The boys over in the UK at Empire Magazine have done some solid reporting getting Ridley Scott to finally open up about the Alien connection in Twentieth Century Fox’s forthcoming Prometheus, which is a prequel to Scott’s 1979 film that brought horror to the blackest depths of space. It all begins with the elusive Space Jockey, which is featured prominently in the trailers:

“[I’ve wanted to revisit it for] years! Years, years, years,” he stresses, of Alien‘s space traveller subplot. “I always wondered when they did [Aliens] 2,3 and 4 why they hadn’t touched upon that, instead of evolving into some other fantastic story. They missed the biggest question of them all: who’s the big guy? And where were they going? And with what? Why that cargo? There’s all kinds of questions.”

Another question for Scott is the film’s rating. He hints that the violence may have been toned-down enough to facilitate a PG-13 rating, but intriguingly suggests that the impact will match the R-grade shocks of Alien and Aliens. “The question is, do you go for the PG-13, [which] financially makes quite a difference, or do you go for what it should be, which is R? Essentially, it’s kinda R.” He adds, “It’s not just about the blood, it’s about ideas that are very stressful. I’m not an idiot, but I’ll do everything I can to get the most aggressive film I can.”

What’s so interesting about the rating conversation is that I literally forgot that was an issue during pre-production. In fact, Fox allegedly nearly shut down the film during a quarrel with Scott. I’m kind of glad that none of us are harping on the fact that it will be PG-13. Looking at the footage, I personally don’t even care anymore. You?