This morning we were treated to twenty minutes from the beginning of Ridley Scott’s much anticipated return to sci-fi, Prometheus. Please note, Prometheus Footage reaction and Q&A so if you want to know nothing about the new movie, click away now.
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Described as a setup for the rest of the film we began in 2089 on the Isle of Skye where Noomi Rapace and her team are excavating a deep cave in the Scottish hillside. Upon finding the cave paintings glimpsed in the recent trailers we move forward four years to the starship Promethues where the Android David whose descendants include Ash, Bishop and Call, wakes the crew as they approach a distant planet whose moon, it is assumed, is capable of sustaining life, and where they hope to discover the origin of the figures glimpsed in the cave paintings on Earth.
Once awake there is an appearance from someone who will be familiar to those keeping up with the marketing for Prometheus, albeit in a very different form to how he looked when we last saw him wow the crowds at the TED talk in 2039.
The task explained, the crew hostile towards the scientific crew mates, the footage ended as the ship set down on the moon.
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It looks stunning. The 3D, though simple to do in Scott’s words, looks incredible, with the moment seen in the trailer when the front shields retract as the ship approaches the moon giving me the first real sense of being in space.
What we saw of the design was certainly in keeping with the world as we know it however we’ve moved a long way from clunky green computer text and are now in a world on Avataresque computer screens and room wide projections.
I was looking forward to the film before going in, now it’s at the top of my must see films for 2012.
Following the footage screening a Q&A took place which we hope to have online soon, in the meantime here are the highlights which, naturally, contain or hint at spoilers.
- There will be a scene equivalent to the famous chestburster scene from Alien. This features Noomi Rapace’s character.
- The last seven minutes contain the DNA link to Alien, Scott confirmed that as they started on the first draft they were not sure if it would be a prequel or sequel.
- Each of the characters have a personal reason for wanting to go on the mission. Noomi Rapace’s character is a scientist who believes in God searching for answers, a “journey into Hell to find God”.
- When asked about the rating Ridley Scott wanted whatever got him the best box office, then more seriously told the MPAA to “get its house in order”.
There’s more on the specific influences each actor took for their role as well as an answer about the process of working with 3D and these should be available on the site shortly.
UPDATE: The full transcript of the Q&A can be found here.
Prometheus is released on the 3rd of June. I cannot wait.
