Tired of hearing about “Prometheus?” Well, what else are we cinephiles supposed to talk about? “That’s My Boy”? “Snow White and the Huntsman”? “ROCK OF AGES"!?! Anyways, for those still involved in the discussion of all things regarding director Ridley Scott’s divisive summer blockbuster, “Prometheus,” a bit of new information has leaked regarding one of the film’s many ambiguities. Suffice to say, spoilers for “Prometheus” follow:
Movieline has provided some helpful information (via The Bioscopist blog) regarding what exactly it is that everyone’s favorite android David (Michael Fassbender) says to the preserved, pale-skinned Engineer when bringing the elderly Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) to him in the film’s final moments. While to the average moviegoer, David used his impressive intellect to communicate with the engineer in a mysterious vernacular, The Bioscopist writer Stu Holmes was actually able to track down the linguistics expert used as a consultant on the film, who turned out to be Dr. Anil Biltoo of London's SOAS Language Centre. Biltoo taught Fassbender how to speak in Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language – and also has a cameo in the film as David’s holographic linguistics teacher in the film’s opening moments – and was able to translate David’s PIE statement made to the engineer before his vicious rampage. Biltoo says that the most accurate translation of what David says is: “This man is here because he does not want to die. He believes you can give him more life.” Clearly he is referencing Weyland, who seemed like a lost soul looking for some solace in finding the mystic Engineers in the film, and this only adds to many of the theories surrounding the film's messages of belief and why the Engineers were hellbent on destroying our civilization. It also looks as if David wasn’t provoking the engineer, proving once again he was obeying the whims of his master.
On a lighter note, in terms of vernacular, Fassbender recently told GQ that he tried to make David have a South African accent. Starting with a dare from South African native and fellow “Prometheus” co-star Charlize Theron, Fassbender says that the accent “was so unusual. For me the accent is like German in a way—very masculine, very precise, but also kind of clunky, something off about the rhythm which I thought would maybe translate quite well to the robot."
Though apparently it didn’t fare well with Scott, who after a take with David doing his best South African accent, Fassbender added that the director “started laughing, and I was 'No, no, no, I'm serious.' And I could see the fear in his eyes. But full credit to him." Fassbender acquired his accent changing capabilities after he met with director Steven Silver for 2010’s “The Bang Bang Club." While the role didn’t pan out, you can watch Fassbender and Theron talk about it below and stay to the end for his Quentin Tarantino impersonation.