As we’re eagerly awaiting August for the release of Alien: Romulus, we’re treated to a new panel discussing the upcoming film at Monsterpalooza in Pasadena, CA with director Fede Alvarez, Alec Gillis from Studio Gillis and Shane Mahan from Legacy Effects as part of the special effects team who are widely known for their prior work on the Alien franchise.
A video of the almost hour-long panel has been uploaded to the channel Mike’s Monsters. Mike is a professional photographer and videographer who’s had regular access to behind the scenes material for many film productions. They’re one of the original founders of the Alien vs. Predator Galaxy Podcast, and they’ve brought us multiple first hand reliable information regarding Alien: Romulus.
The newest bit of information is that the legendary Phil Tippett himself has worked on Alien: Romulus for some stop-motion scenes. Phil Tippett is a special effects veteran, widely known for his work on Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Robocop, Starship Troopers just to name a few. This will be his first collaboration on an Alien film. Other interesting takeaways from the panel:
- In a question about whether Aliens is a horror with action-adventure elements, or an action-adventure with horror elements, Fede told the audience how he was terrified as a kid when he first saw the movie, believing horror to be the basis with the action-adventure elements just being a mechanism as to how the characters deal with the horror as opposed to the survival approach in Alien.
- In a question about what makes the Alien so scary, Shane said that besides the well known psychosexual elements, what had always terrified and fascinated him is that the Alien seems plausible, like it could be a real creature.
- In a question about any future Alien vs. Predator films, Fede doesn’t give the impression that he has any information available, but confirms he’d definitely like to see it and says jokingly that he imagines there is a type of friendly Alien vs. Predator rivalry between him and Dan Trachtenberg as to whether Alien: Romulus will be better than Prey/Prey 2 or will it be the other way around.
- Fede states that holding back with what is shown was very important to him and how limitations are a good thing.
- He was searching for a cast that were very well aware of how special this franchise is, that it wasn’t just another job to them.
- Another important thing for the director was that he didn’t want the music to tell the audience how to feel which is why he leaves moments without any music, even without any ambience, being well aware of the power of silence.
- Even though we knew that Fede was aware of the game Alien Isolation from previous sources, we finally get confirmation from the director himself that not only did he play the game, but that after playing it for the first time is when Fede realized he wanted to make a film in that universe.
Thanks to Mike for the video. Also thanks to Scott Parker for the cover image.Keep your browsers locked on Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest Alien: Romulus news! You can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums!
The question is asked at 38:08 in the interview.
What did he say? Help. About the prequels.
At 5 I can't imagine how you processed this other than monsters killing people.
Every time I hear him talk, I just really feel like Fede gets it.
It's OK man, Seeing a bunch of homeless people being forced to Breed with a face spider did put a good mental scar on me.
I am so sorry.
Spoiler
It must be so tiring being one of these people. Don't know how they have the energy or interest to keep up with it.
Hahahahaha
L i t e r a l l y a girl who is the boss.
Talk about peeing on your own point.
Yeah girl boss leads are the worst, anyways I hope Machiko is the lead in the next AVP!
I was 10. But that was 2001.
...wat.
Romulus Aliens vs group of young, girl boss, no Marines, Colonial Marshals, Weyland-Yutani Commando ...
'Psychosexual elements"
Aliens vs Predator good comics, weak movies I want real AvP movies Machiko, Glass, Marines ...
I have a sneaking suspicion if Romulus is a hit Trachtenberg and Co. might sneak in some AvP hints into Badlands if it really takes place in the future. If the next movie or 2 work as well as Prey there is no way 20th Century (Disney overlords) don't take a shot at AvP again.
Fede probably isn't the guy to make that movie, he's more suited for the Alien franchise IMO. Trachtenberg would probably be a good choice for that.
Completely agreed on that! I bet he could make something really tense and fun. I'd just want a bit more focus on the title beasts like Godzilla x Kong did. It's about the monsters! But he can do good people stuff too, and make us care about the leads/cast.
Definitely feels like more of a Trachtenberg job, at this rate.
...wat.
https://www.alien-covenant.com/news/new-alien-romulus-full-theatrical-trailer-drops-june-4th?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3gSxEmBoPbZ89LAKh5TWqJnlaLU0yOJ-sM2nFVUS_tZ8O1gJMcJt6iT8w_aem_AfThBBqYm1kets4AXFneoqljd8DNC0JswmVzmK9RI4ryOURbKBlIgMdlPXaRDi4HPbOK1fQG1IJPR-AM1c3aEqYQ
I really think it's most likely to be some machinery, either on the Renaissance Station, or perhaps some machinery being run on the world that the characters originate from. The planet would be a pretty good way to do it in a wide, actually. Fede's mentioned that the characters come from a colony world, a la LV-426 in Aliens. Maybe this world does, say, some mining, and we see that heavy machinery in a wide being achieved via stop motion effects?
Also, if anyone wants to see Tippett working his stop motion magic in the modern day, I think that most people know by now that he's contributed some stop motion effects to The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, but if you haven't seen it, do check out Mad God. It's just so insane and absolutely incredible.
His contributions to the Poker Face episode "The Orpheus Syndrome" are also pretty extensive and really, really cool as well.
That's exactly what I'm thinking, I was like huh ?
I love Tippett, so I'm curious and excited to see how his skills are put to use on this production.
It was great meeting you as well. Fede seemed like a good sport and it's clear he has a genuine passion and love for the ALIEN series. I was hoping they'd bring some new footage but I still had a great time at the convention and was not expecting the impromptu autograph session following the panel (which was moderated by the legendary Tony Timpone, former senior editor of Fangoria). Let's hope they get that trailer online ASAP so the rest of us can dig into something until August.
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I have the panel up on my channel for all of you to check out. It had some good bits of information, but like El Diablo said, it wasn't a lot of juicy information as Fede is trying to keep a lot about the plot on lockdown. He even talks about how he hopes people will see this movie in the beginning of the discussion, by knowing as little as possible. A very interesting tidbit that was mentioned is that Phil Tippet came on board to do some stop motion work in the film as well. It was great hearing Fede, Alec and Shane discuss the legacy of the franchise and the new upcoming film. It's shot on my iPhone, so the picture and audio quality won't be perfect. Check it out:
I also grabbed some photos during the panel that you can see on my Instagram, along with a Polaroid I snapped of Fede, which he also signed along with the poster they gave out at the end. Good ol' Alec signing over the movie's name lol. Would have been even funnier if he used the AL of ALIEN and then signed EC to spell out his name:
https://www.instagram.com/mikes.monsters/p/C7s7gaPO8_l/?img_index=1
(how the heck do you get Instagram previews to show up here?)
And yes, trailer this week. Likely Tuesday. I got some more info behind the scenes about some things that I can't share just yet, but hopefully soon. Things some folks who have read the leaks found controversial. Likely will share closer or after release of the final film.