a) The fourth act
All of Fede's movies have a fourth act. It was the way he wrote with his writing partner
There was a moment where the movie feels as if it's over and then there's a fourth act. He even dared say that Aliens has a bit of a fourth act with its last set piece.
That indeed followed Ridley's fourth act aboard the Narcissus at the end of Alien
But it was when one thinks that all is done and the movie could have ended, but you have a last set piece that tends to go to extremes.
When they got into the end of the third act, and everyone working with Fede appeared to be saying "Okay, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be."
He could easily have been taking his jacket off and rolling up his sleeves, because he's about to take he film to the next step to the end.
b) The Offspring
b.i) The man in the suit
At the end of the movie, the character Kay gives birth to a human-Xenomorph hybrid creature that’s credited as “the Offspring”, played by basketball player Robert Bobroczkyi
b.ii) Comparison to Blade II
The Blade films were referenced at some point in the designs.
The response was "Wait, is that…it reminds me of that guy, the one who opened his mouth into a double jaw that Guillermo created for Blade II. Fantastic"
b.iii) Comparison to Alien Resurrection
He also realised that in a way, the way that this abomination is birthed and stands tall seemed similar to the idea of the Newborn in Alien Resurrection
c) Mythology based upon the Alien prequels
c.i) The semen of the Alien beast
He actually had become focused on the mythology of Ridley Scott's prequels "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant" which explains the genetic building blocks of humans and aliens both.
He hoped that people picked up on the Engineer element of this
The idea as far as Alvarez could understand was that the black goo is the root of the whole idea introduced in
‘Prometheus’ that it was the root of all life, but also
particularly the alien beasts come out of that thing, which means it has
to be inside them. It was as if it was the semen of the alien beast.
It hadn't been seen before but Fede decided that it was probably a new species, because that mix never happened before.
Variety
- Variety: In it, Kay (Isabela Merced) gives birth to an unholy hybrid of human and alien DNA; not only does the creature — branded “the offspring” by the filmmakers — resemble the Engineers, the alien race that conceived humankind, but it also echoes the silhouette of the humanoid xenomorph that a cloned version of Ripley births in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 1997 film “Alien Resurrection.” Surprisingly, Álvarez says he actually hadn’t thought of the latter connection until his son pointed it out at the film’s premiere. “He had recently watched with a buddy of his all of the ‘Alien’ movies, and when the offspring comes out, he goes, ‘It’s like in “Resurrection.”‘ I hadn’t really processed that that way — but it’s true, it’s this abomination that comes out,” the director says, explaining that he’d actually been more focused on the mythology of Scott’s prequels “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” which explore the genetic building blocks of humans and aliens both. “I was hoping that people picked up the whole Engineer part of it,” he says. (https://variety.com/2024/film/features/alien-romulus-ending-director-fede-alvarez-resurrecting-ash-1236107526/)
- Fede Alvarez: The black goo is the root of the whole thing that was introduced in ‘Prometheus’,” It’s the root of all life, but also particularly the xenomorphs come out of that thing, which means it has to be inside them. It’s the xenomorphs’ semen, almost. So we thought, if it affects your DNA, and the Engineers clearly came out of the same root of life, it made complete sense to me that [the offspring of a human and a xenomorph] was going to look like that. (https://variety.com/2024/film/features/alien-romulus-ending-director-fede-alvarez-resurrecting-ash-1236107526/)
- Variety: Far from reconciling the various plot lines and chronologies, Álvarez admits that the resulting life form probably raises more questions than answers. “It’s probably a new species, because that mix never happened before.(https://variety.com/2024/film/features/alien-romulus-ending-director-fede-alvarez-resurrecting-ash-1236107526/)
- Fede Alvarez: There were a few creatures from Blade that were referenced at some point [when working on Alien: Romulus], At one point we were doing something very specific [the creature at the end] and everyone was like, “Wait, is that…it reminds me of that guy, the one who opened his mouth into a double jaw that Guillermo created for Blade II. Fantastic". (https://remezcla.com/film/alien-romulus-director-fede-alvarez-explains-guillermo-del-toro-easter-egg-exclusive/ 08.16.24)
- LA Weekly: One of the biggest surprises in Romulus is
the third act unveiling of a brand new alien offspring. After a
pregnant character injects herself with the extraterrestrial substance
derived from the creatures by the corporation, she gives birth to an
abomination: a human-Xenomorph hybrid. “It had to feel childlike,” Mahan
says, recounting Álvarez’s direction. “It had to have a newborn
teenager feel. He wanted it to have acne, and he wanted it to have a
feeling of what an awkward teenager would be like, and sort of a baby’s
brain. It was all these interesting things because it grows from baby to
adult in about fifteen minutes of screen time. Very fast and very, very
frightening.” Together, Savannah Suderman, Glenn Hanz and Andy Bergholtz
led the charge in sculpting thirteen individual prosthetic pieces that
were all later applied to actor Robert Bobroczkyi’s body during
shooting. “We wanted to have as much of his real skin showing through as
possible,” clarifies Mahan, “And once he’s painted, he was supposed to
have shades of the Prometheus
engineers.” Legacy also sculpted a tongue for reference, providing a
reference for the last-minute CGI addition of a tail sprouting out in
real time, which gives the creature a final eerie touch. (https://www.laweekly.com/building-nightmares-shane-mahan-gives-a-behind-the-scenes-dive-into-the-special-effects-of-alien-romulus/)
- Hollywood Reporter: Isabela Merced
told me about her really “disgusting scene” six months ago, and then
you also teased it in our last chat. Well, part of me wondered at a
certain point if it got cut, but then it eventually happened in all its
glory. Kay (Merced) gave birth to a human-Xenomorph hybrid that’s
credited as “the Offspring.” How did this big swing come to be? And how
did Ridley and co. react to it?
Fede Alvarez: All my movies have a fourth act. It’s the way we write. There’s a moment where the movie feels like it’s over, and then there’s a fourth act, which is fitting because Alien has a fourth act as well. You could even argue that Aliens has a bit of a fourth act with its last set piece. It’s when you think it’s all done and the movie could have ended, but it just gives you a last set piece that tends to go to really extreme places.
Last night, I felt like that’s what was happening. We got into the end of the third act and everybody was relaxing and going, “Okay, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be.” But if they turned around and looked at me, I’m taking my jacket off and rolling up my sleeves, because I’m about to really give it to them and go where it has to go. And, by contrast, it hopefully feels terrifying and intense. I could do that the whole movie, but it would be unbearable. It would be too much. It would be one of those experiences where you go, “I can’t do that again.” But, because of that good dose at the end, it hopefully gets you out of the theater with your heart beating. I’m looking to make you feel things and give you emotions that stay with you.(https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/alien-romulus-ending-offspring-fede-alvarez-1235978411)
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