AI Revives Ian Holm’s Likeness in New ‘Alien’ Film

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“Alien” Fans were surprised to see the late Ian Holm in the latest installment, “Alien: Romulus,” but as Artificial Intelligence becomes a new norm, it is little wonder he would once again feature in the franchise.

The actor appeared in the 1979’s “Alien” as Ash and in “Alien: Romulus” he plays Rook, a humanoid android. Director Fede Alvarez has now defended his use of AI to portray Holm in his latest film in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

“We were not trying to do what can’t be done, which is to reproduce that person’s talent as an actor, because this is another character,” the 46-year-old told the outlet. “The only thing they have in common is the likeness.”

Alvarez told the Los Angeles Times that he reached out to Holm’s window, Sophie de Stempel, for her permission to feature Holm’s likeness in the film, along with Ridley Scott, who directed the original “Alien” and was a friend of Holm, who also played Bilbo Baggins in “The Hobbit.”

“In the last 10 years after ‘The Hobbit,’ Ian Holm felt like Hollywood had turned its back on him and his widow felt he would have loved to be a part of this,” Alvarez told the Los Angeles Times. “He loved this character in particular.”

In “Alien: Romulus,” Rook was designed as an animatronic in the image of Holm, with facial movements that were the work of off-camera human maneuvering, according to the outlet.

“It was 80 to 90% done by the puppeteers depending on the shot,” Alvarez said, describing the subsequent CGI enhancements in postproduction for eye work and for the mouth to make the lip sync better.

An actor was also on set to record the facial capture and the lines were read in real-time using an animatronic. Actor Daniel Betts, who provided the voice of Rook, had his voice changed to sound like Holm’s using generative AI and computer modeling.

“We’re not bringing someone back to life and saying, ‘Ian would have done it that way,’” Alvarez said. “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.’”