For quite a while now, sci-fi fans have been getting in a bit of a lather about Ridley Scott’s proposed Alien prequel. Will having Scott on board make it worthwhile? Will it trample on the legacy of his original film? Well it seems we won’t have to worry about that too much anymore, as while Alien was the starting point, the film has now morphed into something more original.
20th Century Fox has announced that the film will be called Prometheus and that Girl With The Dragon Tattoo star Noomi Rapace will star as protagonist Elizabeth Shaw (it’s believed she’s who Ridley wanted all along, but the studio initially pushed for someone better known). Deadline reports that Charlize Theron and Angelina Jolie are both circling the other major female role of Vickers, although neither has yet been cast.
Scott says, “While Alien was indeed the jumping off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognise strands of Alien’s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative. I couldn’t be more pleased to have found the singular tale I’d been searching for, and finally return to this genre that’s so close to my heart.”
It’s certainly an interesting idea, although quite what the film will be about and whether it will tie into the Alien mythology at all is yet to be seen. Jon Spaights wrote the initial draft, with Scott and Damon Lindelof (Star Trek, Lost) now working on it. It appears that it’s in the rewrites that it started to drift from Alien into something more original.
Lindelof says, “In a world flooded with prequels, sequels and reboots, I was incredibly struck by just how original Ridley’s vision was for this movie. It’s daring, visceral and hopefully, the last thing anyone expects. When I sat in a movie theater as a kid, feet raised off the floor for fear that something might grab my ankles, I never dreamed in my wildest imagination I would one day get to collaborate with the man responsible for it. Working alongside him has been nothing short of a dream come true.”
It’ll be great to see Scott back doing sci-fi, a genre he’s tended to avoid recently, although part of me can’t help but wonder what his take on a true Alien prequel would have been. It’s due in cinemas March 9th, 2012.