In Ridley Scott’s 2012 sci-fi film “Prometheus,” a group of astronauts travel to a distant planet, guided by a series of ancient cave paintings discovered on Earth. It seems that tall, godlike aliens visited Earth many thousands of years ago and left a map that humanity could follow to eventually find its way back to its home planet. It may take us many millennia to develop long-distance space travel, but we finally have the means to follow the map.
Of course, when the astronauts arrive, they find strange, cruel things they can’t understand. The long-lost god-like aliens, whom they call the Engineers, are all dead, killed by a group of genetically engineered creatures they created. Some unusual evidence leads the astronauts to believe that the Engineers were preparing to travel to Earth with a cargo of killer monsters, in order to seed our planet with them and kill us all. Why would the Engineers take us to a distant planet while also planning to exterminate us? Amazingly, it has something to do with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Engineers look like statues, their facial features are very attractive and the skin is also white. They look majestic, mysterious and dangerous due to their huge size. Engineers are about 10 feet tall.
Actor Ian White, who played the on-screen Engineer in “Prometheus,” was not 10 feet tall, but a mere 7’1″. White is a Welsh actor who has specialized in playing aliens, monsters and other brutes throughout his career. He played the central Predator in 2004’s “AVP: Alien vs. Predator” and played Chewbacca’s stunt double in “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.” He played various warriors and creatures in “Game of Thrones” and had Frances de la Tour’s face digitally transplanted onto his body for “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”
White was interviewed by GQ in 2021And he gave a brief commentary on each of his famous monster roles.
Meet the man behind the engineer
To play the Engineer, White was given a full face of makeup, though the character was obviously digitally enhanced, and not just to make him three feet tall. (Behind-the-scenes photos of White in the Engineer makeup can be seen here on any website.) White’s roles often require him to wear masks and makeup, so it’s hard to find screenshots of his handsome face. He also played the rock-skinned Slimane in the remake of “Clash of the Titans” and the monkey demon Oozaru in “Dragonball: Evolution.” The photo above is of White as Gregor Clegane, aka The Mountain, in “Game of Thrones.” He took over the role in Season 2 from Conan Stevens, who played The Mountain in the show’s first season. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson later replaced White in Season 4.
White has fond memories of working on “Prometheus,” though he quickly admitted the film is somewhat controversial for “Alien” fans. The film is a prequel of sorts, and many viewers rejected its heady ideas and confusing plot developments. As White noted:
“I really enjoyed working with Ridley Scott. I think that’Prometheus’ ‘Achieved the impossible in Partition’Alien’ Fans from fans of Ridley Scott. It was speculated that this would be more like ‘Alien’ than a Ridley Scott film, [but] It was definitely a Ridley Scott movie rather than an ‘Alien’ movie. It was more intellectual.”
And he’s right. “Prometheus” doesn’t work well as a traditional sci-fi thriller, but many people (including this writer) found themselves impressed by the film’s strange visuals, perplexing monster tales and provocative religious underpinnings.
Engineered Language
The engineers in “Prometheus” speak their own unusual alien language, and White actually had to learn a few phrases for the film. It seems that the language, although not a fully written language, still needed a historical linguist. White recalled what he had to do in this embrace to speak in the language of another world:
“We had a linguistics expert from a university in London. He spent many months creating a language for the aliens that was based on an original language that was about 10,000 years old, right before the European languages and the Asian languages started to diverge. So there were a lot of clicking and crackling sounds coming from the back of my throat, which I had to dig very deeply into.”
Remember, the Engineers were on Earth thousands of years ago, and are said to have influenced human evolution. In fact, a prologue even hints that humans are the result of Engineer DNA that was sown on Earth millions of years ago. Thus, the Engineer language was not a fully formed alien tongue, but a backward extension of ancient Earth languages. White’s voice, like his face, was slightly digitally distorted, but the line readings were his. The reality for the Engineers was far more than might be immediately clear.
White has continued to play warriors and creatures ever since. He most recently did puppeteer work for the central monster in “Ghostbusters: The Frozen Empire,” and has frequently returned to “Star Wars,” playing various characters in “Endor,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” White, now 52, has a legitimate legacy of acting monsters. Expect him to keep doing so until his retirement.
