Romulus Director ‘Fixed’ Ian Holm’s CGI Resurrection In Home Release inkeinspires

After the original “Alien” film in 1979, each subsequent film seems to have featured certain elements that immediately caused negative reactions among audiences. James Cameron’s sequel was criticized for stripping away the horror and replacing it with streamlined action, while “Alien 3” represented fan discontent on a grand scale by killing off beloved heroes Newt and Hicks. .. before doing the same with his own protagonist. Madam, Ripley. (The less said about “Alien: Resurrection,” a movie I’m having a lot of fun with, the better.) Ridley Scott’s two previous films offended many viewers, though they increasingly gained more appreciators over the years, but it’s safe to say that last year’s “Alien: Romulus” was meant to be a much-needed return to form.

In many ways, that is exactly what he did – perhaps a little Also well, as /Film’s Chris Evangelista wrote in his review – but it also continued the franchise’s great tradition of alienating audiences (pun most definitely intended) with yet another divisive creative choice.

This time it was the spoiler twist about halfway through “Alien: Romulus,” where our new protagonists discover a very familiar face aboard the abandoned space station Romulus. Meet Rook, a new model of synthetic being still wearing the same face as the late, great Ian Holm, who memorably played Ash all these years. Although not the exact same character, that same Weyland-Yutani malevolence remained ingrained in his system. But the scene didn’t come without all sorts of controversy, with fans crying foul over the sketchy visual effects work, as well as the very idea of ​​digitally recreating another dead actor. However, for the home release, director Fede Álvarez claims to have “solved” the problem… but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

What is the Xenomorph equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig? Regardless, this appears to be the “solution” to what has easily become the biggest hot spot surrounding the release of “Alien: Romulus.” Although many fans (myself included) took issue with the very concept of Ian Holm’s image being used as a cheap easter egg in a legacy sequel, it appears that the anger directed at this scene was slightly misunderstood before d landing on Fede Álvarez’s doorstep. . Rather than tackling the real question, the filmmaker was content to address the most superficial criticisms in a new interview with Empire. Admitting that the visuals weren’t up to par, Álvarez explained:

“We just ran out of time in post-production to get it right. I wasn’t 100% happy with some shots, where you could feel a little more CG intervention. So, for people who react negatively, I don’t blame them.”

So what’s different this time? Apparently 20th Century Studios (now owned by Disney, of course) made the rare commitment to dedicate additional resources to improving the visual effects post-release. According to the director:

“We fixed it. We improved it for release right now. I convinced the studio that we needed to spend money and make sure we gave the companies involved in making it the time they needed to finish it and doing it right. It’s so much better.”

That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t exactly solve the main problem. It’s worth pointing out that Ian Holm’s estate approved of the decision (and, in all likelihood, agreed to receive compensation for the film’s box office success), but does that automatically mean everything is fine? GOOD ? This discussion has proven to be a major sticking point in the 2023 Screen Actors Guild strike and the debate, to say the least, is not going away any time soon.

Now that I’m off my soapbox, readers may be wondering: How exactly did the creative team recreate Ian Holm’s portrayal for “Alien: Romulus” in the first place? Luckily, director Fede Álvarez sheds some additional light on this in the same interview with Empire. Much of the film brought back the same tactile sense of the original “Alien,” opting for practical effects and sets as much as possible that were then enhanced by VFX work. The same applies to the character of Rook, although Álvarez admits that the balance between practical and digital in the final cut does not fully reflect their intentions from the beginning:

“[Animatronic puppeteer] Shane Mahan actually made this Ian Holm animatronic based on a head cast from “Lord of the Rings,” and it was the only one in existence. What we did [for the home entertainment version] we came back much more to the puppet. It’s much better.”

Apparently, over the course of production, this initial “mix of techniques” ended up leaning much more towards digital as the creative team rushed to finish the film in time for release. In addition to Mahan’s animatronics, actor Daniel Betts was credited with providing the facial and vocal performance on set. Add to that the digital work used to recreate Holm’s face and expressions in motion, and it truly took a village to bring this entire sequence to life. Was it worth it in the end? Again, I would argue that this really wasn’t the case and actually cast a pall over the entire film, which was otherwise an enjoyable (and really, really disgusting) watch. Either way, you can relive “Alien: Romulus” again on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, and digital right now.