Quote from: tmjhur on Aug 18, 2015, 12:31:04 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Aug 18, 2015, 12:16:38 PM
The concept didn't fuss me but the complete departure from Giger's aesthetic was criminal.
Oh I totally agree, the concept was fine, them being the seeders of life is very interesting, the execution and human characters were pretty terrible though. And yes, the departure from Giger was indeed criminal......everyone tried to tell Ridley......he wasn't listening.
I think there is an untold behind-the-scenes story there. On the one hand, we have Scott. From what I can tell, he has a long working relationship with Arthur Max, and it seems Scott gave Max carte blanche for the art and style of the movie. Scott has also said he wanted to move away from the grunge aesthetic and away from Giger's work, too. On the other hand, I think by that point, the Giger who created the Alien and the Space Jockey in the first place had left the building. I don't think Giger was ever the type to be "one of the guys" and just work with other artists on a project. He's always been a free spirit and a tour de force - It's his strength. The Alien is the way it is because Giger made it so. Space Jockey, same thing. Of course, he had help with all that; but he was in the driver's seat. He touched everything with his own hands, painted everything with his own brush. What he did was remarkable.
I'm not 100% on the timeline, but by the time Prometheus came along, he may have already had his stroke. And he was already not painting for a long time - IIRC, he stopped actively doing that around 1991..I don't think his drawings were as strong as his paintings. His paintings range from so-so to marvelous; but from what I've seen, his drawing style and technique are serviceable but not great. He did do some sculpture after that, but I suspect he was in no condition to be an active participant in the production of Prometheus. I also doubt he would have wanted to do it with Arthur Max telling him what to do. But unless the story comes out, I doubt we'll ever know what really happened.