Before 'Evil Dead' and 'Don't Breathe' director Fede Álvarez starts shooting a new movie, he gets all of his cast and crew together for a classic South American asado, a barbecue social event prominent in his native Uruguay and bordering country Argentina.
Álvarez's newest film 'Alien: Romulus' was no exception, as Aileen Wu, the actress who plays Navarro in the film, told us in an exclusive interview with The Latin Times.
"Fede did that I think like a day or two before we started filming and it was such a treat. He told me that... it's a tradition of his to do this before every one of his films, and it just speaks to... the kind of director and leader he is, he very much takes care of the people that he's working with and kind of hones this real family, warmth, community feeling within because it's such a big set."
'Romulus' like its predecessors in the 'Alien' franchise follows an ensemble cast of space travelers hunted and terrorized by the Xenomorph, an artificially-bred monster that has endured in pop culture for the past 45 years. And with any ensemble, the chemistry between the cast is paramount to the success of the film, especially if it's within the horror genre.
To generate that kind of chemistry between her castmates, including 'Civil War' and 'Priscilla''s Cailee Spaeny and 'The Last of Us' and 'Superman''s Isabela Merced, Wu and the other actors had "a lot of movie nights, a lot of karaoke. And just like, wandering around the streets of Budapest and keeping each other company."
'Romulus' is Wu's big-screen debut, which is a large leap from the plays and short films she had been acting in. Theater is very much dependent on sets and props as opposed to the computer-generated effects most sci-fi films nowadays rely on to tell their stories.
However, Álvarez's commitment to building real sets and using practical effects wherever possible helped Wu hone in her first feature film performance, adding, "Oh my God, it was so helpful because I didn't have to fake anything. It felt like I was still on stage because, you know, everything is built up... You trust that you stand there, and the camera goes on. And that picture by itself is enough to convey a feeling of where they are and what is about to happen."
And while she says she didn't pick up any Spanish from working with Álvarez or Peruvian co-star Merced, she understood what it feels like to find someone "who can share their mother tongue with you."
She added, "I grew up speaking Chinese, and, I know for myself, during my time at NYU, when I could find Chinese collaborators, that it was something very special because, you know, being an immigrant, whenever someone shows up who can share that mother tongue with you, you kind of feel like you're bringing a little piece of home on your international, you know, journey to try to make it in this industry."
You can watch the full interview here where we talk about Aileen's next project and her 'Alien' hot take. Alien: Romulus is available to purchase on digital platforms and streaming exclusively on Hulu now.
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