It’s been the season of the Midwest Princess for all but Cailee Spaeny, who has split her summer between press for the seventh instalment in Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise and filming the upcoming third movie of the Knives Out trilogy in London alongside Josh O’Connor and Andrew Scott. Despite being born in Knoxville, Tennessee and raised in Springfield Missouri where she fell in love with acting and even did talent shows with the titular ‘femininomenon’ Chappell Roan, Spaeny has been swept up in a galaxy far far away.
We’re referring to the fictional planetary mining colony called Jackson’s Star that plays host to Spaeny’s character, Rain Carradin, in Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus. It’s dystopian, light years away, enjoys zero days of sunlight and is the starting point for a film heralded as the best addition since the 1979 original.
Yes, there’s nothing demure or brat-esque about Alien: Romulus. In space, no one can hear you scream, which is why this tagline has become the perfect premise to resuscitate the scariest galactic creatures in horror history. Known to cinephiles and science fiction geeks as Xenomorphs, these creepy skeletal monsters are the ultimate villains; a perfect organism and supreme predator designed to reproduce by any means necessary.
Speaney’s Rain, similar to Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, is precocious, headstrong, virtuous and oozing with magnetism. “I wanted [Rain] to have the feeling of those first Alien films where everyone felt blue-collar,” Spaeny says of bringing a sense of middle America to deep space. “I wanted to [revisit] what makes up the kind of person from where I’m from and mirror that.”
Rain and a gang of motley teenagers, including her adopted cyborg brother, face a conundrum many from the Midwest can relate to: accept your country’s confines or do whatever it takes to escape from it all. This problem is exasperated outside of the solar system; they either die from rampant diseases or work forever underground even further away from the non-existent sun than they already are. When an opportunity to change their destiny arises, Rain is dragged into a claustrophobic interstellar horror filled with face-hugging monsters and deadly carnivorous brutes.
But as Speany recounts the experience of working with Álvarez and the aliens to me over Zoom from the English capital, her demeanour couldn’t be further from the terrified astronaut we see on screen. “I just felt giddy,” Spaeny tells me of the experience. Those without an iron stomach may feel nauseous or riddled with anxiety watching these epic action sequences. Filming them, however, was a different experience. Shot chronologically in Budapest between March – July 2023, Speany tells me of the first day on set working with the spin-chilling extraterrestrials.
“That sequence took a long time to film because it was the first time we were in the world of dealing with the creatures,” she says. “One of the things that drew me to take this project was [Álvarez’s] persistence in making sure we shot as practically as possible,” she notes of the director’s choice to work with puppeteers rather than CGI. “So that was the day where I felt like a film nerd who got to watch how the sausage was made,” she added.
“There’s something joyous about creature work that you just don’t see anymore. It’s a lost art,” she also acknowledged. Spaeny describes this choice as one that her “over the moon” but was equally arduous.
“[The scene where we first encounter the aliens] was the first moment I thought, ‘This is going to work’.”
“It was laborious to shoot and took a lot more time, but I think it was worth it.”
Decisions that might feel like an uphill battle to some are inherent to Spaeny’s artistry. From her breakout in the witchy reboot The Craft: Legacy to her portrayal of Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola’s 2023 biopic, Spaeny’s filmography traces the road less travelled. For most burgeoning stars, making your name through remakes or fictional retellings of a real-life story isn’t the ideal route to fame. Yet, as we saw with Cailee when her former scene partner Kirsten Dunst recommended her to Coppola after working with her in Civil War, following in someone’s footsteps could reap dividends.
Being a nascent actor is guaranteed to draw comparisons. Spaeny, for one, doesn’t necessarily mind that her career parallels the likes of great leading ladies. When asked how she balances blazing her own path with the pressure to follow in their footsteps, she responds firmly albeit gently. “I feel like I owe a lot to them, but I don’t feel that pressure.”
“It’s a different world now and it comes with its own sets of challenges. I haven’t met Sigourney but I feel supported by Kirsten because I actually have her in my life, so I don’t really think about that.
“I feel very lucky for what those two women specifically have done in this industry to pave the way.”
With the credits on Spaeny’s résumé, it won’t be long until up-and-coming starlets are saying the same about her. But until then, Spaeny is just enjoying the merits of being a member of Young Hollywood. Yes, she may have worked with greats, but it’s emerging names like Jacob Elordi who equally excite her. “It’s an incredible time to be a young actor in Hollywood,” she points out.
“I’m so inspired by all the performances and new talent that’s coming out. It’s always a good challenge and keeps me on my toes.” She cites their on-screen choices that push the envelope as creative fuel for her to burn on set. “It feels very rich in that [kind of performance] right now and I feel lucky that I’ve worked with some of them in the last couple of years,” she observes before adding, “They’re the real deal.”
Amongst this cohort is her Alien: Romulus co-stars. Álvarez claimed at the film’s 2024 Comic-Con panel that he sought “the best actors”, but also “fresh faces” and “people you didn’t necessarily associate with other characters”. I asked if she felt that way, especially after winning the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 80th Venice Film Festival last year. “I guess so,” was her response.
“In the first [film], no one really knew that cast, especially Sigourney. Alien is definitely an opportunity to cast [fresh faces] and also find new [talent] audiences will be excited by, too.
“I don’t know what that is for me, but I know that for the rest of this cast, there are some incredible new actors in this movie that will be put on the map in a certain way once people see this film.”
Despite nearly a decade of experience, Spaeny recalls looking to Isabela Merced’s guidance during the more prickly moments. “She has these horror beats in the back of her hand,” she says. “I was following her lead. I was like, ‘Well, what do we do in this moment?’”
For what it’s worth, Spaeny offered this sound advice to up-and-comers. Merced described Spaeny as the most “not ok” out of all the cast, so I wanted to know her process of detaching such a visceral role from herself.
“I’m not a person that needs much untangling of a character,” she revealed. “I can do that pretty well, mostly because I tend to go on to something else.”
“Right after filming ‘Alien’, I was flung into the press tour for ‘Priscilla’ so usually you just try to busy yourself. That’s the best thing to do.”
Days after Alien premiered, Spaeny officially wrapped production on Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, with director Rian Johnson posting a photo from a cemetery with a picket sign reading: “Be mindful of the graves”. Spaeny might not heed his warning though, given her tendency to dig up old cinematic ghosts for a new age and audience.
Her propensity to gravitate towards existing material has made her into the actor she is. Of the responsibility of retelling a beloved cultural touchstone, Spaeny remarked that she approaches her body of work as making things she’d like to watch. “I want to see endless Alien films, there’s never enough for me,” the 26-year-old told me with a knowing grin.
Bouncing between genres like sci-fi to horror, romantic dramas to comedy, Alien: Romulus cements Spaeny as a certified scream queen; the enduring final girl.
This story first appeared on GRAZIA International.