Prometheus
The search for our beginning could lead to our end.
Prometheus (2012)
Production
Budget
$130 000 000
Revenue
$403 354 469
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
Noomi Rapace
Elizabeth Shaw
Michael Fassbender
David
Charlize Theron
Meredith Vickers
Idris Elba
Janek
Guy Pearce
Peter Weyland
Logan Marshall-Green
Charlie Holloway
Sean Harris
Fifield
Rafe Spall
Millburn
Short description
In the late twenty-first century, discoveries of matching ancient artworks from cultures around the world suggest that humanity's origins lie elsewhere in the universe. The scientist Elizabeth Shaw reads the recurring image as an invitation, and the Weyland corporation funds an expedition to the distant world it points to. Shaw, the android David, the company's Meredith Vickers and the ship's captain Janek lead a crew of scientists and pilots to the planet, where what they find tests them and raises a threat to the future of the human race.
Ridley Scott directed the film, the twenty-second of the thirty-four features he has made, following Robin Hood and preceding The Counselor. Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts wrote the screenplay, and Scott produced with David Giler and Walter Hill. Noomi Rapace plays Shaw, with Michael Fassbender as David, Charlize Theron as Vickers, Idris Elba as Janek, Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland and Logan Marshall-Green as Charlie Holloway, among a credited cast of 51 and crew of 120. The budget was 130 million USD and the worldwide box office about 403 million USD. On IMDb it holds 7/10 from roughly 696,000 votes and on TMDB 6.6/10 from some 13,600 votes; a critics' rating of 7/10 from 312 reviews places it near the audience average.
What's left behind the scenes
- The three triangles – the logo of the Weyland Corporation (which visually resembles the logo of The Weinstein Company) actually originates from a drawing on a wall in the background of an early Ron Cobb painting depicting a “Space Jockey” for the original “Alien” film. This logo can be seen in David’s fingerprints.
- During the flight, David watches David Lean's film "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) and tries to replicate the hairstyle of the main character as portrayed by Peter O'Toole.
- Ridley Scott titled the film “Prometheus,” believing that this title fully reflected its essence: “It’s a creation story; a story about gods and a man who rebelled against them.” In ancient Greek mythology, the servant of the gods, the Titan Prometheus, stole fire and gave it to humans, forever changing human life for the better and for the worse at the same time.
- After the Alien’s blood gets on Holloway’s helmet, it melts the plastic and drips onto his face, leaving a huge imprint. Later, when the rest of the team exits the ship to rescue him, he only has a small puncture in his helmet.
- According to Ridley Scott, the inspiration for the film's plot came from the works of Erich von Däniken about the presence of alien astronauts on Earth in the distant past: “Both NASA and the Vatican agree that mathematically it is almost impossible that we are where we are today without some small help along the way. That's what interests us: we are talking about gods and engineers, space engineers. Were aliens designed as a form of biological weapon, or as something that will come and cleanse the planet?”
- When Vickers stands before Weyland and talks about why she went on the journey, her hands change position several times. In one frame they are in front of her, and in the next they are behind her.
- On May 7, 2012, Guillermo del Toro stated that his long-planned preparation for the film 'At the Mountains of Madness' had been postponed indefinitely as soon as he felt that the approach in Ridley Scott's film was very similar to how he was working on the Lovecraft novella, to the point that "there would be almost identical scenes, the same plot branches, and exactly the same revelations at the end."
- This is not Ian White's (who plays the last engineer) only role connected to the "Alien" film series. White also played Predators in the "Alien vs. Predator" series.
- Multiple times during the initial exploration of the planet, the characters' helmets are shown being cleaned with steam, and then in the next frame they are completely clear.
- Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski convinced Ridley Scott that the film could be shot in 3D as easily and efficiently as a conventional film. "3ality Technica" provided equipment to facilitate 3D shooting and trained personnel to operate it. Since filming 3D movies requires higher lighting on set, the dark, gloomy atmosphere characteristic of the Alien films was added in post-production.
- Swedish actress Noomi Rapace trained extensively for her role to speak with a British accent.
- When Dr. Elizabeth Shaw is rescued during the sandstorm, Dr. Holloway calls her 'Numi'.
- To emphasize the mysterious nature of Meredith Vickers, Ridley Scott explained to Charlize Theron how to freeze, hide in a corner, and move stealthily.
- Logan Marshall-Green described his role as Charlie Holloway as a specialist in worldwide extreme games from the cable sports channel "ESPN" who watches before he leaps.
- Producers Walter Hill and David Giler joined Ridley Scott for the first time in 30 years, since their first collaboration on the film "Alien" (1979).
- While preparing for the role of David, Michael Fassbender watched films such as: 'Blade Runner' (1982), 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' (1976), 'The Servant' (1963), and 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962). Fassbender also studied Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis, drawing inspiration from his physical qualities.
- At the conference, when Shaw discusses her findings, the inscription “Eilean a' Cheo” can be seen in the background. Translated from Scottish (Celtic), it means “Island of Mists,” this island is also known as Skye, and its name is correctly written as “An t-Eilean Sgitheanach.”
- The moment when Dr. Shaw grabs the axe happens instantaneously, from a shot filmed behind her to a shot in front of her.
- When Shaw exits the escape pod, she is wearing a helmet but no gloves. In the next shot, she is wearing gloves.
- Charlize Theron had a difficult time during the filming of the action scenes due to her smoking habit, especially during scenes where she had to run on sand in shoes weighing fourteen kilograms.
- Ridley Scott decided not to show Xenomorphs in the film because “the sequels wrung everything out of them, and it was great… but I’m not going back to them in any way.” The film is nevertheless an indirect prequel to “Alien” (1979), and Scott decided to show the ancestors of the Xenomorphs, the parents of the Xenomorphs.
- When Vickers asks David how long they have been in hypersleep, he replies: “2 years, 4 months, 18 days, 36 hours, 15 minutes.” It is unclear why a day should be longer than the standard 24 hours, and why he didn’t say “19 days, 12 hours.”
- Michelle Yeoh was considered for the role of Meredith Vickers.
- As mentioned in the film, Prometheus is a character from Greek mythology. He was a Titan (immortal) who gave fire to mankind. Prometheus was punished for this; he was chained to a rock in Colchis, where an eagle (a symbol of Zeus) flew every day to peck at his liver. And just as it grew back, the eagle would return the next day and eat it again. In some tales, Prometheus is eventually freed by Heracles (Hercules). Among the ancient Greeks, Prometheus was revered as a deity. Prometheus may originate from the Greek “foreseeing” or from the Proto-Indo-European “thief.” Prometheus also deceived the gods, which has significance for the film.
- Gemma Arterton, Carey Mulligan, Olivia Wilde, Anne Hathaway, Abby Cornish, and Natalie Portman were all considered for the role of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw.
- Initially, the film was supposed to be a prequel to "Alien" (1979), also directed by Ridley Scott. However, he decided to make "Prometheus" an original film starring Noomi Rapace (who was already slated for a role), who ultimately became one of the five main cast members. Later it was confirmed that, despite taking place in the same universe as "Alien" (1979) and referencing it in many ways, it would actually be an original film, not a direct prequel.
- The film was originally supposed to be called "Paradise," as planned in December 2010.
- When Captain Janek flirts with Meredith Vickers, she claims to be “half a billion miles” away from other people. That distance barely stretches from the Sun to Jupiter, let alone other solar systems.
- David saves Elizabeth and Charlie from a sandstorm 'cutting through their spacesuits,' and in the very next scene in the airlock we see that the suits are without a single scratch.
- The film contains approximately 1300 shots with special effects.
- H.R. Giger, who created the appearance of the xenomorph for "Alien" (1979), was invited as a design consultant for the aliens in this film.
- The Prometheus crew’s spacesuits are made in a very strange way: they can withstand a fierce sandstorm and don’t even get a scratch, but they tear easily when an unfortunate astronaut breaks an arm or when a helmet is shattered by an impact.
- The scene that opens the film was shot in Iceland. The entire shoot took two weeks.
- Ridley Scott suggested that the actors “live” in the sets on the set, but this did not happen due to safety violations and the potential threat to the actors’ health.
- When Dr. Shaw enters the ship that crash-landed on the planet, you can see books and belongings scattered everywhere, but a bottle of vodka sits undisturbed on the bar next to a helmet and some kind of container.
- The role of Charlie Holloway could have gone to James Franco.
- Ridley Scott contacted the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London to find specialists who could help create a new language for the film. Ultimately, Anil Biltoo, from the university's language center, took on the task of creating the language, as well as the alien writing system seen throughout the film. Anil himself can be seen in a scene with Michael Fassbender.
- Rumor has it that Ben Foster could have gotten one of the roles in the film.
- An innovative viral advertising campaign, consisting of several videos depicting the world of the near future from the film, was used to promote the film. The first was a video of Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) giving a speech at a “TED” conference in 2028. Then two different versions of the advertisement for the android “David 8” (Michael Fassbender) were released. These videos were conceived by Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof, and directed by Luke Scott (Ridley’s son).
- The names of the androids in the Alien films go in alphabetical order: Ash in “Alien”; Bishop in “Aliens” and “Alien 3”; Call in “Alien Resurrection”. In “Prometheus” – David.
- During the making of the film, Ridley Scott tried to use computer graphics as little as possible, using it primarily in spatial scenes. Scott recalled advice from visual effects specialist Douglas Trumbull, which he gave him during the filming of “Blade Runner” (1982): “If you can do it live, do it live,” and also stated that real visual effects are much more cost-effective than digital ones.
- The first shots of cave paintings at the beginning of the film, which depict a horse in motion, are taken from the Chauvet Cave in southern France. Werner Herzog made a documentary film about these drawings, "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" (2010) (which was also shot in 3D, incidentally).
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