Romulus bring back the original alien actor now

Warning: Contains spoilers for Alien: Romulus!

I was initially concerned about Alien: Romulus Bring back the original actor of AlienBut after new details have emerged, I feel better about it now. Despite Alien: Romulus Focusing on an entirely new cast of main characters, the film takes place in between Alien And AliensMeaning that I knew there was a potential for actors from the previous movies to return. However, I was surprised by the way Alien: Romulus Going to bring back the returning character, and although I wasn’t a fan of it at first, I’m starting to feel better.

Alien: Romulus They see his cast of characters heading to an abandoned Weyland-Yutani space lab in an attempt to steal some cryosleep tanks, bumping into a dead synthetic along the way. As it turns out, this synthetic is named Rook, with him being the same model as Ian Holm’s Ash character from the original Alien. Alien: Romulus Managed to recreate Ian Holm’s look for the new character through the use of AI and CGI technologyAnd while it’s impressive, I really don’t like the idea of ​​movies bringing back computer-generated actors who have unfortunately died.

Ian Holm’s family loved that alien: Romulus wanted to include him

The director went to them for approval

Alien: Romulus Director Fede Álvarez discussed the decision to bring back Ian Holm’s cast for the film, addressing the controversy head-on. Álvarez says that when he was trying to decide whether to bring back Ian Holm’s cast for the 2024 film, he personally spoke with Ian Holm’s widow and children, asking for their permission to use the actor in the film. According to the director, they approved the inclusion in Alien: RomulusThey love the idea of ​​returning to the franchise. Here are Álvarez’s comments on the matter:

Then, the first thing I did was personally call his widow, family and kids to make sure everyone was on board with the idea. His widow told me that Ian felt that in the last 10 years of his life Hollywood turned a cold shoulder to him and that he did not get many offers. And she said he would love to be invited back to “Stranger,” because he loved Ridley and he loved the franchise.

One of my biggest problems with bringing back the characters of dead actors is this The actors are no longer around to give consent. Although it is true that Ian Holm himself was unable to agree to use his image Alien: RomulusGetting his family’s approval was the next best thing. Having the family involved as much as possible ensures that the process can remain respectful of the actor’s legacy, and while I still have issues with bringing deceased actors back to life, it makes me feel a little better about the case.

Alien: Romulus wanted the cast of Ian Holm to honor his history with the franchise

Compare him to the other synthetics of the franchise

The decision to bring back Ian Holm’s figure for Alien: Romulus Apparently the film wasn’t just to score nostalgia points, with Álvarez instead wanting to honor Holm’s involvement with the franchise by returning it. Álvarez wanted to bring Ian Holm back to give his character from the original Alien The same treatment as the characters that Lance Henrikson and Michael Fassbender played in the Alien Sequels and prequels, as both of these actors played multiple iterations of the same Weiland-Utani synthetic models.

It was out of justice in a way. I felt it was so unfair that Lance Henrikson made many appearances, and Michael Fassbender. And I thought it was crazy that Ian Holm never came back.

It always felt a little odd that Ian Holm only played one synthetic while the other actors played multiple. After all, Holm was around to return in every Alien Movie before Alien: RomulusWith him passed in 2020. It would be better if one of the many Alien Sequels asked Ian Holm to return while he was still aliveRather than the franchise waiting until after his death. However, since Fede Álvarez has not been involved with the series until now Alien: RomulusIt makes sense that he would do everything he could to honor Ian Holm’s Alien Role.

Alien: Romulus’ slide isn’t meant to be a complete Ash duplicate

He is supposed to be a different character

Another smart change that Alien: Romulus Made to the character that bears Ian Holm’s likeness continues to make things a little better in my eyes. Rather than bring back Ian Holm’s likeness to recreate Ash, Alien: Romulus Instead uses the actor’s image to create a new character named Rook. According to the Alien: Romulus Director, Ash and Rook are similar in the sense that they are both controlled by the mother system. However, they have different roles and a different attitude, with their shared appearance having to do with their Wayland-Yutani production.

Talking to Ridley, both of us came up with the idea that what if it had the character of Ian Holm – which is different from being Ian Holm or even being Ash. We would never dare to reproduce that because you cannot reproduce with any technology, the talent of an actor. You can never capture the nuance of someone’s performance and their choices. So we designed a different character, but it shares the same shape.

This change means that any differences in their performance can be written up to their different artificial intelligence, because they are not the same character. Based on the previous statement, the change was due to Fede Álvarez knowing that he could not recreate Ian Holm’s performance of the original, which caused him to not want to try. instead, Alien: Romulus Uses Ian Holmes’ likeness and voice to create an entirely new character, which was a controversial choice.