'Alien: Romulus' Director Unbanned from Subreddit After Erroneous Accusations He Was Impersonating... Himself

Alien: Romulus director Fede Ãlvarez 'briefly dropped into an Alien franchise subreddit this week to chat with fans about his new sequel,' reports Deadline. 'But the moderators weren't having it, flagging Ãlvarez as an imposter in a notice that he is 'permanently banned' from the subreddit.'

The moderator shared an update that Ãlvarez 'was immediately reinstated and had a very friendly conversation with us. Awesome guy.' They also shared the filmmaker's response. 'I'm sorry, just found it hilarious,' wrote Ãlvarez. 'My bad. Not harm done. Thanks again for such great work moderating my favorite subreddit.'

Fangoria notes this might not be the last Alien movie from director Alvarez:
Talking with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week, the Evil Dead and Don't Breathe director teased that ideas are in the pipeline for an Alien: Romulus sequel, which would — if it comes to fruition — be the eighth instalment in the legendary sci-fi horror franchise.'
The Hollywood Reporter also notes that Ash, the 'calculating synthetic character' from the original 1979 movie Alien (played by the late Ian Holm) got a kind of reprise in 2024 with another character named Rook:

According to Ãlvarez, Rook was a collaborative decision with [Ridley] Scott, who also wanted to see another version of the artificial person he introduced 45 years ago. The Romulus team then received approval from Holm's estate, and using the English actor's headcast from The Lord of the Rings as a foundation, Legacy Effects built Rook's torso and head as an animatronic. The practical character was then enhanced by CG and deepfake AI technology for certain shots as needed... 'There might be some deepfake in the eyes because it's the best when it comes to creating the likeness of the eyes, but it's a whole bag of tricks from 1970s and 1980s technology to technology from yesterday.'

The article also notes one horrifying plot twist 'received some respectful opposition to this unsettling choice from 20th Century and Disney, but that's precisely when [director Alvarez] knew he was on the right course.'
'If you're given an Alien movie by a corporation that is owned by Disney and they immediately say, 'Yeah, let's make it,' then you are failing somehow. So we really pushed it to the limit, and I'm glad we did.'


Alvarez's social media feed also explores what Alien: Romulus would look like as trading cards or as 1950s comic book, shares posts from the movie's poster designer, and admits that 'everything I do is influenced by Terminator / Alien / Predator.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.