In the 2012 movie, “Prometheus,” characters seem to be paying indirect homage to movies of the past. Some of these are clear and obvious, as when character “David” makes repeated references to David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia.” David himself, as an android, references Scott’s “Alien” film (considered a prequel to “Prometheus”), in which an android had a major role in the plot. David is subtly hostile to humans in “Prometheus” and constantly questions them, just as “Roy Batty” is looking for answers from his creator, Dr. Tyrell, in Scott’s 1982 film “Blade Runner,” and, Tyrell not having satisfactory answers, Roy kills him.
However, a number of more subtle references appear to be made by the actors during “Prometheus” that pay nearly undetectable homage to particular moments both in other Scott films and perhaps unrelated films in which those actors themselves played.
I’ve detected three “suspicious” examples.
In the scene where David is in the early stages of exploring the pyramid, he finds a group of runes on a stone wall and, running a finger through one of them, discovers a viscous medium apparently teeming with life. He holds his fingers to his nose, pulls them away quickly making a face, and again slowly sniffs the material. This perfectly repeats character “Leon’s” sniffing of the colloidal artificial eye material in the genetic eye designer’s lab scene in “Blade Runner.”
In the scene in “Prometheus” where Fifield, the geologist, gets nose to nose with Shaw in the pyramid confrontation over the fact that he is a geologist and has no interest in “giant dead bodies,” there is an echo of an earlier memorable film moment of the actor playing Fifield, Sean Harris. In “Harry Brown,” Harris plays a drug addict and gun seller who gets obnoxiously close into the face of Harry Brown, played by Michael Caine, a memorable and chilling moment beautifully played. Without considering this homage, it is hard to explain why the director would have included an “in your face” scene with a woman here.
Finally, in the scene where David brings a fresh bottle of champagne to scientist Charlie Holloway, and is offered a drink by Holloway, who addresses him as “pal,” there is some echo of the scene in “Blade Runner” where character Bryant, Deckard’s former boss, invites him to have a drink in his office, addressing him as “pal.”
Perhaps I’m over-interpreting here, or perhaps Scott and cast demonstrate unconsciously the theory of writer Albert Camus that artists constantly repeat and reinterpret only a few themes and images that obsess them.
On the other hand, a subtle and interesting play on scene-within-a-scene seems to be going on here.
Any thoughts on this or further examples noted in “Prometheus?”