By CHRISTOPHER HAGE & ROBERT W
Some time ago, the Movie Minglers did a podcast on Ridley Scott’s sort-of Alien prequel ‘Prometheus’. To hear what we thought of ‘Prometheus’ click here, but in summary, while Nick and Frank quite enjoyed the film, I thought it had quite a few issues.
One of our readers “Robert W” wrote in with his interesting take on ‘Prometheus’- a mock interview with the Director himself! With his permission we have added it to the Movie Mingler site. As you may be able to tell- he didn’t enjoy the movie at all!
Please note, his opinions of the film and Ridley Scott (as well as George Lucas) do not represent the opinions of moviemingler.com. (Hear us praise Mr Scott in the: ‘Blade Runner’ podcast)
You can also get our reaction to the email below at the end of our ‘Batman Returns’ podcast!
Chris
A Journey of Utter Contempt For Your Audience- A Dreamed Interview With Ridley Scott
by Robert W
INTERVIEWER:
Thanks for your time today – I realise you must have a limit on how much time you can spend talking about Alien and Prometheus…
RIDLEY SCOTT:
You’d think so, but I do appreciate there are a lot of questions out there, and it’s also important to realise just how much money I’ve made on this bandwagon.
INTERVIEWER:
Oh… of course. So let’s start with ‘Alien’, talk us through the development of the face-hugger concept?
RIDLEY SCOTT:
Really the cash is obscene, and – what?
INTERVIEWER:
I was asking about the development of the Facehugger.
RIDLEY SCOTT:
Well, that was a long time ago, I couldn’t tell you specifically. I do need to acknowledge the original story, the scriptwriters and H.R. Giger – it was an organic dialogue that gave birth to that creature.
INTERVIEWER:
It really is an impressive creation to have stayed so iconic for so long. I mean the whole mechanism is so surreal but from familiar concepts . Egg laying, larval stages and the facehugger smashing through the guys space suit. Were the mechanical elements something you were involved in?
RIDLEY SCOTT:
Uhmmm, it really was a long time ago, organic discussions prior to and during shooting shaped a lot of how the film would be best put together.
INTERVIEWER:
Prometheus was similar?
RIDLEY SCOTT:
Well yes, but making movies is different now, there’s a lot of complexity in the CGI, 3D and casting of course. The audience does need to see the cast, so wherever possible we ended up getting all the characters to take off their helmets.
INTERVIEWER:
Oh… that seems a bit lazy?
RIDLEY SCOTT:
Ah, see you just don’t get movies then. Being involved in a movie audience is all about your willing suspension of disbelief.
INTERVIEWER:
Eerrr, well yes – but that’s only part of the equation isn’t it?
RIDLEY SCOTT:
Oh absolutely, CGI is important too
INTERVIEWER:
The effects?
RIDLEY SCOTT:
Absolutely, CGI and Sequels.
INTERVIEWER:
CGI and Sequels?
RIDLEY SCOTT:
Well yes. We realised early on that with the Alien Franchise there is still a lot of money to be made, and probably some unanswered questions that could help us make that money. So we made sure not to answer too much in Prometheus because we wanted to make a sequel.
INTERVIEWER:
Oh I see, so Prometheus would only provide some insight and this sequel will provide the rest?
RIDLEY SCOTT:
Yeah! That was the plan all along.
INTERVIEWER:
So how did you decide what to answer in Prometheus?
RIDLEY SCOTT:
It’s more complex than that.
INTERVIEWER:
I’m sure, can you elaborate at all?
RIDLEY SCOTT:
A little. I guess the process started with the decision to make a sequel. Why make 1 movie and a truckload of money when you can make 2 and 2 truckloads of money!?
INTERVIEWER:
Oh…
RIDLEY SCOTT:
Right, so once you decide that, you figure out what significant developments you need in the second film, and what’s left goes in the first.
INTERVIEWER:
Oh I see!
RIDLEY SCOTT:
It was important to squeeze in as much cool CGI as possible too.
Click below for more of Robert W’s totally real interview with Ridley Scott, as Floating Map Balls, David’s character progression, and a pesky editor are discussed!
Movie Mingler 