It’s a busy day for news about Prometheus, the new film that grew from Ridley Scott’s original intent to craft a prequel to Alien. And the biggest half of the new announcements is also the most welcome: Michael Fassbender has snagged one of the lead roles.
Long rumoured as part of the film even back when everyone still thought it was going to be an Alien prequel or a pair of films, Fassbender is now officially part of Scott’s team, the second actor to enter negotiations following Noomi Rapace, who was announced earlier this month.
Details on what the film is actually going to be about are scarce, though the title would suggest that it will see mankind meddling in interstellar things about which it has no true understanding and coming off badly. Rapace is playing scientist Elizabeth Shaw, and Fassbender will be an android, possibly related to the Bishop series. Why might that be? Scott’s statement when Prometheus was first unveiled: “The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien’s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative.”
It’s just the latest big job for Fassbender, who showed off real chops in Hunger and Fish Tank and has gone on to the likes of Inglourious Basterds, Centurion and Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming Haywire. Plus he’s finishing up throwing metal things around and arguing with James McAvoy in the role of Magneto in X-Men: First Class. The only people likely to be unhappy about this casting situation are the producers of Snow White and the Huntsman, which he’d also been considering.
Now, though, he has the Sir Ridders seal of approval and hopefully it’ll push him even further. In related Prometheus news, the movie itself is on the move, shifting release dates from its original March 9, 2012 slot to a summer berth on June 8, 2012.