Fede Álvarez drew inspiration from Alien and Aliens concept art when finding the look of his film Alien: Romulus
We’re just days away from having the chance to see director Fede Álvarez’s contribution to the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus, which is set to reach theatres on August 16th – and during an interview with SFX magazine, Álvarez revealed that he was so dedicated to trying to make his movie look like Ridley Scott’s original Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens, he even compared his shots to scans of a 35mm print of Alien and drew inspiration from concept art that was created for that film and its sequel.
Álvarez told the magazine, “We have a scan of the original 35mm print of Alien and we put it on the screen side by side with ours. Obviously that would do nothing if we didn’t do our job on the day (with the lighting).” The events of this film take place in between the events of Scott’s Alien and Cameron’s Aliens, and the director said that, “Visually, half of the work is that: just making sure that it looks like you’re in that universe.“
Álvarez added that he and production designer Naaman Marshall worked hard to make sure the Alien: Romulus sets would look like the Alien and Aliens sets and went through concept art Ron Cobb created for those movies. “We dug out a lot of concept art that was done for those movies that wasn’t even used, and figured out a way to be inspired by that and put it in this movie.“
When this project was announced near the start of 2022, it was said that Álvarez pitched the idea to Ridley Scott years ago and it stuck with Scott. So in late 2021, he called Álvarez and asked if he still wanted to make an Alien movie. Clearly, the answer was yes. 20th Century Studios division president Steve Asbell told The Hollywood Reporter that they picked up the project “purely off the strength of Fede’s pitch. It was just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.“
It has also been said that the story Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues crafted for Alien: Romulus is not connected to the other films in the Alien franchise – but it’s not ignoring any of the other entries, either. Álvarez has been clear about the fact that his story takes place within the established franchise continuity. In fact, it slots right in between the events of Alien and Aliens. It has the following official logline: The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful “Alien” franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
The film stars Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), Isabela Merced (Madame Web), David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), and Aileen Wu (Away from Home). Merced has previously said there’s a scene in the film that’s so disgusting that a lot of viewers will have to look away. Graphic and gruesome is what we expected from this movie as soon as it was announced that it was being made by the director of Evil Dead 2013 and Don’t Breathe. It has received an R rating for bloody violent content and language.
Are you looking forward to Alien: Romulus, and are you glad to hear that Fede Álvarez was so dedicated to making sure his film looks like Alien and Aliens? Let us know by leaving a comment below.