Jon Spaihts Confirms Leaked Script is Authentic

If it is a prequel that u wanted to see this was it.John spaights rocks!

There is very little dialog in this draft - I wonder if that is by design or whether dialog is written on the fly so to speak as shooting begins. Lots of face-hugging though which certainly appeals to 'Alien' fans.

@ Necronom 4: I have seen Prometheus about 10 times and my interest is not fading away at all. You are of the opinion that the Pilot is now cheapened and no longer mysterious and spooky by arriving at the mystifying thought that he has been turned into a 'money making blockbuster' (Utterly baffling rationale that you have there, you do realize the genre that you're into, do you not?). Dan O' Bannons and Ronald Shusett's 1979 'alien' possesses mystery, awe, wonder, terror elevating a B-type movie because of the very specific talents that came together and got involved, despite studio interference. Ridley Scott's Prometheus possesses the revelation of said mystery and goes beyond the original premise and expands with implications of the natures of creation, of the powers to create, of contempt, an ongoing Matryoshkda doll, if you will. You have not actually explained anything of your rejection of Prometheus other than mere declarations. Not good. Back that up with reasons. Alien and Prometheus do not undermine nor undo each other, each possesses the value of mystery, awe, terror, bewilderment and wonderment in their own right. You have not provided any purpose to your point of view, therefore, an opinion in want of substantiation.

Very little dialog in this version - is that because dialog is written 'on the fly' so to speak? Lots of face-hugging which will appeal to the 'Alien' purists.

Err, my apologies for the double post.

(Ferdinand) Magellan, eh?

I am about half way thru the script and enjoy it very much. It is surprising how many of the scenes,or dialog appear in the film...but in different parts of the script... As a poster has mentioned there is not as much diolog as the movie,,but it fine for what it is, I believe there is such a thing which is called a 'shooting script'..which would be more detailed used during the film process. It is probably not fair to be reading the script and compare it to the finished movie distracts the mind from one to the other,,but I could not help it. With added descriptions of the pyramids I can now understand why posters consider the bee hives atmosphere generation plant. Many post have suggested this but the film does not detail this storyline.

Here article from the topic: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/jon-spaihts-confirms-his-leaked-prometheus-script-titled-alien-engineers-is-legit-6-things-that-changed-from-the-original-script-20121112

Yes Freeze we all enjoyed reading J Spaihts' script, but are you saying that you prefer this to Prometheus, as shot? I loved seeing the evolution of the script and thats why I reeeeeeeeally want to read D Lindelof's script too, and we are all certainly thankful for J Spaihts' involvement and willingness to authenticate this for us, but having read it I can see many flaws in it too. He invented many of the characters but overdid it on David and Vickers it seems. Both too one-dimensional and 100% evil. Vickers is the typical corrupt corporate monster to the point of even bringing a goon squad with her and devising the level 2 protocol. But David just straight went so far 'off the reservation' as Spaihts put it that he was just out for himself even if it meant risking the human race. The rationale was there explaining his method of overcoming his programming but I am getting tired of always having the synthetic be the bad guy. Bishop was a refreshing change! David in his final incarnation as he appeared in the movie was a complex mixture of unethical and human-like responses and the viral Happy Birthday David 8 video supports his behavior throughout the movie so it all makes sense. Turning him into a one-dimensional villain just ruins his character and turns him into a cartoon character from a comic book. I did like the explanation of why Fifield and Milburn got lost, so that was insightful. What are others saying about the script now that we have all had a chance to read it?

IMHO - Spaihts' script is a good read, but that is all. It is just another Alien slasher film. I am much more pleased with the actual theatrical production that was chosen. I still say it is all about the Engineers, not the Aliens!

Mateo, thanks for the link! That article and the one it references [url=http://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=45642.0]here[/url] systemetically breaks down the differences between the Spaihts script and the finished movie using commentary by DL and JSp that I haven't yet heard but now will avidly look for.

Agreed Blue!

Better than the original.

In the fine words of Larry David "Prettay prettay prettay prettay good!" I must say though it is cool that this is where Prometheus came from. The tone of the Spaits script is how I thought the movie would turn out after seeing all the leaked Photos from the comic con footage from July 11. I would love to do a stop motion action figure movie using this script.

READ IT last night, in a couple hours, in a fit of interest. Is that REALLY the script Scott/Fox had Lindelof butcher? I mean, it states it clearly THE ENGINEERS ARE DEAD. D . E . A . D . And that was before the later Engineer 'reveal'. Cool reveal btw, just how I'd have hoped a Giger film might have looked. I'm talking about, of course, the Space Jockey chair. You need a Pressure Suit to get into it. And the Pressure Suit binds onto your skin, like the Space Jockey chair binds with you, like the Stasis Table binds with you. Not just some 'tubes and folding ribcage', this alien tech actually penetrates the Engineer's flesh. I'm thinking serious Tetsuo, iron man. I'm talking about a Giger Painting. And the JOY of a still-mutating alien force among the crewmen, both Fifield AND Holloway AND the thing that comes out of Shaw (Watts). I really enjoyed (with gory glee) the extended-stay MediPod scene where that 'thing' is tossed out then grows and destroys THEN the medipod throws Shaw out. I love the reintroduction of the ACID for blood. I love the scarabs; the opening scene and the further scarabs-in-air scene (I'm thinking of the Sentinels from the Matrix, for some reason, but tiny). I particularly loved Vickers' 'army in a bag' of four soldiers who come to life halfway through the script; turns up the Corporate War Machine another notch. And it's weird how some pre-production shots, like the galley to the parked Juggernaut, are depicted in this script - suggesting that sketch work had already started while LIndelof was brought in, and that scene was dumped. I liked Dangerous David, the reckless robot. I liked how the Engineers were bald AND earless. It would have been nice to have had an i-robot-like David who was a foreshadowing mirror of these Engineers in his design; more human than human, but missing things, details erased, mysteriously non-human. The extra-sensory overlays of both David's vision and the Engineers' vision - KEY to both design and covert duties, imho. For me, this was HOW A PROPER ALIEN PREQUEL should have felt, somebody mentioend 'the right tone', even if Fox/Scott/Lindelof decided to redirect the thrust of the film more towards a 'parallel franchise that's never mentioned' in the entirety of the franchise that came post-Alien; namely "Paradise". Needed a polish, for sure, this script, but it was a nostalgic joy - without the queen - and it had a STILL MUTATING alien, always my 'memory' of the original Alien all those years back, that it hadn't fully hardened yet, was pliable, able to utilise its acid to core through architecture, that made me very happy. Elephantine Space jockey makes more sense if Engineer HAS TO BE IN PRESSURE SUIT to climb in - that actually makes sense, based on holomemory and earlier pre-production shots of pressure-suited cryo units. Everything should have remained pressure-suit based -- i.e. not built into Seat (because how can you get into THAT chair with a pressure suit on. Yeah, that simple Pilot Error. Chris, et al, thanks for confirming that Prometheus (would they have called it Magellan) was nearly a proper ADULT film.

So Custodian, sounds like you would have pretty much dumped all of Damon Lindelof's contributions and just gone for a Jon Spaihts movie just 99 percent like this script? Just goes to show we are all entitled to our own opinions. If everybody had exactly the same taste then the demand for any given item or even person would outrun demand. All the guys would be after just one girl, car etc... Fortunately this is not so and there is enough to go around for all of us. I couldn't disagree with your taste more but that's fine as we must agree to disagree. I will say this though. I am glad they changed things up because I feel like the alien motif has been played out. This script just lacked the imagination to go a new direction like the finished Prometheus, which can even stand on its own although it will greatly benefit from the sequel. The final script used in the movie to me and certainly to a lot of others besides was superior because it deviated from the straight alien prequel and it did so with vision. It went from another scare fest to a film that asks the biggest questions one can ask. To me I love the first two alien movies but they have already focused those two movies on xenomorphs that have acid for blood, gestate inside a living host and chestburst forth, along with renagade synthetics following a hidden protocol programmed by the evil corporation. Its already been done and done well. Believe me if they had used this script to make yet another alien movie with the same design aliens and eggs and all the rest of the elements from Alien, it would have been a box office flop with no sequel and most viewers would wind up hating Ridley Scott and Jon Spaihts and accuse them both of lacking in imagination. The critics would have a field day and rightly so!! I'm supprised to find a person who fails to appreciate the Prometheus that was made rather than Alien Engineers based upon this script.

Nostromo, I didn't say, "Spaihts script better than Lindelof," I merely highlighted what "I" thought was valid from the original Spaihts script, as OPPOSED TO (but not exclusive of) the Lindelof script. This script had BALLS, the Lindelof script read like LOST (with all its false exits and 'continuity errors' like the non-pressure-suit entry into chair/cryo et al. I wanted OMINOUS BLACK ARCHITECTURE, like those early sketches, where 'only David' could see the other wavelength sub-structure and energy lines etc. :)

Intriguing read. Much darker and gorier than the film, though also suffering from too many where-are-we-now-and-why bouts of crew shuttling back and forth between earth ship and engineer ruins. The Milburn death scene is more how I pictured it as happening before someone lost their nerve and drew a felt-tip snake entering his mouth (ie a real horrid shocker). Agree with others about Vickers & David being more believable/interesting in the film.

Me, I would have 'put up with' some enhanced physical fx (as they did in the (excellent) The Thing prequel) if it would have offered Prometheus shots like these: [img]http://echostains.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/hr-giger-alien.jpg[/img] god, I love that image, such 'potential' such 'living horror'

Custodian I just got done watching the writers commentary on the BluRay version and DL apologizes all over the place that people might hate him because he likes to avoid stating the obvious but rather leave it open to generate lots of talk afterwards like what we are doing now. I personally agree with DL as his approach retains the mystery and gives the viewer much to speculate about.