'Prometheus' Trailer Leak 'Heartbreakingly Unfair'

'When that material is ready and it comes out, you should go see it in 3-D,' Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Tom Rothman tells MTV News.
By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

'Prometheus'
Photo: 20th Century Fox

Tom Rothman, CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, does not like leaks. He especially doesn't like leaks when they come from one of Fox's most anticipated and fiercely guarded films, Ridley Scott's "Prometheus."

A bootlegged, shaky and watermarked version of the first trailer for "Prometheus" showed up online Sunday, and even though the unauthorized debut didn't last long before 20th Century Fox had the video pulled, an untold number of eager fans caught it and spilled on the details.

On the red carpet of the Gotham Independent Film Awards, Rothman spoke with MTV News' Josh Horowitz about his disappointment with the leaked trailer. "I heard some of it leaked, which wasn't so good," he said.

For such a drawn-out buildup, the release of the bootleg trailer marked a point of anticlimax. To Rothman, the leak was nothing short of a severe injustice. "That's not fair. It's heartbreakingly unfair, because ... the quality of the visuals is as spectacularly beautiful, shot in 3-D compositionally the way only a master could do it," Rothman said. "For some early, early, early, early half-baked, half-assed test to leak, it's so unfair."

The Fox exec did, however, guarantee that the film will make a splash once it sees a proper release. "I will promise you this: When that material is ready and it comes out, you should go see it in 3-D on a screen. It will deliver."

Even though the secrets of the trailer are out, that still leaves many questions to be answered, namely where "Prometheus" fits in the "Alien" universe. While certainly connected, claims that "Prometheus" acts as a prequel have been shot down by almost everyone involved with the project.

Rothman made the same denial, even going so far as to place his hand over his heart. When pressed to explain how "Prometheus" could share continuity with "Alien" and take place before the events of that film but still not qualify as a prequel, Rothman offered up his explanation.

"I suppose if you want to definitionally be that literal, but it does it a great disservice. I will tell you, here's the way to think about it. If you looked at the whole movie, 95 percent of it is entirely unto itself," Rothman said. "Ridley said it right: If you're a fan and you look closely, you'll spot strands of DNA."

For him, "Prometheus" ends up being about so much more than continuity. "I'll tell you the great thing: It's way bigger than that. The ideas are way bigger, way more original and — it's a scary word — way more profound."

Check out everything we've got on "Prometheus."

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