Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez says the movie does connect to the other films as the first teaser drops to fans worldwide. We are a bit later sharing the trailer itself, but if you have not seen it yet, take a gander below and let us know what you think. I’ll give my own thoughts below.
However, before getting into the trailer Alvarez had a chat with THR. The first thing to note is that Alvarez confirms Romulus is set between Alien and Aliens and absolutley will have connections to both. This is not some kind of standalone movie like the AVP films.
“I love all of those movies. I didn’t want to omit or ignore any of them when it comes to connections at a story level, character level, technology level and creature level. There’s always connections from Alien to Alien: Covenant,” Álvarez says.
Alvarez also says that whilst connected, he’s designed the movie as if the audience has never seen an Alien film before. So new viewers won’t have had to swat up on what has already happened. At the same time, fans of the full series will have plenty to keep an eye on.
“The way we crafted it is if you haven’t seen any of them, I’m jealous because you’ll have an incredible experience. You’ll have all these worlds of Alien coming at you, and you’ve never experienced any of this. You don’t know how the creature is born, and you don’t know any of these things. That’s fantastic. You’ll have a blast.”
“Now, if you’ve seen the others, then it’s a completely different experience in a way, because you’ll see and you’ll find those connections with the other movies.”
Aliens Deleted Scene Inspirations
Alvarez’ inspiration for the film he says came from a deleted scene from Aliens. If you’ve seen the extended cuts then you’ve seen it. If not, maybe you haven’t, and if so… We see the colonisers of Hadley’s Hope, families, kids, like Newt. Then one family is sent out by Burke to look for the crashed ship from Alien and the parents come back with a Facehugger attached.
“It was really more based on Aliens. I remember watching an extended cut of Aliens, and there’s a moment where you see a bunch of kids running [and riding a big wheel] around the corridors of this colony. And I thought, “Wow, what would it be like for those kids to grow up in a colony that still needs another 50 years to terraform? There’s no sunlight and there’s no real life, except to just take the place of a parent and do the same job they did.” In my movies, I’m always interested in those characters. Maybe it’s because I grew up in the small country of Uruguay. I think it connects to a lot of people who grew up in small towns and think that all the important things are happening somewhere else.”
Teasing A Big Moment
Alvarez also took time to tease a big moment that he hints we see some of in the teaser above.
“I’ll tell you more without spoiling too much. It takes place in [the teaser’s] first shot. There’s a tiny hint in there, and it has to do with that scene that Isabela talked about, which is great. When you manage to have an idea or concept that has not been seen before in any Alien movie — and it’s also something that has never happened before in the history of movies and science fiction — my first test usually when I shoot it is to just look at the boom mic guy. He has no idea what’s about to happen, and then I see his face completely in shock over what he’s witnessing. So that is, for me, the biggest reward, and when you know that there’s something special, then you just can’t wait for opening night. I’ll sit in the front and turn around to see people’s reactions to those moments.”
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I think I can piece it together, let’s see how it plays out.
I do like this teaser. Like the video game Alien: Isolation you can tell by how this is shot that Fede is a fan of the franchise on a cinematic level. Not just on a horror level. I do like a few shots in this teaser. The scene of the Facehugger chasing people which is similar, but a new way of viewing it, also looks fun. I can see myself seeing this one in a theatre.
What do you think as Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez says the movie does connect to the other films? What did you think of the new teaser trailer? As always, any thoughts below.