Making PROMETHEUS (with Ridley Scott & Dariusz Wolski, ASC)

EPILEPSY WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS FLASHING IMAGES
An in-depth documentary on the making of Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" (2012), featuring cast and crew interviews, outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage.
For educational purposes only. Non-commercial purposes.

Ridley Scott used multiple cameras simultaneously since 'Gladiator'.
Dariusz Wolski, ASC details the multi-camera "mise-en-scène" on 'Prometheus': “We were using three or four cameras at any given time. First you do two wide shots, and then you shoot tighter. Then you go to close-ups with two longer lenses; they’re easier to hide, and you can still find a place for the third camera. With Ridley it’s like a puzzle: you look at the scene, put cameras all over the place, and then see which ones work. You move one a little to the right, another a little to the left, dolly one out. You roll the scene, and when one camera doesn’t work anymore, another dollies in and picks up the scene, and you get this incredible fluidity. You can do a three-page scene with three camera setups, and then you do another version and you’re done. It’s extremely efficient. Sometimes multiple viewpoints just won’t work because the lighting would be too flat, and Ridley’s the first one to understand that. But with a clever design, you can get away with a lot, and Ridley loves a challenge. It’s almost as if we’re looking at each other and saying, ‘How far can we push it?’ Of course, it becomes crazy at some point, and then we back off and agree to do the close-ups separately. But I believe you get more interesting images because of the challenge — because you have to hide the camera, because you have to drop the camera lower or higher, because your overs are not perfectly matched and because your eyelines aren’t, either. I think of Prometheus as an extremely stylized and controlled documentary.”

[MsTbeasT]

The fact that they never released a directors cut for Prometheus is baffling to me. All the extended scripts and backstories could have made it a brilliant film, whereas we're left with a shell of an experience with huge missing chunks. Such a shame. I'd even buy it again now if they put an extended edition out.

[DJDolemite]

With enough time now having passed since the release of Prometheus (12 years as of this writing), I’m finally getting the sense that the audience is slowly starting to catch up with the film. A friend made a comparison to this and the initial reaction to Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. How that film was dismissed and derided as “boring” and was quickly forgotten. It wasn’t until many years - decades really - later, that people finally started going back to it and suddenly the consensus for the film had changed. “An unfairly forgotten masterpiece”. I was too young to have seen Lyndon upon its release in 1975 (?) but it’s one of my favorite Kubrick films, easily. Doing a little research, what seems to have scuttled the film when released was that it completely deviated from what the audience’s EXPECTATIONS were. Apparently after having to abandon his production of Napoleon after so much preparation, he went with Barry Lyndon instead. The only similarity between the two projects was that they took place roughly around the same time in the 1700s. But it was enough for folks to expect something perhaps with more punch. If not a period war film, then at least something with a sense of adventure. Lyndon was none of that. But taken on its own, it’s still a brilliant and timeless take on nothing less than human nature itself. Going back to Prometheus. Even talking to friends now who are diehard Alien fans, I get the sense that people were expecting not only more aliens in the film - but something along the lines of Cameron’s take on the franchise. And what they got was, again, nothing of the sort. Not only was there very little in the way of Xenomorph action to be found (in fact, the “deacon” at the very end now has a feeling of being tacked on, post-previews), but the entire film - though set in the same universe - was about something completely different. The quest for answers about fundamental questions like “where do we come from?”, “who made us?”, “why are we here?” are deep, heady, philosophical and open up a huge can of worms with religious implications. The kind of thing one doesn’t typically associate with an Alien film. I for one, embraced it with open arms. But I also get why people were disappointed. In the end, I think it was a shame. Although the film did well enough to warrant a sequel - which I also enjoyed, despite the unshakable feeling of compromise I got (“more aliens this time!!”), I think at some point the original goal to take a new path in the series to explore these big themes were abandoned as a result. That makes me sad. I hope that one day Ridley will come back and at least try and finish this fascinating story arch that he, along with so many other talented artisans, so bravely began. Until then, both the original Alien along with Prometheus and Covenant are my favorite films in the series. I do love Cameron’s Aliens. But usually only when I’m in the mood for top
quality popcorn action. At 56 years old, that desire has been waning. Alien, Prometheus and Covenant are the three I find myself still coming back to.

[Anon_E_Muss]

The practical effects are spectacular in ridley's films. They're the best part!

[DynastyUK]

This was an incredible watch! I wish more movies did full in depth behind the scenes still. That was the fun and big selling point when DVDs first came out, about how many extra features you get, now we get hardly anything. I'm gonna have to go and watch this movie again now. Thanks for the upload!

[dryzumd]

10 years later and still one of the longest making-of documentaries ever made
I didn’t finish this on my blu ray extras until months after I got it for Christmas
Very in-depth though and richly detailed
Freaking love Ridley Scott getting back to the genre that put him on the map

[chriskatherman]

DP : "how much strobe do you want on this project?"

RS : "yes"

[LincoMDO]

Prometheus and his sequel are THE BEST Sci-Fi Movies Aliens EVER MADED BY FAR.
What an amazing masterpiece, I simply love them.
PS: Please do not stop making more sequels of this Story.

[robinantonson]

Prometheus is incredible and one of my favorite movies!

[grizzlywhisker]

Thanks for posting this. I'm a huge fan of Prometheus and I like seeing all the concept art and hearing about some of the other details that went into creating such an interesting film. I wish Ridley would continue making movies that explore the lore of the Engineers and their motives in creating/destroying life around the universe. Although many people claim to hate this film, I thought it was fantastic. I love the soundtrack too.

[redjacemory]

Nice job on weeding out the epileptics right away in the opening. lol

[brainrussell]

The incredible practical effects ground this in reality. A very honorable mention to the first two movies.

[AWMJoeyjoejoe]

All those writers and not one of them realised its impossible to run and jump immediately after having a C-section. 😂

[DeOmnibusDubitandum]

Prometheus is for me the ultimate example of how to build up great expectations in an audience, and how to then proceed to ruthlessly crush them to pieces after a terrifying freefall.

[daveg]

The first thing I wanna do when I land on an alien planet is haul ass in my ATV, throw off my helmet and play with an alien snake. Because I am smart!

[Marauder]

I watched this with my wife and she was like: "If you just watch this documentary one could think it is a good movie" And we both laughed hard XD

[TheMoodyLoners]

I remember the theatrical trailer for this film was brilliantly executed. It definitely got me to the theater opening week. The actual film was visually stunning and seemed to have so much going for it. Once the crew disembarked from the ship onto the planet it totally collapsed; done in by a script written apparently with the aim of exploring just how relentlessly stupid many of the characters could behave. This was compounded by an unbelievable series of editing decisions that are inexplicable. And Covenant was far worse.

[Untoldtruth_]

I can only watch for a little while, I gotta put movie on .thank you ridley and crew for making a masterpiece 🙌

[ItsMe-yvjd]

?? Can you imagine working soooo hard and for soooo long, writing the amazing script and making drafts of all of the constant changes that Ridley added, to later on have the studio hire a 'known' writer to just walk in and take credit for the brilliant completed script you wrote. (How exactly is this unknown writer supposed to have a script produced, if the studio refuses to let him get public credit for the script he wrote! Ridley should have publicly credited the final script as 'co written' by both men at least.)

[Shogun_]

One of the top films ever made. Only wish they let Ridley cook more with this storyline.

[ifwas]

With Prometheus, Ridley Scott made a visually stunning film. With all of the technological innovations, attention to detail and creativity its too bad some of that attention didn't go into the script!