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| Special effects man Shane Mahan and director Fede Alavarez on the Corbelan set witih the alien cocoon |
leading from
a) Adding another stage to the life cycle
Fede and his team thought that they could add something to the alien life cycle without betraying what they deemed as canon, without contradicting anything that happens in the movies, particularly the third one.
He was thinking about the deleted scene fom Alien which had been introduced back into the story in the director's cut, where the viewer would see the alien nest with Brett and Dallas cocooned and the egg shell growing around Brett's remains. (See: Alien: Human To Spore)
He thought that there was more to it even if you accepted Ridley's nest scene or not. He decided tha there was more happening in the ship than the viewer would know about and he thought that was acceptable.
There would be the shock level as this things growls and then it starts to be born from the cocoon with the arms opening.
b) Shane Mahan's point of view
Shane Mahan and his team would execute the scene in a way that Fede thought was flawless, although in the final movie, it's only barely seen
Mahan looked at how in this birthing sequence, there was a hand with the fingers seemingly bent backwards and then they unfold
He thought it was an important moment for that sequence because it was like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon, when it doesn't really have joints or bones, but it's something interesting to look at, and it helped by his understand to tell the storu of how it was emerging or coming alive
c) Fede's explanation behind the biomechanics
The cocoon was near enough blended with the ship, so that the viewer would see the pipes from the ship entering the cocoon as if hey were turning into organic matter.
For whatever reason, Fede thought this justified the biomechanical aspects of the creature as if it were amalgamated the mechanics of the ship into its DNA.
Fede thought that the new generation of audience who hadn't seen tthe films before would say "look at that, it's kind of born out of the mix of the ship and its own DNA"
Fede thought it was wonderful and it would definitely get a moment where the audience said "wow"
- Fede Alvarez: We
thought we could add something without betraying the canon, without
contradicting anything that happens in the movies, particularly in the
first one, particularily the deleted scene from the first one, you see
the eggs on the walls, there's more to it even if you accept that or
not, but I think there's more happening in the ship but we don't know
about it, so I think that's acceptable. Anyhow that shock level as well,
the growling, that's when it starts being born, the opening of the arm,
all those things I think again, I think Shane and his team executed
flawlessly but also, I don't think you get to see it clearly in the
movie but the... the
cocoon is kind of, is kind of blended with the ship so you see the
tubes all sort of, they start running through the wall, they start
turning into organic matter, they turn into cocoon, which for me give
way to justify why this happened, all the biomechanical aspects of the
creature because it almost it's taken the energy, if like in a way the
DNA of the mechanics of the ship, amalgamation ... amalgamated way and
that's why again, for a new generation, a new audience who haven't seen
it, if they see that grow and it's got spikes on the side of its head
they say look at that, it's kind of born out of the mix of the ship in
its own DNA, and so I thought that was cool and that would definitely
get it a good wow moment, and I think obviously the first one has (Perfect Organism: Interviewing Fede Alvarez Part 2, September 2024 (NB
I'm still trying to decipher what Fede is saying word for word, but I
think I've got the basic sense of his statements transcribed at least)
- When asked to name a moment where such an instance occurred, Mahan refers to the close-up of the elongated Xenomorph fingers piercing through the embryonic sac during the Cocoon effect: “In the [Xenomorph] birthing sequence, there’s a hand that the fingers kind of bend backwards and unfold on themselves. That was an important moment for that sequence because it’s like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon, where it doesn’t really have joints or bones, but it’s something interesting to look at, and it helps tell the story of how it is emerging or coming alive.” Adds Mahan, “And we certainly had to get the attack heads, where the tongue is going and attacking into the head of a character. Just getting that timing to make sure that we get that shot correct. It’s a gruesome shot, but it’s an iconic element of the Alien franchise. Someone’s going to get the secondary mouth shot through the eye."(https://www.laweekly.com/building-nightmares-shane-mahan-gives-a-behind-the-scenes-dive-into-the-special-effects-of-alien-romulus/)
d) Artwork by Dane Hallett
d.i) Using Giger's earlier version Brett egg as seen in Giger's Alien book
Dane Hallett: Early exploration of the cocoon where I tried to incorporate elements from Alien. ( https://www.instagram.com 2nd September 2024)
d.ii) Painting of the cocooned form
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_art/ |
d.iii) Using Giger's painting of the cocooned Brett as a starting point
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_art/ |
d.iv) Cocoon illustrations starting off with the Brett Egg from Alien for reference
d.v) Cocoon illustrations
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_art/ |
d.vi) Alien in the birth sack
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_art/ |
d.vii) Cocoon illustrations
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_art/ |
d.viii) Cocoon
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_art/ |
d.ix) Cocoon
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_art/ |
d.x) Cocoon
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_art/ |
d.xi) Alien in birth sack superimposed over the cocoon
d.xii) The cocoon where the wall and the ceiling meet
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_art/ |
d.xiv) Sculpture of the cocoon
- Dane Hallett: Partly spooked by the talent already on board Romulus, and my admiration for Fede, I was choking on the cocoon shape, trying to get it just right.After many drawings, I sculpted one out of frustration, photographed it, then painted over it.Here is that rough sculpt and then the photos of the final one on set taken by Fede a few months later.Did I say I loved this job, already!? (Instagram, 3rd September 2024)
e.i) Making the cocoon
Alvarez explained to Mahan that this was a new stage of the lifecycle that the audience had never seen before, Perhaps it was just unique to this particular ship, or it might be unique to
this particular story. Perhaps even it might have been something that was just never
seen in previous movies
Legacy Effects built a xenomorph suit for the cocoon scene. It was a secondary suit for the birthing scene. The moment required a lot of dexterity to come out of the cocoon. The best way to do that was with a suit actor.
- Alien: Romulus shows a previously unseen step in the alien lifecycle by having the full-grown, final-stage xenomorph emerge from a cocoon. An acid-shooting cocoon. Mahan recalled Álvarez's explanation, "This is a new stage of the lifecycle we've never seen before, and it may be just unique to this particular ship, or it might be unique to this particular story. Or maybe it was something that was just never seen in previous movies.’” (https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships?)
- Legacy Effects built a xenomorph suit for the cocoon scene. “That
secondary suit was for the birthing scene. That moment needed a lot of
dexterity to come out [of the cocoon]. The best way to do that was with a
suit actor.”(https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/alien-romulus-behind-the-scenes-practical-effects-with-fx-legends-creating-xenomorphs-facehuggers-chestbursters-rook-offspring-spaceships?)
e.ii) Creation of the cocoon with tongue like features on the side
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e.iii) Operating the remote controlled mechanisms of the cocoon with the tongue like forms opening out
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| Mike West operates the cable-driven mechanical 'petals' of the xenomorph cocoon. Images courtesy Legacy Effects |
e.iv) The closed cocoon lit from the inside
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| The completed cocoon with glowing internal lighting effects. Image courtesy Legacy Effects.) |
f) Dane Hallett visits the set
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_art/ |
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| Source https://www.instagram.com/dane_hallett_ |
