No matter how much time you get with director Ridley Scott, it's never enough. After all, you could spend an entire interview discussing the original Alien, Blade Runner, or his under-appreciated gem, Kingdom of Heaven (specifically the director's cut with forty additional minutes that completely changes the film). So when I got to participate in a roundtable interview with Scott yesterday in London for Prometheus, his first sci-fi movie in thirty years, you could say I was a bit excited.During the twenty minute interview, Scott talked about how Prometheus came about, it's relation to the original Alien, the viral marketing, technology, his fascination with robots and artificial intelligence, and so much more. In addition, Scott talked about other projects like Monopoly, the Blade Runner Sequel, what ever happened to Tripoli and what it was about, and reveals that he already has ideas for the Prometheus sequel, assuming he gets to make one. Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview.Note: The following interview contains MASSIVE spoilers. While I debated posting this until after release, with Prometheus already playing in Europe, I decided to let our readers judge for themselves when they want to read it. I strongly suggest not reading this interview until after you've seen the movie. Once you do, you're going to love hearing about Scott's ideas for the sequel and how he came up with the idea for this film.As usual, I'm offering you two ways to get the interview: you can either click here for the audio, or the full transcript is below.Question: How are you doing today, sir? Congratulations.Ridley Scott:  Thank you, sir. Look at this technology (he's talking about all the recorders on the table). Jesus Christ. 40 years ago when Kirk said âBeam me up, Scottyâ we used to think that was fucking ridiculous, remember? Seriously, thatâs been 40 years and then when he says the âdisintegrationâ of his matter into the âreintegrationâ of his matter in the next space, that right there is light speed. So they touched on light speed. Iâve talked to NASA about this and theyâve said thatâs light speed. So âCan you do it?â They said âYeah. Have you got seven glasses of water?â I go âNot the seven glasses of water trick, please.â There were all scientists in the room and he started to explain to me the relativity and the speed of light. âCan you do it?â âYeah.â He said the only barrier is âus.â He said, I can mathematically explain how, but we havenât gotten there with that. And with that, first question. When you did Alien and Blade Runner back in the seventies you obviously had technology for those audiences, it was ahead of its time. You make a movie like Prometheus now and you are dealing with a society that is so technology based, how do you go about creating this world where there are still new things andâ¦Scott:  Since the thirty years since Alien there was no technology⦠It was all live action shooting, even the models had dolly grips pushing the big model and I could see you walking âCut. Back up.â There were lots of smoke and wind machines and that was it. There were no digital tracks and all of that shit and then the star fields where a guy with a toothbrush on a black background and you would get a universe. I said, âWow, itâs beautiful. Can you give me a red one?â He said âYeah,â takes that toothbrush and goes âbam.â Then I photograph it and⦠The beginning of Alien was flat art work, I just panned across it. I just panned across it and Jerryâs music put the rest to right.Can you talk about approaching how you wanted the technology to look in this movie? Because itâs unclear when it is relative to Alien, but this is more advanced technology that they are using than other people have been in Alien. Scott:  Yeah, but I couldnât help that, because I didnât know, did I? (Laughs) For all intents and purposes this is very loosely a prequel, very, and then you say âBut how did that ship evolve in the first Alien?â Then I would say âActually heâs one of the group that had gone off and his cargo had gotten out of control,â because he was heading somewhere else and it got out of control and actually he had died in the process and that would be the story there. That ship happened to be a brother to the ship that you see that comes out of the ground at the end. They are roughly of the same period give or take a couple hundred years, right? Other than that, thereâs no real link except it explains, I think, who may have had these capabilities, which are dreadful weapons way beyond anything we could possibly conceive, bacteriological drums of shit that you can drop on a planet and the planet⦠Do you know anything about bacteria? If you take a teaspoon and drop it in the biggest reservoir in London, which also scares the shit out of me, and amazes me that there are not huge guards around it⦠Thatâs the way to do it. You donât do 9/11, you just get a teaspoon of bacteria, drop it in, and eight days later the water is clean and then suddenly on the eighth day the water goes dense and cloudy, but by then itâs been sent to every home and several million people have drunk it, youâve got bubonic. Itâs that simple. Thatâs how scary it is, so these evolutions of these guys who have developing galloping DNA, itâs like âHow can DNA that quickly, sitting in front of my on a tableâ¦â Thatâs because your mind doesnât allow you to accept that that may be feasible, thatâs the deal. In the same way that we have been here three billion years, we know weâve been⦠The Gulf of Mexico they believe is a huge asteroid. That was an impact zone, you know that? Yeah, for that big a thing to actually hit our globe, it would have had to adjusted the spin, the axis. That probably created the first massive cataclysmic thing which took away all of the dinosaurs, so that after that youâre left with water, thatâs why the Grand Canyon was a sea and it is now a dry valley⦠Iâm going to switch to a completely⦠In your sci-fi projects you have been almost obsessed with AI and robots. Why is that fascinating?Scott:  I donât know. I think it evolved out of the box in Blade Runner because Roy Batty was an evolved⦠He wasnât an engine. If I cut him open, there wasnât metal, he was grown and the growth pattern came out of the idea of⦠the idea of a replicant came from a student who was at Carmel who was reading her dadâs script who was actually helping on Blade Runner and said âYou shouldnât call them robots, you should call them replicants.â She said, âI deal with replicants and replications every day,â but heâs grown and then within twenty years you get the first bill not passed in the Senate where they applied for replication of animals, sheep and goats and cattle and animals and they turned it down, but if you can do that, then you can do human beings. If you go deeper into it and say âYeah, but if you are going to grow a human being, does he start that big and Iâve got to see him through everything?â I donât want to answer the question, because of course he does, but then in Alien, and Alien had nothing to do with⦠Ash in Alien had nothing to do with Roy Batty, because Roy Batty is more humanoid, whereas Ash was more metal and Ashâs logic was on every space ship âif I have a space ship worth god knows how much money and Iâve got to have a company man onboard and that company man is going to be a god damn secret,â and the secret⦠âIâm not going to tell you this, because of the evolution of our robots⦠He is going to be a perfect looking robot.â So that was the Ash thing. Now Iâm doing this and I thought it was an interesting acknowledgement, the marvelous idea of Ash, which I think is a pretty good idea. It was a one off for that to be a surprise, that âAsh is a god damn robotâ and we gave all the clues early by having stiff joints and doing his thing. I just wanted to have the same idea that the corporation would have a robot onboard every ship, so that when you are asleep in hyper-sleep for three or four years going at 250,000 knots an hour, you will have guy wandering around like a house keeper. Heâs a housekeeper and heâs got full access to everything. He can look at all of the films. He can go into the library⦠he can do whatever he wants, and thatâs David.This originally started out as more of an Alien prequel from what Iâve read or heard. What was the central idea that caused you to extrapolate outward from that and create something thatâs more of its own film and has some of its own ideas?Scott:  The very simple question was âWho the hell was in that ship? Who is sitting in that seat?â and âWhy that cargo?â and âWhere was he going?â no one asked the question, so I thought âDuh.â Itâs a âduh,â isnât it?[Everyone Laughs]Scott:  Theyâre all bright guys⦠Jim and David and the French guy, and I thought âWow, duh.â And I just kind of say and thought about it for a while and I was busy, so I didnât really do anything about it and then when they finally put it to bed in Alien vs. Predator I thought âYou know what? This is a good idea here.â The more I talked about it, I thought âGod damnâ¦.â I was going to call it Alien - Paradise, because I thought that had a spooky connotation to the idea, because it concocts our notion and idea of paradise and âwhat is that?â And paradise to us suggests religion and religion says âGodâ and then God, who created us, and thatâs certainly⦠youâve got a scientist who believes in God and thereâs lots of scientists who believe flatly in God and even though they may be in quantum physics, they say âI get to a wall and sometimes wonder âwho the hell thought of this one?â and I canât get through the wall. When I get through the wall more is revealed and I still see another wall, so who is making this shit up?âThe creator-creation dynamic is playing out threefold in the film, so itâs parent-child, god-man, and then man and AI and kind of delving into facing your creator and it doesnât pan out very well for any of them. Do you think that thatâs the fundamental appeal of this kind of myth in the sci-fi realm? Itâs that cautionary tale about over reaching your bounds.Scott:  Totally. Very good. Yeah, we go too far, but then you canât simply go too far, because by going too far âAre we living better today, despite all of the problems that exist, than the fifties?â Yes, of course we are. Then the eighteen fifties? No comparison. The nineteen hundred? No comparison in every shape and form, but are we heading towards a much larger problem? Definitely.What was behind your decision not to rely on CG in this?Scott:  We had the right budget, but I didnât have all the money in the world and I kind of wanted to do it on budget, thatâs what I do, and also I kind of like to build sets if I can. If you can build sets and you know exactly how much you need, itâs much cheaper than saying âI donât know what Iâm going to do in this scene, but I just want a load of green screen out there and we will try and put something there laterâ¦â Thatâs fucking expensive. Thatâs how these films go millions of dollars over budget, because theyâve got no target.This is more a return than a departure, because this movie has had the most attention, as well as the most secrecy involved at the same time. A lot of people are excited and interested in it, because of the filmâs connections, and people are also curious about the secrecy surrounding it. Can you talk about how you get a movie like that? Itâs very different from your other movies, your more recent movies.Scott:  It was just⦠you know increased security. Everyoneâs got a script with their name printed right across the middle of it, so if that goes out I know it comes from you and youâre in trouble. That was it and because Iâm still very much into advertising, Iâve always wanted to evolve this kind of viral advertising, which would be ads talking about anything but the film. The film isnât mentioned, so youâve got Peter Weyland saying âHi, Iâm Peter Weyland and Iâm the god you know and I own the worldâ and I have the Weyland Corporation where he mentions Prometheus, but you donât know what the hell it is and then David later says âHello. Iâm David. I work for Weyland Corporation,â then at the end he puts his fingerprint on and heâs got a âWâ in his fingerprint. Then we have one thing with Noomi applying for a job to Peter Weyland and thatâs the best form of advertising, because people are going âWhatâs that?â As soon as youâve got âWhatâs that?â youâve just done the job.Charlize Theron hadnât really acted for a while before this and Snow White.Scott:  No, she hadnât.Did that go in her favor? Did she bring a lot of enthusiasm to the set?Scott:  We were pretty lively anyways, but she definitely brings⦠It gets lively with Charlize.Would you care to explain?Scott:  No, I mean Iâve known Charlize for a while and so she would say âCome on, give me a fucking movie!â[Everyone Laughs]Scott:  Sheâs good. Sheâs a good girl.I donât want to spoil anything with your answer, but this film opens a lot of doors that are not answered and you haveâ¦Scott:  In the next oneâ¦My question is how far have you thought? Or have you talked to Damon (Lindelof) about where the possibility of a sequel will go? Have you already opened those doors in terms of you already know where these answers are and itâs just a matter of making it or are you sort of like âWe will think about that a little bit assuming the movie is a hit. Letâs talk later.âScott:  Itâs a bit of each. You do a bit of each and Iâve opened the doors. I know where itâs going. I know that to keep him alive is essential and to keep her alive is essential and to go where they came from, not where I came from, is essential. Thatâs a pretty open door and then rather than going to that, I donât see landing in a place that looks like paradise, thatâs not how itâs going to be. There is a plan, yeah.How important is it for you to be directly involved as a director in that?Scott:  Totally. I develop everything. I do. I learned that a long time ago. Itâs never going to land on your desk, you have to come up with what you want to do with the story and I think sometimes it can take two or three years. I want to do a western really badly and I think Iâve got a western this morning, finally after two and a half years of talking and writing and talking and⦠I think I have it, which is kind of interesting. And then the evolution of writing it⦠Has anyone written a book here?[Everyone says âNo.â]Scott:  Try writing a book, dude. Thatâs difficult. Writing a screenplay is like writing a book, itâs that simple. Youâve got a blank page and thatâs it, a blank page and then you go from there and everyone has their own method. I know some start here and end here and Iâm good with writers. I think I would never try to write⦠Iâve written two or three screenplays before, but I wouldnât do it. It takes too long and I would rather⦠The time it would take me to write a screenplay it would take me the time to make two films. I would rather make the movies and Iâm a better moviemaker than I a would be writer.With that in mind, you have developed a lot of things over the years. To do more movies in this world it could be quite different, because you were doing a movie almost every year or every two years while switching genres while this movie took a little longer, because it was so evolved⦠To get back into this world and maybe not make three or four other movies, because you were back in this world⦠how is that as a filmmaker who likes changing around and working?Scott:  I like to keep working.Yeah. To get back to this world and not be able to do other movies, would that be tough to do?Scott:  Unthinkinable. So how do you manage that? Are you going to have to clone yourself? [Ridley Pauses] Are you a robot?Scott:  I am a robot.[Everyone Laughs]Getting back to what you were saying, youâve been attached to a lot of different things and weâve heard that you⦠Iâm just curious, what do you think is coming up for you? Iâve seen your name on so many things. Whatâs the definite stuff?Ridley Scott: What have you heard?Monopoly, Brave New World, a Blade Runner sequel⦠There are a lot of things.Ridley Scott: Iâm on all of them. They are all happening now. Monopoly's first pass is written. Blade Runner is in process now how having Hampton Fancher ⦠I donât know what to do with Brave New World. Itâs tough. I think Brave New World in a funny kind of way was good in nineteen thirty-eight, because it had a very interesting revolutionary idea. Don't forget it came shortly before or after George Orwell, roughly the same time. When you re-analyze it, maybe it should stay as a book. I donât know. We tried to get it⦠Tripoli was another one.Scott:  Tripoli is great. It didnât happen because of a personal thing. I felt somebody wasnât well, so I couldnât do it and I stopped, but Tripoli is great, because itâs about Thomas Jefferson and guy called William Eaton. William Eaton was a despot who was actually⦠He worked on the edge of the political arena in three states. The United States then was three states and Thomas Jefferson spent his entire treasury or 11,000,000 dollars with is approximately a third of the price of half the people I know in Hollywoodâs home, he bought from St. Louis to the coast, from Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon needed to cash to go to Moscow. Big mistake. And then William Eaton goes out to the coast, where Pasha Bashaw of Tripoli who is a mother-fucking despot and gangster who was actually kidnapping and taking American frigates and crews. America only had three war ships, but there were a lot of commercial vehicles in that area⦠He was taking crews and putting them as slaves and taking them above deck and keeping them for ransom. So William Eaton said âEnough of this shit.â He went out there personally and started to create his one personal war against Pasha Bashaw and the Pasha was the pretender. His brother was a Muslimâ¦. They were all Muslim, but the brother had fled to Egypt and Eaton went to Egypt and personally talked him into coming back. Itâs a good story.For more on Prometheus, here's 4 Clips and Almost 5 Minutes of Behind-the-Scenes Footage and my other interviews from London:
- Michael Fassbender Talks Prometheus, Ridley Scott, Viral Advertising, Twelve Years a Slave, Possible Prometheus Sequels, More
- Guy Pearce Talks Making Prometheus, Viral Marketing, Working for Ridley Scott, and Briefly Mentions Iron Man 3
- Charlize Theron Talks Prometheus and Mad Max; Says Filming Begins Mid-July and "Thereâs Some Badass Violence in It"
And here's a few more recent articles:
- New Featurette for Prometheus Focuses on the Ship
- Two New Featurettes for Prometheus Focus on 3D and Logan Marshall-Green
- Noomi Rapace Contacts Peter Weyland in New Viral Video for Prometheus
- New Featurette for Prometheus Focuses on Charlize Theronâs Character
- Damon Lindelof Talks Turning an Alien Prequel into Prometheus , the Viral Campaign, Revealing Too Much in Trailers and More
- New Spoilery TV Spot for Prometheus