8 things we learned about the new Alien movie, according to its director

There’s a new Alien movie coming out this year and ShortList has seen a number of scenes from it. In short: prepare to be scared, really scared.

Alien: Romulus, to give it its full name, is a movie that looks like the perfect hybrid of both Alien and Aliens. And, as you will read, there has been a lot of love and dedication put in by director Fede Álvarez to make a movie that feels like it is from that film era.

Here, in his own words, Álvarez - who has already created two horror classics in Don’t Breathe and his Evil Dead remake - tells us all about his love for the franchise and what he hopes to bring...

1. Alien: Romulus has characters that care about each other

"As much as we love the characters from the first movie there's no meaningful relationship with them.

"You don't know how they feel about each other, or who is friends... there's none of that. There's no time for that.

"A lot of times in this movie we figured out a way to tell a compelling horror, action thriller, and still get a good story in there. That was kind of the whole beginning of making this film."

2. Álvarez tried his and at everything during the shoot

"I'm so involved with it all. I really make my movies super handmade. I am there under the floor puppeteering. And a lot of the things you see, every Facehugger on the water that you see, is me shaking this piece of rubber and trying to get something that looks good.

"It’s part of the job, in a way, to make sure that the film feels authentic, that it feels like you are watching an Alien movie that already existed."

3. The first meeting with Ridley Scott didn’t go quite as planned

"It was terrifying. I remember the first call with [Ridley Scott] to tell him what I wanted to do. I was about to go into the call and someone from the studio said, ‘don't pitch him a story, just give him the vibe of what you want in this world’.

"So I'm super nervous and give him the vibe of the whole thing. And he’s like, ‘really?’ ‘You don't have a story. I haven't heard a story here.’

"I was thinking, ‘I have a story! But someone advised me not to tell the story!’ So at that point, I couldn't say, ‘well, by the way, I do have a story’. So the first call didn't go so well. Then we had a call that went better, where he heard the story… and loved it."

4. Álvarez wanted Alien: Romulus to be as real as possible

"Hollywood can sometimes be lazy. I say lazy in the fact that when they do CG, it's not because it's cheaper it's actually more expensive. It's just quicker. It saves you a headache on set. But I didn't get myself into this art, just to say, ’well, the monster in this next scene comes through the door’ and we just shoot the door.

"When you bring the one ton animatronic, you better believe it's gonna suck all of your day to try to get it to go through the door. But, man, when you see it, you're there."

5. We now know when the movie takes place… kind of

"It made sense as a premise that it needed to take place a few years after the first one. So while it takes place between one and two, let's just say it takes place after one.

"It has the DNA of both movies combined, visually, aesthetically and story wise, but it is roughly 20 years after Alien,

"Actually, there's a date when you watch a movie, so pay attention. There's a screen that pops up with a date and a year, and there you go."

6. The movie is as canon as it can be for an Aliens movie

"I wouldn't dare to change anything, to go against anything that is canon, not at all. I really tried to make an effort as much as I can to respect the canon, not only of the movies, but of the novels and the comics. It's hard, because there's contradictions in the same world, once you expand to the novels and everything.

"If there are any changes, there's an explanation why in this movie. Like when it comes to the creatures. I don't want to spoil too much of it, but whatever change there are with the Facehuggers being slightly different, it is justified in our story."

7. Movies are like a religion to Álvarez

I don't make a lot of movies. I don't feel the world needs another random movie but this is special. This needs to be made.

"I think the whole movie experience, for me, it's sacred. It's truly sacred. When people go to the cinema and the logos start, it’s almost a religion. You go there and think, ‘maybe this is it. This is the one that will stay with me forever.' Because it has happened to all of us before."

8. Álvarez has tried to make his Alien movie as grounded as possible

"When the movie opens, there's a shot of space for the first few minutes. There's no sound whatsoever. So we really tried to push a lot of things to be as realistic as they can be. I think Alien is grounded in science fiction, it’s not fantasy.

"If we suddenly felt like we were indulging too much in something that felt like it was crossing to the Star Wars side then we would pull back. It's trying to be grounded as it can be.

"That's why, at the same time, Alien lends itself to animatronics, because I prefer the slow presence of the alien, like the original movie, instead of too much of the jumpy ninja that happened in later movies. It's more like a Nosferatu, Dracula presence than just some guy that is angry and screaming all the time."

Alien: Romulus is in cinemas 16 August, courtesy of 20th Century Studios. All images 20th Century Studios.

• These are some Alien facts you may not know about...