Prometheus (2012) Poster

(I) (2012)


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Charlize Theron found herself struggling during her action scenes due to her smoking habit, particularly the segments that required her to run through sand in boots weighing 30 pounds (14 kg).
The androids' names in the Alien films follow an alphabetical pattern: in Alien (1979) it's Ash, in Aliens (1986) and Alien³ (1992) it's Bishop, in Alien: Resurrection (1997) it's Call and in this film it's David.
The "beginning of time" sequence that opens the film was shot in Iceland. The whole shoot took two weeks to complete.
During production, Ridley Scott kept the use of computer-generated imagery as low as possible, using CGI mainly in space scenes; Scott recalled advice VFXpert Douglas Trumbull gave him on the set of Blade Runner (1982): "If you can do it live, do it live", and also claimed that practical VFX was more cost-effective than digital VFX.
Ridley Scott instructed Charlize Theron to stand in corners and move in lurking movements, in order to accentuate Vickers's distant, enigmatic nature.
To prepare for his role as the android David, Michael Fassbender watched Blade Runner (1982) (a Ridley Scott film), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), The Servant (1963) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (mentioned by Peter Weyland). Fassbender also studied Olympic diver Greg Louganis, drawing inspiration from Louganis's physicality.
Ridley Scott decided against featuring Xenomorphs (the titular Alien of the film series) in the film, as "the sequels squeezed him dry, he did very well... and no way am I going back there." Instead, this being an indirect prequel to Alien (1979), he decided to feature a Xenomorph ancestor/parent.
Designer H.R. Giger, who worked on the original design of the Xenomorph Alien (1979), was brought in to assist in reverse-engineering the design of the Aliens in the film.
During the on location segment shoot in Iceland (the movie's opening sequence), Noomi Rapace was able to visit her family who still reside there where she was partly raised.
When Prometheus approaches the landing zone, straight marks on the ground can be seen which are very similar to the Nazca lines located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. The Nazca lines are considered by few rogue scientists/archaeologists to be runways of an ancient airfield used by extraterrestrials. This idea was popularized by Swiss author, Erich von Däniken, and is generally regarded as pseudo-science. One of the more prevailing and accepted theories posits that the lines were part of the religious practices of the local people. Other theories place astronomical, cosmological or topographical significance to them.
An innovative viral campaign was used to promote the film, consisting of several videos depicting the near future world from the film. The first was a fake TED Talk given by Peter Weyland (played by Guy Pearce), dated 2028. Later, two different versions of a commercial promoting the David 8 android (played by Michael Fassbender) were released. These viral videos were designed by Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof themselves, and were directed by Scott's son, Luke Scott.
While Ridley Scott suggested that the cast could have slept and effectively "lived" on the Prometheus interior set during initial filming, this didn't happen due to health and safety precautions.
As mentioned in the film, the original Prometheus was a character from Greek mythology. He was a Titan (an immortal older god), who gave the gift of fire to human beings. Prometheus was punished for this by being bound to a rock in Hades (the Greek underworld), where each day an eagle, the emblem of Zeus, was sent to feed on his liver, only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day. In some stories, Prometheus is freed at last by the hero Heracles (Hercules). Among the ancient Greeks, Prometheus was venerated as a deity. Prometheus may derive from the Greek for "forethinker", or the Proto-Indo-European for "thief", Prometheus also tricked the gods, which is of relevance to this film.
In one of the screenplay drafts for Alien (1979), there was a sex scene between Ripley and Dallas, to show how crew members would engage in casual sex during long space travels, simply to fulfill their needs. Ridley Scott never filmed the scene, but the idea was reused for this film in the exchange between Vickers and Janek.
In 2002, Aliens (1986) director James Cameron discussed ideas for a fifth Alien (1979) film with Ridley Scott, with the intention that Cameron would produce the film with Scott directing, and Sigourney Weaver returning to star in the lead role of Ripley. However upon discovering that 20th Century Fox were developing the crossover film AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004), Cameron ceased all work on the project, believing that the crossover would "kill the validity of the franchise". Though Cameron went on to state that he would never again work with the Alien franchise, Scott eventually ended up reworking their idea into this film.
The first shot of the cave paintings at the beginning of the film, which showed a horse in motion, originate from the Chauvet Cave in the South of France, which was the subject of the Werner Herzog documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), also shot in 3D.
This is not Ian Whyte's (who plays the Last Engineer) only attachment to the Alien (1979) films. Whyte also played the Predators in AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007).
Producers Walter Hill and David Giler rejoin Ridley Scott for the first time in over 30 years since they first collaborated on Alien (1979).
When Janek talks with Vickers, he mentions that his accordion was property of Stephen Stills. Stills is a singer, former member of Buffalo Springfield and 'Crosby, Stills & Nash' and composer of "Love the One You're With", that Janek sings often times.
Noomi Rapace landed the role of Elizabeth when a scheduled meeting in Los Angeles with producer Michael Costigan instead led to an unexpected meeting with Ridley Scott. When Scott announced that he'd seen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) three times and was very keen to work with her, Noomi accepted the offer right away.
Gemma Arterton, Carey Mulligan, Olivia Wilde, Anne Hathaway, Abbie Cornish and Natalie Portman were considered for the role of Elizabeth Shaw.
Ridley Scott initially wanted Max von Sydow for the role of Peter Weyland. However, Scott and Damon Lindelof conceived of a scene in which David the android (Michael Fassbender) would interface with Weyland while in hypersleep, and that Weyland's dream would reflect his looks as a younger man since he is obsessed with immortality. Though the scene was cut from the script and never filmed, Guy Pearce had already been cast in the role and thus underwent extensive make-up to appear elderly.
Ridley Scott stated that he was filming "the most aggressive film [he] could" by not caring about MPAA ratings, having support for such bold movement from 20th Century Fox CEO Tom Rothman, who addressed Alien (1979) fans by saying that he was "very aware of their concern", and that "they can take it that the film will not be compromised either way. So if that means that the film is R, then it'll be an R. If it's PG-13, then it'll be a PG-13, but it will not be compromised." Scott shot the film with both adult-only R and more accessible PG-13 film ratings in mind, allowing the more adult content to be cut if necessary without harming the overall presentation, given the case it was asked to be cut down. Eventually, the film was rated "R for Sci-Fi violence including some intense images, and brief language", and it was released without any demanded cuts.
Early drafts of the script had a scene on a colony on Mars where Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) had his office. Though concept art was completed, the scene was removed for pacing reasons and never filmed.
The Vatican's official newspaper L'osservatore Romano gave a negative review of this film saying that it "mishandles the delicate questions raised by... the battle eternal between good and evil."
Marks Ridley Scott's first venture in 3D feature filmmaking and his third sci-fi movie after Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982).
Patrick Wilson, playing Elizabeth Shaw's father, is only 6 years older than Noomi Rapace.
Michelle Yeoh and Angelina Jolie were originally considered for the role of Meredith Vickers.
Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski convinced Ridley Scott that it would be possible to shoot the film in 3D with the same ease and efficiency of typical filming. 3D company 3ality Technica provided some of the rigs and equipment to facilitate 3D filming, and trained the film's crew in their proper operation. Since 3D films need high lighting levels on set, the traditional dark shadowy atmosphere of the Alien films was added in post-production through grading processes, while the 3D equipment was based on post-Avatar (2009) technology.
Orion's constellation can be seen in the holographic star chart during the explanation of Shaw and Holloway about Engineers. It appears to the left of Shaw.
Ridley Scott approached SOAS, University of London, in 2011 to find experts who could help create a new language for the film. Anil Biltoo from SOAS' Language Centre worked to create the language, as well as the alien script, which can be seen throughout. Anil Biltoo can be seen briefly in a scene with Michael Fassbender. Other SOAS staff members appear briefly and are credited, including Wambui Kunya, Sonam Dugdak, Shin-Ichiro Okajima, Kay Rienjang, Zed Sevcikova and Reynir Thor Eggertsson.
Noomi Rapace wasn't yet born when Alien (1979) was first released.
Logan Marshall-Green described his role of Charlie Holloway as "an ESPN X-Games (1994) scientist" who leaps before he looks.
James Franco was considered for the role of Holloway.
The first film to feature two actors who played Charlotte Brontë's creation of Edward Rochester in two different literary adaptations involving the same character in the same cast. Rafe Spall played Edward Rochester in Wide Sargasso Sea (2006) and Michael Fassbender played the same role in Jane Eyre (2011).
The film was originally to be called "Paradise" (December 2010).
In the scene where Peter Weyland is being awoken from hibernation, a prop in the background is actually an ACL TOP coagulation analyzer.
Ben Foster was rumored for a role.
Numerous white Stelton vacuum jugs appear in various interior shots of the Prometheus ship, including the ship's lab and Shaw's bedroom.
The film contains approximately 1300 digital VFX shots.


The trivia items below may give away important plot points.

When Prometheus approaches the alien solar system, it's mentioned that it's 3.27 x 10^14 (327,000,000,000,000) km from Earth. That's 34.6 light years or 10.4 parsecs.
When Elizabeth Shaw is having a C-Section to remove the alien from her body, the alien was wrapped in a condom filled with fake blood so that when it was pulled from her body, the condom could be punctured and explode violently.
Shaw's final message at the end of the film closely mirrors that of Ripley's final log entry at the end of Alien (1979). Both messages include indication of being a "final log entry", description of the fates of the ships' respective crews, and identifying themselves as the "last surviving crew member of the (Nostromo/Prometheus)".
David idolizes British World War 1 hero T.E. Lawrence. In World War 1, the British Army, including Lawrence, used a machine gun called the Vickers. Also, Peter Weyland, who quotes Lawrence of Arabia (1962), is the creator/synthetic father of David, but also the biological father of Meredith Vickers.
In May 7th, 2012, Guillermo del Toro declared that his long proposed adaptation for "At the Mountains of Madness" was indefinitely delayed as he felt Ridley Scott's film was extremely similar to the approach he penned for H.P. Lovecraft's novella, even to the point of having "scenes that would be almost identical. Both movies seem to share identical set pieces and the exact same big revelation (twist) at the end."

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