Prometheus Sequel Shenanigans Episode 1 – The Blame Game
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You would think, given its box office take and home video sales, that a sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus would be a complete and total no-brainer. A turnkey and go kind of project. Nope. Read on for what’s likely to be a really long story.
Earlier this morning Bloody Disgusting posted that they heard Fox is freaking out about all the difficulties they’re having coming up with a workable and compelling premise for the sequel. According to BD Jon Spaihts’ original script for Prometheus was supposed to be a single contained prequel to the original Alien, not a trilogy, and it was Damon Lindelof who came in with the idea to turn the story into a trilogy. Since Lindelof bailed on the project, Fox and Scott have been meeting with writers in search of their best option to continue on with the story of Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace). The bad news? They haven’t had much luck yet.
Now here’s where things get interesting. In an interview with Spaihts on Empire Online, the scribe goes on to reveal that the studio and Scott were interested in a new franchise all along, and it was not Lindelof who steered them that way.
“I did have a plan for multiple films, and the conversation 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.”
Since then Lindelof has responded to today’s events in an article over at SlashFilm. Click the link for the entire e-mail to them; excerpts follow below.
“During the creative process of Prometheus, all involved (that includes Fox and Ridley) had a strong desire for this film to launch off in its own way so that by the end, it would not connect directly to the original ALIEN, but instead run parallel to it. This is something that I talked about many, many times in the press burst around the release of the movie. As you probably remember, there was a lot of interest as to whether Prometheus was a ‘prequel’ — the answer was, ‘Yes. Sort of. But if there was a sequel to Prometheus, it would not be ALIEN.'”
“Taking the strong foundation that Jon Spaihts had already written, I worked on the script to this end — and yes, during that process, Ridley did occasionally riff on what he felt might happen next as Shaw and David’s Head ventured off of LV-223 in search of wherever The Engineers had come from.”
Okay, then! Show of hands… who’s in need of an icepack?
In the original film archeologist couple Elizabeth Shaw (Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover a star map that they interpret as an invitation from humanity’s forerunners, the “Engineers.” Determined to find out more about them, the couple board the scientific vessel Prometheus, created and funded by Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), CEO of Weyland Corporation. Lead by mission director Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) and monitored by Weyland’s android David (Michael Fassbender), the team of explorers find a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth and embark on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe, where they fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.
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