Alien: Romulus star Cailee Spaeny ran "out of ways to be horrified," so she watched horror movies 24/7 to get more ideas
Aug. 2, 2024Exclusive: Cailee Spaeny took inspiration from horror and sci-fi movies to nail her terror
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Cailee Spaeny looked to other horror and sci-fi movies to really nail her terrified reactions in the upcomingAlien: Romulus.
The film sees a group of of young people, including Spaeny’s character, encounter the series' iconic spine-chilling facehuggers in an abandoned space station. Given how long principal photography takes on a movie like Alien: Romulus, we wonder what’s more exhausting for one of the cast: all the running around, or having to hype yourself into a convincingly terrified state for days on end? Can you just turn that on and off?
“I try to,” Spaeny tellsSFX magazinein the new issue, which hits newsstands on August 7 and features Alien: Romulus on the cover, “but honestly, when you shoot a movie like this for months and you’re doing so many horror beats, you do run out of ways to be horrified! The whole time I was making the movie, the second I got home I either had a sci-fi or a horror film playing in the background the whole time. Usually horror.
“So whether that was having The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on, or The Blair Witch Project, or Near Dark. Because you do sort of run out of ideas. You’re like, ‘I don’t know how to be horrified again today in an interesting way. I’ve got, like, three facial expressions and you’ve seen all of them about 100 times now!'”
Not a subscriber to SFX? Thenhead on over here to get the latest issues sent directly to your home/device!
Alien: Romulus releases on August 16. Read more inthe latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Alien: Romulus on the cover and is available from Wednesday, August 7.
For even more from SFX, sign up to ournewsletter, which delivers all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.
Sign up to the SFX Newsletter
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
I’m a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site’s Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.
Dune 2 director Denis Villeneuve says a Zendaya scene was the moment he knew the film was working: “I did that shot and knew I had a movie”
Dune 2 director Denis Villeneuve has perfect response to Josh Brolin saying he will “quit acting” if the filmmaker isn’t nominated for an Oscar
Todd Howard “rolled his eyes” at the idea of Troy Baker playing Indiana Jones in the Great Circle, but the Bethesda boss later told him “you’re doing a hell of a job”
