Charlize Theron Joins Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus'; Fassbender Claims Movie Is Still "Absolutely" Connected To 'Alien'

Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron (Monster) is in talks to join Ridley Scott's Prometheus. Theron will join Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) and Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds), although Charlize's character details have not been revealed in the trade update. The science fiction project set-up at 20th Century Fox, was originally developed as an Alien prequel. Rapace will play the lead character Elizabeth Shaw

and Fassbender will be playing an android. Theron beat out Angelina Jolie for the part. Two other major male roles have yet to be cast.

Meanwhile, Fassbender has been doing interviews and claims that Prometheus is still "absolutely" connected to the Alien film series, despite being sold as an entirely new movie.

When MTV asked if the film was still connected to the Alien movies, Fassbender responded:

"Oh, absolutely. There's a definite connecting vein,. You realize you're part of something else, but it's definitely in keeping with the old ones." ... "When I read it, I was like, 'Well, okay, another Alien. Where do you go with this idea?' And then I sort of read the script, and it's new, yet it's in keeping with the old traditions as well. But there's a whole new revelation within this film." .... "The first 'Alien' [movies], they were thrillers. Something's going on. It's creeping, it's sinister. Things are happening, it's building, [and there are] different sorts of intrigues and politics going on between the different relationships on board. There's action in it," he said, "but the intelligence is what struck me when I read it. It's more sort of like the original ones. There are things happening and building, and the intelligence of the first two-thirds of the film gets you ready for the action."

So is this what Scott was talking about when he said that the project would still have "Alien DNA"?

Previously:

Much of the story is being kept under wraps, but Scott has said the movie will have the "Alien DNA", whatever that means. The project has become something "more original," an the Jon Spaihts draft has been reworked by Scott and Damon Lindelof. Scott says Prometheus has "a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place" and "the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative." Damon Lindelof has called the project "daring, visceral and hopefully, the last thing anyone expects."

The common usage of "Prometheus" is a character in Greek mythology, a Titan, "a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals" according to Wikipedia. That notion of taking from the more fortunate to help the less fortunate fits in perfectly with what the guys at ScriptFlags think Prometheus is in the new Scott film. Apparently, in one of Spaihts's other scripts called Shadow 19, there's a terraforming ship that's called...you guessed it, Prometheus. Terraforming is the idea of physically making other planets habitable because of Earth's decline which has become a regular theme in modern science fiction.

Ridley Scott is directing the movie, which will be released on June 8th, 2012.