Alien Explorations: Prometheus: The final mutant Fifield

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The final mutant Fifield as he appears in the film
(Le Cinema SFX 158, June/July 2012)

They had gone through numerous designs for Fifield and what they thought was interesting in the end was that Sean Harris who played Ffield was such a superb actor anyway and they did a test on him , made a very simple kind of makeup and he gave such a strong performance that the feeling that they had was that it would have been much better to hold onto the actor's features and hold onto all the things that he would bring to the film. Fifield head has been infected by the black substance, he has returned from the dome with a grotesque mutation, his head has become horridly contorted, he is losing himself himself as it were to the alien within but facially he is still Fifield.

The makeup team generated makeup effects that included vacuformed pieces that distended from the character's skull, and appliants that covered his head with what appeared to be an infected mass of flesh. For a scene, Fifield is revealed folded up, with his legs bent hideously over his upper torsoe, and so the production fitted Harri's lower body into the recess in the set, and Scanlan's team draped dummy legs over the actor's shoulder.

They soon set Harris on fire and Rob Inch the stunt co-ordinator who was very impressed by Harris performance was trying to judge when to come in and put him out. Harris was really getting into his role and Rob Inch had to say to him. "Okay Sean, you have to let me known when you're getting warm, you know"

Neal Scanlan: We went through numerous designs. What was interesting was Sean Harris is such a superb actor, we did a test on him on stage, a very simple kind of makeup, and he gave such a strong performance that the general feeling was it would have been much better to hold onto the actor's features, hold onto all of the things that he would bring to the show. His head is becoming horridly contorted. He is losing himself to the alien within, but still he is Fifield. He hasn't gone that far that we've lost Fifield" (Prometheus: The art of the film, p137)
Exposed to genetic material, crewman Fifield (Sean Harris) returns from the dome with a grotesque mutation, Neal Scanlan's team generated makeup effects that included vacuform pieces that distended from the character's skull, and appliances that covered his head with what appeared to be an infected mass of flesh. For a scene in which Fifield is revealed folded up, his legs bent hideously over his upper torso, the production fitted Harris' lower body into the recess in the set, and Scanlan's team draped dummy legs over the actor's shoulder (Cinefex #130, p48)
Harris' performance in the final scene impressed stunt co-ordinator Rob Inch. "We set him on fire, and I'm standing by trying to judge when to come in and put him out. He was really in his acting moment, so I had to say to him, "OK Sean, you have to let me know when you're getting warm, you know. " " (Prometheus: The art of the Film, p137)(interview with Jaime Praeter/Ths