The Offspring fromAlien: Romulusis one of the most unique horror movie creations of the year — but how much of that creation was CGI and how much was practical effects? Right up to its third act,Alien: Romulusis a really solidAlienmovie with engaging characters, exhilarating action sequences, and terrifying jump scares. But in its final act, it goes to a whole other level of awesomeness with the reveal of the Offspring. After pregnant Kay injects herself withthe Prometheus gooand the other survivors get back to the ship, she gives birth to a horrifying hybrid.
This year’s horror offerings have brought both underwhelming monster designs, like the glittery disco-ball demon fromApartment 7A, and unforgettably unholy creations, like Monstro Elisasue fromThe Substance.Alien: Romulus’ Offspringfalls into the latter category; it’s one of the horror genre’s most frightening sights of the decade so far. Part of what makes the Offspring so unsettling is how real it looks; it looks as real and tangible as Cailee Spaeny or David Jonsson. How much of the Offspring was a practical effect and how much was created with CGI?
The Offspring Was Mostly Created Using Practical Effects
It Was Really There On The Set With The Actors
The Offspring was created almost entirely with practical effects. It would’ve been easy to create the monster with CGI, but it wouldn’t have been as scary or had as much weight on-screen. Instead, the special effects team behindAlien: Romuluswas committed to bringing the Offspring to life using practical methods. Legacy Effects — the studio behind the special effects in such blockbusters asAvatar,The Avengers, andPacific Rim— created the prosthetics and makeup required to make the Offspring a reality inAlien: Romulus. It wasa full-body suit enhanced with additional makeup.
8 Key Details About The Offspring’s Design In Alien: Romulus You May Have Missed
Alien: Romulus introduces a terrifying new villain known as The Offspring, but its creepy design actually has a lot of connections to the franchise.
Alien: Romulusdirector Fede Álvarezhas released a shocking behind-the-scenes video from the set (viaComic Book Resources) that shows the Offspring hanging out next to Spaeny in between takes. It’s not an actor wearing a greenscreen spandex suit with ping pong balls glued all over their faces; it’s the ghastly monster seen in the movie. Apart from a couple of embellishments,the Offspring looked almost exactly the same on the set as it does in the actual film. The black eyes, the gray skin, and the razor-sharp claws are all there in the flesh.
The Offspring Is Played By Robert Bobroczkyi In Alien: Romulus
Bobroczkyi Is A Former College Basketball Player Who Stands At 7'7" Tall
Not only was the Offspring a real practical effect featured on the set in all its glory; it was even played by a human actor. This is a franchise tradition going back to the very beginning; inthe original 1979Alienmovie, the xenomorph was played by Bolaji Badejo. InAlien: Romulus, the xenomorph is played by Trevor Newlin, but the Offspring is played by Romanian former basketball player Robert Bobroczkyi.Bobroczkyi stands at 2.31 meters tall (seven feet and seven inches), making him one of the tallest people in the world.
Bobroczkyi’s role as the Offspring in Alien: Romulus marks his acting debut.
Bobroczkyi was born in 2000 and moved to the United States in 2016. He went to the college-preparatory school SPIRE Institute and Academy in Geneva, Ohio, and played college basketball for Rochester Christian University in Rochester Hills, Michigan, through the 2021-23 season. In high school, Bobroczkyi wore U.S. size 17 shoes and had a 140 cm (57”) inseam. He speaks Romanian, Hungarian, English, Serbian, and Italian. Bobroczkyi’s role as the Offspring inAlien: Romulusmarks his acting debut. To play the part, he wore the full-body prosthetic suit created by Legacy Effects.
How Alien: Romulus Used CGI To Enhance The Offspring
The Tail Was Added With CGI (& The Mouth Seems To Have Been Digitally Enhanced)
The Offspring wasn’t a 100% practical invention; it also took some CG effects to bring the monster to the screen. The only part of the Offspring that Legacy Effects couldn’t create was its tail. Their practical prosthetic suit has everything on it — the bald Engineer head, the soulless black eyes, the bloodthirsty talons — but it left off the tail.The tail had to be added on laterwith CGI. The Offspring’s mouth also seems to have been digitally enhanced with CGI effects. The suit had a mouth, but it looks like it’s been touched up.
20th Century Studios is already developing a sequel toAlien: Romulusfollowing its $350 million box office success.
For the most part, practical methods are much more effective than CGI. But in the case of the Offspring’s sinister smile, CGI might’ve been the better way to go. Smiling through a prosthetic mask might not have come off as totally organic.By using CGI to enhance the Offspring’s grin, it slips into the uncanny valley and looks slightly inhuman, which works beautifullyfor the terror of the scene. What makes the human-xenomorph hybrid so terrifying is that it has human qualities, but it doesn’t quite look human — and the uncanny-valley smile really sells that.
Alien: Romulus' Practical Offspring Returns The Franchise To Its Roots
The Alien Franchise Was Built On Practical Effects
Álvarez and his team were committed to using as many practical effects as possible inAlien: Romulusfrom the very beginning (viaThe Hollywood Reporter). The special effects artists that Álvarez brought aboard to work onRomulushad worked on James Cameron’sAliensway back in the mid-1980s. Back then, they were all in their 20s, working under the great Stan Winston. Now, Álvarez says, they’re all “at the top of their game.” They used puppets and animatronics to bring all the creatures to life. Álvarez despises greenscreen filmmaking, so he insisted on using practical sets and monsters.
80%
Alien: Romulus' RT Audience Score
85%
Álvarez clarified that he’s “not an anti-CG guy”— he created his own CGI effects for his debut short,Panic Attack!— but it all depends on what works best for a given shot, and inAlien: Romulus, more often than not, what worked best was the practical techniques. “When it comes to face-to-face encounters,” Álvarez said, “nothing beats the real thing.” This has been the ethos of theAlienfranchise from the outset.Ridley Scott and the legendary H.R. Giger used practical effects to bring the xenomorph, the Nostromo, and LV-426 to lifein the original film.
“When it comes to face-to-face encounters,” Álvarez said, “nothing beats the real thing.”
As the franchise went on, it increasingly ditched practical effects in favor of CGI. In 2017’sAlien: Covenant, the crew of the titular spaceship are terrorized by fully CG xenomorphs. The monsters still look scary, because they’re going off Giger’s iconic designs, but since they’re not really there, the audience doesn’t feel the immediate threat of a tangible presence. After a couple of weightless, CGI-riddled sequels, it marks a nice return to form for the franchise that the Offspring was created with mostly practical effects inAlien: Romulus.
Alien: Romulus
Cast
Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.
