Little was known about the film except that (a) its cast includes Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, and in the lead, the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Swedish actress Noomi Rapace; (b) the script is by Jon Spaihts and and Lost‘s master of the mysterious Damon Lindelof; and (c) its story revolves around the crew of a spaceship called Prometheus that heads off to a distant planet whose inhabitants visited Earth long ago. But an exclusive visit to the set of the film – two hours northeast of Reykjavik, Iceland – yielded more answers. There, EW watched a master director at work and sat down with the star-studded cast as they tap-danced around calling the R-rated film an Alien prequel. “There’s definitely a link to Alien,” says Fassbender, who plays the spaceship’s resident android. “There are creatures in it that you’ll recognize, but that’s only one tiny facet of what’s going on.”

Scott, who’s making his first sci-fi film since 1982′s equally visionary Blade Runner, is the toughest nut to crack. At first all he’ll say is, “There may be a vague notion, some slight DNA from the original Alien. But barely. Fans of the original Alien will notice some things, especially toward the end of Prometheus. Like 12 minutes from the end. But I can’t really say more than that.” To find out how much more, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Friday, May 11.

With cameras rolling this spring on “Passion,” Brian De Palma’s first feature film in six years, there’s no doubt it will be a hot item when it’s repped at the Cannes marketplace, and certainly this first official image from the film will get people talking. Stars Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace go in for an (uneasy, it seems) kiss in the thriller that promises to have a sexual charge. A loose remake of Alain Corneau’s 2010 French film “Love Crime,” which starred Ludivine Sagnier and Kristin Scott-Thomas, that movie told the story of two women involved in a sexy and dangerous power struggle while working at a multinational conglomerate. And while it’s still unclear just what changes to the story have been made in de Palma’s do-over, the official plot synopsis sheds a bit more light on what we can expect:

An erotic thriller in the tradition of “Dressed To Kill” and “Basic Instinct”, Brian de Palma’s PASSION tells the story of a deadly power struggle between two women in the dog-eat-dog world of international business. Christine possesses the natural elegance and casual ease associated with one who has a healthy relationship with money and power. Innocent, lovely and easily exploited, her admiring protégé Isabelle is full of cutting-edge ideas that Christine has no qualms about stealing. They’re on the same team, after all… Christine takes pleasure in exercising control over the younger woman, leading her one step at a time ever deeper into a game of seduction and manipulation, dominance and humiliation. But when Isabelle falls into bed with one of Christine’s lovers, war breaks out. On the night of the murder, Isabelle is at the ballet, while Christine receives an invitation to seduction. From whom? Christine loves surprises. Naked she goes to meet the mystery lover waiting in her bedroom…