Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size In 2003, while he was working at a production company that made television commercials, aspiring director Fede Alvarez won a promotional trip to Los Angeles to attend the premiere of X-Men 2 at Hollywood’s Chinese Theatre.
He took his best mate, and the two lads had the trip of a lifetime. “We thought, that’s it, life has peaked right there,” Alvarez says. But that momentary connection to the heart of Hollywood inspired him, and Alvarez returned home, quit his job directing commercials and learnt how to write a script.
His 2009 short film, Ataque de Pánico , brought him back to LA where he signed his first movie deal, and the studio threw in tickets to a premiere that night: Ninja Assassin , back at the Chinese Theatre. Cailee Spaeny as Rain Carradine and David Jonsson as Andy in Alien: Romulus. Flash forward 15 years, to earlier this week, and Alvarez was again standing in the Chinese Theatre, for the third time in his life, this time at the front of the auditorium speaking to a packed, invitation-only audience at the world premiere of Alien: Romulus , his $US80 million half-sequel, half-prequel homage to Ridley Scott’s grotesque, thrilling Alien franchise.
“How did I get here?” Alvarez asked. The answer is a journey that took the 46-year-old Montev.