Fede Álvarez 'Alien: Romulus' Interview | Ridley Scott's Notes, Recreating 1980s Horror & More

[@DavidPavlis]

Saw Romulus yesterday and really enjoyed it! Production design was just insane, really loved it and I would put it as 3rd best after Alien and Aliens. And I cannot wait for THAT video with Fede next week!

[@oldnbaschool]

Saw Romulus yesterdayml. Great flick, reminiscent of OG Alien, maybe at times bit too much, but production design is amazing and last act is total bonkers!

[@Columbo777]

You meant total shit…

[@anthonymartensen3164]

​@@Columbo777nah the thrills were legit, and that's really what the film needed to deliver on

[@Rhazan91]

@@Columbo777 The duality of man...

[@Tyrelguitarist]

​@Rhazan91 the anti-thesis of jesus Christ's legacy...

[@CharlieRod23]

Watched Romulus last night and it was incredible. Great interview guys! ❤

[@movielover828]

Before Fede Álvarez's newest "Alien: Romulus", his first two films such as "Evil Dead (2013)" and "Don't Breathe" left a huge impact on me when I was a teenager.

[@sirtmannondaloose]

Really miss the whole gang being together. Great episode either way !! THE BOYS ARE BACK

[@aayushtamu]

amazing questions and amazing interview as always boys. I really loved Romulus. The hybrid at the third act was extremely creepy, haven't been this scared watching a movie in a long time.

[@Damomcd1982]

I am kind of shocked that no one ever mentions Dan O'Bannon when speaking about Alien. If it wasn't for him, would we have the movies we have now? I know Ridley directed but the story, characters and screenplay were Dan

[@Surgicaldamage]

True, but Ridley's lighting and direction, is the lense we see it all with. Don't forget H R Giger. (And the space jockey that wasn't a rubber looking engineer)

[@Derpadeedooda]

This guy has a bunch of good films under his belt at this point. Safe to say he's one of the best modern horror directors now

[@rediscoverwithsharona]

I know I have being asking for more tier list in the last few weeks, but seriously An Alien tier list, that would be good

[@prberg2]

For sure! Gotta do an Alien tier list!

[@theworldsgreatestdetective8227]

Wooo I'm early!! Love this show so much. You guys are amoung the best. I love Fede, particularly fond of his lisbeth slander movie, super underrated imo. I can imagine him being perfect for this movie, can't wait to see it. Watching your interview now, you guys do a brilliant job!❤🎉

[@seanoconnell2073]

Appreciate the kinds words!

[@Knockout5111]

My Ripley theory! They picked her up around the same time as the alien pod. They keep her on ice as they don't need her. They have the alien to study and experiment with. Alien Romulus happens, and all that valuable data and research is gone, so now they need a way to get more data on the aliens. They finally wake up Ripley to ask her how she found it and what she knows. They lead the company to the same planet they found in the eggs, and then the Aliens storyline begins.

[@bhomm]

Really great theory! I think you've hit it on the nose, I'm going to rewatch later this week so I'll keep an eye out

[@weekendmagus9994]

@@Knockout5111 good thinking.

[@Tyrelguitarist]

Well now that the movie is out, that didn't happen. And won't happen. Because the movie takes plays 37 years before she wakes up in Aliens.

[@Knockout5111]

@@Tyrelguitarist what are you talking about? Ripley is in a cryopod. It doesn't matter how many years it takes.

[@shhefu]

@@Knockout5111 but why would they wait 37 years to wake her up, it doesn't make sense.

[@prberg2]

Enjoyed the episode alot.. and great interview with Fede. He seems like a pretty great director. The movie.. I think I agree more with Jake on this one. The end just sort of fell flat for me. Well maybe not flat.. but it went off the rails. I did think Cailee Spaeny did a great job.. and the Andy character was pretty great. I did think the look and visuals were great. The dirtiness of the ships, and how they felt authentic. That was all great. Great discussion!

[@sweetlows1]

The mission impossible franchise is up there for directors. Brian DePalma, John Woo, JJ Abrams, Brad Bird and Christopher McQuarrie.

[@seanoconnell2073]

GREAT pick!!!

[@TypeLproductions]

Lol director wise McQuarrie is only known for MI

[@infowarriorone]

The final alien in Romulus was scary AF. Well done.

[@jeremywoodfin2885]

This is the third best alien film in my opinion, I’d rate them 1. ALIEN 2. ALIENS 3. ROMULUS 4. PROMETHEUS 5. COVENANT {tie} ALIEN3 (assembly cut) 6. RESURRECTION

[@Surgicaldamage]

1)Alien ( The best entertainment production movie ever made in the west) 2)Aliens (I disagree with Ignoring the egg transformation cycle which i find more disturbing) 3)Romulus ( greebomorph at the end was rubbish) 4)Assembly cut (Dillon was such an interesting character, he saved the movie for me )

[@jeremywoodfin2885]

@@Surgicaldamage Dillon owns that movie lol. I highly recommend watching Alien3 blown up on a projector if you can, the final hallway chase scenes make you feel like you're on a roller coaster 😎

[@darkweeknd33]

Awh dang no Kevin on this episode 😢 wanted to know what he thought of Alien

[@ShoeDog-12345]

Fantastic episode! I loved the interview and the game at the end! I would love to see you guys interview Zoe Kravitz for “Blink Twice” !!!

[@tomhahnl1927]

Great Interview guys, watching it tomorrow!

[@myp1600]

So excited to see Romulus now...also great guest freddy 🎉

[@viralmedia]

I''m a staunch defender of ALIEN 3. I agree with Jake with one change to my list. ALIENS, ALIEN, ALIEN 3, ROMULUS, PROMETHEUS, COVENANT and then a fast down hill trajectory from there.

[@ragdalis]

Love the reference to director's having pretty much complete creative control over a movie and it being some of their worst work. What comes to me first is snyder and rebel moon, and I'm a big snyder fan

[@seanoconnell2073]

That really felt like a Snyder reference….

[@SugarRushTimes2030-gs3qp]

I’d love to visit that warehouse!

[@maceharris7656]

I loved ALIEN: ROMULUS. It was definitely a sci-fi/horror/ thrill ride type of movie through out. The characters in ALIEN: ROMULUS were the best since ALIENS. The young cast of ROMULUS was so memorable and charismatic, especially Rain, Andy and Taylor. Bjorn was an A-hole, that you loved to hate. The set pieces and action was top-notch and the acting was excellent in my opinion. My rating for ALIEN: ROMULUS is 9.5/10. This is one of my favorites of the whole ALIEN franchise. In my opinion, of course. 😏👍

[@LOGAN_BURNS]

I completely understand all the ‘Prometheus’ ‘Covenant’ parts of this and that kind of lore / history ruining this movie or the xenomorph stuff … but I LOVE alllll of that stuff and how the play with the creation of life etc. also Robert Bobroczkyi the real life actor / basketball player who’s really 7ft 7in who played the final offspring surprise at the end did an amazing job.if he continues to play these unique roles in Hollywood like this he’d could be on the mt Rushmore of creature monster actors purely based on his height and stuff alone😂

[@elqord.1118]

30% less fan service and it would be the perfect

[@elqord.1118]

@@whoadudesweet5316 ok mr gatekeeper

[@elqord.1118]

@@whoadudesweet5316 oh and maybe that is the reason why it bombed in box office. But at the fans wanked off to it yeah?

[@itsstoreytime]

37:03 "The finale left me with a bad taste in my mouth" - perfect summary for my thoughts too, I was enjoying all the xenomorph content, just for it to all disappear for the final act. (It's also below the Assembly Cut of Alien 3 for me, it's a solid movie.)

[@tamastarczy6262]

All I can say about this movie is there was enough salt put into it, but I was missing the pepper... I think this is a very accurate description coming from a MASSIVE alien fan. The ending is nothing but a slap in the face for Resurrection haters. 7/10.

[@scottjo76]

For me there's nothing wrong with the concept of an Xeno/Human hybrid and within the internal logic of the franchise it would be a natural step. Resurrection was just a bad movie with that one decent idea which was badly executed

[@tamastarczy6262]

@@scottjo76 You know what? Thats a nice comeback! 😃 The last thought that "it was a good idea executed badly" is a good take - I give you that. Really. Wasnt thinking about this yet. BUT. Hear me out - here is my 'comeback' 😃; even if we dont take Resurrection into account and just forget that that ever happened why choose the WORST PART of a forgotten movie in a movie that really could have gone into ANY direction...? Why? Because Sir Ridley Scott ordered Alvarez to connect his badly executed movies (prometheus and covenant - which are by the way should have been two parts of a trilogy that will NEVER happen...) with Romulus. Thats THE ONLY REASON. Thats WHY.

[@scottjo76]

​@@tamastarczy6262 The great thing about the Alien franchise, and why i personally love it, is because it's so rich thematically. From AI assisted corporate-fascism, to DNA manipulation, the black goo, Gigers Necronomicon etc etc It's at its heart a pure Lovecraftian horror....and so, within even the worst Alien movies there are brilliant ideas which sometimes don't hit the mark. We could say that about the hybrid in Res. We could say that about Prom/Cov But for me the Romulus hybrid is like a nice thread which ties a lot of those themes together, it ties the franchise together, it elevates the poorer movies. You're probably right about Ridley Scott putting the idea forward, it was a risky move....but i think it worked and was a pure horror element which many people love......i might change my mind in a few years though idk ;)

[@tamastarczy6262]

@@scottjo76 You are a good thinker. I appreciate that. Your 'kind' is hard to come by nowadays... Unfortunately. The thought about elevating poorer movies is also a nice take. I cant argue about that. I guess I cant argue about anything now. You 'elevated' me. Thanks for that. 😀

[@scottjo76]

@@tamastarczy6262 Hehe go watch it again, you'll love it eventually 😉

[@mikesimpson7323]

Guys where’s the time stamps? Hard to tell when the spoiler talk stops. Love the show!!!!

[@hallzei]

SPOILER WARNING - saw it last night and I could’ve swore I saw the Narcissus floating near the Renaissance Station as it was crashing! Holy shit please tell me it was!

[@Youmachan81]

I know what you mean. I read on some homepage, someone had the exact speculation about seeing that in one of the trailers… and I think it is the hint Fede gave them here about the question what happened to Ripley and he said to look around in Romulus to find clues. So it must be the Narcissus and not just some random rescue boat. Think in some time it will be more in the discussions ;)

[@bhomm]

Yep its the Narcissus, apparently before they enter the Romulus medlab you can you can see it docked down the hallway. Meaning that WY found Ripley the same time they found the xenomorph in the rock.

[@Filmcrook]

My Alien ranking (worst to best) : AVP:Requiem Alien Ressurection AVP Alien 3 Assembly cut Alien Covenant Alien Romulus Prometheus Alien Aliens Main issuses with Romulus are the characters being too naive and cliche, and the dialogue isn't written so well. I thought the first 20-25 minutes were bland and felt it would be some sort of stranger things episode, but really liked it when it got going, the action is awesome, atmosphere and everything else. The last act is tremendously fun.

[@LPJMANGA]

took partner to watch it on our day off we loved it even got ready to rewatch the whole alien franchise a week before release after seeing the new one we wanted to watch it again then we shifted over to watch predator franchise also this movie was done well

[@FalseH3]

So people have found now that the Narcissus (the escape ship that Ripley was on) is in two scenes in Romulus. When Kay is in the hallway with the xenamorph you can see it docked in the hangar. When the station is crashing you can see it ejecting and flying off. Guessing it had some sort of emergency auto pilot??? I kind of don’t like the idea. Like why did they not open up her ship? Guessing they used it to locate where the Nostromo crash and the Alien would be. In Aliens they cut open her door and the harpoon she fired into the alien is still there so they couldn’t have messed with it in Romulus. Also assuming since the lab was probably top secret and no other branch of the company would know about her being there, which that part makes sense. It’s a bit too convoluted for me.

[@MeltonECartes]

ALIEN: ROMULUS is a masterclass in thematic writing. SPOILERS: Alvarez and Sayagues do a much, much better job of exploring the question of Ai and "Synths" than Ridley Scott thought he was doing with PROMETHEUS and COVENANT. David's motivations in those films make no sense; so this android was programmed with delusions of grandeur? Even HAL 9000 was simply faced with a no-win situation of 100% success in a mission that still relied on fallible humans. Actually, that's the problem. David has no motivation. But A:R threads the needle with their overall theme of "the greater good." Even the Company, Weyland-Yutani, is acknowledged as striving for the "greater good" in their own ham-handed, corporate way; they're BUILDING BETTER WORLDS. Sure, they probably make money from it, but it seems pretty clear that humanity is overpopulated and overpopulating, so... whatchagonnado? The rest of the cast correctly reflect their own versions of the same theme. Andy's motivations are clearly "for the good of Rain." Bjorn's animus towards Andy is because of the conclusion he arrived at regarding "the greater good" or "the needs of the many versus the needs of the few or the one." Which, by the way is a callback to the William Gibson script originally for ALIEN 3, set on a Soviet prison space station. This is a much better script. When Bjorn tries to save Navarro, and abandons, Andy, Rain, and Tyler, he's doing it again for the greater good, which he thinks those three don't understand. And of course the film ends with a new directive, "For the good of us." Androids, Synths, Replicants are great story vehicles for teaching humans humanity. Excellent writing.

[@joshualore]

There's a 100% chance that Jake will look back on this interview and regret ranking Romulus so low. It was just a great movie. It's flawed, but great, and definitely deserves a higher ranking than he's offering it here

[@Callsign-Blade_RunnerSG]

Yes I very much prefer the full IMAX Top to bottom version. Definitely More immersive. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@stevenangel8235]

Mission Impossible and James Bond might have Alien beat on that although just the first 3 alone are legendary. Also depends if you count things like the MCU or the Batman films as a franchise, then I'd say those specifically Batman has had maybe the most impressive roster

[@Kervan21]

Just saw Romulus tonight. I’d say this is the best sequel post Aliens. Loved all the homages and callbacks and homages to the first two. SPOILER: I didn’t like the 2nd attempt at the Alien human hybrid. It was better executed here than in Resurrection, but I still think it’s a bad idea. It’s like filmmakers have this need to one-up the Queen, and they can’t come up with something good enough. But they shouldn’t need to. Just focus on the xenomorphs as they are because they’re scary enough.

[@JonathanWeihs]

No fucking way

cabin in the space

[@andrewsevin330]

Starts at 7:43

[@josemunoz3834]

I believe the batman franchise has directors equally as good to the alien franchise! Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, Nolan, Zack Snyder, Matt Reeves.

[@have_studs_will_travel2809]

NGL Rain's (Cailee Spaeny) Reebok sneakers took me out of the movie for a moment! (In space nobody can hear your Reebok's squeak!!!) Looks like the Remus part of the Romulus-Remud space station survived the asteroid ring/belt.

[@curtmega]

Your top 4 are as simple as having an IMDB pro account and claiming your page 😂

[@illuvattar]

Lol, for me Cameron's IMDb says Avatar 2, Avatar, Aliens and Titanic.

[@Bringos76]

All T&A

[@Greedisgood-qy2ed]

Just watched the movie, probably better than Covenant, but lacks greatness which made the best of series so iconic, lots of scenes felt cut short and the plot holes were dissapointing at best with multiple callbacks to original making me question whenever movie creators know or not when it's too much. I think in some of the interviews Ridley Scott said Alien ain't scary anymore and unfortunately that movie goes with that line, but I could have added to it one simply thing, it ain't scary when in the wrong hands. Alien Isolation is one of the most terrifying horror games. Give it a magic touch use the fucking PERFECT ORGANISM not as a line of a movie, but a whole idea to creature on screen, and maybe, with proper story and characters who are there not just to die when the story needs it, maybe then it will work.

[@zemertz]

I wanted to like it, saw it in IMAX, but solid 4 out of 100 for me felt more like I was in an Alien theme park edition, loved set design though, music was a bit off putting at time and maybe it was the cinema but way too loud for the jump scares which there were lots. The characters weren't given good stories, more like foot notes

[@MaXiii1337]

Hmmm. I really don't get the defense of Rook -- I genuinely don't think it makes much sense. In the first movie the crew is surprised Ash is an android: Parker exclaims "Ash is a goddamn robot!" in disbelief. But now we are saying its a model/face WY has mass-produced to some extent?? Thats a bit weird. I guess MAYBE you could argue that WY started producing the same models in the years leading up to Aliens where policies have changed as Burke openly states "its common practice to always have a synthetic onboard." I know this is turbo-fan shit, and general audience would be like "oh cool the guy from the first one" at most, but still i think its one of the blemishes of Romulus for me

[@Greedisgood-qy2ed]

Agree, movie would not lost a thing if it was a random android, yet they had to make it Ash so the fanboys would cream their panties

[@radosjovanovic]

Nostrodomo 😅 C'mon man! 🤌🏻

[@betomoraoce]

My bet is that the connection has to do with Cloning

[@MeltonECartes]

THE MARTIAN is a really good Ron Howard film. It totally does NOT feel like a Ridley Scott film... IMDB is crazy... "Most KNOWN for..." Jeu-NAY...

[@timothynommensen]

I would put Romulus beneath Alien 3 as well!

[@shubhamjamwal5284]

"Streaming these days" did he just roasted snyder 😭

[@possessedbygenesis8585]

The funny part about the bitch line is you said your theater groans. I saw it twice and both times my theater cheered. I think you lose sight of the fact that when you see these movies for the first time, you are likely in a room filled with jaded press people and reviewers that are just waiting for a biting angle to dig into. Most of the time you are not there just to have a good time, although I’m sure you do quite a bit. The general audience looks forward to those moments.

[@strawb3rryf4rm27]

12:26

[@inuit97]

Rambaldi ALien wasn´t replicated correctly, sorry

[@mikebenjamin7535]

So I saw the movie today, sooo I thought this movie gona tie in into the first movie..also I thought marvel own fox sooo I excepted cross over at the end cause of all marvel crazy universe and one of marvel bad guys get hold alien dna or some piece of it use it as weapon against hero’s of marvel. But I didn’t see anything of marvel in the movie or credits sooo I take it this film was made or getting finish up during time marvel bought fox soo it took marvel coupe years give green light release this film as one of last fox films befor got bought? Need some imput infor

[@heilong79]

I liked it but it is very very flawed with silly decisions made on elements of the story and the dialog sucks in sections, I will probabaly only watch it once more in my life but It felt like corporate interferring. If it had more of an identity it might have been a great film. The final scene was bad and I hated it.

[@licensetochill1299]

Call me crazy but here's mine: 1. Aliens 2. Aliens: Romulus 3. Prometheus 4. Alien 5. Alien: Covenant 6. Alien 3 7. Alien: Resurrection

[@billyjesus5442]

flim was a mess lol.

[@Metallicon79]

Jake is the only sane one here. Sean, once again shows his total inadequacy in evaluating film. Romulus has great parts, but it doesn't touch the original three in terms of themes, tone, and/or filmmaking. Covenant and Resurrection still suck though.

[@sharky0568]

6 minutes in I'm done too much self-promotion for me

[@collguyjoe99]

Movie sucked... Paint by numbers Force Awakens version of Alien franchise... 75% of movie is former shots and call backs being re-shot...

[@AussoOnePlus]

Boooring tuck-box crap of a movie

[@johenkay1129]

I saw it yesterday, and I wish I hadn't. It was terrible. The only reason why Ridley Scott would give his approval to Fede must have been to sabotage Fede's career because that was the worst Aliens movie I've ever seen.

[@marcux83]

haters gonna hate 🤷

[@johenkay1129]

@@marcux83 Herd animals gonna herd.

[@doomguydemonkiller]

C’mon. Stop over exaggerating

[@rat_boy_u]

You like AvP Requiem more?

[@johenkay1129]

@@doomguydemonkiller It's not an exaggeration. The movie was a joyless ordeal...

[@Lawyeris]

Romulus wont become a classic, it is far far away even from Prometheus and Covenant. Romulus is just an action movie with weak (even sometimes silly or too simple) scenario, aliens in space with kids, nothing more

[@marcux83]

yea but the plot of prom or covenant are so much more sophisticated 😂

[@anthonymartensen3164]

I think as an experience and in terms of filmmaking, it's easily superior to the last two

[@Lawyeris]

​​@@anthonymartensen3164 considering filmmaking, it's superior to Alien and Aliens then. It's ridiculous argument

[@anthonymartensen3164]

@@Lawyeris not really. Those films have a reputation and have kind of staked their place out in film history. This new one, for me, seems like the only one that does justice to those first two

[@Lawyeris]

@@anthonymartensen3164 by the way, what movies do you call "the last two"??? Alien 3/4 or Prometheus/Covenant??? If Prometheus/Covenant - I don't understand you at all... by the way, Romulus IMHO is better overall than Alien 4, but don't know about Alien 3, which suffers from the way that aliens were showed (technically portrayed). For me, Romulus's weakest element, that kids were chosen for all characters. I can see woke policy here. Anyway - this decision (for me) diminishes the value ot the movie.

[@RevRyukin7]

If it was just "Get away from her", I think that'd be better, but ... I still thought that part was great and y'all being too cynical and what not, but it's all good, to each their own~

[@mark-shane]

Very disappointing and unoriginal script.most of it cut and pasted from the first 2 Alien movies

[@LittlePhoenixKid]

I love you Sean, the kid, but you got to work on your pronuciation a bit. It's pronounced: [ˈfeðe]