Following the release of Alien: Romulus’ trailer, writer and director Fede Alvarez spoke about how the frontier life of the family and children featured in Hadley’s Hope in Aliens: Special Edition had inspired the kind of characters he wanted to explore in his film. Talking to Entertainment Weekly in a new interview, Alvarez spoke more about the younger cast of Alien: Romulus and teased how the myth of Romulus factors into the character dynamics.
“My first instinct, just to try something different that hasn’t been seen before, was to approach it from the angle of characters who are not professionals or scientists; they’re not even adults. I liked this concept of putting people in the front seat of the story who are closer to what the audience is — not that the audience is young, more that the audience is completely virgin to the realities of space. When the characters are professionals, they know more than you do. But when they’re still in their early 20s, they don’t know how to operate the f—ing airlock.
All their parents probably worked on the same ship when they were kids, and that’s how they got to know each other. There’s a lot of history between them because they’re the only family they have. They truly act more like surrogate siblings; some of them even lived under the same roof. A lot of the big themes of the movie are about siblinghood and what does that mean? The Romulus of it all, and the bigger plot with Weyland-Yutani, is actually connected to that as well.”
Entertainment Weekly’s new interview also included two new images from the film, including another look at the damaged Xenomorph we’ve seen in other promotional material, as well as a new image of Cailee Spaeny’ Rain Carradine and Archie Renaux as Tyler in a pose that seems very reminiscent of Aliens’ scene in which Corporal Hicks shows Ellen Ripley the ins-and-outs of the M41A Pulse Rifle.
Talking further on the family dynamics at play in Alien: Romulus, Spaeny also elaborated on the role reversal from the usual portrayal of synthetic characters in the Alien films and how Rain grew up with an artifical brother.
“In this one, Rain’s brother is a synthetic. She loves him like her brother, but there are difficulties growing up with a synthetic, and some of the challenges that she faces during the film are related. That relationship dynamic is really interesting to flip on its head; it was really fun to explore having a synthetic as a family member and the questions it poses. David Jonsson, who plays that character, was so brilliant and really nailed that performance.”
Spaeny also re-iterated the practical nature of the film, talking about how the veteran effects crew would tell the younger cast members stories of working on the previous films, as well as the effect that sharing the frame with an actual Alien had on her.
“I remember we did one specific take of a scene where I’m with the Xenomorph and [director Fede Álvarez] kept it rolling for about…oh God, it felt like half an hour, but it was probably only 10 minutes. It was just pure terror for 10 minutes straight, with the Xenomorph right there. Fede was great at throwing in little surprises like that and catching us actors off-guard.”
Xenomorph
Head on over to Entertainment Weekly to check out the entire article. Thanks to Nightmare Asylum for the news.
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I'm not the only one who read it like that.
It's fine, it's a simple miscommunication.
The occasional Oppenheimer is irrelevant when talking about a franchise film.
Ok, let me be a little more precise...
Hollywood can't make a sequel without relying on lazy memberberries.
I thought the point I was making was painfully obvious.
Oppenheimer wasn't a sequel to anything...
I don't think the general public had memberberries for freakin' Oppenheimer.
Check out Challengers, it's a blast!
Remember that at the end of the day this is a Disney movie. All they do is sequels and rehashes.
If you missed it, there's also subtle ribbing on that section as well.
Ahh, gotcha 😁👍 loving the nostalgia the Romulus head speculation is bringing to mind when thinking if the old toys though; I really can't wait to see the new alien in full... spent so much time focusing on the head I haven't considered the body design yet... more big chap? Stompy? Maybe a half way between one of those and the Covenant xeno (fleshy/biomechanical mix).. damnit I want to go into cryo sleep until August 16th 🤣
Interesting that you mention those toys, as whilst I posted the Alien Resurrection 10" Warrior Drone for the semi-partitioned head dome design, I'd forgotten that the xeno in the Aliens vs Predator set (from the 12" range) also has the sort of spike at the top of the frontal dome that @Mike's Monsters mentioned is seen in Romulus 😃
https://i.imgur.com/8tPW5Xf.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/mA3lOgv.jpeg
I wonder if Fede perhaps was inspired in part by the Kenner/Hasbro toys. 😊
Interesting name choice.
I still have one of these from when I was a kid
I'm very curious as to what role he'll play on the station, not being part of the Corbelan's crew. What will his interactions with Andy be like? Will he be under the same Special Orders Ash was? Will he have played a part in the demise of the Renaissance station? Or are we going to see a benevolent/helpful "Ash"?
https://i.imgur.com/T1ZW824.jpeg
No rubbers, no women, no guns... But we do have a thing for A3 baby.
Yes, join us! We have no f**king ice cream! 🤣
Don't you wanna join the Alien 3 cult club instead ?
Then you are not a part of this fanbase! Begone!
Lol who's "we" ? I'm certainly not a part of it.
No. What we DO want is a continuation!
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