Interview: 'Prometheus', Sci-Fi Writers Damon Lindelof & Jon Spaihts

[radio667]

from firstshowing.net .............. "There’s a cult of existing intellectual property in town." To put a final wrap on our Prometheus coverage, I am presenting our interview with the film's co-writers, Damon Lindelof (of "Lost", Star Trek) and Jon Spaihts. We've spoken with Spaihts before, including a focus on world building and his favorite android characters , now it's time to get into the grittier details of Prometheus with both of them. I didn't go into this looking to answer all of the questions the movie brought up, but I did ask them as many questions about writing it as I possibly could. We cover everything from Ridley to the Alien franchise to characters. Dive in!

I've been considerably anxious/excited to talk with these two, as they are individually (and separately) the two writers who envisioned and crafted Prometheus for Ridley Scott to direct ( read or watch my interview with Ridley here ). The questions I asked in Part 1 are very open starting questions related to Prometheus: why did it take so long for Fox to make this, how did each of them contribute to the screenplay, how did they balance asking more questions, etc. Part 2, I ask about how to make sci-fi thrilling and where the genre can go from here. It's a fascinating discussion and enlightening to listen to them talk for 20 minutes about sci-fi.

Watch my first segment, Part 1, with Prometheus writers Damon Lindelof (left) & Jon Spaihts (right):

Lindelof & Spaihts Prometheus Interview - Part 1 ...

Watch my second interview segment, Part 2, with Prometheus writers Damon Lindelof & Jon Spaihts:

Lindelof & Spaihts Prometheus Interview - Part 2 ...

Both of these were shot on my Flip, apologies for the background noise and framing. They're mostly spoiler free. A big thank you to Damon Lindelof, Jon Spaihts and 20th Century Fox for this fantastic opportunity. While the debates on Prometheus have risen to a boiling point rather quickly, this interview was conducted before its release, before I had time to observe the discussions. I was interested in talking with these guys about various science fiction storytelling elements, how they played into Prometheus specifically, how they were able to use these to craft this screenplay. Most of all, I was happy to openly discuss science fiction with these two, and hear them talk about everything that goes into writing big-scale Hollywood sci-fi scripts.

[Manticore]

Didn't this happened with the final of Lost?

They had to interview the writers to find out exactly what the hell they were writing about.

[radio667]

Yup - and same writer and everything too

[Manticore]

Originally Posted by radio667

Yup - and same writer and everything too

Exactly mate.

[DeadMeatGF]

Every negative review I've read seems to be based on a preconception that it was going to end with a segue into Alien, rather like The Thing did.
It was never going to do that, but I can see why that mindset would cause people to be confused.
Personally there's nothing in the least bit ambiguous or difficult to understand in the whole movie - unless you count things that appear in virtually every film ever made, like an apparently wanton disregard for personal safety.

[JoystickMonkey]

Red Letter Media talks about Prometheus -...

[radio667]

RLM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nicnak]

i went to the 2d version of this movie and it sucked, then i went to the 3d it was a lot better although the landing sequence looked dark, through those 3d glasses.

and it seemed better after i had a couple of beers, well everything seems better
after a few beers.

funny the fractal dimension is in between the 2nd and 3rd dimensions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...orff_dimension

[Manticore]

Originally Posted by DeadMeatGF

Every negative review I've read seems to be based on a preconception that it was going to end with a segue into Alien, rather like The Thing did.
It was never going to do that, but I can see why that mindset would cause people to be confused.
Personally there's nothing in the least bit ambiguous or difficult to understand in the whole movie - unless you count things that appear in virtually every film ever made, like an apparently wanton disregard for personal safety.

Seriously; Prometheus is not a horror film, in my opinion, or in any way like Alien. I think it is more a 2001: A Space Odyssey voyage of discovery type trip.

However this writer uses the same smart-arse "I know all the secrets and I'm not telling the audience" mechanic/device that was used on Lost..... it doesn't work in that it makes the guy out to look smarter than his audience. That doesn't work well for most writers and audiences.

[Dorkorama]

So, he's like a mystery writer who only gives misdirection and no clues?

[nicnak]

maybe its like classical conditioning ivan pavlov, push the buttons to make you have a good time.

Emotional Roller Coaster ride most movies use this idea

[widowmaker]

So a movie that relies hevily on story has a badly borken incoherant story?
So Promethius off of the "To Rent" list and on to the "Don't Bother" list.