Editorials
Is Ridley Scott Off ‘Prometheus 2’?
Last year 20th Century Fox hired Jack Paglen to write a script for Prometheus 2. Back in March of this year they brought Michael Green (who just wrote the new Blade Runner for Ridley Scott and Warner Bros) on to rewrite it. Despite the hopeful Blade Runner 2 association and some encouraging comments from the director himself, the involvement of Ridley Scott in all of this has been something of a premature foregone conclusion. I mean, he’ll be involved somehow. But will he actually direct the thing? We haven’t really gotten a confirmation on this one way or another.
The Hollywood Reporter just put up a story a few moments ago that has Scott in talks to direct The Martian, another space epic, for Fox. Matt Damon is set to star. And you kind of get the sense that this thing is going to happen sooner rather than later because its initial director, Drew Goddard (The Cabin In The Woods), “left the project due to his directing commitments for Sony’s Sinister Six, the planned Spider-Man spin-off.” It kind of sounds like a timing issue and Scott could be on this as soon as he finishes up post on Exodus.
Which doesn’t leave a lot of time for Prometheus 2 (it’s possible that Fox is okay sitting on P2 for another year or two, but that doesn’t really gel with the renewed urgency the production seems to have). It would also mean two back to back sci-fi/space movies, which might be more than Scott is interested in taking on (he famously didn’t come back to the Alien franchise for quite some time because he wanted to do something different).
Last week Michael Fassbender seemed more bullish than usual on Prometheus 2‘s prospects (though, to be fair, he still didn’t know when it was happening), which gives some creedence to the studio’s enthusiasm for the project.
Right now this is all just a series of questions. I don’t have any more info than what I’m laying out here. But it’s interesting to ponder the possibility of Scott guiding the franchise as a producer rather than a director. If The Martian is shifting directors in and out because of scheduling, it would seem that it’s at least possible that this project takes first position over Prometheus 2. Would Fox wait another couple of years for a sequel? And is Scott even still interested?
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
You must be logged in to post a comment.