Art by H.R. Giger

The Nerdverse has been whipped into a tizzy ever since Ridley Scott first announced that he would be making a prequel to his 1979 sci-fi epic Alien – the deep-space masterpiece that brought us H.R. Giger's creepy facehuggers, Sigourney Weaver's alpha-female Ripley, and one of the greatest scenes ever made with a monster exploding out of a man's chest. Then, last month, Scott and co-writer Damon Lindelof (Lost) threw a wet blanket on Alien fans' giddiness by saying that the film, called Prometheus, would actually not be an Alien prequel, but cryptically added that "keen fans will recognize strands of Alien's DNA" in the film. So which is it?

As fans were left scratching their heads, Scott got busy filling out his cast, signing Dragon Tattoo import Noomi Rapace in the lead, Charlize Theron, and Michael Fassbender playing an android. Now, the latest reports have added a trio of supporting cast members: The Wire's Idris Elba, Red Riding Trilogy's Sean Harris, and Red Road's Katie Dickie — all of whom were said to have signed secrecy clauses for the hush-hush flick. Meanwhile, other reports have indicated that Scott will resurrect Alien's nasty, shape-shifting Xenomorphs in this film. We'll say it again, this sounds an awful lot like an Alien film to us.

Michael Fassbender agrees. Recently, we sat down and asked him about Prometheus. Maybe it was due to Scott's top-secret information lockdown (it's been rumored that potential castmembers had to visit the director's production office to read the script), but Fassbender was cagey. Currently in New York, shooting an indie with Steve McQueen, the director of his break-through film, 2008's Hunger, Fassbender says that as soon as that film is finished he will head over to London to start shooting Prometheus. He says he's thrilled to have been cast because he considers himself a drooling Alien fan. "Alien and Aliens, both of them," he says. "And [Scott's] Blade Runner, which I recently watched again. I'm really looking forward to stepping into a Ridley sci-fi world. And the script is really intelligent and has a nice pace to it. Plus, if I'm honest with you, I sort of approach my work as a fan. I'm a massive movie fan and I like to go on an adventure ride as much as I like to see something that has a bit of social commentary to it."

He says that Prometheus is not an Alien prequel. "It's a different story, but it's also got the traditional roots. Alien fans will recognize things in it. It's not ignoring Alien, there's still a link to that world. But it's a different story. It's definitely connected, though." When asked if he'd be playing an android in the film, Fassbender laughs, "I don't know what I can say!" But as he says this, he glances down at a damning tape recorder between us and nods affirmatively. "I don't want to get into trouble..."

In the meantime, one thing that Fassbender is certain to encounter when he heads over to London to shoot Prometheus — which, mark your calendars, hits theaters on June 8, 2012 — is the same sort of three-ring circus he encountered on the big-budget X-Men prequel. Fassbender, an actor who's mostly worked in independent films, was shocked by the way major studio films are made. "It's a different beast," he says, still incredulous. "The first thing you realize is, Holy s—, what do all of these people do? There's a lot of people on the set! A lot!"


Original Source is here