Angelina Jolie & Charlize Theron Circling Supporting Roles, Picture Morphs From Prequel To Something “More Original”
How’s this for a MLK holiday weekend bit of news? Ridley Scott‘s “Alien” prequel is now titled “Prometheus.” Noomi Rapace is starring. It’s comes out March 9, 2012. Whoa. More than that, it’s not even a prequel anymore and apparently it’s transformed into something “more original.”
The news is huge because it was only a couple days ago that reports surfaced that 20th Century Fox were not keen on putting the relatively unknown Swedish star, known for her work in “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” in the lead role and had some other A-list talent in mind. Well, there’s an easy to solution to that problem. Cast a big name alongside her. Deadline reports that not only is Rapace — who has been Scott’s first choice for a long time now — locked into the lead role, but that Charlize Theron and Angelina Jolie are circling the role of the tough, yet sexy Vickers character. It seems like a no-brainer solution to a problem that seemed to be delaying the project from moving forward.
With the movie now set to hit theaters in just over a year, production will ramp up very quickly. As you might recall, the film be in shot in 3D utilizing RED Epic cameras with cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (“The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” ”Alice in Wonderland,” “Eagle Eye”) behind the camera. Word also burbled up near the end of the year that famed creature designer H.R. Giger would be back with the production as well. As previously reported the projected started with a script from Jon Spaihts and has since been re-written by Damon Lindelof who has been working closely with Scott.
“While ‘Alien‘ [the original film] was indeed the jumping off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognize strands of ‘Alien’s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative. I couldn’t be more pleased to have found the singular tale I’d been searching for, and finally return to this genre that’s so close to my heart,” Scott said about the the vision for the upcoming film. Early last year, Scott was talking about two prequels and the idea of branching out into a new mythology using seeds from the “Alien” franchise makes sense, but he’s since denied there would be two films. Either way, you bet that while a second film isn’t in the cards just yet, a new franchise starter is something the studio would probably love.
Charlize Theron now has a decision to make: the “Alien” prequel in a supporting role or “Snow White and the Huntsman” as the villain. Angelina Jolie seems like a wishlist choice, but if she can get her Bosnia-set directorial debut in the can, the opportunity to work with Scott — for either of these actresses — in one of the biggest sci-fi franchises of all time is probably very hard to resist.
There are a total of five major roles in the film, the only other one known right now being an android crewman that has been previously linked to Michael Fassbender (Rapace, Theron and Fassbender — do we dare to dream?). Michelle Yeoh and Gemma Arterton were two actresses in the mix early in the year, but it’s unclear if they will become one of those five roles. More news is sure to come very soon, but it looks like all things are go for “Prometheus.” See you next spring.
