Director Fede Alvarez has said on multiple occasions that Alien: Romulus is a movie that borrows heavily from Alien and Aliens, but that doesn't mean he won't be bringing his own ideas to the table.
During a recent conversation with Total Film (via SFFGazette.com), the filmmaker explained how nature documentaries factored into how he directed the puppeteers responsible for breathing life into the Xenomorphs and, more specifically, the Chestbursters.
"It is done almost like a nature documentary," Alvarez tells the site. "While we were seeing it on set we were joking, [like] 'The creature is coming out slow. It's looking for the scent of the mother...' The creature's not trying to be scary."
"The creature is trying to get the [frick] out of that cocoon, that happens to be a person. It's almost like this is more realistic in a way, but without betraying all the beautiful things of the original designs."
The site also caught up with Alien: Romulus' lead star Cailee Spaeny and found out how she's approached picking up where the iconic Sigourney Weaver's Ripley left off as Rain Carradine.
"I had [Weaver's] performance playing on repeat for months. I was sort of hoping that something would seep in," the actress says. "But I never felt intimidated. That role wasn't written for a woman, so there was real freedom. And because Sigourney injected all of herself into it, that then opens up any other female who's entering this franchise into not ever feeling that weird weight or pressure of playing a female lead."
"In a shot like that, you've got to lean in," Spaeny said of channelling her inner Ripley for the proto-Pulse Rifle scene spotted in the movie's trailers. "You just go, 'OK. Get those leaf-blowers ready! I'm going to hit that mark as slow as I possibly can,'" Spaeny adds with a chuckle. "I don't feel that cool, but it definitely looks cool!"
Like Hulu's Predator reboot, Prey, it's hard to escape the feeling that Alien: Romulus is going to be something special. Admittedly, it won't take much to beat the likes of Alien vs. Predator and even Ridley Scott's divisive prequels (which were very light on Xenomorph action).
The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
Alien: Romulus is set to arrive in theaters on August 16.