As I’ve already said, Prometheus is one of the strangest films coming out next year. And also, the most mysterious. Despite the fact that filming began months ago, we know next to nothing about the plot. Heck, we don’t even know what “Prometheus” refers to! Is it an Alien film, or something different entirely? Is it science fiction, horror, action, or a combination of the three? Who are the actors playing, and what role do they lead in the plot of the film? This is just a miniscule example of the things we know nothing about for Prometheus. After seeing the footage I STILL can’t answer all of these questions, but I’m certainly less in the dark than I was before.

Fox wasted no time with unveiling the film to the fevered Hall H audience. The first thing they did was introduce co-writer Damon Lindelof to not only talk Prometheus, but to moderate the ENTIRE Fox panel! It was a pretty good move on their part, because Damon is a very entertaining guy and, despite the shortcomings some might have with Lost (Not I, said the fly), a great storyteller. So he came on stage and talked a little bit about getting the gig writing for Prometheus. But Lindelof knew we weren’t here for personal conversation. He quickly moved to the big event; the first ever footage from the film. And while I expected a brief sizzle reel, what happened next was completely surprising.

What played before my eyes was, for all intents and purposes, a fully cut trailer. It began with a replay of footage from Scott’s most famous films (which, for some reason, included Robin Hood). The trailer was banking on the fact that, after 20 odd years of “retirement”, Ridley was returning to the genre he revolutionized: science fiction.

A familiar tune starts playing…yes, the famous opening music from Alien. Immediately a random montage begins and, just like most random montage, there wasn’t much going on. You see an Alien egg nest (possibly the one from LV-426, but that wasn’t confirmed), you see Charlize Theron’s character working out naked (yup, naked), you see some Idris Elba (Stringer Bell looks good without his beard), a couple shots of Michael Fassbender putting on his Magneto face, and a couple of seconds of people walking on the surface of a foggy planet in spacesuits.

Through all of this, the Alien theme song continues to play, and boy does it illicit the correct response amongst all these fans. The feelings of nostalgia where spreading around the crowd like a whirlwind, and everyone cheered as loud as they could once the footage ended. Finally, the logo flashed on screen with the words “Shot in Digital 3D” lying directly below it. Err…that’s new.

But honestly, I’m not surprised. 3D is all the rage now, and Fox is certainly going to take advantage of that. The fact that they let Ridley actually SHOOT the film in 3D (a much more expensive process then just post converting the footage) points that they are stepping in the right direction. And when used correctly, 3D can actually be very effective (films like Avatar and Transformers: Dark of the Moon come to mind). I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if this helps the film in the long run.

After the footage, Lindelof introduced star Charlize Theron to talk about the film. She had just gotten back from its Iceland set on Monday, so she didn’t have much to say. But throughout the entire interview, Lindelof and Theron kept mentioning how much of a shame it was that Ridley was still at the set, and how much of a pussy he was being for not showing up. It was pretty obvious what was about to happen next, but I enjoyed the interview nonetheless. After a couple minutes, Theron and Lindelof introduced Sir Ridley Scott live via webcam to talk about the film. Later on, co-star Noomi Rapace joined in the conversation as well (through the same webcam as Ridley Scott, of course.) Here’s some things mentioned:

-The film has “the DNA of Alien” but is considered entirely different from the Alien franchise

-Ridley Scott has vowed to shot all his next films in 3D. Sure…sure you will, Mr. Scott.

-Charlize Theron’s name in the film is Meredith Vickers. Sounds familiar…where have I heard that before?

-The film may feature a robot. Maybe. But It probably will. Hopefully. Definitely.

-Maybe.

-Filming is currently happening in Hella, Iceland.

-The film could be cut to get a PG-13 rating. Ridley isn’t concerned about the rating, and feels the film will not lose anything with a PG-13 rating. Umm…naked push-ups? NAKED PUSH UPS FROM CHARLIZE THERON?!

After the interview with Scott, the focus shifted off of Prometheus at the Fox panel. Shame too, because it was easily the standout of the show on Thursday. Honestly, the film looks like Alien, and I’m considering it an Alien prequel until I see evidence to prove otherwise. Either way, it certainly looks sweet, and I can’t wait to see more throughout 2011.



Prometheus comes out June 2012