Francis Bacon's Study for a Bullfight no. 2 (1969)
references the Excessive Machine from Barbarella?

leading from
The Henu Barque trail through the 20th century.
and
Roger Vadim's Barbarella (1968) 
and
The Jacques Louis David's Death of Socrates route

Francis Bacon's Study for a Bullfight no. 2 (1969)

a) One might also start looking at images of the Excessive Machine from the movie Barbarella from the previous year in 1968 and wonder if there was some sort of connection being made with that in Francis Bacon's mind, which oddly is also on the Henu Barque Trail.

b) As if the villain Durand Durand's white upper garment has turned into the white area, the black part going over the rim of the shoulder fin becoms a bull horn and the machine itself with the screen behind it has turned into the bull and the section of auditorium with its crowd.

c) If that is the case, the oryx horns for the Henu Barque appear to have become the rim of the screen behind and perhaps Bacon uses this in a hoop like trail of movement through the air as the bull moves.

d) Perhaps this is interesting because it turns Francis Bacon into someone who could be fascinated with the latest oddities in scifi cinema when it came to his inspirations.


comparison between the Excessive Machine from the movie Barbarella (1960)
and Francis Bacon's Study for a Bullfight no. 2 (1969)

Alien : Romulus - Facehuggers in the cryochamber

(still collating)
 
leading from

 

a.i) Call for practical Face Huggers

All of the Face Huggers were to be done as practical effects. They realised that there was no way that they were going to make them CGI because of the interaction with the water that was going to make it impossible.

Joe Dunckley and Cameron May as part of Wētā Workshop took on the challenge of creating an army of practical face huggers for the film  

Joe Dunckley took in the fact that everything had to be physical. He felt it was wonderful to have a director who is a fan of physical effcts. He could see that Fede was a huge fan of the franchise and would see that it came across in the physical product. He felt that the franchise was in the best hands with him. This enabled them to get specific on their builds and he didn't often get the time to approach pactical effcts with the correct amount of rehearsal and build time. So from that perspective, this would be a really unique pleasure.

They were basically telling themselves "okay, the best facehugger puppets we've seen were in Aliens, but what's out there?" The very first thing they did was got to YouTube, and look up the Stan Winston School video on the facehugger attacks [from Aliens].

At the beginning of their work together, Wētā got the script, they broke that down into sequences, then they broke the sequences into actions and catagories of puppets that they would use for those actions. That meant they ended up with many puppets in the end, leading them to produce seventy three Face Huggers which was an incredible number.

The Wētā Workshop team devised a vast range of Face Hugger puppets for the film. All of them had a different purpose. They ranged from animatronic facehuggers to what they would call comfort huggers that people could wear on your face with breathing mechanisms, to static prop facehuggers. 

There were all these different variations and iterations that were called out in the script that they then developed a build list of. From there they could design and build these creatures specifically to the needs of the show. 

A lot of these breakdowns of the specific gags and builds were masterminded by Joe Dunckley, one of their manufacturing art directors.

The build would be driven primarily around both practical and aesthetic considerations, 

They paid specific attention, for example, around what the knuckle joints look like. How were they going to be big enough so that we could actually practically make these things work? How is the skin going to interact with the mechanisms underneath? They were actively thinking about those things and as they were trying to refine the design aesthetic around it, they were trying to already formulate a plan for how they were going to build these things and turn them into practical puppets so that they didn’t back themselves into a corner.

3D printing and the generation of mass molds for large-scale casting reproductions allowed Wētā Workshop to produce so many of the critters. 

To get the product out wasn’t the heart of the challenge, instead for them it was ensuring that the facehuggers actually looked lifelike and could actually wrap around someone’s head or breathe with the performer’s body. That was actually the true tricky part.”

To ensure that occurred, it was vital for Wētā Workshop to break down the specific gags that the facehuggers would be required to perform and map them down, Even though there’s such a complex array of them, we were able to break those things down so we had a nice structure in terms of how thtey were going to approach them. 

They found themselves saying ‘Right, that’s going to have a movable joint over here and this is going to have this type of control. And we’re going to have rods that are going to go on here. Or, this is going to have this type of digital mold that we’re going to use to create a silicone cast from.’ 

In the end it worked out very well. 

In general, the facehuggers were crafted with an aluminum interior armature, 3D printed nylon joints and silicone skin–with different additional materials used depending on whether the creatures were animatronic or more static. Even though the facehugger’s movements are quite different, a lot of their end joints were identical just to keep a design language that was quite consistent amongst them.
 

  1. Wētā Workshop had already been working on facehuggers for the upcoming series Alien: Earth, so it was a no-brainer to have them do something similar on Alien: Romulus. Winston spoke with Joe Dunckley and Cameron May from Wētā Workshop about their work on Alien: Romulus and the challenge of creating an army of practical facehuggers for the film. “We're huge fans of the Alien franchise," said Dunckley. "It's probably one of the reasons why we're all sitting here today, actually. The experience of watching the first two films as a kid blew my mind, and I think it drove me to get into the industry. (https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)  
  2. Drawing upon concept designs for the facehuggers established by production, Wētā Workshop set about a build methodology for the many varieties needed for the film. “What was apparent on Romulus was that the facehuggers are all through it,” declares Gillies. “We ended up delivering 73 facehuggers to the show, which is an incredible number. They ranged from animatronic facehuggers to what we call comfort huggers that you’d wear on your face with breathing mechanisms, to static prop facehuggers. There were all these different variations and iterations that were called out in the script that we then developed a build list of. From there we could design and build these creatures specifically to the needs of the show. A lot of these breakdowns of the specific gags and builds were masterminded by Joe Dunckley, one of our manufacturing art directors.(https://beforesandafters.com/2024/10/18/why-dont-we-just-put-a-facehugger-on-top-of-a-radio-controlled-car-and-drive-it-around/)
  3. The build would be driven primarily around both practical and aesthetic considerations, as May points out. “We paid specific attention, for example, around what the knuckle joints look like. How were they going to be big enough so that we could actually practically make these things work? How is the skin going to interact with the mechanisms underneath? We were actively thinking about those things and as we were trying to refine the design aesthetic around it, we were trying to already formulate a plan for how we were going to build these things and turn them into practical puppets so we didn’t back ourselves into a corner.”(https://beforesandafters.com/2024/10/18/why-dont-we-just-put-a-facehugger-on-top-of-a-radio-controlled-car-and-drive-it-around/)
  4. 3D printing and the generation of mass molds for large-scale casting reproductions allowed Wētā Workshop to produce so many of the critters. “To get the product out wasn’t the heart of the challenge,” notes Gillies. “For us, it was ensuring that the facehuggers actually looked lifelike and could actually wrap around someone’s head or breathe with the performer’s body. That was actually the true tricky part.”(https://beforesandafters.com/2024/10/18/why-dont-we-just-put-a-facehugger-on-top-of-a-radio-controlled-car-and-drive-it-around/)
  5. To ensure that occurred, it was vital for Wētā Workshop to break down the specific gags that the facehuggers would be required to perform. “We visually broke those and mapped those down,” outlines May. “We said, ‘Right, that’s going to have a movable joint over here and this is going to have this type of control. And we’re going to have rods that are going to go on here. Or, this is going to have this type of digital mold that we’re going to use to create a silicone cast from.’ Even though there’s such a complex array of them, we were able to break those things down so we had a nice structure in terms of how we were going to approach them. That ended up working really well.”(https://beforesandafters.com/2024/10/18/why-dont-we-just-put-a-facehugger-on-top-of-a-radio-controlled-car-and-drive-it-around/)
  6. In general, the facehuggers were crafted with an aluminum interior armature, 3D printed nylon joints and silicone skin–with different additional materials used depending on whether the creatures were animatronic or more static. “Even though the facehugger’s movements are quite different, a lot of their end joints were identical just to keep a design language that was quite consistent amongst them,” says May. (https://beforesandafters.com/2024/10/18/why-dont-we-just-put-a-facehugger-on-top-of-a-radio-controlled-car-and-drive-it-around/)

a.ii) Fully animatronic hero face hugger

There was the fully animatronic hero facehugger which had individual control of evey joint. 

With this they were very much looking to the precedence of the past Face Huggers for how they were built

The puppet required thirty servos and as many points of articulation. Each individual finger had three degrees of freedom, the knuckle joint and the two degrees of freedom in the finger itself. These were all cable driven and depending on the shot, the cables ran out of tthe facehugger's back or underneath the tail

Because of all the servos and articulation, the Weta Workshop mechanical team worked to reduce the number of puppeteers. They tried to get it down to two operators, one who was doing the finger controls and another who would be on the rod puppet to control the body position.

They were really focusing on how they could improve the puppeteering experience, rather than have remote control of individual legs.

Camero May and his team focused on finding a way to use software and one puppeteer on the control system to drive the thirty servos in the Face Hugger, and acheive the articulation required

They designed different Kinematic gaits (which was how the joints move) for the Face Hugger and then joysticks that could over ride those individual commands.

The focus on mechanical innovation meant that a single puppeteer, essentiall with a tablet and a couple f joysticks , could control the multiple finger movements of the Face Hugger puppet.

One thing that they noticed early on is that so much of the language of the facehuggers was not about perfect control, but actually quite aggressive random articulation. So, they still had to have some of that kind of language in the way that the facehuggers operated because that was part of their history in terms of how they look and feel on screen.

  1. When asked about the methods of articulation for the hero facehugger puppet, Dunckley turns it over to Cameron May, his mechanical effects compatriot at Wētā Workshop. “With the hero, we were very much looking to the precedence of the past facehuggers for how they were built," said May. The Wētā hero facehugger puppet required thirty servos and as many points of articulation. “Each individual finger had three degrees of freedom, the knuckle joint and the two degrees of freedom in the finger itself. They're all cable-driven.” Depending on the shot, the cables ran out of the facehugger’s back or underneath the tail. (https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)
  2. We had such a vast range of them, and it was really Fede's insistence that he wanted to approach this in a practical manner that enabled us to get that specific on our builds," said Dunckley. "You don't often get the time to approach practical effects with the correct amount of rehearsal time and build time. So, from that perspective, it was a real pleasure, really unique.” (https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships
  3. Because of all of the servos and articulation, the Wētā Workshop mechanical team worked to reduce the number of puppeteers, “We were just trying to get to two [operators], one that was doing the [finger] controls and then one that would be on the rod puppet to control the body position," said May. "We were really focused on how we could improve the puppeteering experience." Rather than having RC control of individual legs, May and his mechanical cohorts focused on finding a way to use software and one puppeteer on the control system to drive the thirty servos in the facehugger and achieve the articulation required. “We designed different kinematic gaits [how the joints move] for the facehugger and then had joysticks that could override those individual commands.” This focus on mechanical innovation meant that a single puppeteer, essentially with a tablet and a couple of joysticks, could control the multiple finger movements of the facehugger puppet.(https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships
  4. Cameron May: One thing that we noticed early on is that so much of the language of the facehuggers was not about perfect control, but actually quite aggressive random articulation. So, we still had to have some of that kind of language in the way that the facehuggers operated because that's part of their history in terms of how they look and feel on screen. https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)
     
  5. Dunckley talked about working with director Fede Álvarez, “He wanted everything to be physical. It's wonderful when you have a director who is a fan of physical effects.” Fede was a diehard Alien fan, to boot. "He's a huge fan of the franchise. And that comes across in the finished product. The franchise was in the best hands with him.” Dunckley continued, "We got the script, broke that down into sequences. Then we broke [the sequences] into actions and categories of puppets we would use for those actions. That meant that we ended up with many, many puppets. In the end, we produced seventy-three facehuggers.

    The Wētā Workshop team devised various types of facehugger puppets for the film. “All of them had a different purpose. The fully animatronic [hero] facehugger, which had individual control of every joint," said Dunckley. "We had remote control running ones for scuttling about on the set floor. We had one that was specifically for swimming underwater. And then we had various attack huggers that would carry out different types of attacks.”

    And there were even more facehuggers. “Then we got into stunt-safe ones. We knew they’d be flying around everywhere, so we had ones that would be safe to throw at an actor. We had ones that were robust enough to fly across the set and slam into the set and not get broken.” And the hugger list keeps going. “Inside the cryo chambers, we had a different type, and silicone ones that could escape from those chambers. And then dead rotten huggers and just prop huggers as well. https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)

a.iii) Remote control face hugges scuttling on the floor

They had remote control running ones for scuttling about on the set floor.

Thy started lookng at the running Face Huggers engineered for Aliens by Stan Winston Studios mechanic Rick Lazarrini.  

This designed was based on a pull toy type mechanism that moved the face hugger's legs in an organic way but was somewhat restricted in its movements due to the fact that it had to follow a thin monofilament line.

For Alien Romulus, the running Face Huggers would have more rance of movement and use a diffeent toy as their inspiration, remote control cars.

  1. In Alien: Romulus, some scenes called for facehuggers similar to the famous running ones built by Stan Winston Studio for Aliens. The Wētā Workshop team started by looking back at the running facehuggers engineered for Aliens by SWS mechanic Rick Lazarrini. It was a "massive influence. Full credit to them for having such a massive influence on where we are now," said Cameron May. This SWS design was based on a pull toy-type mechanism that moved the facehugger's legs in an organic way but was somewhat restricted in its movements due to the fact that it had to follow a thin monofilament line. For Alien: Romulus, the running facehuggers would have more range of movement and use a different toy as their inspiration: RC cars. (https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)

 

a.iv) They had one that was specifically for swimming under water.

At one point in the film, an area of the derelict space station becomes partially flooded with water. The scavengers struggle through the flooded corridors with Wētā Workshop’s facehuggers swimming after them.

Álvarez was very specific about how he wanted to reveal the swimming facehuggers on camera, 

He wanted to see like a bow wave out in front of them, so that the viewer wasn't quite sure what it was at first. 

So the first thing they did was, they got a puppet that was just a prop one, put it on a rod, went to the community swimming pool just down the block from then. Then Ben Price, the project supervisor on this, got in the pool, and Dunckly attacked him with that facehugger all day to see what sort of swimming motion they could get out of it, just on a rod. And they could get some nice motion and a good bow wake.

But it wasn't everything that they needed. Álvarez wanted to get a continuous shot over a facehugger in the water as it's approaching someone, and then it leaps up and attacks. So their engineering department created a rail on a winch that would bring the facehugger along, just at the right height. 

The swimming motion was translated through a mechanism as it traveled along the rail.  On the rail, there was a wheel that was picking up the linear motion of the rail, translating it to rotary, and then there was a cam mechanism, which just essentially flipped the tail around in the water. It was a simple, what they could call "old-school" method, but they found it worked really well.

They broke that moment up into two puppets in one shot. Right at the last moment on the rail, the swimming facehugger exited the bottom of the frame, then they had another puppet at the end of the rail that we just flipped out of the water to jump up and attack.

The facehugger that swam along the rail was silicone with a urethane foam core. The team tried several variations to get the buoyancy of the tail right.  They wanted to have a little bit of drag and weight in the water, but they wanted it to be just breaching the water. So, they did a series of tests in the pool, each time attacking Ben. They were having a lot of fun

  1. Swimming Facehuggers

    At one point in the film, an area of the derelict space station becomes partially flooded with water. The scavengers struggle through the flooded corridors with Wētā Workshop’s facehuggers swimming after them.

    Álvarez was very specific about how he wanted to reveal the swimming facehuggers on camera, "He wanted to see like a bow wave out in front of them, so you weren't quite sure what it was at first," said Dunckley. So the “first thing we did was, we got a puppet, just a prop one, put it on a rod, went to the community swimming pool just down the block from us. Ben Price, the project supervisor on this, got in the pool, and I attacked him with that facehugger all day to see what sort of swimming motion we could get out of it, just on a rod. And we could get some nice motion and a good bow wake.”

    But it wasn't everything we needed," said Dunckley. Álvarez wanted to get a continuous shot over a facehugger in the water as it's approaching someone, and then it leaps up and attacks. "So our engineering department created a rail on a winch that would bring the facehugger along, just at the right height. The swimming motion was translated through a mechanism as it traveled along the rail." Cameron May elaborated on the technique: “On the rail, there was a wheel that was picking up the linear motion of the rail, translating it to rotary, and then there was a cam mechanism, which just essentially flipped the tail around in the water. It was a simple, old-school method, but it worked really well.

    "We broke [the moment] up into two puppets in one shot," explained Dunckley. "Right at the last moment on the rail, the [swimming] facehugger exited the bottom of the frame, then we had [another puppet] at the end of the rail that we just flipped out of the water to jump up and attack." The facehugger that swam along the rail was silicone with a urethane foam core. The team tried several variations to get the buoyancy of the tail right. "We wanted to have a little bit of drag and weight in the water, but we wanted it to be just breaching the water. So, we did a series of tests in the pool, each time attacking Ben. It was good fun, really.” (https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)


a.v) And then they had various attack huggers that would carry out different types of attack

The 'attack' facehuggers were built and shot with methods similar to those used by James Cameron and the Stan Winston Studio team for the med lab scene in Aliens, where a pair of the creatures attack Ripley and Newt. 

As in Aliens, they planned on using reverse photography, since sticking the landing would be a difficult thing. They did some tests in-house, starting with a facehugger attached to a victim's face with the tail wrapped around the neck. They had spring-loaded fingers so that it had tension on them. 

Wētā Workshop puppeteers would then release the finger tension and pull the facehugger off the victim. When played back in reverse, the creature appeared to jump onto the victim and grasp their face. This reverse photography trick allowed them to achieve a more accurate landing than a facehugger puppet that's physically being thrown. It also gave them an opportunity to make it look more violent without actually hurting the person.

  1. The 'attack' facehuggers were built and shot with methods similar to those used by James Cameron and the Stan Winston Studio team for the med lab scene in Aliens, where a pair of the creatures attack Ripley and Newt. As in Alienswe planned on using reverse photography, since sticking the landing would be a difficult thing," revealed Dunckley. "We did some tests in-house, starting with a facehugger attached to a victim's face with the tail wrapped around the neck. We had spring-loaded fingers so that it's got tension on them." Wētā Workshop puppeteers would then release the finger tension and pull the facehugger off the victim. When played back in reverse, the creature appeared to jump onto the victim and grasp their face. This reverse photography trick allowed them to achieve "a more accurate landing than [a facehugger puppet] that's physically being thrown. It also gave us an opportunity to make it look more violent without actually hurting the person.(https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)

b) The chaos begins

Around midway in the second act of the movie, the explorers reach the cryochamber which is found to be full of  frozen facehuggers.

Most of the group are locked in the room while the others are outside, and they're trying to help them get out of there before the situations becomes worse.

Andy the android who is trapped in the room needs an upgrade to be able to open the security lock for the door.

It was one of the scenes written in the script where they always wanted the idea of a bunch of friends who are like children trapped in a room with a lot of facehuggers.

With that there was the simple concept of adding one foot of water so that on doesn't see them coming, and so they could jump out from any possible corner.

 

  1. Fede Alvarez: This is a cryochamber scene close to the beginning, I would say midway through second act of the film. Most of the group had got locked in this room and half the group is outside, and they're trying to help them to get out of there before things get really bad, the way they're about to get. Andy needs an upgrade to be able to get out of that door and open the door for them. That's what's happening right there. One of the first scenes written on the script, I would say, where we always wanted, the idea of a group of friends, a bunch of kids trapped in a room with a lot of facehuggers. And the simple concept of just adding one foot of water so you don't see them coming and they could jump at you from any possible corner. (Alien: Romulus | Scene Breakdown With Fede Álvarez Part 1 video on the official Alien Romulus Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/alienanthology/videos/518812343944560)


c) Face Huggers in the water

Every one of those shots was just Fede Alvarez holding the camera and moviing the face hugger along the water. 

He was fascinated by how effective such a simple trick was.

He felt that the audience could really feel as if they can see these creatures swimming on the water.

This was where the chaos starts to happen.

The first face hugging that they shot in the movie lasted perhaps six days which required them spending each day inside the room.

It was one of Fede's favourite shots in the movie.

He felt that it was important to show a new generation of people wha this creature was trying to do which was why they are jumping on people's faces.

They needed to show the proboscis, as it were the tongue that the Facehugger had, which was like a spike that's trying to get into the host's mouth, to lay an egg, which Fede thought was one of the best ideas in science fiction horror.


  1. Fede Alvarez: All those are practical Facehuggers as well, there no way we were going to make them CGI because the interaction with the water was going to make it impossible. Every shot of those is just me holding the camera and move the facehugger on the water. I was fascinated how effective that simple the trick was. You really feel like you see them swimming on the water. This is where chaos starts to happen. First face hug we shot on the movie. This was probably shot almost like six days we spent inside that room. That was very important, though. It's one of my favourite shots in the movie. It was very important to show a new generation what this thing is trying to do, why are they jumping on people's faces, and so, we needed to show the proboscis; the tongue that the Facehugger had, that is the spike that it's trying to get inside your mouth. Because it's trying to lay its eggs inside you, which is of the best ideas in science fiction horror. (Alien: Romulus | Scene Breakdown With Fede Álvarez Part 2 video on the official Alien Romulus Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1349757326002226)

 

d) The Face Huggers' final attack

So they were just throwing the Face Huggers at  the actor Spike, from the left and right so he could bat them all the time. Fede found that it was fun.

There was a shot that was a homage to David Fincher's Alien 2 which has a shot of the alien beasts's point of view, and here the camera is closely following the facehuggers until we get to see the point of view while the viewer might ask the question about who was going to be face hugged first. 

All the characters are trapped in there and for many moments there's a close encounter and one of them can almost get it, but the viewer wouldn't know who was going to get it.

They had to film the shot of the face hugger jumping through the door 24 times

The mass of face huggers are coming out though the gap in the nearly shut door, one sneaks through, boom and it's Aileen Wu playing Navarro who gets face hugged.

 

  1. Fede Alvarez: That was us just throwing facehuggers at Spike, just left and right so he could bat them all the time. That was a very fun thing to do. That was an homage to David Fincher. Alien 3 has that shot of the xenomorph POV running around on a red room as well. A part of the whole plan of the scene was to ... to bet who's gonna get face hugged first. You have all these characters trapped there and for many moments there's a close encounter and one of them can get it. You don't know, really, who's gonna get it and that's the tension building of the scene that anybody can get it at any moment. That's actually practical. We had to do that 24 times to get that thing to jump through a door. Those are practical as well by the door. This is a mix of techniques but wow that's my favourite shot in the movie right there. They're coming out, one sneaks through. Boom. Face-hug. I love it. (Alien: Romulus | Scene Breakdown With Fede Álvarez Part 3 video on the official Alien Romulus Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/alienanthology/videos/1018022123109005)

 

 

e.i) Navarro’s Facehugger

There is a graphic scene in the film where a facehugger attacks Navarro, played by Aileen Wu. 

In previous Alien franchise films, if anyone tries to remove a facehugger while it's implanting an embryo inside its host, the facehugger will tighten its tail and choke the person. 

But, this time, her friends successfully pull the facehugger off Navarro’s face, and we watch its proboscis tube withdraw from Navarro’s mouth. The rescue seems successful... at first. 

Three different types of proboscises were created to achieve this effect. 

They had one that was mechanized, that could do the movements that have been seen in other Alien franchise films. So, it was what they referred to as "tentacle mech" in there. 

Second, they had one that was retractable. It could come in and out of the under orifice.

For the third puppet built for the scene, the real challenge was that as they were removing the facehugger, Fede wanted to see the proboscis being pulled out of the throat. So, what they did was have one that was hollow silicone, and then they had just a bent piece of stainless steel in the correct shape with a little loop on the end. 

A group was in charge of the facehuggers and they had their own studios that they worked out of on set. When they were filming in Budapest,  Aileen could walk into the building that they were stationed in and it felt like walking into Hugger Depot. She saw  shelves and rows of just the tail, just the tongue, just different finger parts. That was her first introduction. 

Then they started rehearsing

The first thing they had here do was taste test a bunch of lubricants: There was one that was strawberry, one that was mango, one that was pineapple, and one that one has no taste. 

For the practical, they would rub lubricant all over the hugger to have that glistening effect. 

When they got to shooting that part of the scene, she thought that she shot that scene over three to four days. 

e.ii) The comfort hugger

The longer takes that they shot in the wide shots were challenging because  she noticed that it was quite heavy, perhaps around three pounds, and that was only partly hollowed out, or hollowed out around the middle where it was around her mouth and nose but since it was made out of silicone, so it’s not very easy to breathe

But that the actual what she would refer to as the actual pyschosexual organ part of the feature wasn't there, so it could mold around her face

While the production made Wu as comfortable as possible, she did note that being fitted with a Facehugger inhibited her breathing at times .

Then they would wrap the fingers around my head and secure it in the back with a bunch of rubber bands to get it as tight as possible, and wrap the tail around her neck. 

For some shots, they would have a fishing line attached to the very tip, so that somebody could tug on it off-camera and it would tighten and look like it was choking her.

Overall, she estimated, the segment—from the time the Xenomorph attaches to her face to when she thrashes around as it chokes her to the moment the crew extracts it—took about two or three days to shoot.

They then turned the silicone proboscis inside out and lubed it up. As it's being extracted, they could extend the steel loop, inflating the proboscis so it would look like it was coming from her throat. 

Then there were the bladders on the hugger that hung out around this cheek-area where one can see the hugger breathing, which she had to match her breathing to as well because story-wise that’s how the creature keeps the victim alive while it’s doing its thing. 

She struggled a lot because it’s a long take of her hitting the ground, thrashing around, struggling. 

Spike [Fearn], who plays her brother Bjorn, is trying to take that off her face. She would pass out after getting choked out by the tail and then immediately having to match my breathing was very intense.  

When they shot it, one take was at least three, four minutes and she had to match the Face Hugger's bladder's breathing which was real as well, since someone was off camera pumping it what seemed to be a balloon pump which had a very long syringe. 

That was controlled by someone off-set, just pumping the thing throughout the entire scene. 

Sometimes she would mess it up and then she would think, “Ah, it’s fine. I’m doing enough.

She noticed that Alvarez was very detail-oriented in the execution of the scene because, after four decades, he know that Alien fans were paying very close attention to details when it comes to Facehugger and other Xenomorph attacks.

Aileen's charactr Navarro will soon discover, the next stage in the alien lifecycle is the emergence of the implanted alien embryo from its host.

 

  1. There is a graphic scene in the film where a facehugger attacks Navarro, played by Aileen Wu. In previous Alien franchise films, if anyone tries to remove a facehugger while it's implanting an embryo inside its host, the facehugger will tighten its tail and choke the person. But, this time, her friends successfully pull the facehugger off Navarro’s face, and we watch its proboscis tube withdraw from Navarro’s mouth. The rescue seems successful... at first.(https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)
  2.  Three different types of proboscises were created to achieve this effect. “We had one that was mechanized, that could do the movements we've seen [in other Alien franchise films]. So, it was a tentacle mech in there," said Dunckley. "Second, we had one that was retractable. It could come in and out of the under orifice.” For the third puppet built for the scene, “The real challenge was that Fede wanted to see, as they were removing the facehugger, he wanted to see the proboscis being pulled out of the throat," said Dunckley. "So, what we did was, we had one that was hollow silicone, and we had just a bent piece of stainless steel in the correct shape with a little loop on the end. We then turned the [silicone proboscis] inside out and lubed it up. As it's being extracted, we could extend the steel loop, inflating the proboscis so it would look like it was coming from her throat. (https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)
  3. This approach is similar in concept to the effect used in Aliens, where the android Bishop (played by Lance Henriksen) is impaled on the Alien Queen’s tail. There, a monofilament line pulled a collapsible latex tail section out of Bishop’s shirt while the actual end of the Queen’s tail was attached to a mount on the actor’s back. As the collapsible tip of the tail emerges, it expands and appears to be coming out of the android’s chest.(https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)
  4. About the proboscis effect, Cameron May said, "This was like the moment that we were all genuinely disgusted with what we were doing. It was a horrible object, and to just play with it, you know?” Dunckley agreed, “When we were doing our tests, we were like, you know, it's really invasive what we're doing here. The actor is really gonna have to be up for it. And apparently, they absolutely were."(https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships)
  5. As Navarro will soon discover, the next stage in the alien lifecycle is the emergence of the implanted alien embryo from its host.(https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships
  6. Aileen Wu: It was pretty heavy. It was hollowed out a little bit, so the actual psychosexual organ part of the feature wasn't there so the piece could mold around your face. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2024/08/16/alien-romulus-star-breaks-down-her-scary-facehugger-xenomorph-scene/)
  7. Variety: What was the process like when you had to wear the facehugger?

    Aileen Wu: A group was in charge of the facehuggers and they had their own studios that they worked out of on set. When we were filming in Budapest, you walk into the building that they were stationed in and it felt like walking into Hugger Depot. There would be shelves and rows of just the tail, just the tongue, just different finger parts. That was my first introduction, and then we started rehearsing. The first thing they had me do was taste test a bunch of lube: This one’s strawberry, this one’s mango, this one’s pineapple, this one has no taste. For the practical, they would rub lube all over the hugger to have that glistening effect. When we got to shooting that bit, I think we shot that scene over three to four days. For the longer takes that we shot in the wide, those were challenging because the facehugger is very heavy — I think it weighs around three pounds. The middle part, where it’s around my mouth and nose, is hollowed out, but it’s still made out of silicone, so it’s not very easy to breathe.(https://variety.com/2024/film/news/alien-romulus-made-facehuggers-chestbursters-1236103040/)

  8. Aileen Wu: Then they would wrap the fingers around my head and secure it in the back with a bunch of rubber bands to get it as tight as possible, and wrap the tail around my neck. For some shots, they would have a fishing line attached to the very tip, so that somebody could tug on it off-camera and it would tighten and look like it was choking me. Then there were the bladders on the hugger that hung out around this cheek-area where you can see the hugger breathing, which I had to match my breathing to as well because story-wise that’s how the creature keeps the victim alive while it’s doing its thing. I struggled a lot because it’s a long take of me hitting the ground, thrashing around, struggling. Spike [Fearn], who plays my brother Bjorn, trying to take that off my face and passing out after getting choked out by the tail and then immediately having to match my breathing was very intense. It was like a balloon pump and it had a very long syringe. That was controlled by someone off-set, just pumping the thing throughout the entire scene. Sometimes I would mess it up and then I would think, “Ah, it’s fine. I’m doing enough.”(https://variety.com/2024/film/news/alien-romulus-made-facehuggers-chestbursters-1236103040/)
  9. While the production made Wu as comfortable as possible, she did note that being fitted with a Facehugger inhibited her breathing at times since the piece was secured tightly to her head with rubber bands. Overall, Wu estimated, the segment—from the time the Xenomorph attaches to her face to when she thrashes around as it chokes her to the moment the crew extracts it—took about two or three days to shoot. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2024/08/16/alien-romulus-star-breaks-down-her-scary-facehugger-xenomorph-scene/)
  10. When we shot it, one take was at least three, four minutes and I had to match the [Facehugger] bladder's breathing,” Wu said. “The bladder’s breathing was real as well, since someone was off camera pumping it with a balloon pump.(https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2024/08/16/alien-romulus-star-breaks-down-her-scary-facehugger-xenomorph-scene/)
  11. Wu said that Alvarez was very detail-oriented in the execution of the scene because, after four decades, he knows that Alien fans are paying very close attention to details when it comes to Facehugger and other Xenomorph attacks.(https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2024/08/16/alien-romulus-star-breaks-down-her-scary-facehugger-xenomorph-scene/)

     

Prometheus: Production-Used Blueprint - Engineer Hibernation Room

leading from
  1. "An original blueprint used in the production of Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus. Led to a distant planet by ancient wall paintings, scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) join a corporate-sponsored mission to discover the source of life on Earth. But in the ruins of an alien space craft, the human explorers soon find that all is not as it seems, and a great threat lurks in its deep holds.

    This blueprint was part of a set used to visualise the designs for the Engineer hibernation chamber, where the Last Engineer (Ian Whyte) is awoken after centuries of slumber in the bowels of the massive ship. The blueprint has a number of diagrams, both concept art and plan images, detailing the sliding and rotating pilot’s chair that is used by the Engineer to launch the ship. At the bottom right hand side of the sheet is a data form detailing the scale, the set the blueprint belongs to, the set and production designers and the blueprint’s scale.

    The blueprint displays signs of production wear including light creases and folds throughout. However, in spite of this wear, the blueprint remains in overall good condition, measuring approximately 60cm x 50cm (23.75” x 19.75”) unfolded. " (Source: https://propstore.com/mobile/product/prometheus/production-used-blueprint-engineer-hibernation-room)







Prometheus: Blueprints

leading from


1) Production used blueprints for
 Shaw's (Noomi Rapace's) quarters



2) Production-Used Blueprint - Rover Transporter


3) Production-Used Blueprint - Engineer Hibernation Room




Prometheus: Production-Used Blueprint - Rover Transporter

leading from
 
  1.  An original blueprint used in the production of Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus. Led to a distant planet by ancient wall paintings, scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) join a corporate-sponsored mission to discover the source of life on Earth. But in the ruins of an alien space craft, the human explorers soon find that all is not as it seems, and a great threat lurks in its deep holds. This blueprint was part of a set used to visualise the designs for a Weyland Corp “Rover Transporter” vehicle, a flatbed version of the troop transport vehicle used for moving the smaller ATV-style rovers. The blueprint has a number of diagrams showing vertical and horizontal views of the vehicle. At the top right hand side of the sheet is a data form detailing the department the blueprint belongs to and the responsible personnel for the vehicle’s construction. A red printed stamp reads “Design Approved”.
    The blueprint displays signs of production wear including creases and some minor tears. However, in spite of this wear, the blueprint remains in overall good condition, measuring 94cm x 60 (37” x 23.75”) unfolded.
    (Original source http://www.propstore.com/product/prometheus/production-used-blueprint-rover-transporter/)








Prometheus: production used blueprints for Shaw's (Noomi Rapace's) quarters

leading from
 
  1. "An original blueprint used in the production of Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus. Led to a distant planet by ancient wall paintings, scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) join a corporate-sponsored mission to discover the source of life on Earth. But in the ruins of an alien space craft, the human explorers soon find that all is not as it seems, and a great threat lurks in its deep holds. This blueprint was part of a set used to visualise the designs for Shaw’s living quarters on board the Prometheus starship. The blueprint has a number of diagrams showing plan views and elevations of various sections of the room, including the doors, bed, galley and washing areas. At the bottom right hand side of the sheet is a data form detailing the scale, the set the blueprint belongs to, the set and production designers and the blueprint’s scale.
    The blueprint displays signs of production wear including light creases and folds throughout. However, in spite of this wear, the blueprint remains in overall good condition, measuring approximately 116cm x 92cm (45.75” x 36.25”) unfolded.
    (Original source http://www.propstore.com/product/prometheus/production-used-blueprint-shaws-noomi-rapace-quarters/)

 

Original Source: http://www.propstore.com/

Original Source: http://www.propstore.com/

Original Source: http://www.propstore.com/

Original Source: http://www.propstore.com/

Original Source: http://www.propstore.com/

 


Alien Covenant: Katherine Waterston plays Daniels

 

 
leading 
 
 
a) Waterston gets the role
 
Katherine Waterston was in a black cab in london when her agent called her and told her that she got the part. She felt as if someone had got the wrong number or there had been a mistake
 
 
b) Chief terraformist
 
The character Daniels the chief terraformist. When they get to the planet, they are pioneers setting up a new world. 
 
Once they get to the planet, she's in charge of making things grow there.
 
There's a massive section of the Covenant ship where all the little plants grown in space greenhouses, and she would be in charge of that.

c) Reluctant Hero
 
There are two things that keep her from getting killed for most of the film, and they are courage and good fortune.
 
Daniels's not a soldier, she's not a martial artist but she is a terraformist.
 
She kept trying to get the men to teach her such things such as how to use a stick like an axe, how to use tools that she would use when they get to the planet to help grow things
 
She is a classic reluctant hero. 
 
Perhaps if she were asked at the beginning of the film if she was particularly courageous or brave, she wouldn't know how to answer that question but it's only when she's tested thagt she discovers what she is capable of..

Aboard the Covenant, they have great big trucks and forklifts.

A lot of what Waterston does in the film is incorporate what Daniels would know how to use.

In the film, felt that they were making her too good at holding the guns and fighting the aliens, and so she tried to make the movements a little bit more pedestrian.


d) Mother of Ripley rumour

She was also aware of the rumour that her character was the mother of Ripley, but she thought about the episode of Fawlty Towers where John Cleese's character tells Manuel that he has to lie about something.  "Whenever anyone asks you, you say, ‘I know nothing.’” and this is what would go through her mind when asked by Journalists about the rumour.

e) Praise from Sigourney 
 
Sigourney came to see the movie, and said some like "You were good" to Waterston.  Whatever she said was nothing extraordinary but indeed it would be something that Waterston would likely hold onto for years, and when she got the job , she thought immediately of that moment

 
 
 
 So, that’s what plays on my mind whenever people ask me these spoiler questions.

  1. Covenant marks Waterston’s second blockbuster in the last six months, following a magical turn as Tina in Fantastic Beasts, but Daniels is a very different character to Beasts’ uptight ’30s wizard. “She’s the chief terraformist. So when they get to the planet, she’s in charge of making things grow there,” Waterston explains. “She’s a classic reluctant hero. I think if she were to be asked at the beginning of the film if she’s particularly courageous or brave, she wouldn’t know how to answer that question.” Instead, Daniels’ strengths are revealed to her over the course of the film. Waterston even pushed to ensure Daniels wasn’t a superhero out of the box. Instead, she uses her existing knowledge and abilities to her advantage. “We’ve got all these great big trucks and forklifts. A lot of what I try to do in the film is incorporate what she would actually know how to use. They were making me too good at holding the gun, and fighting the aliens. I tried to make the movements a little bit more pedestrian.” Following in the footsteps of a character as monumental as Ripley, meanwhile, was a task Waterston didn’t take lightly. “[Sigourney] gave such an incredible performance. It stands the test of time. It’s still so genuine and compelling and fascinating. And certainly, being a girl growing up in the ’80s, those kinds of roles were pretty exciting for young women to see.(Total Film)
  2. SFX: Who is Daniels?

    Catherine Waterston: She’s the chief terraformist on this colonising mission. Once we get there, we’re pioneers setting up a new world. So when they get to the planet, she’s in charge of making things grow there. There’s a massive section of the ship where all of the little plants grow in space greenhouses. So she’s in charge of all of that.

    SFX: How did you prepare for the role?

    Catherine Waterston: There’s two things that keep her from getting killed for most of the film, and they are courage and good fortune. She’s not a soldier. She’s not a martial artist. She’s a terraformist. So I kept trying to get the guys to teach me: how do I use this stick like an axe? How do I use the tools that I would use when we get to the planet to help grow things? They were making me too good, I thought, at holding the gun, and fighting the aliens. I tried to make the movements a little bit more pedestrian.

    SFX: Do you feel much pressure following in the footsteps of sigourney Weaver?
    Catherine Waterston: Only when journalists ask me that! I spend my whole day trying to not think about things like that and then you guys come in and are like, “What are you freaking out about?” [laughs] But truly, you can’t think about these things when you’re working, because the job, the task at hand, is important to me.
    SFX:
    there’s a rumour that you play a character related to ripley...
    Catherine Waterston: Yeah... I’m aware of the rumour. There’s this episode of Fawlty Towers where John Cleese tells Manuel he has to lie about something. “Whenever anyone asks you, you say, ‘I know nothing.’” So, that’s what plays on my mind whenever people ask me these spoiler questions. 
  3. Rumours suggested that Daniels would be Ripley’s mother and, whatever the truth, there are resemblances. Both are rational women transformed by circumstance into gun-toting warriors. Both are shown at some point in singlets, or clomping around in magnetic boots, and each has a problematic relationship with a synthetic colleague. The only shortfall comes in the area of the catchphrase, where Daniels’s multiple efforts (including “I got you, you son-of-a-bitch” and “Let’s kill this fucker!”) are no match for Ripley’s emphatic: “Get away from her, you bitch!
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    Most strikingly, the first note Waterston has to play in the new film is outright panic when technical problems wake her prematurely from hypersleep. The second is grief. “It’s like slamming on the brakes before anyone has the chance to buckle their seat belts. I didn’t know how I would play it or how I could get there, but that’s always the most appealing thing to me. The insecurity is exciting. Maybe I’m also curious about testing my ability.” She widens her eyes. “Seeing if it’s still there.
    Although Daniels is treading in Ripley’s footsteps, or, given that Covenant is set 20-odd years before Alien, forging the path that Ripley will follow, Waterston didn’t talk to Weaver about the part. But the two women have a distant connection. When Waterston was starting out as an actor, she got her first lead role in a play at The Flea, a New York theatre co-founded by Weaver’s husband, Jim Simpson. “Sigourney came to see it and said something like: ‘You were good.’ Nothing extraordinary. But when someone like her says that, you hang on to it for years. When I got this job, I thought immediately of that moment.
    Waterston is big on the idea of all actors as an extended clan, perhaps unsurprisingly for someone whose siblings are in the business, and whose father is Sam Waterston, the veteran from The Killing Fields, Crimes and Misdemeanors and the TV hit Law and Order. Her mother is the former model Lynn Louisa Woodruff. “Acting is a community where you come in and out of each other’s lives. I’m slightly envious of the golden age of Hollywood. It must have been frustrating to be owned by the studio, but it was also like being in a company, working with the same people, and that appeals to me.
    Working On Alien: Covenant, she was reunited with Carmen Ejogo (Fantastic Beasts) and Michael Fassbender, with whom she shared some fraught scenes in Steve Jobs, as well as her old chum Billy Crudup. At one point during our conversation, she leaps up and yanks open the door in response to voices outside. “Billy Crudup, will you shut the fuck up?” she hollers down the hallway. “I’m trying to focus!
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    Crudup sidles into view. “What you doing for dinner tonight,” he purrs. “You want to join us? Me and Danny McBride? You should be so lucky!” What larks. Of course, it’s entirely possible that she could have put on a more vivid display of her need to cultivate actorly intimacy than bounding out of the room to accost a colleague. Possible, yes, but not likely.
    She first saw Crudup when she was 15 in a Broadway production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, which she now credits with confirming in her mind her acting ambitions. “It was the thing that clicked me over to that next level of curiosity.” Clicked? “You know when you’re going up at the start of the rollercoaster and it’s going click-click-click towards the summit? I’d had the initial idea of wanting to act but I didn’t know how I could do it.(https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/11/alien-covenants-katherine-waterston-we-live-in-hypersexualised-yet-totally-prudish-times)
  4. DenOfGeek: The night before, Waterston had asked anyone in the audience with a hip flask of tequila to come forward and share it with her, to quell the frightfulness of seeing Ridley Scott’s latest blood-soaked space horror for the first time. In the interests of keeping things light and pre-coffee friendly, that’s where I opted to start...

    DenOfGeek: Did you have any luck finding some tequila at the premiere yesterday?

    Katherine Waterston:
    I really thought that there were gonna be some proud alcoholics in the audience that would raise their hand when I asked that. I was really disappointed. But I found some vodka.

    DenOfGeek: Oh, okay. Did it help?

    Katherine Waterston:
    Um, yeah, it probably did a little. Ridley gave it to me. He turned to me as the lights went down and went, "Vodka?" It was great.

    DenOfGeek: Are you not normally a watcher of scary films, then?

    Katherine Waterston:
    No, yeah, I can’t tolerate them. I’m a real chicken.

    DenOfGeek: How was it, seeing the film for the fist time?

    Katherine Waterston:
    Um... I think when there’s, um, CGI elements to a film, you can never really know what to expect, because they’re just, they’re visuals that you weren’t exposed to on set, do you know what I mean?

    DenOfGeek: Yeah.

    Katherine Waterston:
    And so I’ve, weirdly, one thing that I found totally mind-blowing was just the opening credits. Just when the title came up, before the credits: space, and a little ship flying through it, you know? Um, it’s nice to have moments of, err, relief from having to look at your own face. So I was really into all of that, all of the shots of spaceships flying around. Yeah.

    DenOfGeek: When you’re acting against a Xenomorph, or any other form of the alien, what do you actually have to look at?

    Katherine Waterston:
    Oh well, I was really just speaking of the spaceship scenes, because, actually, anything that... any scene that you see me in...

    DenOfGeek: Is practical stuff.

    Katherine Waterston:
    As practical as possible, yeah. Really, the only green screens I saw were sort of, like... one day, my favourite stunt... you can barely even see it in the movie, but, I kind of go swinging off the side of this ship, and for a moment, the ship is so low that I’m running on the ground, and then I get scooped back up. Do you remember?

    DenOfGeek: Of course! It’s a very cool moment.

    Katherine Waterston:
    That was my favourite stunt to shoot, because they just pulled me up really really high, and zipped me down, and I ran a few steps, and I zipped back up, and it somehow felt sort of like a Buster Keaton moment or something. It was just so silly to me, when we were shooting it, um, and really fun.

    And that was the only day, really the only moment, where I was alone, surrounded by green screen. And I didn’t need to do anything, just run, so it was still, in a sense, a practical experience, you know? I had the floor beneath me, and so, I didn’t really have to, you know, fake it.

    Katherine Waterston:
    Whenever possible, Ridley gave us stuff to work with. And it’s so much better that way.

    DenOfGeek: I would guess on Fantastic Beasts that is was a bit more green screen-y?

    Katherine Waterston:
    No, same.

    DenOfGeek: Oh, that’s cool!

    Katherine Waterston:
    Yeah, I think it might be, maybe, a bit of a thing of the past. Like, the earlier days of CGI stuff, where they were forcing actors to do everything, you know, looking out into a green abyss. But, um, I think they realised the more stuff you can give them, the better. It’s just something about the way your eye engages. I don’t know. It’s hard to see something that’s not in front of you.

    DenOfGeek: You kind of have to do the whole gamut of emotions here, as well. Was it kind of exhausting to keep up the fear and the dread and the various other things you have to go through?

    Katherine Waterston:
    Yeah, I was wondering if it was going to be difficult to keep, kind of, the anxiety level up all day. Um, I think it may have been, with another director. But because Ridley moves so quickly, the pace on set was really energised all the time, and so, that definitely helped. You know, we weren’t waiting around for the next set up for hours and then, kind of, have to conjure that anxiety again and again. It’s always the stopping and starting that can kind of make that stuff difficult to maintain.

    But there’s a great kind of scrappy focus on the set, with Ridley, because, in that way, he sort of managed to maintain the spirit of a young filmmaker. Even though, obviously, the sets give him a way – the budget’s big – but the feeling is kind of like he’s still got that kind of urgency and impatience and excitement of a young filmmaker. That definitely helped, I think, for all of us in maintaining a kind of constant level of, you know, nervousness and anxiety or whatever.

    And, in terms of the emotional stuff, I don’t know... I mean, I think it was Billy [Crudup, who plays a high-ranking crewmember named Oram] who said, "You know, we’re actors, we do feelings." It’s like, that’s what we do, so it doesn’t feel so bizarre to do that all day.


    DenOfGeek: I saw a video where you were saying that one of your previous directors was sending you taunting emails, about running?

    Katherine Waterston:
    One of my previous directors, yeah, was reminding me of other actresses who run really well. And asking if I’d been doing any running in this film. Saying things like, "Don’t screw it up!" He was like, "Daisy Ridley runs really well, how’s your run going?" [Laughs] So it did kind of make me paranoid!

    DenOfGeek: Was that Paul Thomas Anderson? That would be my guess.

    Katherine Waterston:
    Yeah. Mhmm. It was Paul.

    DenOfGeek: I would guess working with him [which Waterston did on Inherent Vice] and working with Ridley Scott is a very different experience?

    Katherine Waterston:
    Oh yeah, well they definitely have a lot of differences, for sure. Every director is different, but I think... they both seem to be doing the job they should be doing, you know? They both really seem to be energised by what they’re doing and they both seem to be very passionate about it. It’s strange, you know, you don’t always get that feeling on set. But it’s a great... it sets a good tone on set. I guess whatever the director’s energy is is kind of contagious on set, because, um, you know, it’s a hierarchy and we’re all kind of looking to the director for guidance.

    DenOfGeek: You filmed this on the opposite side of the world, in Australia and New Zealand. Did that distance from your normal life help get into the crew’s mind set at all?

    Katherine WaterstonYeah, Iceland and New Zealand are the two places that I’ve ever visited that don’t quite feel like they are on planet Earth. Do you know what I mean?


    DenOfGeek: Yeah.

    Katherine Waterston:
    Striking, extraordinary landscapes. And we began shooting in, um, New Zealand and that really set the tone. All the landscapes and the waterfalls there, and everything. I think, for the whole cast, it placed us in the environment. And I think we were sort of able to use that for the rest of the shoot.

    DenOfGeek: And, finally, is it true that you wanted an Ezra Miller Fantastic Beasts haircut for this?

    Katherine Waterston:
    Not exactly. I loved his haircut, and he didn’t, at first. He was a bit traumatised with his hair. But I thought it made him look like Ian Curtis, who I adore, and I told him and that kind of made him feel better. Um, and near the end of the shoot they were making wigs for all of us in case we had to do pickups later.

    I had just been cast in this, and I asked the hair and makeup department if I could try on his wig. And that’s kind of what got me thinking, um, of lopping it all off. But it’s also like a Joan of Arc thing, and I like the idea of doing something that was just a bit odd-looking, and maybe just mildly futuristic. Um, just a potential future trend. The micro bowl cut, or something. [Laughs] I don’t know!


    DenOfGeek: Katherine Waterston, thank you very much! (http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/katherine-waterston/49247/katherine-waterston-interview-alien-covenant) 
  5. We’re here to talk about the role you’re going to know her for next – Ridley Scott’s latest kickass lead, Daniels, in ‘Alien: Covenant’. ‘She’s a scientist,’ says Waterston. ‘It’s only when she’s tested that she discovers what she is capable of.’

    Were you nervous following in Sigourney Weaver’s footsteps in the ‘Alien’ franchise?

    ‘No. You have to force yourself to not engage with your destructive self-loathing! I was in a black cab in London when my agent called and told me I’d got the part. I always feel like someone’s got the wrong number or there’s been a mistake.’(https://www.timeout.com/london/film/katherine-waterston-i-scare-very-easily-alien-traumatised-me-for-life)