Jon Spaihts interview with Empire Magazine

[Virgil]

A new Jon Spaihts interview has been released over at Empire Online. There's some fascinating insights as to where Jon was originally going to take Prometheus, and where it might go next.

http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1563

Regarding the future of the franchise:

"I did have a plan for multiple films and the conversations I had with Ridley was about a new franchise, from the beginning. We talked about a possible trilogy, or a duology, but more often as a trilogy. And I did have pretty broad notions as to how we were going to get from this world to the original Alien - the baton pass, closing the circle, if you will. So yes, I did have plans for two other films. I came up with an even more twisted sequence than the Medpod, but I cannot tell you what happens...

My vision of the trilogy would have involved the arrival of the Yutani Company and a couple of other major plays around the Engineers themselves: the revelation of an additional grand Engineer design, and the possibility of seeking an Engineer homeworld. That shot of the ship flying at the end offers a lot of creative ways to play with this. But it feels like it brackets you into the search for the Engineer homeworld and home civilisation. That's an interesting challenge."

[Gazz]

I was surprised to discover that the exclusion of a heavily featured Xenomorph type creature in the film's final act came from the studio rather than Ridley Scott himself.

"A lot of that push came from the studio very high up; they were interested in doing something original and not one more franchise film. That really came to a head at the studio - the major push to focus on the new mythology of Prometheus and dial the Aliens as far back as we could came down from the studio."

That's starting to sound more like Fox

[SpeedyMaxx]

I'm pretty sure it was Ridley too.

The Yutani mention may fit with what I've heard about Charlize Theron returning - an android pursuing Shaw.

Again, I'm very glad they removed a lot of the alien tropes and made David much more ambiguous.  But some of those ideas for other aliens are great.

[T Dog]

Wow I haven't even gotten to the end but hearing Spaihts describing his draft it's seem I would have much preferred his version of things. It sounds much more compelling and tighter.

[Marlowe]

This is the guy who deserves to be heard.

[Gazz]

I dunno, Spaiht's draft sounds like it travels a path we've been down before. And the scene in which David toys with Shaw whilst cradling a facehugger makes him sound like a Bond villain.

I think they went in the right direction with the film we got but it was still a draft or two from being it's best.

[T Dog]

I think they should have stuck to the tropes, modified them and added in a few new things instead of replacing them entirely with second rate versions of them.

The idea of different types of eggs is simple but could have been effective.

I bet the studio only wanted to change the creatures as a ploy to bring the rating down.

Also Ridley Scott is a pussy. He seems more interested in making movie for the sake of making movies, instead of wanting to make exceptionally good ones.

[SpeedyMaxx]

I think most directors want to make good movies.

The old tropes bore me.

[Gazz]

It's hard to discuss without having the script but the draft sounds too fan-fic cute. A mix of established tropes and well walked paths with a few aesthetic but otherwise minor twists and Bond villain type moments of ridiculousness. Perhaps the actual draft will read differently but there's little that strikes me as 'new' in Spaiht's draft that wasn't expanded upon (to varying degrees of success) in the final film.

Also Ridley Scott is a pussy. He seems more interested in making movie for the sake of making movies, instead of wanting to make exceptionally good ones.

Bullshit. After watching plenty of making-of documentaries of Scott's film, he clearly does it because he loves the process and wants to make the best film he can. However, sometimes the best film he can make in the situation he's given, isn't a good film in everyone's eyes.

[T Dog]

I base what I say regarding Ridley Scott on Spaihts comments about the change in creature design coming from very very high up in the Studio.

In the end it'll always come down to execution and final edit.

The way the camera moves, the lighting, the acting, how they cut thing (do they use lots of coverage or do they do long takes), the use of sound, the use of music (use tons or keep it minimal or absent).

[DaddyYautja]

My vision of the trilogy would have involved the arrival of the Yutani Company and a couple of other major plays around the Engineers themselves

PREDATORS!??!?!??!?!

We imagined that there might be eight different variations on the xenomorphs - eight different kinds of Alien eggs you might stumble across, eight kinds of slightly different xenomorph creatures that could hatch from them.

So Ridley and I were looking for ways to make the xenomorphs new.

Bull Alien! Gorilla Alien! HA HAAA!
Preatorian?

So one of Damon's major jobs when he came onboard was to replace the menaces of the xenomorphs with other things.

So it wasnt all his fault, he was just doing a job. I guess we can all dial it down against him.... but all that vague stuff i think is still him!

David doesn't smell like a person - his breath isn't moist - so he can handle the thing like a kitten. It doesn't want him; it's not interested. But then he exposes it to her and it goes for her like a shot. He toys with her for a bit and then lets it take her. That, in my draft, was how Shaw was implanted with the parasite that she had to remove with the medpod sequence.

OMG that sounds beautiful!!!
That would have made the movie for me.

[Gazz]

OMG that sounds beautiful!!!
That would have made the movie for me.

It sounds like an early and ridiculous Bond film moment. The type ridiculed by Austin Powers. David monologues away, toying with Shaw whilst cradling a facehugger, then high tails it back to the ship without seeing his dastardly plan through.

[DaddyYautja]

It sounds like an early and ridiculous Bond film moment. The type ridiculed by Austin Powers. David monologues away, toying with Shaw whilst cradling a facehugger, then high tails it back to the ship without seeing his dastardly plan through.

Dude, you already said this 26 minutes ago....

[Gazz]

It sounds like an early and ridiculous Bond film moment. The type ridiculed by Austin Powers. David monologues away, toying with Shaw whilst cradling a facehugger, then high tails it back to the ship without seeing his dastardly plan through.

Dude, you already said this 26 minutes ago....

E L A B O R A T I O N

Summer, 2015

[DaddyYautja]

E L A B O R A T I O N

Summer, 2015

James Bond films just celebrated their 50 year anniversary....
I think we all know what a Bond villain moment means.