Aliens Special Effects Master on How Making Xenomorphs and Chestbursters Has Changed
Ahead of hosting Shout! TV’s new episode of Double Take, which will feature a double feature celebrating Roger Corman’s birthday, special effects artist Alec Gillis discussed how creating Xenomorphs and Chestbursters has changed throughout the decades.
Gillis has worked in the special effects department on a number of different movies in the Alien franchise, including 1986’s Aliens, 1992’s Alien 3, 1997’s Alien Resurrection, 2004’s Alien vs. Predator, 2007’s Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, and, most recently, 2024’s Alien: Romulus.
Gillis will host a brand-new episode of Shout! TV’s Double Take on April 5, 2025, in honor of Corman’s (The Little Shop of Horrors, It Conquered the World) birthday. Visit Shout! TV’s website by clicking here for more information.
#Aliens special effects guru Alec Gillis spoke with ComingSoon about the evolution of Xenomorphs and Chestbursters.
— ComingSoon.net (@comingsoonnet) April 1, 2025
Tune in to Shout! TV on 4/5 for a brand new episode of Double Take hosted by Alec Gillis celebrating Roger Corman’s birthday. pic.twitter.com/dtBHLfASQG
ComingSoon asked Gillis how the process of creating monsters for the Alien movies has changed from the release of Aliens to Alien: Romulus.
Gillis answered, “The process for creating Xenomorph creatures has changed since the 80s, as you can guess. With digital advancements, we sculpt a lot, digitally, these days. That speeds things along, and it allows you to tweak and get things more exacting and more precise. It also allows you to overlap your build processes. For instance, I can have a mechanical designer creating the interior of a Chestburster even before we’ve settled on the design of the Chestburster. We know it’s broad strokes, but we may not have settled on that design.
I would say both the digital technologies, as they apply to practical effects, and materials, now — we use a lot of silicones that enable us to do translucent materials, translucent looks. For instance, there’s a color-shifting that happens in the dome of the Romulus Chestburster. That is us pumping fluid between layers of thin, very transparent silicone. Those are some of the changes that we’ve gone through.”
Source: Comingsoon.net