Yesterday the mystery surrounding the nature of the connection between Ridley Scott‘s 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien and his upcoming prequel-cum-return to the genre that made him a world-renowned filmmaker, Prometheus, became a great deal clearer with the director revealed that actor Guy Pearce would be playing a character named Peter Weyland, the owner of the titular spaceship and the instigator of the voyage into the unknown that the movie revolves around.

Today the Prometheus viral marketing campaign has launched with co-writer Damon Lindelof Tweeting a link to a video featuring Pearce as Weyland giving a TED Talk in 2023 that foreshadows the events of the movie.

You can watch it below now.

In this three-minute video Pearce gives an indelible performance of silken, charismatic menace as he paints a vivid portrait of the future he intends to create for the people of the world. He mentions the development of human-looking androids as well, paving the way for the existence of Michael Fassbender‘s character David. The video is set several years before Prometheus and was conceived by Scott and Lindelof while being directed by Ridley’s son Luke Scott.

Here’s some information on Weyland’s ambitious technological prospects, according to the TED Blog:

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.

As a bonus here’s Weyland’s official biography. Turns out he’s been knighted, just like Ridley Scott:

Sir Peter Weyland was born in Mumbai, India at the turn of the Millennium. The progeny of two brilliant parents; His mother, an Oxford Educated Professor of Comparative Mythology, his father, a self-taught software Engineer, it was clear from an early age that Sir Peter’s capabilities would only be eclipsed by his ambition to realize them. By the age of fourteen, he had already registered a dozen patents in a wide range of fields from biotech to robotics, but it would be his dynamic breakthroughs in generating synthetic atmosphere above the polar ice cap that gained him worldwide recognition and spawned an empire.

In less than a decade, Weyland Corporation became a worldwide leader in emerging technologies and launched the first privatized industrial mission to leave the planet Earth. “There are other worlds than this one,” Sir Peter boldly declared, “And if there is no air to breathe, we will simply have to make it.”

You can check out more at the Weyland Industries website.

Prometheus opens on June 8, 2012.

Video

[Source: Collider]