The Oscar-nominated VFX supervisor of Alien: Romulus explains how the movie blends practical effects with CGI. Evil ᴅᴇᴀᴅ director Fede Alvarez took over the long-running Alien franchise for 2024’s newest entry, a typically action-packed deep space thriller, featuring loads of classic creatures, along with some surprising new creations. The movie’s VFX were indeed one of its stand-out elements, leading to an Oscar nomination for the team behind all those Facehuggers, Xenomorphs and other terrifying extra-terrestrial menaces.

Alien: Romulus VFX supervisor Eric Barba recently spoke to ScreenRant in connection to the movie’s well-earned Oscar nomination in the Best Visual Effects category, and discussed how the film blended CGI with practical effects in creating its monsters. Barba began by talking about the film’s director, Alvarez, and how his vision influenced the decision to do a lot of things practically:

Well, Fede has great vision, and he knows that in a horror film, you have to really get your actors engaged, and you have to feel how tense they are, how scared they are, and all those little micro moments in their eyes, and the only way to really do that is if they’re in the moment. And to get them in the moment, we needed to build as much practical as possible.

Getting the actors to really feel the tension of being aboard an alien-infested spaceship meant keeping things as literally dark as possible, as Barba next explained:

Some of the things we’ve had conversations about, that maybe don’t come up as much, are the little details. Like, for example, the giant hallway that we use when they go back and forth, we didn’t put green screen or blue screen outside of it. We put black, and we kept it dark and we kept everything just so that the feeling on set was I was in this dark, cold spaceship, and that goes for everything. The cockpits, we put black out in front instead of blue or green. We always tried to keep the actors in the moment.

Making the actors react more viscerally to their environment meant creating practical monsters as well, and that even went for Alien: Romulus’ most memorable new creature, the towering Offspring:

And then, certainly with the puppets, the Facehuggers, the chestburster, so they were seeing what they were and reacting to it. You have a Xenomorph in your face, literally, with its splatter going all over you. How can you not be in that moment? And The Offspring, the actor that played it was terrifying in person, honestly. Because once you’re in full makeup and you’re just kind of staring up at this seven-foot-ten creature, it’s unbelievable.

Barba then detailed how CGI was used to add digital monsters to the real ones, filling the screen with an ᴀssortment of outer space horrors:

So that was paramount, and once you get that, then everyone feels like they’re in the movie. And then, obviously, with other visual effects, we’re able to embellish. We need more Facehuggers, and we need more Xenomorphs, and we’re in space, all those things. But it was for the actors, primarily, to get them involved and to feel like they’re there.

What This Means For Alien: Romulus

The Alien Franchise Is Known For Its Great Effects

Ridley Scott set a high effects standard with the original 1979 Alien, executing memorable visuals on a relatively small budget, the movie going on to win a Best Visual Effects Oscar. James Cameron then came along to direct Aliens, not just matching the benchmark set by the original film, but surpᴀssing it, at least in terms of quanтιтy. Aliens made it 2-for-2 for the franchise by also winning the effects Oscar.

Those classic films established an effects legacy that every subsequent Alien franchise movie has tried to live up to, Alien: Romulus being no exception. Barba and his team unquestionably pulled off some memorable effects in their movie, snagging a deserved Best Visual Effects nomination, the first for the franchise since Alien3. Part of the movie’s nomination-worthy recipe, as Barba explained, was a thoughtful feel for when to go real, and when to incorporate CGI.

Our Take On Alien: Romulus’ Visual Effects

The Movie Delivers The Goods Visually

Whether Alien: Romulus triumphs on Oscar night or not, the VFX team can be proud their work snagged the fourth Academy Award nomination in their department in franchise history. The latest Alien movie may indeed have its flaws, but there’s no doubt it delivers in terms of its visuals, giving viewers more monsters than ever to feast their eyes on.

Barba and company’s decision to go practical with a lot of Alien: Romulus’ effects was indeed a good one. The blend of real and CGI not only helped the actors get more into the moment, it aided viewers in experiencing a more visceral thrill. An Alien movie with only digital slime and goop would indeed be a disappointing experience, but thankfully Alvarez and his fellow creatives understood that sometimes, real is better.