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Fede Alvarez has a question for Total Film: “What do you prefer, Alien or Aliens?”
But before TF can respond with a well- rehearsed speech (“Objectively?
They’re both unimpeachable masterworks.
Aliens all day, baby!
“), Alvarez reveals this is a hypothetical with a point.
“You should never be put through that choice.”
Alien: Romulusis his answer to that ‘perverse question’ of apples and oranges.
“Every day we were like, ‘What movie are we making today?'”
“‘Are we making Alien or Aliens?
What are we going to channel today?’
Because they’re so different in tone.”
This article first appeared in Total Film magazine 353. you’re free to buy a copy right here.
The first one, above all, is a pure horror movie.
Like Ridley says, he wanted to do The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in space.
What’s this about?'”
It was so traumatic.
You’re probably going to take the same job as your parents.
What’s the hope?”
So I always connected with those characters."
Surface-bound for her entire life, 20-year-old Rain has never even seen natural light.
‘We’re trying to bring it back to these blue-collar people,’ Spaeny says.
“They all have that desperation to find a better place.
“In the first one, obviously Ripley does not trust synthetics,” says Spaeny.
“It’s a real first [for the series].
It adds a coming-of-age story.
Whereas with this wonderful brother-and- sister relationship, there’s so much to play with.”
Like Alien’s Ash, Andy is a few transistors short of a circuit board.
“I’m not going to lie to you, man.
“It feels like you’re standing on the shoulders of giants.
But I understand why I’m here.
There’s a real big first with my synthetic.
Standing on the shoulders of giants couldn’t apply more to Spaeny, for whom Ripley loomed large.
“I had her performance playing on repeat for months.
I was sort of hoping that something would seep in,” Spaeny notes.
“But I never felt intimidated.
That role wasn’t written for a woman, so there was real freedom.
“‘In a shot like that, you’ve got to lean in.
You just go, ‘OK.
Get those leaf-blowers ready!
“I don’t feel that cool, but it definitely looks cool!”
“It was: ‘I want this to be as practical as possible.
I want to shoot in chronological order.
And I want the same craftsmen and artists and puppeteers from the previous movies.'”
“My movies are a bit of a theme park for the actors,” he explains.
Everything is a true experience for the actors.
Hopefully that will translate to the audience’s experience.”
And speaking of the gargantuan Renaissance, even that was built for real.
“He’s one of the last great masters of miniatures.
So it always has that handmade texture.”
Get ready for Alien: Romulus with our guide onhow to watch the Alien movies in order.
“We had an R.C.
facehugger that you could drive around,” Alvarez recalls with a smile.
“I could chase people around.
You’d see it coming, and it looks so fucking real it was the scariest shit ever.
[laughs] We had an animatronic xenomorph as well.
But it’s not.
It’s 100% practical.”
“you’re able to definitely say goodbye to a 12A.
If you’re going to make a run at scare people, then you scare them.”
Sometimes, the solutions were pleasingly old-school.
“We also had a guy in a suit,” Alvarez notes, with pride.
“You know, sometimes the guy in a suit works perfectly well, and we needed that.
There was even a moment where we had a small creature that we needed to do something.
I thought it would be great for stop-motion animation, and we brought Phil Tippett in to do it.
And Phil was thrilled to do it.”
That is definitely the goal.”
“Fede really insisted on us feeling the full spectrum of fear,” Merced recalls.
It really shocked you every time, and sent a chill running up your spine.
The details are so amazing.”
“And maybe that’s just me, coming from an actor’s perspective.
Giger’s iconic biomechancial vision.
Even the domed head, whichJames Cameronremoved for Aliens, has been reinstated.
“It is pretty faithful,” says Alvarez.
“We’re really trying to take the designs back to the original concept.
We do embrace the biomechanical aspects of the creatures that were abandoned at one point.
‘The creature is coming out slow.
It’s looking for the scent of the mother…’ The creature’s not trying to be scary.
The creature is trying to get the fuck out of that cocoon, that happens to be a person.
Here’s our pick of thebest movies and shows to watch before Alien: Romulus.
“The halfway house with Fede is just not his style.
If you’re going to have a go at scare people, then you scare them.”
“That is just his instinct.
He’s waiting to do something strange and twisted.
That’s when you know, ‘OK, Fede is in his sweet spot.'”
“When you’re young, you just feel so jealous about those stories.
I was there when it happened.
I saw it.'”
Perhaps pointedly, Alvarez claims “there’s not time to dwell on philosophy too much in this movie.
The pace is so different.
“It is there for the audience that is looking for it.”
The film’s subtitle itself is the clearest indicator to expect more than a simple scare machine.
It all points to an Alien movie that is simultaneously familiar, while having something strikingly different to offer.
“As a fan, you’re able to connect the dots.
So hopefully people can watch Alien, and then Alien: Romulus, and then Aliens.
And that will be a satisfying thing.”
The question of ‘what do you prefer?’
could soon get a lot more complicated.
Alien: Romulus opens in cinemas on August 16, 2024.
While you wait, why not go and watch one of thebest Alien movies.
