Alien: Romulus director says late actor’s family gave blessing to resurrect him using AI

‘We did it all with a lot of respect,’ the filmmaker said

Fede Álvarez has said Ian Holm’s family gave him permission to use the late actor’s likeness in Alien: Romulus.

The director, 46, used generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology to resurrect the Lord of the Rings star – who died in 2020 – for a cameo in the sci-fi prequel as a robot called Rook, who looks and sounds almost identical to Holm’s original Alien character, Ash.

Álvarez’ decision to artificially cast the late actor in his latest project has been slammed by critics as an aesthetic failure and has been accused of being a disrespect to his memory.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Álvarez addressed the controversy and claimed Holm’s widow, Sophie de Stempel, had given him her blessing to include her late husband in Romulus.

“In the last 10 years after The Hobbit Ian Holm felt like Hollywood had turned its back on him and his widow felt he would have loved to be a part of this. He loved this character in particular,” he said.

“We did it all with a lot of respect and always with the authorisation of his family, his children and his widow, who said, ‘We would love to see his likeness again.’”

The filmmaker confirmed that between 80 and 90 per cent of the shots of Holms were created using animatronic – a mechanical puppet – supplemented with computer generated imagery (CGI).

Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson in ‘Alien: Romulus’ (AP)

Meanwhile, AI technology was employed to make another actor’s voice sound more like Holm.

Álvarez disputed claims using AI in filmmaking will lead to the eventual replacement of actors, noting the lengthy inconvenience of the practice.

“Doing it this way requires a team of so many people and so many parts to get it done that it’s never going to be really convenient,” he said.

Spaeny in ‘Alien: Romulus' (Fox)

The debate comes after Álvarez recently revealed he was recently banned from Reddit for “impersonating” himself.

The filmmaker briefly joined a subreddit forum dedicated to discussing the Alien films, in order to interact with fans of the movie.

However, moderators flagged his account for supposedly lying about his identity, and he received a notification informing him that he was “permanently banned” from the subreddit.

“Got banned from the ALIEN subreddit for apparently trying to impersonate, myself,” Álvarez wrote on X/Twitter, alongside a laughing emoji and a screenshot of the message he was sent.

A moderator subsequently revealed that the director had been “immediately reinstated and had a very friendly conversation with us”, describing him as an “awesome guy”.