This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Alien: Romulus.
Summary
- Fede Álvarez used Ian Holm’s likeness in Alien: Romulus out of fairness, as other actors were brought back to the franchise.
- Álvarez made sure to design a different character with Holm’s likeness, rather than attempting to reproduce Ash.
- Holm’s family was on board with the decision, as the late actor felt Hollywood had turned a cold shoulder to him in his later years.
Alien: Romulus director Fede Álvarez addresses why his film uses the likeness of the late Ian Holm. In the original Alien film, Holm played Ash, a science officer later revealed to be a synthetic working for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.
While speaking with Variety, Álvarez explained why he decided to use Holm’s likeness in Alien: Romulus and how he ensured it was done respectfully. Check out his comments below:
It was out of fairness in a way. I felt it was so unfair that Lance Henriksen made many appearances, and Michael Fassbender. And I felt it was crazy that Ian Holm was never back.
Talking with Ridley, both of us came up with this idea that what if it has the likeness of Ian Holm — which is different from being Ian Holm or even being Ash. We would’ve never dared to reproduce that because you cannot reproduce with any technology, the talent of an actor. You can never capture the nuance of someone’s performance and their choices. So we designed a different character, but it shares the same likeness.
Then the first thing I did was personally call his widow, family and kids to make sure everybody was on board with this idea. His widow told me that Ian felt, in the last 10 years of his life, Hollywood turned a cold shoulder to him and that he didn’t get many offers. And she said he would have loved to be invited back into “Alien,” because he loved Ridley and he loved that franchise.
I remember someone saying, “This is it, they’re going to replace us as actors.” And I said, “Dude, if I hire you, it costs me the money of one person. To make it this way, you have to hire literally 45 people. And you still have to hire an actor who does the performance!”
More to come…
Source: Variety
This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
