialouge and characters doing dumb shit but really, this was just total horse shit.

I really wish Ridley would've listened to one of the many bullshit lines that came out of this movie and thrown this one in the bin: "Sometimes you have to destroy in order to create".

How could they have made this movie better? Easy! Opening scene where Weyland turns up and explains whats going on, midway through that scene he pulls out a sports almanac and waves it at the crew; "You see this book? This book tells the future. Tells the results of every major sports event till the end of this century..."

V, what is your response to this violently negative review?

[_____V_____]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It is not a perfect film and has it's more than fair share of flaws, so anyone who has a high regard of Ridley Scott will ultimately end up disappointed with it. Scott raised his own bars with Alien and Blade Runner, so it's definitely a letdown by Scott's standards.

I can only hope that somewhere out there, a longer, uncut edition of the film exists which explains a bit about these flaws. Most of the deleted scenes do give a better idea of the film (I suggest everyone who hasn't watched the film yet, to please do so with the deleted scenes) so I am guessing a lot of stuff got left on the editing table, or was simply not filmed from the original script treatment of Spaihts, for fear of making the film unnecessarily too long. (Fox would never have approved it, no idea how much Scott was involved this time).

They better redeem themselves with Paradise. Or Scott will lose any remaining credibility, much like John Carpenter today.