Aileen Wu
“For me at least, the crew members are my first audiences. Their presence makes me work harder; I almost dedicate the performance to them.”
as Navarro in Alien: Romulus
Interview by Nolwen Cifuentes
Photography by Raul Romo
Styling by Timothy Chernyaev
Makeup by Hinako @A-Frame Agency
Hair by Marc Mena @Exclusive Artists
Congrats on Alien: Romulus! How has the experience been so far?
It’s been fucking crazy and so much fun. But really, I think it’s taught me a lot. Probably one of the most definitive and life changing experiences I’ll ever have.
How did you land this role? Tell me about the audition process, any funny or unique stories there to share.
Oh man, everything happened within like two weeks and by the end of the two weeks, I was on a flight to Budapest to film. I did a self-tape for it, did a call back, then they sent me the full script to read. During the final stage of the audition process, I had a Zoom call with Fede where I had to lie. Near the end of the call he was like, “You know you’re going to have the hugger on you; it’s gonna be this silicon puppet wrapped around your face and it’s probably going to be a bit hard to breathe and if you’re claustrophobic, you might get anxious and have a panic attack, I really hope you’re not claustrophobic, are you claustrophobic?” I was like “Nah I’m not claustrophobic” but I actually really hate tiny or cramped spaces, they make me want to explode.
Talk to me more about Navarro, what can we expect from your character?
When I was first approaching Navarro, her existence for me felt a bit like that of a dog. Incredibly loyal, doesn’t talk much, but keeps the peace within the family, always down for an adventure, and just happy to help, happy to be involved, and also has extremely heightened senses, especially for danger.
Navarro’s fate is kind of revealed in the trailer and the poster. Tell me more about your experience on set during the scenes where you’re attacked, and then the Chestbursting scene (as much as you’re allowed to say at least!). Is the Alien CGI, puppet? What was it like working with the VFX team on this?
All of it was practical. I got to work closely with puppeteers from Wētā Workshop for scenes involving the facehugger. The thing weighed at least two or three pounds. They would wrap the fingers of the creature around my face and secure it in the back using a bunch of rubber bands and wrap the tail around my neck. Then, they would lather it up with a bunch of lube, so it would glisten underneath the light. The very tip of the tail had a fishing line tied to it, so someone off-camera can pull on it and achieve the effect of the creature choking my neck. It helped a lot that our VFX supervisor Eric Barba has a very calm and gentle aura because those were intense scenes, and he would teach me a lot about the history of visual effects in between takes to kind of ease my mind off it.
From the trailer, it looks like you guys are shooting in a lot of enclosed spaces, what was that like?
Oh, it was such a treat. There was the ship, and they built every part of that ship: the tiny little bathroom, the sleeping cots, the hanger bay, which is like the garage. And the cockpit, I mean you could press every button and it would light up. It was really special getting to know the ship our characters have spent a lot of time on on such an intimate level. Just being able to touch everything and finding what felt like clues to who our characters are, left by our production designer Naaman Marshall and the set design team. A lot of 80’s stickers and trinkets, toys, sticky notes.
From an acting perspective, how do you bring that sense of fear and dread while you’re actually surrounded by a bunch of crew members?
You do it for them! For me at least, the crew members are my first audiences. Their presence makes me work harder; I almost dedicate the performance to them. If I can pull their attention, if after the director yells cut and I look around, and everyone’s genuinely disturbed or concerned about my wellbeing that’s how I kind of know that take was good.
Alien: Romulus has such a strong cast of young, diverse, upcoming talent. What was your experience with the rest of the cast? Did you guys become friends? Are you still friends?
I love this cast with my whole heart. Coming from a theatre background and this being my first film, that technical transition was pretty hard and I’m not going to lie, I was really struggling in the beginning. But my cast really grounded me and helped me find my footing. Each of them was so kind and supportive in their own way, sharing tips and tricks of the trade every day with me. I learned so much; I feel quite bonded to them.
Were you a fan of the Alien franchise previously, or did you give it a watch to prepare for this film?
My older brother who’s a big nerd loved collecting action figures as a pre-teen, and there’s always been a xenomorph sitting on his shelf. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was different, sitting next to all the DC and Marvel superheroes. Every time I asked him what it was, he’d say in a super menacing way “You don’t wanna know, trust me it’s for your own good.” But yes, I watched the first one to prepare for the audition and then the rest of them before we started filming.
Are you a horror or sci-fi fan?
Horror, not so much, I’d have to really be in the mood for it. I love sci-fi though.
What’s your favorite sci-fi movie or TV show?
My favourite sci-fi movie would have to be Serenity. And Firefly is one of my all-time favorite TV shows.
Your shaved head looks amazing and is such a great callback to Sigourney Weaver’s look in Alien 3. Did you shave your head for this role, or had you had it shaved already?
The first time I shaved my head was in 2019. I would keep it shaved sometimes and let it grow out other times, but never past the length of a mullet. When I read the audition sides, it said “NAVARRO - rocks a mullet,” and I was like hey I have a mullet right now. And after I got onto set, Fede was like “shave it off”, and I was like - fine by me, I love my shaved head.
How does it feel to have your face — well some of it — on the main key art image?
First of all, what a sick poster. However, every time I see it, I do get reminded of a particular week I had on set where that little bugger was on my face a lot. But also shout out to my parents for giving me a nicely shaped skull that’s very round and smooth for the hugger to hold onto.
Aileen Wu on the Alien: Romulus poster, photographed by Murray Close.
What are you excited about next? Any other genres you’d like to explore?
I would either want to do some hardcore action where I’m wielding a sword or some sort of handheld weapon, or a coming of age, angsty teen movie where I’m always by the beach, contemplating life.
This is one of your first major film roles — first off, how does that feel? Secondly, any advice for up-and-coming actors?
I feel really lucky; it feels like everything that came before kind of led up to this moment. In the sense that - for example, I’m really glad my theatre training gave me the stamina to support the director part of my brain that was very obsessed with “getting the shot” which I think was really important just with the nature of this genre and shooting for such an iconic franchise. Otherwise, I could’ve easily lost my bearings as a newcomer. Advice for up-and-coming actors: know who you are and what you’re doing this for. If your response feels sustainable and also brings you peace, then you’ve hit the jack pot. Then just do what you can to stick around. And don’t take yourself too seriously.
✦
