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Ridley Scott Teases Prometheus with TED Talk from the Future
Now this is transmedia! Ridley Scott has created a TED Talk from the future for his forthcoming Prometheus. (Actually, here are the credits: “Conceived and designed by Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof and directed by Luke Scott.”) The talk is by “Peter Heyland,” who looks quite a bit like Guy Pearce and is introduced on the TED page like this:
Peter Weyland has been a magnet for controversy since he announced his intent to build the first convincingly humanoid robotic system by the end of the decade.
Whether challenging the ethical boundaries of medicine with nanotechnology or going toe to toe with the Vatican itself on the issue of gene-therapy sterilization, Sir Peter prides himself on his motto, “If we can, we must.” After a three year media blackout, Weyland has finally emerged to reveal where he’s heading next. Wherever that may be, we will most certainly want to follow.
This is fascinating marriage of a “brand” (TED) and a movie (Scott’s forthcoming, vaguely pre-Alien sci-fi epic). And as interesting as the piece is the comments thread, in which one commenters criticizes the piece as just a “marketing scheme” for the movie. Others, however, think its smart commentary on the conference itself. I’d be curious your thoughts — has TED sold out to the movie marketers by allowing its name to be used like this? Or not?
