Alien: Romulus director reveals how the team pulled off *that* surprise Alien cameo and defends use of AI

Alien: Romulus helmer Fede Alvarez and producer Ridley Scott have come forward to defend the movie’s biggest franchise cameo and using AI to pull it off. 

Warning! This article contains major spoilers for Alien: Romulus, so make sure you’re all caught up with the latest film before reading on!  

Just like every other movie in the franchise, Alien: Romulus includes an android character, Rain’s brother Andy. But the siblings soon come across another synthetic, which massively resembles the franchise’s original android Ash played by the late Ian Holm. However, as Holm sadly passed in 2020, the team had to rely on the use of CGI and AI to recreate his likeness, something that his widow and estate approved of beforehand. 

“We were not trying to do what can’t be done, which is to reproduce that person’s talent as an actor, because this is another character,” said Alvarez in an interview with The LA Times. “The only thing they have in common is the likeness.” Alvarez then went on to explain that he already had planned to create an animatronic paired with CGI facial enhancements. “It was 80 to 90% done by the puppeteers depending on the shot,” said Alvarez, adding that CGI was added, “so that the animatronic had a little more life”.

But when it came to whose face would appear, Alvarez and Scott decided on Holm as he was the only android actor to have not returned to the franchise. “Ian Holm suddenly appearing as a company on-board robot was a great idea,” added Scott.

However, seeing as though the use of AI in movies is a hot topic right now, with many people disproving of it, Alvarez defended his use. “We had an actor who was on the set, who worked on the dialogue,” said the director. “It’s not like we skipped hiring an actor.” In fact, Alvarez said he doesn’t think it’s feasible for AI to replace actors at all, but it was necessary in this circumstance. “Doing it this way requires a team of so many people and so many parts to get it done that it’s never going to be really convenient.”

Quickly solidifying itself as one of the best alien movies, Alien: Romulus follows a group of young space colonizers who decide to board a derelict space station 20 years after Alien, and soon come face to face with the universe’s most fearsome creatures. Romulus stars Civil War’s Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, The Last of Us’ Isabela Merced, and Aftersun’s Spike Fearn. 

Alien: Romulus is out in theaters now. For more, check out our guide on how to watch the Alien movies in order, or the lowdown on movies and shows to watch before Alien: Romulus.