Damon Lindelof on whether he's the man for the sequel, just in..!

Sounds like he already KNOWS he isn't (and indicates maybe he WASN'T---then why did you take the job, Damon?) the right man for the job(s)...

“Right now my focus is doing this movie for Disney, and then I obviously want to do another television show, but if Ridley wants me to be involved in something, that would be hard to say no to,” he says. “At the same time, I do feel like the movie might benefit from a fresh voice or a fresh take or a fresh thought. Sometimes the baton should be passed, if that’s what the story demands. “I had [Prometheus] for the period of time that I was running the race, and if that story continues, it could actually benefit going into someone else’s able hand," Lindelof adds. "Although, I feel like some of the iceberg below the water for any potential future movies in that storyline has already been constructed based on conversations that Ridley and I had about it.” ...Nuff said.

So, in other words, they were making it up as they went and they have no idea how it ties in with Alien (looks down, shakes head).

??? @Corporalhiccups: How do you infer that from what Lindelof said? I read the interview and he sounds like he's hinting at the exact opposite?

No C-Hiccups... That is your assumption. Read it again. It reads like they knew the answers they were withholding (for a possible sequel) but made conscious decision to what they were holding back and making peace with it... the entire ending of 2001 (I hate making the comparison) is left to the viewer to make their own conclusions. That movie is heralded as a classic for it, yet this is being smacked down repeatedly for daring to do a similar thing. I continue to not get it. As Ripley once said "Did I.Q.'s drop sharply while I was away?" (I'm joking)

I'm making the assumption based on Lindelof's previous record. I've heard it all before with Lost: we know where we're going, we have the answers, trust us. I'm just being cynical and jaded. I don't believe a word Lindelof says and won't be fooled again. Fool me once shame on me... Whose IQ is really dropping? (joking)

But still you are placing the blame squarely on Damon. It was not his choice alone. In fact, if it wasn't for Ridley's desire to NOT CASH IN on previous successes, they would have went with Sphaitts' script and phoned it in. But RIDLEY wanted more. HE hired Damon. THEY BOTH worked on it. The studio demanded Ridley direct. If Damon was so tainted in the industry, would Fox have let him make all the decisions alone? Of course not. It's the endless Damon bashing alongside the relentless whining that people aren't getting Alien-Part 5-redux-Xerox is what gets those that want the film to stand on its own merits so frustrated. Read back on Ridleys intentions. Do you think he's lying? Do you think he phoned it in or do you think he truly cared about delivering something new and different, albeit tied-in? Do you feel Fox would let him piss away 250 million on half-baked open-ended ambiguity? Of course not. I am not a Ridley fanboy zealot. But his body of classics speaks for itself, and I do believe him fully at the reigns and his intent delivered. At the end of the day, you like the film or you don't, and that's awesome and I respect that. But as I said (not directly to you C-Hiccups, but in general) yesterday, the endless posts just to bash seem disingenous and pointless. But hey, its the internet. Fire away.

Yep but surely they cant leave us with Prometheus as its own movie and never no sequels.... I think Lindelof has great ideas for plots and stories just he should only give the base ideas and not be allowed to dictate how the movie is executed.... You know like the base idea in Alien was.... crew of Space Truckers pick up a signal and distress call, they find crashed Alien ship, with a Dead Pilot and a Cargo of Eggs, one of the crew falls into the Cargo Chamber and they then take a close look at a Egg and a Organism escapes from it and attaches to his face. This Organism implants a Embryo inside him, then falls off and dies, the crew member gets better but then latter the Embryo grows into a different Organism that escapes by bursting out of his chest. This Organism grows fast into a Monster Alien and this Alien hunts down the crew untill just one survives and sets off a self destruct of the ship and escapes via the Escape Shuttle.... only Alien got aboard and its then at the end fired out of the air lock... That was Alien in a nutshell, a great idea.... but the Script and how it was executed was more debth..... Basically as above quick run down of Alien is how they should have taken Lindelofs ideas, but then not have him have so much controll on the execution of the plot.... i.e Script....

I'm not a Lindelof basher. I'm on record as saying that I enjoyed a lot of the character development in Lost and this was why I was so disappointed by the lack of character development in Prometheus. You are right though, Ridley has to shoulder a lot of the blame for why the film hasn't lived up to its billing. The buck stops with him I suppose. Someone once said that you can make a bad film from a good script but you can't make a good film from a bad script. I think this rule applies here. Anyway, as I said, I'm being cynical. I'm just responding emotionally to my disappointment by venting here. Apologies.

I wouldn't trust The Hollywood Reporter at all, they are still claiming all the photos they have are "new" and "Never seen." They are full of crap.

Lindelof is to Prometheus what Cameron was to Alien

Having seen the movie, I can guarantee that Lindelof will not be involved in any sequel, except maybe as a creative consultant. The script is diabolically bad.

Right!

errrr 2010 was a sequel to 2001 which answered a lot of the questions posed about hals behaviour although i catch your drift that the film 2001 could have lived Comfortably on its own without the answers in 2010 i'm not as confident in the same way regarding prometheus i feel it requires a sequel to clear up so many issues in the film .

"You are right though, Ridley has to shoulder a lot of the blame for why the film hasn't lived up to its billing. " To YOU. Stop speaking for everyone else. That is the point I am trying to convey. There is no blame to be dispensed if at the end of the day what Ridley envisioned is what Ridley delivered. He certainly seems confident with it. "but surely they cant leave us with Prometheus as its own movie and never no sequels...." And why not? Because YOU demand an answer? That's just silly. Again I make the comparison tho I hat it...but 2001 can stand alone, completely unanswered. Just like I believe it's forgivable for Prometheus. In fact, I look forward to a lot of good conversations and theories after seeing it. Pity that is not good for more people.

One thing that bugs me is if ridley has waited thirty years for a script to impress him enough to want to return to the sc fi genre and this script is the cutting edge of hollywood script writing then im afraid that edge is seriously blunt and needs some severe sharpening.

I never liked Lost, it started good had some good ideas, but then they started to make some bizare plot points they then touch upon, and then not go back to. So i was a little concerned of Lindelofs involvement especially when it came across that he got Ridley to change of lot of the scipt to suit what he had ideas for. But i was prepared to give him a clean slate..... Untill i saw two interviews and one he was on TV so it came out of the horses mouth.... where he said he disliked prequels because you know how they conclude.... (yes but then you have a deeper story to fit around those events). And he was a massive fan of ambiguity (which is ok for some points and parts of movies). What concerned me was he laughed and joked that his work on the script for Cow Boys vs Aliens made the movie flop..... and something along the lines of... He would rather go to his grave and have on his grave stone that he took part in Ridleys return to Sci Fi and have the movie become a flop, than he play no part in the movie... Thats not a good sign..... that basically says he likes to change scripts to his Lost style of writting and the movie sucks.... he ant really bothered. The guy is a Cancer to Movie Making.... he has great ideas but he should allow someone else to interpret and flesh out his ideas, than actually allow him greater controll....

I have a question for the Lindelof and Ridley apologists........ Where would these people be without us, the fans of the things they have created? Why should we allow ambiguous story telling? If we read a book, most of us like to end up with a conclusion to the story being told there, if Tolkein had never written Return of the King, what would people have thought about that? I know I feel more satisfied when I have read a story and have an understanding of why things happen the way they happen, and I feel even more satisfied when a story is followed through to a logical conclusion. Sure, throw some surprises in, make me think more about the world YOU have created, but give me some answers as to the motivations of the characters you have created. I'm sure if a lot of people on this forum had the chance they would have loved to help Ridley Scott with this project, and I'm certain people would have been a lot more happy with some old questions answered whilst having new ones to ponder about the Alien universe. As it is, Lindelof ADMITS that he doesn't like completing a story, leaving it ambiguous for people to make their own minds up about things. Which makes him a lazy storyteller as far as I'm concerned. There is NO excuse for that sort of thing. It's simple laziness. If he had to think harder than that I'm pretty sure his head would probably just pop off.

Well, I have yet to see the movie, but of coarse temptation set in and I just had to spoil it for my self, been tracking (Paradise, Alien Prequel news since 2010), so yes I am excited to see this movie, but Id like to see a sequel for sure...answers which I would think Ridley has already, hope to be seeing those answers in the next movie...with or without Damon...I think they have the answers on hand for us...smart idea I guess...

I dont have a problem with how the movie ended... The only time this would be a problem would be if Fox decide to take the Alien universe and close the door on it and thus no Prometheus 2...... As it stands the next movie could have 3 different outcomes... 1) Follow Shaw and David as they search for the Engineers homeworld. 2) Follow a 2nd Mission by Yutani or Weyland to find out what happened to Prometheus... comming into contact with the Black Goo etc or even that new Xeno... Both could then at the end be tied to Alien, or both could explore a new route and thus we would be left hopefully with a clue to then sugest that LV 426 Derelict did indeed happen thousands of years ago. 3) They could visit the Engineers in the past (a History and Story of their race etc), i.e set 2000 years ago and at the end of that explain Alien. I would like them to explore 1) and tie in 3) with that..... Which then could lead a Prometheus 3 to then explore option 2. But option 2 could have some lose ends and plot holes... then again so could number 1.

I'm surprised by the reaction to Spaiht, Lindeloff and Ridleys 'script'. It wasn't just Damon's work after all. It did not resemble lost, was very straight forward (too straight forward) and didn't leave massive plot holes. Take away peoples desire for it to give full answers to exactly where it fit's into the puzzle of Alien (1979 etc) and the mythology of that universe and it basically operated as a teaser movie. It didn't cop out, it didn't fail in itself. It failed to live up to my expectations, and others - but for our individual personal reasons. On 2nd viewing I was able to fully enjoy the film and I concentrated on Davids interactions with the 'humans'. I think the answer to the purpose of the Engineers lay in the conversations and musings of David. Yeah it's ambiguous to an extent - but isn't that the point. Life/creation is, even in our hands via an android, given for fairly mundane reasons....The Engineers will be no different and it's clear they're not Gods to us - they would have been considered so to an earlier civilization though. I've posted a review and had a discussion about it elsewhere. Back to the point in hand... It's not nearly as awe inspiring or 'clever' as 2001 - but it's a good film with a few flaws. I hope a Directors Cut will help to flesh out the charecters and plot. It really only needs a few tweaks I think....

well you have to ask your self why did they take their helmets of on an unknown planet with all manner of contamination issues when a simple thing like david breeding mice would of Sufficed for contamination issues . They could have had the crew members simply be attacked by the cobra alien in the same way a rattle snake would attack if you step within its close vicinity unnoticed without the bizarre coaxing method . How did they locate the position of the engineers upon landing in the vicinity so accurately ? why does the black liquid have numerous affects on the crew and different resulting outcomes ?. How on earth did david learn the engineers language without any explanation?. And a whole host of other questions to numerous to mention . Why were no crew members the slightest bit concerned with shaws baby and her condition after such an incredible event ?..I cant believe she didn't even mention her Cesarean alien birth to other crew members apart from david who discovered her condition... its brimming with plot holes what do you mean no plot holes ? I had no desire to see the tie in with alien, ridley stated long ago that wasn't going to happen and i wasn't concerned with that in the slightest. As a stand alone script on that basis alone i wanted a film tighter than a gnats arse script wise and that's why people are a little upset. Again i have to point out the film looks amazing and has a lot going for it but it could have been so much more script wise.