The Resident Evil franchise is the most successful video game movie franchise
of all time with over $675.8 million at the global box office. Milla Jovovich,
who is the face of the action horror franchise, reprises her role as Alice in
'Resident Evil: Retribution,' the fifth installment in the series.
There's a reason for that success. Rather than retreading the plots of
Capcom's successful games, the movies have crafted their own original stories
that feature key characters from the games.
And there's Jovovich, who does most of her stunts in these films and is a key
creative in helping director (and husband) Paul Anderson steer the franchise
forward. We chatted with the model-turned-actress talks about why hardcore
gamers hate her, how much longer she can continue playing the action star and
why she cried when she watched 'Retribution.'
Why do you think the Resident Evil movies have succeeded while so many other
video game translations have failed at the box office?
Milla Jovovich: We really love them and we love making them, and it's not
just a pay day. It's not like we're just sleepwalking through it. In the
Resident Evil movies I work just as hard as I do on a movie directed by Wim
Wenders or Luc Besson. The whole point is each movie is different, each movie
has a different story, each movie has a different look. Each movie has its own
vibe. And I think that keeps it fresh for people too.
How do you think your character Alice would translate if Capcom put her into
a Resident Evil games?
MJ: You'd have to have Alice in stages because she's so tough that she could
kill everybody. You'd have to win one level and then get a better gun or more
power. But she'd have to start with nothing almost because she's just too tough.
You'd be able to kill everybody in the game within the first five minutes.
What's the challenge of appeasing the hardcore gamers as well as the
mainstream audience with these films?
MJ: The hardcore gamers you're never going to please, and as long as you
understand that then you should just go and make the movie that you, as a fan,
would want to see. If you put 15 hardcore gamers in a room together and asked
them to write a script for Resident Evil, they would all kill each other. I
think the wider audience is a lot more than the hardcore gamers.
What type of feedback have the hardcore fans given you?
MJ: It's funny because some hardcore gamers hate me and they say 'you ruined
the franchise.' And I'm like, 'What franchise? We started the franchise. There
was no franchise before we made it.' It's a double-edged sword. In the end, if
you try and please everybody, you're just going to look like a D-bag.
You tweeted that you cried when you watched this movie. Why?
MJ: I was watching an assembly of it and I started crying. It was just having
the history of Alice, Rain, Jill and all these people who've been going through
this hell for the last 10 years. It was almost heartrending to watch them,
again, having to go through all of this. The way that Paul's written the script,
there is so much more character involved, and there's so much more subtext.
We're not expecting anybody to start weeping in the audience, but just on a
personal level, going through it for 10 years of my life and watching these
people coming together again, it was quite emotional.
Do you hope to have a grand finale for Alice's story?
MJ: There's only so much longer that I can play Alice as she is today. At
some point, I'm going to have to be the mentor to the younger generation, but I
love to make these movies. We work with the same people, we've already shot
three films in Toronto, and it always feels like coming home. It definitely
makes me sad every time we start getting to the end.
Reprinted by permission of
The Daily.
