ALIEN: ROMULUS Star Talks About Feeling "Pure Terror" as the Director Threw "Surprises" at Them While Shooting
It sounds like director Fede Alvarez has a lot of fun with the actors while shooting his upcoming sci-fi horror film, Alien: Romulus.
According to the film’s star, Cailee Spaeny, the director threw some surprises at the actors while they were shooting the movie, and they actually felt some genuine “pure terror.”
Spaeny shared: “I remember we did one specific take of a scene where I'm with the Xenomorph and [director Fede Álvarez] kept it rolling for about…oh God, it felt like half an hour, but it was probably only 10 minutes,”
She went on to say: “It was just pure terror for 10 minutes straight, with the Xenomorph right there. Fede was great at throwing in little surprises like that and catching us actors off-guard.”
That sounds like it would have been a blast! Especially while shooting on the awesome sets that were built for the film. It also helped that a lot of the effects were practical.
The Xenomorph creatures were brought to life using puppetry and animatronics, and Spaeny also offered some additional insight on this aspect of the film.
She explained: “We definitely had moments where all of us kids would be in the tent getting ready to go on set, and the practical effects guys would come in like, ‘Do you want to hear a story from the old days? Gather ‘round, kids.’”
She added: “They would tell us about crazy on-set experiences working in this world. They were like campfire stories for us. Those were our favorite things to hear.”
What an incredibly cool experience that must’ve been for everyone!
Alien: Romulus follows a “group of young people on a distant world who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”
The pitch that Alvarez initially made is said to be a “really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.” The movie is also going to be terrifying as it leans into the horror aspect of the franchise. That’s why I’m excited!
The story is set between Ridley Scott’s Alien and Cameron’s Aliens and the same team that worked on Aliens returned to work on this movie.
The movie also stars Isabela Merced, who is also joined by Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (Aftersun), and newcomer Aileen Wu.
Alvarez is directing from his script written by Rodo Sayagues. Ridley Scott is also a producer on the movie along with Michael Pruss (Boston Strangler) for Scott Free, with Brent O’Connor (Bullet Train), Elizabeth Cantillon (Persuasion) and Tom Moran (The Donut King) serving as executive producers.
Alien: Romulus is set to hit theaters on August 16th.
Source: EW