Romulus Star Shares Hilarious Advice from Ridley Scott

Alien: Romulus is heading to theaters next month, marking the first film in the franchise since Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant was released in 2017. Over the years, Scott has helmed three Alien films, including the original released back in 1979. Other notable directors such as James Cameron and David Fincher have also tackled the franchise. Now, Evil Dead (2013) director Fede Álvarez is stepping into the director’s role for this new installment. Scott is producing the project, which means he has had the opportunity to share advice with those involved in the film. In fact, David Jonsson, who plays Andy, recently revealed the hilarious advice he got from Scott.

“Yeah, he was just like, ‘Don’t be shi*t.’ Something along the lines of that!” Jonsson revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone UK. “I’m not just saying this, but the studio and Fede and all the team had supreme trust in me, and I kind of needed that.”

That certainly sounds like Scott, who has never been afraid to be blunt. In fact, he made waves a couple of years ago for revealing his feelings about superhero movies.

Alien: Romulus is being billed as more of a spinoff rather than a direct continuation of the Alien franchise and will see a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. Álvarez has previously opened up about how a deleted scene from James Cameron’s Aliens featuring young colonists inspired ‘Romulus’ story.

“My first instinct, just to try something different that hasn’t been seen before, was to approach it from the angle of characters who are not professionals or scientists; they’re not even adults,” he said. “I liked this concept of putting people in the front seat of the story who are closer to what the audience is—not that the audience is young, more that the audience is completely virgin to the realities of space. When the characters are professionals, they know more than you do. But when they’re still in their early 20s, they don’t know how to operate the f-cking airlock.”

He continued, “All their parents probably worked on the same ship when they were kids, and that’s how they got to know each other … There’s a lot of history between them because they’re the only family they have. They truly act more like surrogate siblings; some of them even lived under the same roof. A lot of the big themes of the movie are about siblinghood and what does that mean? The Romulus of it all, and the bigger plot with Weyland-Yutani, is actually connected to that as well.”

Alien: Romulus stars Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), David Jonsson (Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Isabela Merced (The Last of Us), Spike Fearn (Aftersun), Aileen Wu. Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (Don’t Breathe 2) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

Alien: Romulus hits theaters on August 16th.