“Alien: Romulus” director says crew 'fixed' controversial Ian Holm resurrection CGI for movie’s home release

Alien: Romulus caused considerable controversy by resurrecting a dead actor — so the film's director tinkered with the character some more.

Fede Álvarez reflected on his dissatisfaction with Rook, the android character portrayed with the likeness of the late Ian Holm in the version of Romulus that hit theaters in August. "We just ran out of time in post-production to get it right," the filmmaker said in a new interview with Empire. "I wasn’t 100 percent happy with some of the shots, where you could feel a bit more the CG intervention. So, for people that react negatively, I don’t blame them."

Since Holm died in 2020 and Rook was hidden from Romulus' marketing, the synthetic character's appearance in the film was a major surprise — one that both fans and critics (including Entertainment Weekly's review) highlighted as a weak element in an otherwise fairly well-regarded project.

Related: How Alien: Romulus made the chestburster even more epic: 'There’s not one frame of CGI'

Since Álvarez didn't love Rook's look, he resolved to improve it for the film's home release. "We fixed it,” he told Empire. "We made it better for the release right now. I convinced the studio we need to spend the money and make sure we give the companies that were involved in making it the proper time to finish it and do it right. It’s so much better."

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The filmmaker explained how an animatronic puppeteer used resources from one of Holm's other projects to assist in the creation of the character. "Shane Mahan actually did this animatronic of Ian Holm based on a head cast from Lord of the Rings, and that was the only one in existence," Álvarez said, explaining that more CGI was used as the film's theatrical release drew nearer. "What we did [for the home entertainment version] was revert a lot more to the puppet," he explained. "It’s way better."

Related: Alien: Romulus director teases new movie’s mix of familiar designs and all-new visuals

Holm played a similar but distinct android character, Ash, in the original Alien in 1979, which is why Álvarez and Ridley Scott, who directed the first film and produced Romulus, opted to resurrect the actor's likeness for the new movie. "Historically, there’s just a limited amount of synthetics, and that’s why some come back a few times," Álvarez told EW in an interview. "So we were talking, and Ridley and I felt like the one that has never been back was the best one of them all, the original model played by Ian Holm."

Álvarez emphasized that he prioritized getting permission from Holm's family. "The whole thing started with me calling the estate and talking with his widow," the director told EW. "She felt that Ian was given the cold shoulder by Hollywood in the last years of his life, that he would've loved to be part of more projects after The Hobbit, but he wasn't. So she was thrilled about the idea of having him back."

Related: Alien: Romulus star teases his version of the new film's android: 'We’re definitely trying to make it our own'

The filmmaker also said that Holm's family members were among the first people to see Rook on screen. "As soon as we finished the rough version, the first thing I did was a call with all his family to make sure they were the first ones that saw it,” Álvarez explained. "It was a very, very emotional call. They lost him not too long ago, and I lost my dad, too, around the same time. So I could relate to their pain and also their excitement to see him back in the movie. I'm super proud of how we did it and how we worked with them. I can't wait for the fans to lose their minds at seeing one of their favorite faces from the original."

Alien: Romulus is streaming on Hulu.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly