The viral campaign for Ridley Scott’s highly anticipated return to sci-fi, Prometheus, kicked off in a big way with a chilling TED Talk video featuring Guy Pearce’s character from the film. During the pic’s WonderCon panel earlier today, fans were given cards from Weyland Corp that directed them to a website and a phone number. If you call the number, an operator informs you that all Weyland Corp lines are busy, but calls your attention to a text message you’ve just received. The text message gives you a link that directs you to a truly spectacular video narrated by one of the film’s stars. Meet me after the jump to check out the video, talk about it in more detail, and to get a look at the card. If you’d rather be kept in the dark concerning certain plot points for Prometheus (albeit that are being revealed by the studio), I’d advise you to turn back now.
Still with me? Alright. Scott himself previously revealed that Michael Fassbender plays an android in the Alien-connected Prometheus, and this viral video is narrated by Fassbender and shows the unboxing of his human-like android. It’s extremely well done and I nearly got chills as the video concluded. It’s a short video, but the viral campaign for Prometheus thus far has been kicking some serious ass (your move, Dark Knight Rises).
The text message directs you to this website, from which the video originates. Steve snapped some photos of the business card handed out at WonderCon, which you can see below. Be sure to check back later for our full report from the film’s WonderCon panel, and if you missed it take a gander at the film’s new IMAX trailer and a fan Q&A with Fassbender and Charlize Theron.
After Lindelof had his own special fan-boy moment in introducing Scott (after sharing a funny story about watching Alien for the first time as a kid), Scott talked for a moment about his return to sci-fi. He said it’s been too long since he’s done a sci-fi project because, frankly, nothing was of interest to him lately. He also mentioned that Prometheus came about as a genesis of a very small idea that hadn’t yet been examined and confirmed that he liked the idea of the film having the “DNA of Alien.” Scott also alluded to the possibility of a sequel or continuation of this film, saying that Prometheus has “enough big, open questions at the end.” After that comment, they debuted the new trailer for the audience. Since you can now simply watch it for yourself, I’ll continue to the panel discussion.
Scott, always the straight man, pointed to two things for Prometheus’ success: the strength of the script and the strength of the ensemble cast. He also mentioned that he prefers working with an ensemble cast as they have better interactions on and off camera which results in better performances.
Since special effects have evolved since Scott’s first Alien movie, he mentioned the fact that the first monster was played by the seven-footer, Bolaji Badejo. While computer effects allow the ability to do more, they’re still more expensive; however, Scott mentioned that the cost benefit to all the effects work is to do more films and that it would be a pleasure to come back to a sci-fi film as soon as possible.