Scott stands firm on Prometheus director's cut

Michael Fassbender in Prometheus. Fox studio offered the opportunity for a new cut but instead got 30-something minutes of deleted scenes on the side. Photo / Supplied

Ridley Scott's Prometheus left a lot of unanswered questions at the cinema, but the director is adamant he won't be spelling anything out with a director's cut.

The new Blu-ray collector's edition of the film, an almost-prequel to Scott's classic Alien, promises "questions will be answered", which it does through more than seven hours of behind-the-scenes material, including several pivotal deleted and alternate scenes.

But when given the option to add these scenes to the version seen in cinemas, Scott refused, according to Prometheus Blu-ray producer Charles de Lauzirika.

"Well, certainly that was a topic that was discussed quite a bit, the idea of an extended cut," de Lauzirika said. "[But] the theatrical cut is Ridley's director's cut ... . Fox very kindly offered the opportunity to do a new cut of the film and he said, 'no, this is my cut and I'll give you 30-something minutes of deleted scenes on the side'."

De Lauzirika said "there was no debate, there was really no argument" about it - Scott was just happy with the cut he put on to cinema screens.

The four-disc collector's edition of Prometheus also includes candid behind-the-scenes documentary The Furious Gods, which de Lauzirika produced and directed.

An avid fan of Scott's 1979 classic Alien, de Lauzirika began documenting the making-of process more than a year before Prometheus began shooting, when it was still a true Alien prequel. "I'm a lifelong Alien geek, and so for me the entire time I know exactly what I'm looking for from the Alien perspective, but then I have to also factor in the Prometheus story."

It began with him roaming around Scott's production offices in Los Angeles filming conceptual art. "Then that would start to include meetings with Ridley and creature design meetings," he said, adding that Scott was very much involved, letting him film closed-door meetings and conduct interviews.

Making The Furious Gods, de Lauzirika said his first responsibility was to Scott.
"To me there's the three f's - there's the filmmakers, the fans and the film itself. Usually Ridley Scott is the one I'm trying to please and then comes the film's legacy ... but then there's also the fans, and as a fan, I feel I know what they want."

De Lauzirika actually approached it as if he was back filming the making-of for Alien. "There's precious few minutes of behind-the-scenes footage from Alien and I keep thinking if I had a time machine I would go back in time and shoot the hell out of the making of Alien."

But in this case, he tried to make up for past mistakes. "I had a new Alien film to document, so I kind of treated the making-of Prometheus as though I was documenting Alien.

"I kind of went nuts and completely over-delivered."

What: Prometheus, available on Blu-ray 3D Collectors Edition (with more than seven hours of bonus material), as well as Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD
When: Out now

- AAP