10 Most Embarrassing CGI Moments In Recent Movies
9. Deepfake Ian Holm - Alien: Romulus
Though Alien: Romulus features a ton of excellent visual effects - enough to land it on the Academy's shortlist for the Best Visual Effects Oscar - there's one element that saw the crew bite off more than they were capable of chewing.
That's the decision to include a deepfake digital likeness of original Alien actor Ian Holm in the movie, portraying Rook - a science officer android from the same line as Holm's Ash from the first Alien.
The problem is that the deepfake just isn't very good. Even with Rook being damaged in an attempt to paper over the seams, Holm's low-fi likeness looks awkwardly pasted onto whatever practical effect the team had on set.
Given that most of the better-received deepfakes and de-aging tricks have been achieved in mega-budget movies like Captain Marvel, Terminator: Dark Fate, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, it may simply be that Romulus' $80 million budget wasn't enough to get the job done properly.
In a movie that was otherwise well-received by most, the wildly unnecessary presence of a CGI Ian Holm doppelganger was widely criticised for being a nostalgia-baiting exercise that's as tacky and cynical as it is pointless.