IN the 1960s, Star Trek's combative engineer Montgomery Scott gave sci-fi fans the first hint of what a Caledonian cosmos might look like.

In following decades Ewan McGregor and Denis Lawson continued the tradition in the Star Wars films. Now it is the turn of another Scott – Ridley – to fly the Saltire in space.

The director is English, of course. But as well as shooting the opening scenes for his new film Prometheus on the Isle of Skye, he has placed a Scottish crew member on board the titular spaceship at the film's heart: Ford, a medic, played by Red Road star Kate Dickie.

"Ridley was happy for me to use my own accent," says the 41-year-old. ''I didn't speak to him specifically about why he wanted the opening scene shot on Skye, but we talked about Scotland and he has a great love for the country, the scenery and the people."

The £75 million Prometheus is, according to the hype, the most eagerly anticipated blockbuster of the year. For once, the hot air blowing out of the Hollywood publicity machine contains more than a whiff of honesty: the movie is a prequel of sorts to Scott's 1979 sci-fi favourite Alien and since the first trailers aired online, expectation has been building in a way which is unusual even for a cult film franchise.

In part, that is because Scott and his cast remained tight-lipped about the script and how the story in Prometheus relates to the one in Alien.

"My eight-year-old daughter has got rather obsessed with it," Dickie laughs. "I'm not going to let her see it but I have let her watch a bit of the trailer because for a year she's been badgering me, asking me questions, trying to get the story out of me, trying to get me to describe it."

Even the auditions were shrouded in secrecy. Dickie knew the film's title and director, but little else. "I went down to London and read but I just saw a couple of pages of the script," she says. "I read for the character of Ford but didn't see a complete script until I had been cast."

Dickie had seen Scott's original Alien film – "It frightened the living daylights out of me" – but not James Cameron's sequel or either of the other two films in the franchise. She watched Alien again before she started work on Prometheus but admits that even then she wasn't really aware of the extent of the original film's cult appeal and the size of its fanbase. That's all changed now, of course.

Another Scot on board Prometheus, though not talking in his native accent, is newcomer Emun Elliott. The Edinburgh-born actor featured in the original National Theatre of Scotland production of Gregory Burke's Black Watch and has since landed roles in HBO's Game Of Thrones and Glasgow-set drama, Lip Service. This, though, could be the film to propel him into the big time. He joins a cast including Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce and Noomi Rapace, who plays the archaeologist leader of the Prometheus's expedition.

Ironically, neither Dickie nor Elliott feature in the Skye scenes. Instead, Dickie did the bulk of her work at London's Pinewood studios and on location in Iceland.

One of the great legacies of the Alien films – and a trademark of some of Scott's other movies – is their insistence that a female lead can be every bit as doughty and invincible as a male one. It is a tradition he continues with Prometheus.

"Ridley's female characters are always fantastic, strong role models," says Dickie. "He really creates wonderful characters for women and casts wonderful actresses in them. It was the same with Thelma and Louise. When I saw that film I was absolutely blown away – it was really exciting to see two such strong female leads really driving a film."

The hullaballoo from last Thursday's premiere may be dying down but with box office receipts rising steadily as Prometheus plays to packed cinemas across Europe and the US, the film looks like becoming a powerful calling card for Dickie. Not that she necessarily sees it that way. "I just go on instinct," she says. "If something really grabs me I can't walk away from it."