"Alien: Romulus" Used AI to Bring Back Dead Actor

Was that really necessary?

Body Snatchers

The "Alien" horror franchise is back with another blockbuster. And really, would it be a post-"Aliens" sequel without a little controversy sowing division among fans and critics?

Technically, "Alien: Romulus," which hit US theaters last week, is an interquel: it takes place between the events of the first and second movies, following a different band of spacefarers who run into a dreaded Xenomorph.

And in an unexpected callback to the original "Alien," it uses a bit of what's being derided online as "digital necromancy" to resurrect the visage of British actor Ian Holm, who portrayed Ash, a crew member who was secretly a type of unnervingly human android known as a "synthetic." The likeness of Holm, who passed away in 2020, is used to portray another android called Rook.

On its own, it's already a questionable decision that caused a stir once fans caught wind of the 'cameo.' But a new revelation about how this performance was achieved is set to fan the flames further. According to a Los Angeles Times interview with the creators of the movie, they used generative AI to make actor Daniel Betts, who provided the voice of Rook, to sound more like Holm. Some moviegoers are appalled by the news, highlighting the contentious place of AI in film and other creative industries.

"There is zero reason for this character to be [Holm]," tweeted one fan. "This just hurts everyone."

With All Due Respect

In the interview, director Fede Álvarez defended the decision. From the way he tells it, most of Rook's performance was done with an animatronic that looked like Holm, which was manipulated by puppeteers. CGI enhancements were then used to touch up its appearance, with Betts providing facial capture, and eventually the generative AI-tuned voice work.

"We're not bringing someone back to life and saying, 'Ian would have done it that way,'" Alvarez told the LA Times. "He would have obviously done it differently. We had an actor who was on the set, who worked on the dialogue, who worked with the actors. It's not like we skipped hiring an actor."

Alvarez also says that Holm's family were okay with the decision, and argues that it was done to honor his role in the Alien franchise.

"We did it all with a lot of respect and always with the authorization of his family, his children and his widow, who said, 'We would love to see his likeness again,'" he told the newspaper.

Certainly, "Romulus" isn't the first blockbuster to use digital effects to bring back dead actors. In fact, it's not even the first big production to use generative AI.

Still, to see the two used in tandem raises major concerns about AI's role in a creative industry, since the technology has the potential to displace the artists and actors who work in it, to mangle the legacy of dead performers who have no say in how they're imitated by the tech, and also come with unresolved copyright concerns.

Arguably, this is one of the most significant uses of generative AI in a major blockbuster yet. "Romulus," then, could be a litmus test for how the technology gets used in movies in the future.

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