While promoting his latest film, director Ridley Scott revealed the new title for the sequel to his 2012 Alien prequel, Prometheus. Scott broke the news while doing press for The Martian, after which the acclaimed science fiction filmmaker will begin work on the until-recently-titled Prometheus 2.
Speaking with Hey U Guys, Scott was asked about recent plot details for the upcoming film he’d discussed in another interview. The director responded by blatantly describing the film’s title and its inspiration:
Really, it’s going to be called Alien: Paradise Lost. Prometheus 2 is not really going to be… It’s going to be Alien: Paradise Lost. You know the poem? I doubt you’ve ever been through it, have you? The poem’s a book, Paradise Lost. It sounds intellectual, but there’s a similarity to it and that’s where it stops.
The website later caught up with Scott at the European premiere for The Martian and asked him for further comment on the new title. Though brief, he was more than happy to oblige when ask why Alien: Paradise Lost was the chosen title.
“We’re heading back to why and how and when the beast was invented,” he told Hey U Guys on the red carpet. “We’ll go back in to the backdoor of the very first Alien that I did 30 years ago.”
Scott’s admitted inspiration, Paradise Lost by the English poet John Milton, was published in 1667. It is still considered one of the chief accomplishments of English literature today, and is therefore thrust down the throats of high school and collegiate English students the world over. Maybe when the Prometheus sequel hits theaters, a few lucky kids will be able to convince their teachers to let them watch “the latest Milton film adaptation” for extra credit.
(Via IGN)
