One of the biggest criticisms that Alien: Romulus faced upon its release was that Ian Holm's CGI was terrible, but that seems to have been tweaked for the home version.
I'm really not a fan of the trend over the past decade of including actors in sequels to classic movies through the use of CGI because they've died in the intervening years. It almost always looks bad and veers directly into the uncanny valley, and last year's Alien: Romulus was no different, in which Ian Holm played a new android, Rook, based on his character A. Well, a robot from the original 1979 Alien. Fans immediately disliked it, not only because of how bad the effects were, but also because it felt wrong to bring an actor back. But it turns out the effects have been updated for the home version, and director Fede Alvarez spoke to Empire magazine about them.
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“We just didn't have enough time in post-production to do it,” Alvarez explained in the interview. He went on to say that he was “not 100 percent happy with some of the shots where you Might feel a little more so I don't blame anyone who reacts negatively “We fixed it for home release,” the director noted, saying “We're better prepared for release now. I convinced the studio that we needed to spend money and make sure we gave the companies involved in the production the money.” It’s much better to do it at the right time and do it right.”
Apparently, there's actually an animatronic based on Holm's likeness from The Lord of the Rings, and Alvarez said that in the home version, they're “going back to the puppet more. It's a lot better.”
Alien Romulus – Rook CGI Update Blu-ray & Digital
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But personally, I'm not so sure. A comparison of the Blu-ray version and the Prime Video version (which appears to be the original movie version) shared on Reddit shows changes between the two, some of which are minor, but many of which cast more shadows on his face. For the most part, it's still pretty incredible, and honestly it would be a mistake to bring the actor back in this way. Now let's stop that, shall we Hollywood?
