In 2023 I had the privelage of working with the team at Weta Workshop to build the animatronic facehugger props for the production of Alien: Romulus.
We created 73 puppets and hugger props consisting of “running huggers” that could be driven around like a remote-control car and “rotten huggers” in various stages of decay. Some “attack huggers” were mounted on a pole and had animatronic legs and tails that could be controlled by multiple puppeteers to simulate a frantic attack. Others had spring-loaded legs and a retractable proboscis.
“Comfort huggers” were worn around actors’ faces, with cables hidden in their costume that could inflate the Facehugger’s breathing bladder to simulate breathing for their victim. On set, our puppeteers rehearsed with the cast to keep everything in sync: as a hugger inhaled, an actor exhaled. Out of shot, another puppeteer would gently pull on the hugger’s tail to simulate tightening around the victim’s neck.
How we did it
To make these creepy crawlies, we took the scripted action and broke this down into puppet builds, individually designing each Facehugger sequence and strike. Then we worked with the film’s set designers to plan where exactly we would hide the puppeteers. One scene, shot in an eerie corridor, used as many as 40 puppets.
In another, a Facehugger needed to swim through water, starting beneath the surface and emerging partway through a shot. Because puppeteers would cause ripples in the water, we created a speed-controlled, winch-operated Facehugger on a submerged track so that it could reveal itself at just the right moment. To achieve this, we devised a side-to-side motion from the base of the tail to the winch. The result was a terrifying snake-like creature that slowly came out of the water and accelerated into a final leaping attack on its victim.
Alongside the puppets, we designed a myriad of cable controllers that puppeteers could use to easily and organically deliver performances from these often complex animatronic puppets. We made joystick-style cable controllers to simulate the whipping of the tail or the grotesque writhing of the proboscis, we made hand controllers that move each finger of the facehugger puppets individually, and some of the incredibly complex puppets were controlled by a bank of 32 servo motors
To find out more, visit: https://www.wetaworkshop.com/projects/alien-romulus
©Wētā Workshop
