Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Alien: Romulus!
Aileen Wu is a space traveler whose efforts to find a better life become a waking nightmare inAlien: Romulus. The latest installment in the sci-fi horror franchise served as both Wu’s feature film debut and biggest on-screen role after having previously produced and starred in short films. Wu has also already lined up a role in the upcoming musical dramaThe Chinatown Diner, in which she’s starring alongsideKung FuandInterior Chinatownstar Tzi Ma.
Wu stars inAlien: Romulusas Navarro, the reserved pilot of the group of scavengers who, in a desire to leave aWeyland-Yutani work planetand forge a better life on a distant moon planet, travels to the titular abandoned space station in order to take enough cryo-pods in order for her and her group to travel there in hypersleep. Their simple plan becomes complicated when they discover the scientists that were aboard the station were experimenting on the recovered Xenomorph body from the originalAlien, leading to the creation of new facehuggers that get loose and put Navarro and her friends in a fight for her life.
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Alongside Wu, theensembleAlien: Romuluscastincludes Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced and Spike Fearn. Hailing from 2013’sEvil DeadandDon’t Breathecreative duo Fede Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues, the movie, set between Ridley Scott’s original and James Cameron’s iconic sequel, has proven to be a critical and commercial hit, grossing just shy of $350 million and holding an 80% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the third-best-reviewedAlienmovie.
In honor of the movie’s home media release,Screen Rantinterviewed Aileen Wu to discussAlien: Romulus, how it felt to make her feature film debut with the blockbuster hit, how she sought to make sure Navarro’s fate wasn’t obvious to the audience in her performance, and the practical effects that went into creating her death sequence.
Wu & Her Crew Felt “So Much Pride” WithAlien: Romulus' Acclaim
“We didn’t know we were making something special.”
Screen Rant: I must sayI lovedAlien: Romulus. When I saw it in theaters, I was just blown away by what you, Fede, and everybody else did. I’d love to hear what your reaction was when you saw how positive everybody was being for the film?
Aileen Wu: I was like, “We did it, guys, we made the film that we non-stop talked about that we’re gonna make.” The L.A. premiere, and seeing everyone again, there was just so much pride, and getting to see everyone and just basking in that, like, “We did this justice”
You truly did. Did you have similar talks on set about knowing you were doing something special, and were therefore really excited for people to see it?
Aileen Wu: We didn’t know we were making something special. I think Fede really, again and again, reiterated like every moment we tried to nail down on set, it all came back to honoring the original films, and really breaking down what made them work, why they’re so successful. I think Alien, the first one, was supposed to be a very indie-style horror movie that, I don’t think when they shot it, they realized how big of an impact it was going to have on the world, and especially in the film industry, and for the horror genre. But yeah, with all the little details and the Easter eggs, I think this is our love letter to the really hardcore fans. And when the really hardcore fans responded well, we were like, “Okay, we can rest easy.”
This is also one of your first really big projects to date. What was it like, as an up-and-coming actor, stepping onto that set and being like, “I’m part of theAlienfranchise now?”
Aileen Wu: The secret is you fake it till you make it. [Laughs] Can’t let them know. You have to pretend that you’ve been on millions of these big sets, you know, five different studios, huge builds of a spaceship, like a real spaceship, broken down into parts, living in these huge warehouses. Yeah, I had to fake it. I was like, “I can’t let them know how life-changing this is for me. I have to be professional.”
“It was such a lovely collaborative process…”
Navarro is such a compelling character, and I love how her and the rest of that group, we get bits of their backstories, but not the entirety of it. Did you have those conversations with Fede and Rodo to really sort of immerse yourself in her throughout her story?
Aileen Wu: Oh, for sure. Before we started shooting, there was about a week where Fede had one-on-one lunches and meetings with each of the cast, where we got to talk with him about our character’s backstory. It was such a lovely collaborative process, and back and forth to kind of build these people. I think what we really focused on and around is, “What does family look like? What does kinship look like in such an absurd society where we’ve left Earth? Do they talk about Earth? Are there still people on earth? How did all of these different cultures and languages and races manage to migrate, and where do people feel a sense of belonging?” That was probably one of my favorite parts of shooting this film.
Wu Tried To Make Sure Her Performance Didn’t Give Away Navarro’s Fate
“I want to give her last girl energy…”
You are also, sadly, the first one to go, as far as the main crew. How did it feel when you saw the script, and you went, “Oh, I’m number one to be axed out”?
Aileen Wu: So, I knew what happens to Navarro before I got the part, so when I got to that part in the script, I was like, “Oh, s–t, okay, if I get this, I have to really make it count”. Because I think the script was about 120, 110 pages, and her demise arrives around, like, page 56. I was like, “Okay, the first 50 pages I have to really make it count if I get this. I want people to watch it and have no idea that she’s the first one to go. I want to give last girl energy throughout the first act, so that when she dies, it really hits the audience, and they’re like, ‘No, we don’t want her to go.'”
My worst fear was that I was going to step on screen, and something would give away to the audience, because, you know, it’s an Alien film. Everyone dies in an Alien film. So I was like, “If I’m watching this Alien film, I would start probably pooling money, get a group of friends going. ‘Who’s gonna die first? Let’s get a bet going.'” That scenario is in my head, and I was like, “If everyone chooses Navarro, bets on Navarro, as the first one to go, I failed.” [Laughs] That’s very intense, but you know what I mean?
I do! So, with that said, then, the marketing did kind of give it away that you were going in this film.
Aileen Wu: A lot of people didn’t know that! [They didn’t know that] that head — because it was just my head, you know? I think a lot of people didn’t realize that the head that the facehugger is on is one of the characters in the film, unless you’re like, a really hardcore fan, and you’re watching and rewatching over and over again, the teaser and the trailer, then you might have caught like, “Okay, the bald-headed chick with the facehugger is the poster and everything.” But I loved it. It was such a thrill to see the back of my head everywhere.
Navarro’s Death Took 3 Days & A Lot Of Effects To Pull Off
“It was film problem-solving at its yummiest state.”
I’d love to hear about the chestburster, because that is such an intense scene that could be just as easily faked with a person laying down on a table, and yet you’re moving around in the scene and the set, and it really looks like your chest is bursting out. Can you tell me how much that was practical versus digital?
Aileen Wu: So I had to go in, there were three different pieces. We shot that sequence in three days, and every day, I had a different prosthetic piece on. I would say, I wasn’t in the editing room, and I’m sure some touch-ups were digital when it comes to visual effects, but in filming it, all of it was practical. We shot it in the Corbelan. The Corbelan sits by itself on a really high rig, so that it could move. We all had to climb up there in the cockpit. There was me, Izzy [Merced], a prosthetic makeup artist on standby, an actual makeup artist on standby, two puppeteers and the cam op, who was Galo [Olivares].
And it was just figuring it out. It was film problem-solving at its yummiest state. They sawed out a hole in the ground of the Corbelan, I slipped my body into there. They gave me a bicycle seat, so that I could kind of sit and rest. And then, the big moment of it bursting out of my chest, the prosthetic piece was really big and heavy. Basically, it was my entire chest, and I was wearing it like a front backpack, and it connected at my collarbone. They would stuff foam pieces in between my body and the piece, so that I would be kind of propped up, and it was really heavy because there was a button they could press, and then the chest part would literally pop out, like those Halloween decorations where the thing just pops up.
It was kind of like that, and my chest was like a door. It was really fun, and getting to do that over and over again and see how everybody adapted, each department had such a push-and-pull, and give-and-take of like, “Okay, you have to put more lube in the casking, so that when I really try to push the little creature out, he comes out smoother, and then we can get the sequence going.” And a lot of it was about timing, too, because we did a lot of long takes of the whole thing happening, beginning to end. It was one of my favorite days on set, I really looked forward to shooting that sequence.
AboutAlien: Romulus
This truly terrifying sci-fi horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its iconic roots. While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young colonizers come face-to-face with the most relentless and deadly life form in the universe. Starring Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn and Aileen Wu, Alien: Romulus is directed by horror master Fede Alvarez from a screenplay by Alvarez and frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. Ridley Scott — who directed the original Alien and the series entries Prometheus and Alien: Covenant — produces with Michael Pruss and Walter Hill.
Check out our previousAlien: Romulusinterview with Álvarez and the castat San Diego Comic-Con 2024!
Alien: Romulusis now available on digital platforms, VOD and to stream on Hulu and Disney+, and will hit shelves on 4K Ultra-HD, Blu-ray, DVD and a limited edition VHS collector’s edition on December 3!
Alien: Romulus
Cast
Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.
