'Alien: Romulus' Star On Her Shocking Chestburster Xenomorph ...

Aileen Wu in "Alien: Romulus."

Alien: Romulus star Aileen Wu certainly got a workout on the sci-fi horror blockbuster. In addition to her chilling Facehugger Xenomorph scene, Wu’s Alien experience came full circle when a Chestburster Xenomorph finished off her character, Navarro.

After a blockbuster run in theaters that began on August 16, Alien: Romulus—which is directed by Fede Alvarez and produced by Ridley Scott—debuts on digital streaming via premium video on demand on Tuesday.

In the film, a group of young mining colonists seek to vacate their dreary planet for a better life, but their plans are waylaid when the fly to an abandoned space outpost that contains the essential cryosleep equipment they need for their nine-year voyage.

However, the group inadvertently awakes hundreds if not thousands of hibernating Xenomorphs who instantly spring into attack mode, making Navarro their first victim.

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In a Zoom conversation prior to the release of Alien: Romulus in theaters, Wu described in great detail how practical visual effects were used to create her harrowing scene with a Facehugger Xenomorph. That, however, was only half of the Xenomorph terror her character, Navarro, would endure.

Wu’s Chestburster Xenomorph scene begins when Navarro, panicked at what is happening to her body, waves an X-ray torch over her chest to see the Chestburster Alien swirling within.

“In the X-ray torch part part they placed a little prosthetic piece right over my heart with a little sack on it,” Wu recalled. “Then they used an air pump so that it would bulge up.”

From there, there was nothing that could be done from preventing the Chestburster Xenomorph from emerging—and that’s when the heavy duty prosthetics began, Wu said.

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“There were two days where I was wearing a fake chest. It was very heavy—like a front backpack where the chest was hollowed out and the rib cages could pop open in a very violent way,” Wu recalled. “Then, [Special Effects supervisor] Alec Gillis—who with his team who worked on previous Alien films—made the Chestburster puppet that they would feed it through my fake chest.”

The illusion was made complete, Wu said, when Alvarez and his team cut a hold in the floor of the Corbelan ship’s cockpit that she could sit in.

“I was sitting in the hole in the Corbelan cockpit on a bicycle chair with my arms on the floor, and then the prosthetic piece with my fake legs dangling down was laid on the floor,” Wu recalled. “Yeah, that was a really fun day!”

The only cast member featured in Aileen Wu’s Chestburster Xenomorph scene in Alien: Romulus was Isabella Merced, who plays Navarro’s fellow miner, Kay.

Wu credits Merced and director Fede Alvarez for helping her get through the terrifying scene.

I had a lot of help from Fede, and the whole scene was with Isabela Merced, who gave me a lot of support and grounds me so much on set and off set,” Wu said. “Plus, I think the prosthetic piece helped a lot.”

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Wu said the full effect of the Chestburster Xenomorph scene didn’t hit her until she watched the Chestburster puppet pop out during filming.

“Sitting in the makeup chair—I can't sit still very well and it's too early in the morning—so I didn't love the application part of it, but watching it actually work does something to the actor's brain,” Wu recalled. “I didn’t have to work hard at all to sell it, I just have to give the look of, "Holy s—t, it looks like my rib is coming off and falling apart and something's banging on it!"

In addition to Wu and Merced, Alien: Romulus stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux and Spike Fearn.

Rated R, Alien: Romulus is still playing in theaters and is new on digital streaming.

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