Damon Lindelof Admits The Title Might Be Pretentious
The puzzle of Ridley Scott‘s “Prometheus” is slowly, but surely beginning to take a hazy shape. Earlier today, we got our first official look at the film, and the surprises keep coming. The press conference brought out one of the film’s stars, Charlize Theron and together with writer Damon Lindelof, they fielded questions about the upcoming “Alien” universe film and while we’re still no closer to a full picture of what’s to come, we did get a few more scraps.
Most significantly, Theron revealed that her character will be at the head of The Company, the corporation known as Weyland-Yutani, who are present throughout the “Alien” films, and run the human colonies outside the solar system.
“…she is really the suit, she’s the one that runs the company,” Theron said about her role in the film and how it was developed. “Ridley always kind of grounds it and brings it back to reality. I watch the Trump family for instance and I don’t really know much about it but I know Ivana is running that ship. I don’t ever set out to play a character with strength. I kind of find the circumstance. It was once we found the world and what we wanted to explore with her that we kind of found [the character].”
As it turns out, Theron has to thank the delays on another high profile tentpole film for even giving her the opportunity to work on “Prometheus.”
“When ‘Mad Max‘ pushed, Ridley reached out to me and it was like, read it in 30 minutes or its going to explode. You can ask any actor, there’s always that one director that’s a dream and Ridley was that for me,” Theron said, going on to reveal her character will be moving beyond the boardroom. “This character is so different from everybody else that’s on this mission, somebody who comes from a cold, economic suit business. We explored how to make her more layered and that’s when I really got excited. There’s something incredible when you see that potential and really want it to work out. You’re just throwing these crazy ideas at someone you admire and a week later I get this draft and I’m like, Wow. It was really flattering and exciting.”
Much has been made about how closely “Prometheus” will connect to “Alien” but, as Lindelof has been revealing of late, what started as a directly tied-in project evolved into something grander. “It was most definitely an ‘Alien’ prequel and Ridley really wanted to push it into original territory. We worked together for a few months until he was satisfied that it was its own movie,” he reveals. But he worries that perhaps, they’re getting a bit too cerebral.
“Ridley and I were sitting right across from each other talking about each scene. He would write something on a napkin and pass it over to me and I’d be thinking, ‘I’m keeping this napkin forever.’ You’re going to see some things in the late fall that are going to start proclaiming what ‘Prometheus’ is. We sort of joke about it, but it’s a pretentious title possibly. We’re aware of that,” Lindelof says about what seems to be an epic undertaking.
And while we kind of forgot about this, “Prometheus” will be arriving in glorious (?) 3D but everyone insists it will be worth paying the extra coin and putting on those chunky glasses.
“There were massive screens. You walk in and they hand you glasses. You’re like, ‘Oh my God, they actually designed this movie for 3D. Any movie in 3D has to justify, ‘Why is this in 3D.’ The 3D helps bring you into that immersive environment. One of the most visionary directors in the world has really used this movie and I think it’s going to be very special,” Lindelof enthused.
“It was ridiculous. Everything was built, there was a 3D image to show you what was there,” Theron added.
It seems with “Prometheus” we’ll be getting Ridley Scott at the top of his game, utilizing the best talent he can assemble to return to the franchise that launched his career. “Prometheus” will be revealed on June 8, 2012. —reporting by Kimber Myers