The Alien franchise is a sprawling universe with eight films, including crossover hits like Alien vs. Predator. The latest addition to the franchise, Alien: Romulus, is a fresh and promising entry to the saga that’s creating significant buzz.
Aileen Wu, who brings the character Navarro to life, had to navigate many many challenges to make her role truly shine. In a recent interview, she peeled back the curtain on the intense preparation and obstacles she faced, revealing just how much effort went into her standout performance.
The Scary Things Aileen Wu Was Warned About Before Taking the Alien: Romulus Role
Alien: Romulus is set two decades after the original and takes its fans into a gripping adventure with Rain, and her team of space colonists. What starts as a routine scavenging mission at an abandoned station quickly escalates into terror when they come face-to-face with the deadly face-huggers.
In a chat with Variety, Wu shared the intriguing story of how she was introduced to the role. Aileen Wu, making her feature film debut, takes on the role of Navarro, a spaceship pilot who faces some harrowing moments with these extraterrestrial threats.
The team provided such vivid and unsettling details about the role that it initially threw her off. Despite the chilling nature of the project, Wu embraced the challenge and said yes, making her first feature film a particularly memorable experience. She said,
During the call, I felt like he was trying to psych me out: “You know, you’re going to be covered in blood. You’re going to be sitting in this hole for eight hours. You can’t get out. You’re going to have this creature sitting on your face for a long time. You can’t get claustrophobic, are you claustrophobic?” I’m like, “No, I’m not claustrophobic.”
Things moved at lightning speed after that, and it was a whirlwind to take in. Despite the rapid pace and intensity, she’s thrilled to have landed the role. As she continued saying,
I used to have a big claustrophobia problem back in high school. The next morning, my agent got the call from the studio and that’s when I got the official offer. Two days after that, I was on a plane to Budapest. It happened super fast, and I didn’t know what was going on until we had already started filming.
Fans have fallen head over heels for Wu’s performance in the film, and this is just the beginning. There’s no doubt that her portrayal has left audiences eager for more.
Aileen Wu Always Found the Alien Franchise a Bit Too Scary
Alien: Romulus has received a great review score on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed and written by Fede Álvarez, who is famous for the 2013 remake of Evil Dead, the film currently holds an 83% rating from critics.
This impressive score makes Romulus the third highest-rated movie in the Alien series, coming in just behind the original two classics: Alien, which has a 93% rating, and Aliens, which holds a 94% rating. Wu also further discussed the franchise and her familiarity with it, revealing that surprisingly, she found the films too scary for her taste and had avoided them her entire life. In a chat with Indie Wire, she said,
I love sci-fi. I can’t really do horror because I was shown a couple very creepy, intense films as a kid, and it all resulted in me wetting my bed at night, and then my mom stopped showing me horror films,
So no, I did not grow up with this franchise, but I always knew of it. It’s so iconic. I didn’t watch the first one until I got the audition notice, and I was like, ‘OK, time to do some homework.’ And I thought, what a brilliant, perfect film.
Aside from spending hours drenched in blood and muck, the franchise also had its own makeover plans for her. Originally slated to rock a mullet, the decision was later made to shave her head completely. Through all the wild changes and intense scenes, the actress took it all in stride, finding the experience both thrilling and surprisingly hair-raising!
Alien: Romulus is now playing in theaters.
