20 facts you might not know about 'Prometheus'

Scott had left Alien behind, but in 2002 and in the wake of the success of Gladiator, he considered returning. Even then, Scott was interested in something that explained the origins of the aliens and the “space jockey” seen in the first film in the series. Not only was Sigourney Weaver interested, but James Cameron, director of Aliens, jumped on the project.

Cameron was working with a writer on a story for the film building on Scott’s ideas. Then, 20th Century Fox approached him and was like, “Hey, what if the aliens fought Predator, from the movie Predator?” Cameron said no thanks, and Fox went ahead and got to work on Alien vs. Predator. At this point, with a belief in hand that the crossover movie was going to “kill the validity of the franchise,” Cameron stopped working on his Alien movie.

In 2009, Fox came to Scott to ask him if he’d still be interested in rebooting the Alien franchise with a prequel story. Scott said sure and had just the director for them: Advertising director Carl Erik Rinsch. Fox declined, saying they would only do it if Scott himself directed. He eventually accepted.

Jon Spaihts pitched an idea for Scott’s concept, and he was hired to write the script. He worked on it, with notes from Scott, until he had completed the fourth draft. In June 2010, Scott said he was ready to start filming the movie, and preproduction was set to begin.

Before he began shooting, Scott decided to send Spaihts’ script to Damon Lindelof, of Lost and The Leftovers fame. A messenger dropped the script off and said they would wait while Lindelof read it, but the writer and creator was not given any hints of what they were looking for. Lindelof said there were some good elements, but it was too reliant on Alien. He said the idea of a movie that basically leads directly to Alien was not interesting and that it would be better to create a film that runs parallel to Alien. The next day, Lindelof met with the film’s producers and was hired to rewrite the script.

Spaihts has writing credit on Prometheus alongside Lindelof, but Lindelof and Scott put a ton of work into turning Prometheus into a movie that contained “strands of Alien's DNA” but was not a direct prequel. The two spent five days a week for two months discussing Scott’s ideas for what the film could be, at which point Lindelof went off to write a screenplay. Lindelof, for his part, said he got ideas from both Spaihts’ final draft and the movie Blade Runner.

Initially, there were reports the film would be called “Paradise,” a reference to John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost.” However, Scott was worried that he would tip the movie’s hand too much in terms of plot, and Scott was really dedicated to secrecy with his movie. It was an executive at Fox that suggested “Prometheus.” It was confirmed as the title soon after that.

For the part of Elizabeth Shaw, reportedly actresses including Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman, and Carey Mulligan were considered. However, Scott saw Noomi Rapace as the lead in the unsparing Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The director was taken with the work, met with her, and offered her the role.

Scott seemingly found the right woman to play Shaw. Rapace came up with a whole backstory for her character, and she worked with a dialect coach to improve her English accent. On top of that, she asked her makeup artist to add more blood and sweat to her during filming. Rapace described filming the movie by saying, according to Wikipedia, “My body was in so much pain sometimes, but it was absolutely amazing.”

Androids play a key role in the Alien franchise, and David was the latest iteration of that. However, Fassbender, who plays David, purposefully did not watch Alien or Aliens because he didn't want to be influenced by those android characters. Instead, he was inspired by the replicants of Blade Runner. Also, he was inspired by the movements of diver Greg Louganis.

Another person in the running to play Shaw was Charlize Theron, but she was lined up for Mad Max: Fury Road. Then, that movie was delayed. Rapace was cast as Shaw, but Theron was able to take the role of Meredith Vickers. At this point, Theron, Scott, and Lindelof added a few scenes to the movie to expand her role and character.

To play billionaire Peter Weyland, Guy Pearce had to spend five hours in makeup to make him look sufficiently aged. Initially, Scott considered casting Max Von Sydow, who was actually elderly. However, in an early draft of the movie, both a younger and older Weyland were written into the script. Thus, Pearce was cast to be able to play both versions of Weyland.

Rafe Spall came in to audition for one role in Prometheus, but Scott wanted him to play Millburn, the biologist. Spall, frankly, just wanted to be in the movie. Calling Alien one of the best movies ever made, adding, “It’s a real buzz to be in a space suit on an “Alien” set with Ridley Scott coming and speaking to you.”

Scott wanted to shoot the alien world in Morocco. Then, the Arab Spring protests began occurring, and filming in Morocco became too dicey. Scott veered to filming in Iceland. There, he was able to film at the Dettifoss waterfall and the base of an active volcano. Treacherous, perhaps, but Scott responded by saying, “If one is afraid of nature in this profession, then it would be best to find a different job.”

Scott wanted to make an R-rated movie, but Fox wanted a PG-13 film. The director filmed with both concepts in mind, doing the professional thing of making the PG-13 cut that the studio wanted while also keeping his own ideas at heart. However, Fox CEO Thomas Rothman said Scott would not be asked to impinge on the film’s quality to avoid an R rating. Once it became clear the vital and now infamous scene of Shaw surgically removing an alien offspring from her body would lock the film into an R rating, everybody involved accepted it.

In the lead-up to the film, Peter Weyland gave a TED Talk. Weyland is not a real person, but Pearce performed the talk in character. Set in 2023, sixty-some-odd years before the film's events, they got permission from the TED Talk brand to use their name and branding for the video. A Weyland website was also created, where people could “invest” in the company and receive promo materials for Prometheus.

Initially, Scott wanted a budget of $250 million for Prometheus, which did not happen. However, a reported budget between $120 and $130 million is still a lot. Domestically, the movie did not hit as hoped for Fox. It made $126.4 million on that front. However, in the rest of the world, it earned $276.9 million, giving the movie an overall box office of $403.4 million. That was enough to make it the 18th-highest-grossing film of 2012.

Prometheus got one look from the Academy Awards. It was up for Best Visual Effects but did not win. Weirdly, it earned three nominations from another award show: The Teen Choice Awards. It did not win anything, but seeing Prometheus up for Choice Summer Movie: Action was definitely odd.

Critics mostly liked Prometheus, though it was also polarizing with critics as it was with the general movie-going audience. You know who weighed in? James Cameron. Having left the project behind years earlier, Cameron gave his two cents on the film. While he noted that it “didn’t add up logically,” he also said, “I thought it was Ridley returning to science fiction with gusto” and said that he enjoyed it.

After Prometheus came out, there was talk of a sequel to this prequel. It took a few years, but in 2017, Alien: Covenant hit theaters. Scott returned to direct, but Lindelof did not return to write. Fassbender’s David was the only (credited, no spoilers) character to return for Covenant. The movie more directly tied to the Alien franchise, solidifying Prometheus as part of that franchise’s legacy. However, Covenant only made $240.9 million worldwide, effectively putting Alien on the back burner again.