‘Alien: Romulus’ director Fede Álvarez explains how his new sequel resurrected one of the key characters from the original ‘Alien.’ https://t.co/3Bhph62zdz
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) August 17, 2024
Alien: Romulus introduces the android Rook who is the same model as Ash from the original film. The character has the likeness and voice of original actor Ian Holm who passed away in 2020.
“The whole thing started with me calling the estate and talking with his widow,” Álvarez says. “She felt that Ian was given the cold shoulder by Hollywood in the last years of his life, that he would’ve loved to be part of more projects after The Hobbit, but he wasn’t. So she was thrilled about the idea of having him back.”
“As soon as we finished the rough version, the first thing I did was a call with all his family to make sure they were the first ones that saw it,” Álvarez says. “It was a very, very emotional call. They lost him not too long ago, and I lost my dad, too, around the same time. So I could relate to their pain and also their excitement to see him back in the movie. I’m super proud of how we did it and how we worked with them. I can’t wait for the fans to lose their minds at seeing one of their favorite faces from the original.”
As you can expect there is a bit of controversy on social media in regards to the use of dead actors’ likenesses in films.
