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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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.
Considering that "a latex pancake" is basically what Bishop had been reduced to at that point, I think the effect still holds up.
They tried too hard to make Rook look like Ian Holm, and not enough like a badly damaged android.
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.
You should see the puppet Rook Legacy made in the behind the scenes on the bluray. It wasn't good at all.
The final Rook in the 4K is the best and works virtually seamlessly.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/56/80/91/56809158102da67b80783c5271a0444d.gif
It paid off, didn't it? That'll be their takeaway.
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
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?
It evokes how so many videogames are released in a state we would all call "unfinished" 20 years ago.
Peter Jackson regretted the Warg fight scene in LOTR:TTT saying it was a late decision to do it and very rushed (and it showed with the VFX). It does happen.