Q: Does it change anything, the way you interact with someone, knowing you have to interact with them as a robot?

Noomi: I think the first impulse is to try to read or analyze things from an emotional level; think "what does he mean, what is really going on inside him?" And then you have to remind yourself, he's a computer, he's hollow – he's not emotional, there's not a heart in there.

So I think that, even for Shaw, I think there's a point where she really hates him, and is really upset about what she thinks... I think she thinks that he has something to do with this. But then, I think she corrects herself, by reminding herself that it's just a waste of energy because he's a computer, it's a hard-disk. And then in the end it's almost like she feels sorry for him, for not having any emotions, and no soul; you're just a robot, you'll never understand us.

Logan: I think also, the opposite – which I had never seen – I mean, you have trauma with robots in some of the other movies in the franchise. But we kind of talked about bigotry and racism, y'know, the inevitable synthetic life there'll be the inevitable disdain for it. I liked that approach, I mean, I didn't approach Holloway as a bigot or racist, but I liked this sense of "he's beneath me"; constantly, no matter how much smarter he probably was than Holloway, or maybe even available emotionally on a synthetic level, he was still beneath him. That was fun, I don't think we've seen that before.

Michael: See what happens when you think like that...

Logan: That's right, it affected me awfully. I'm a horrible human being! [Laughs]

Michael: That was one of the bits that freaked me most in the film, when you look in the mirror and there's like [the tendril]

Logan: Dammit, David!

Michael: That little worm is in your eye, it's really well done, I love that. We were talking afterwards, you were like "It's nothing, it's nothing. I'm sure it will be fine."

Logan: I've had worse!

Michael: A little worm in my eye... it's gonna be okay

Logan: A nasty STD, what the hell did she...?! [Laughter] Dammit David!

Q: You're thinking yourself into a different world, and it's a world that's been in a few films before – big, important films that we all know – were you approaching this film through them, or mostly through talking to Ridley, or something you're bringing yourself?

Guy: Oh, I think talking to Ridley. I mean, we're all obviously aware of what it is we've come onboard, but I think funnily enough it's a very different perspective from the outside than from, y'know, the inner world. As soon as you start talking to Ridley – and I personally felt a little intimidated by the thought of this, not so much because of the history of the other films but because we know of Ridley's prowess – but as soon as I started talking to him on the phone, that immediately goes out the window. You just immediately get into creative discussions about what it is you're creating, you're just on another job and you're going through the steps you normally go through – I'd drive home from work occasionally and go "wow, this is really cool", or when you first turn up on set and see those amazing sets.

But I think, also because the script and this particular film is so individual in a way. I mean, there's obviously the connection with other films, but it really is so much more than just prequel. It delves into ideas that go far beyond what that first Alien film did, so I think it's very easy to go "well, this now is the world of Prometheus and this is very, very particular," And I think I can probably speak for everybody that, once you start working with Ridley, you're reminded of what it is that you're doing in the present. So I personally didn't feel at all like... even though, really, Weyland is really the guy that we've heard about in the other films, I didn't feel at all that I was living through those past cinematic experiences.

Noomi: But also I think that the sets and, what [production designer] Arthur Max and the crew created, is just for us to step into, to have real things to work with and react from. That was incredible, because it gave so much. I remember once when Ridley came to me and was like "come on, I'm gonna show you something" and he opened the door to the room to the big head.

Guy: And it was Michael! [Laughter]

Noomi: And the love story started there... the head! No, but I remember I got tears in my eyes, because it was there for real, and there's some sort of cruel, savage beauty that they've created in this weird kind of, I dunno, world.

Michael: And he's so enthusiastic, I mean Ridley's so enthusiastic.

Noomi: Oh yeah, he's like a child.

Michael: He is like a kid. I love watching him on-set, because it's infectious and he's inspiring.

Noomi: The small worms, he was like [gasps] "look at this, look at this, beautiful huh!" And it was, like, "yeah!"

Logan: He also put cameras on us, so we became kinda the cameramen as well. And they built these sets – six walls – and all the fear and awe is real, of course, but I love kinda exploring the sets and using the flashlight. They'd turn the lights off on these damned things. It's all real, they're massive.

Guy: They're really incredible, aren't they. They're so solid, they didn't feel like sets. As I said, I came in late, so they'd all been going and I didn't get to walk around with everyone else and experience the newness of it with everyone else. And I was going "is it dumb to ask if this is real... [feigns confidence] oh yeah, no, it's amazing." So it was incredible, the three-dimensional nature of those sets. It's certainly not like when we were on Neighbours and they used to wobble when you closed the door.

Noomi: And they were so big, you could really get lost.

Guy: Yeah. I mean, didn't he extend one of those stages? Whatever the biggest stage is on Pinewood, he got them to rebuild another, y'know, end of it to make it however much bigger. So it really was quite enormous, a whole world in there.

Q: In the Alien franchises, a lot of the actors talk about their first time seeing some of the creatures, and how the use of practical effects and costuming makes them terrifying of those things. Did you guys feel that way, about the monsters you each dealt with during the film?

Noomi: Well, when I saw my baby for the first time. I was really... it was there, it was really happening. And, again, Ridley was, like, "it's pretty, huh?" And I was, like, "yeah, it's kinda cute." It's weird. Because in close-ups, you're standing there looking at the thing, and it's very real – it's something quite spooky – it gets into you, I was dreaming such disturbed dreams, y'know, nightmares.

Logan: You were very close with it.

Noomi: Yeah, I was really close with that.

Guy: And it was animatronic, that thing, wasn’t it?

Noomi: Yeah, it was moving!

Michael: Remember those guys, "I've got it's left leg, you've got the right" and there's the head as well; it was like three guys going [mimes frantically operating puppet]. Eyes blinking, and the head was going, and you're screaming!

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