Man With the Plan

Director Ridley Scott on his vision for 'Prometheus'

"In space, no one can hear you scream." With those words -- one of the great film marketing lines -- the crew of the deep-space mining ship Nostromo began a journey that led them into a direct, face-to-jaws confrontation with a deadly form of life that existed solely to kill and reproduce. The year was 1979 and the movie was "Alien," which quickly became one of the great science fiction/horror classics of its time. The film also catapulted director Ridley Scott -- making only his second feature -- into a career that would last to this day.

Bing: More about 'Prometheus' | More about Ridley Scott

Scott redefined sci-fi again in 1982 with his visionary "Blade Runner," but while he went on to direct landmark films like "Thelma and Louise," "Gladiator" and "Black Hawk Down," he never returned to science fiction, until now. The "Alien" franchise, meanwhile, had produced one more authentic masterpiece in James Cameron's "Aliens," but a series of diminished sequels after that. With the studio (20th Century Fox) commissioning screenwriter Jon Spaihts to craft an "Alien" prequel, Scott saw a way to return to the world of that film yet do something different. The project gradually evolved into Scott's 20th feature film, "Prometheus."

Related: 10 awesome moments from the 'Alien' movies

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Asked if he feels particularly comfortable working in the sci-fi genre, to which he contributed two of its all-time masterpieces, Scott tells Parallel Universe on the phone from London, "Well, I liked both (those) experiences -- even though the one on 'Blade Runner' was a bit stormy, I was very happy with the end result. Even if it didn't play, I didn't care at that point because I just thought it had really worked for me. And I also enjoyed the process. Then I thought, in today's world with all these digital capabilities it's going to be even better and I can do much more. That's why I visited (FOX studio head) Tom Rothman about three years ago saying, 'You know what, if we go back to examine an idea about who the big guy was, you can reopen this whole genre into another universe, into something which is really just a stand-alone (film).'"

Haunted by the image of the "big guy" -- the giant alien corpse informally known as the "space jockey" that the Nostromo's crew finds rotting on its derelict starship -- Scott wanted to return to the "Alien" universe and find out more about that enigmatic figure. In a typical Hollywood twist, the "space jockey" almost didn't make it into "Alien" in the first place. "That cockpit room was drawn but almost didn't make it into the film, because the movie was kind of dead at the studio, and we were trying to cut the budget down," recalls the director. "The studio didn't really want (the "space jockey"), which is ironic, but I said, 'Well, I really think it's necessary.' So I made the case and won the case, and if I hadn't won the case, we wouldn't have had this new film."

"Prometheus" follows the crew of the title starship as it sails toward the moon of a planet orbiting a distant star in the year 2093. Anthropologists Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) have found clues from seven different ancient Earth civilizations that all seem to point to this location, leading them to believe they've been invited to voyage into space to possibly meet the beings who created humankind. What they find, however, is not at all what anyone expected, although "Alien" fans will recognize some familiar imagery.

"Just look at the universe at night and you think, are we alone in all that? I just don't buy that," says Scott about the source of the existential questions that form the backbone of the movie. "And so what is it up there? Are there other life-forms? Are there other humanoids? Are there different creatures that we can't even comprehend the shape and size of? That also begs the question: How can we be the most intelligent? I don't think so ... then when you say, 'Where does the buck stop?,' you have to ask if it's not all just biological coincidence or is there a grand design. You have to pose that question."

To pose that question and others, Scott took Spaihts' script and turned to "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof, who fashioned a new story, with new themes, that moved further sideways from "Alien" while retaining the links already in place. But while Scott doesn't consider himself a writer, he does feel his skill set lends itself to this kind of material.

"I think I'm blessed with a visual eye," he says. "And if you have an eye, then it means you've got a visual mind, basically. It's the way I see things that I think help me enormously as a filmmaker. You then have to connect that visual eye to the imagination and away you go." Scott says he often uses storyboards -- which he still draws himself on his films -- to help bring the story to life for him. I think any writer will find that essentially you have to really work by yourself and you kind of enclose yourself and you go inwards. And by going inwards you start to ... emerge with some interesting notions."

Among those "interesting notions" are queries about the nature of humankind and creation: Where do we come from? Would our creators seem like gods to us? Are they gods, or are they demons? Not every question is answered in "Prometheus," especially in the movie's more horror-driven second half, but there are plenty of potential avenues to explore if a sequel ever comes to pass.

"I'd definitely like to do a sequel," says Scott, who has never done one before and who also has another potential follow-up -- "Blade Runner 2" -- in development. "Science is eventually bringing us closer to the actual real question: Is there a God? It's an interesting question to me and a challenge to think where in the hell is that going to be and how is that going to be."

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