Written by Burhan Wazir, New Media, DFI

In space, it seems, everyone is still screaming. Last Sunday saw the arrival, after several months of teasers, of Ridley Scott’s first full length trailer for “Prometheus”. The director, who began his career in advertising, clearly hasn’t lost his taste for white-knuckle rides. The footage spits and snarls with the discovery of life on a distant planet by a team of explorers, and an attack by sinister-looking alien creatures. The clip for the film, which stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron and Idris Elba, has been viewed nearly four million times on YouTube since Sunday.

A number of observations have gone unsaid about “Prometheus”. The film is Scott’s first visit to outer space since “Blade Runner”, starring Harrison Ford, in 1982. Three years earlier, he had directed the science fiction horror “Alien”. Both films, over thirty years old, were made before the invention of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and green screen technology. In contrast, the trailer for “Prometheus” has the kind of sleek digital stammer which defines so much modern film-making.

Scott, who turns 75 in November, releases a film roughly each year. He shows few signs of slowing his galloping pace. Like Woody Allen and Clint Eastwood – a septuagenarian and octogenarian respectively – the director seems content to race through genres, much like a teenager who is channel-hopping with a remote control. In recent years, he has tackled feminism (“Thelma & Louise”), period epics (“Gladiator”, “Kingdom of Heaven”, “Robin Hood”) and thrillers (“Black Rain”, “Body of Lies”).

A career in directing can sometimes enjoy a longevity which is rare in the film business. Billy Wilder was in his Seventies when he quit film –making. Like Scott, Clint Eastwood also shows few signs of fading. As he told The Observer’s Philip French in 2007: “I was mostly interested in being behind the camera, figuring that my retirement would be rather gradual, and then some day they’ll say, get out from behind the camera, and I’ll go into the sunset. But right now, I’ve been enjoying things the way they are”.

Prometheus - Poster