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Alien: Romulus Gets Upgraded Rook Effects For Home Release!

Following Alien: Romulus’s home release in December, Alien fans started to notice that the physical release of the film seemed to have updated the effects of the controversial character Rook. An Ash model synthetic, Rook was portrayed with a combination of physical puppet and augmented using CG. It’s an aspect of the film that has drawn much conversation.

In an upcoming interview with Empire, Alien: Romulus writer & director Fede Alvarez acknowledged that they didn’t get it right.

Even Alvarez wasn’t quite convinced. “We just ran out of time in post-production to get it right,” the director tells Empire in a major new interview, reflecting on Romulus. “I wasn’t 100 per cent happy with some of the shots, where you could feel a bit more the CG intervention. So, for people that react negatively, I don’t blame them.”

Fans had already taken to Twitter to ask the director if they’d done additional work on the effects after the film’s theatrical release, which Alvarez confirmed. Discussing the change further with Empire, Alvarez told them that they’d relied more on the footage of the physical puppet than on the CG effects.

“We fixed it. We made it better for the release right now. I convinced the studio we need to spend the money and make sure we give the companies that were involved in making it the proper time to finish it and do it right. It’s so much better. What we did [for the home entertainment version] was revert a lot more to the puppet. It’s way better.”

Redditor Davidedby posted a comparison between the physical release and digital release of Alien: Romulus which you can check out below!

Alien Romulus – Rook CGI Updates BluRay vs Digital
byu/Davidedby inLV426

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Comments: 34
  1. Slutty Badger
    Quote from: Agoddamnpercentage on Jan 26, 2025, 03:09:31 PMThat Bishop has been destroyed only gets you so far, I think. It's obviously made out of latex, and it's obvious that Lance Henriksen... isn't. The eye just doesn't quite accept it, I think, as the same object that we saw walking and talking a movie before, even in much worse shape.

    The fact that it's an animatronic works in its favour, since Bishop is technically an animatronic himself, albeit a highly advanced one. An artificial person, one might think.

    And the effect was pulled off without giving him a weird floaty CGI face.
  2. SM
    I wondered how they did Bishop in Alien 3 for a long time.  Initially thought it was elaborate make up back in 1992 - that's how real the mouth and eyes are.
  3. Agoddamnpercentage
    That Bishop has been destroyed only gets you so far, I think. It's obviously made out of latex, and it's obvious that Lance Henriksen... isn't. The eye just doesn't quite accept it, I think, as the same object that we saw walking and talking a movie before, even in much worse shape.
  4. SiL
    Bishop looks like what it is -- a crushed, decommissioned robot. It's rubbery and fake looking because it's been through a catastrophic landing and then dumped in a garbage heap exposed to the elements.

    They tried too hard to make Rook look like Ian Holm, and not enough like a badly damaged android.
  5. Agoddamnpercentage
    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 19, 2025, 01:11:34 PMBut that was also filmed with the intent it was going to be augmented in post so it didn't get the exact love Bishop did. I do wish they'd have gone the Bishop route though. But thankfully the home release has had those fixes.

    As much as I've got a soft spot for it, I do think we tend to look at the Bishop animatronic through rose-tinted glasses. The effect is creepy, but very of its time. It's a bit of a latex pancake, really, and I'm not sure audiences now would be so accepting.
  6. Corporal Hicks
    But that was also filmed with the intent it was going to be augmented in post so it didn't get the exact love Bishop did. I do wish they'd have gone the Bishop route though. But thankfully the home release has had those fixes.
  7. Highland
    Quote from: Prez on Jan 13, 2025, 04:49:44 AMNever had an issue with the original Rook CGI if I'm honest - not saying it was perfect but I lived through young Leia & Moff Tarkin in Rogue One. I mean I lived through Ash's clearly fake severed head and the man in the suit in the final act in the original film so FX is what it is to me. I can choose to dissect it to the nth degree or just enjoy the film (Jaws 4 the Revenge final act ... that's another story).

    But it is interesting that Fede pushed for this to be fixed citing original deadline issues upon release. Must've bugged him enough to say hey you made $330m on this one, let's fix this for home release.

    I think the main issue is that it can be done better, so for many like me it's probably do it, or don't do it, don't half ass it. Especially when some random on Youtube fixes it up on their gaming PC to make them look better than the originals.

    Even more jarring considering in 2006 X-men the last stand nailed it and that's now 18 years ago  :o Wouldn't have worked for Rook, but probably could have for Luke Skywalker etc.
  8. dnicholson277
    I thought it still wasn't a good enough effect to use in the movie.

    Another actor playing Rook would have been easier and wouldn't take you out of the movie. It would also make sense as Ash is meant to be an undercover synthetic why would there be more with the same face?

  9. Cornbread
    I'm with Predatorium on the whole Bishop thing in Alien 3. I loved that scene. The Rook scene was devoid of any emotion. Just felt like exposition. For me it was a choice of how to capture the essence of the character like Lance Henriksen did so well in only a few lines in Alien 3. That was Bishop through and through. Rook wasn't Ash but it could have been better if done like Alien 3 with Bishop and focused on his lines more and conveying the creepiness of the character like Lance did in conveying the warmth of Bishop in just his voice. No amount of extra CGI work can roll the bad idea back.
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