History Trivia / Prometheus

* TheWikiRule: [[http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Xenopedia]] has information on ''{{Film/Prometheus}}'', ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'', ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'', and ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator''.

* NamesTheSame: Charlie Holloway has almost exactly the same name as Charles Halloway, one of the main characters in ''Literature/SomethingWickedThisWayComes'' by Creator/RayBradbury. This one is served with a bit of cruel irony, though: the movie was released in the United States just three days after Bradbury's death.
** Elizabeth Shaw also shares her name with the first companion of the Third Doctor on ''Series/DoctorWho''.

* TheDanza: One of the mercenaries, Vladimir, was portrayed by Vladimir Furdik.

** Jon Spaihts, the original writer of the film when it was called ''Alien: Engineers'' has hinted that he is unhappy with the final product and wasn't happy at all with the decision to bring Damon Lindelof aboard.

* FanNickname:
** "Cuddles/Squidbaby/Shaw Jr." for the creature that [[spoiler:Shaw extracts from her abdomen]].
** "Assflower/Proto-burster/Penis Snake" for the Hammerpede, the snakelike creature that attacks Milburn.
** "Cloaky" for the first Engineer seen.
** "Basketbike", for the sport David invented.
** "Black goo", for, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the black goo]].

* CreatorBacklash: A relatively mild case, as Ridley Scott still likes the film, but during the release of ''Film/AlienCovenant'' he admitted he'd completely misjudged what the fans would want from his return to the franchise.

* RefittedForSequel: In one of the screenplay drafts for ''Film/{{Alien}}'', there was a sex scene between Ripley and Dallas, to show how crew members would engage in casual sex during long space travels, simply to fulfill their needs. Creator/RidleyScott never filmed the scene, but the idea was reused for this film in the exchange between Vickers and Janek.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The original draft of Jon Spaihts' script, ''Alien: Engineers'', was ''far'' more closely tied to set the movie up as a direct prequel to ''Film/{{Alien}}'' while still leaving room for a sequel featuring David and Shaw (or Jocelyn Watts, as she was originally known) going to the Engineers' home world. It averted most of the IdiotBall moments introduced in the rewrite and would have included more elements from the ''Alien'' franchise, [[spoiler:including Holloway dying via chestburster]], and different motives for Weyland. The main cause of this seems to be ExecutiveMeddling by hiring Damon Lindelof (the writer for ''Series/{{Lost}}'') to re-write the script to remove the direct connections to ''Alien'' and revamp much of its final act. Ironically, the sequel (when it was originally billed as ''Prometheus 2'') was meant to further distance the series even further from the ''Alien'' saga, but now (since being renamed ''Alien: Paradise Lost'', and then being re-renamed ''Film/AlienCovenant'') ties back in to the ''Alien'' franchise.
** Scott and his designers idly discussed adding some references to ''Film/BladeRunner'' into the film, such as "Weyland-Tyrell" markings on some products aboard the ship, but it never went anywhere. Some of the extra material on the DVD actually does make a disguised reference to Tyrell and replicants, but according to the producers, [[GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld you shouldn't take it too seriously]].
** Creator/AnneHathaway, Creator/NataliePortman, Creator/GemmaArterton, Creator/CareyMulligan, and Creator/AbbieCornish were all considered for Elizabeth Shaw.
** Creator/MichelleYeoh and Creator/AngelinaJolie were considered for Meredith Vickers.
** Creator/GuyPearce was originally supposed to play Peter Weyland as a young man, while Creator/MaxVonSydow would play him as an old man. Scott also considered Creator/RutgerHauer as an old Peter Weyland as well.
** Creator/JamesFranco was considered for Charlie Holloway. [[HilariousInHindsight He wound up getting cast in]] [[Film/AlienCovenant the sequel]].
** Early drafts of the script had a scene, on a colony on Mars, where Peter Weyland had his office. Though concept art was completed, the scene was removed for pacing reasons, and never filmed.
** Ridley Scott has stated in interviews that initially, the Engineers had sent Jesus to elevate humanity from their war-like ways, and that Jesus and the twelve disciples were the Engineers contacting humanity, until humans ended up killing the Engineer who would become known as Jesus, so the events of the Bible would be describing contact between humanity and the Engineers. The opening scene with Engineers wearing cloaks would have alluded to this connection. In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ONSFeRy9iQ script]], dialog would have explained the black liquid, related to Xenomorph blood, being revered by the Engineers as the "Blood of the Lord," with the Engineers terraforming Earth in an attempt to create a perfect Eden in their image. The Engineers would judge humanity as fit to be punished for killing their Lord and ruining their intent to create Eden, or flawed and sinful for killing their most important crew member. The Engineer Shaw encounters was preparing to wipe out humanity to start life over on Earth, and his arrival would have been the final judgement of humanity. The Engineer's hostility towards the crew is due to still maintaining that judgement towards humanity, and for the crew's arrival being perceived as an interruption of the plan the Engineer intended to enact.

** Creator/RidleyScott then contacted Creator/DamonLindelof for advice on the script, and was told to rein in many of the parts that made it an identifiable Alien film (including the fact that it was originally set on LV-426, the site of the Derelict Ship from the first two films) and make it an original creation. This, coupled with Spaihts supposedly constraining Scott's vision, led to Lindelof being hired to rewrite the screenplay. It took another four drafts (and more than a year of pre-production time) to get the script to a point where everyone was happy with it, and even then the cast and crew (as evidenced by their remarks in the Blu-Ray materials) seemed convinced that they were shooting a prequel that led into the original film.

* ActorAllusion: One of the viral videos has various names cycling through over the image of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, including, for a split second, [[Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy Lisbeth]].

** Subtly lampshaded in story - David bases his accent and mannerisms on Peter O'Toole's performance of ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' - another Irish actor playing a FakeBrit.

* RefittedForSequel: The cut Beluga-Xenomorph was reused for the design of the Neomorph in [[Film/AlienCovenant the sequel]].

* RefittedForSequel: The cut Beluga-Xenomorph was reused for the design of the Neomorph in the sequel.

** Ridley Scott initially had the idea that the Engineers had sent Jesus to elevate humanity from their war-like ways.

* DeletedScene: Prior to the film's release, Creator/RidleyScott said that 20 minutes of deleted scenes would be included on the home video release of the film. Several moments seen in the trailers are not present in the film - most notably, the [[spoiler:mutated Fifield attack]] scene was intended to be much longer and set at a different point in the film (happening just as [[spoiler:Weyland, Ford and the mercenaries]] head out for the structure).

* FakeNationality: Swede Creator/NoomiRapace playing a British woman. German-born Irishman Creator/MichaelFassbender playing an "English" android. Brits Creator/IdrisElba and Rafe Spall playing an American. And so on.

** Creator/GuyPearce was originally supposed to play Peter Weyland as a young man, while Creator/MaxVonSydow would play him as an old man.

** The film was originally envisioned to be a straight-up prequel to ''Film/{{Alien}}, via a script written by Jon Spaihts (who was in-demand at the time due to his previous script being on the unofficial Hollywood "black list" of best screenplays) called "Alien: Engineers".

** Creator/JamesFranco was considered for Charlie Holloway.