MovieFIX's Rebekah Burgess-Smith travelled to the outskirts of Toronto to pay a visit to the set of Resident Evil: Retribution. She had an in-depth chat with butt-kicking leading ladies Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez, and director Paul W.S. Anderson.
Wearing a jacket that looks more like a sleeping bag, I'm all rugged up to meet the clever people who rebirthed the zombie genre for this side of the millennium.
Milla, the woman who is the Resident Evil franchise, sums up what it is about the series that keeps her coming back for more.
"I think the fact that it is such a family affair — and a lot of love goes into making the evil happen," she says.
"It has always been that way. From day one, between me and Michelle, everybody, Paul, [producer] Jeremy [Bolt], everyone had played the games, we were all fans of the games."
"We loved what we were doing — we were putting all of our heart and soul into it. That's been the case with every movie. We go into it like 'yeah, we are going to make it better' — that's what it takes to make a great action movie, or else you are just going 'ker-ching, dial this in, get on set, hardly train, get my close-up and get my stunt double to do everything'. We are, like, here for the long haul."
Milla's husband Paul W. S. Anderson has directed all of the RE films, so it's no surprise that the fifth instalment is a labour of love.
"I love making Resident Evil movies. It is everything I loved about movies growing up. You know, it's sexy girls, big action, cool sets — they are fun films to watch and fun films to make," Paul reveals.
"As a fan boy it has everything in there that I like ... well, look at today — two beautiful girls beating the hell out of one another with a submarine in the background."
Ironically it's not snowing outside, but once I entered the sound stage, I was transported to a colder looking world of fake snow and a partly submerged submarine, a door coming out of the ground ... but to where?
"What you see here today is the outside of the Umbrella corporation facility," explains bad-ass action star Michelle Rodriguez.
"We are submerged at this point, so we are in the Arctic somewhere. Russia is recreated inside the facility, deep down under water. Russia is recreated, New York, you got Racoon City, and you got Tokyo, which is really cool."
She is back, reprising her role of Rain Ocampo from the first film, even though the character was killed at the end of that movie.
"Today my character is trying to stop them from exiting the facility. My goal is to kill Alice. It doesn't quite work that way, but that's my goal," she reveals.
Rain is such a fan favourite, but how does she rise from the dead?
"It's interesting. You know, talking about the great concept of cloning, it gives us the opportunity to bring a couple of great characters back from the dead," Michelle says.
"I was surprised when I got the phone call. I sat down and had lunch with them and he [Paul] unveiled it all."
Many other characters from the original game have been brought into Resident Evil Retribution. They have introduced some of the biggest names from the game into the movie franchise for the first time, including Leon Kennedy and Ada Wong, who help Alice fight Umbrella.
"They meet up with Albert Wesker at the end of the film who was the villain at the end of the last film, he is back played by the same actor, Shawn Roberts, but then there is an interesting twist," producer Jeremy Bolt reveals.
"There is a general idea in Resident Evil that nobody is who you think they are. Cloning plays an important part in this film and duality of purpose as well."
Not only did we learn about the new characters but there is a whole host of bigger, badder, faster creatures.
"We're leaning quite heavily on the Resident Evil 4 and 5 games, so the big jump forward for us is creatures that were in Resident Evil: Afterlife, the Las Plagas parasite which kind of gives the humans it infects some characteristics of the undead," Paul explains.
"So they have the hunger for flesh, and they want to eat you but they also maintain some intelligence and motor skills, which means they can move fast, shoot machine guns and ride motorbikes. That's one of the stand-out sequences, I think, in this movie."
As we walked through the production offices to the lunch room, there are signs reminding everyone that Milla and Paul's complimentary espresso coffee cart is coming around tomorrow. They got me a skinny latte — anyone that has ever visited a set normally gets the standard-issue disintegrated 43 beans from a tin (and for a Melbourne girl, this means serious love). No wonder the mood on set is really "up" despite nearing the end of the long shoot.
The general feeling of camaraderie is reinforced when the producers, along with Milla, walk into the crew lunch area handing out 3D glasses. We're getting the first look at the trailer together.
Boris Kodjoe, who reprises his role as ex-basketball pro Luther, echoes the "family" sentiment.
"There are no egos, and Milla is such an amazing person, she is an ultimate professional. She makes sure that everyone is okay and comfortable and gives 100 percent every day. It motivates you to give your best as well," Boris says.
"Paul is like a kid in a candy store, he loves what he does and that translates down to everybody else. The atmosphere is always great."
Apart from the on-set family love-in, the RE5 team comes together to tell a story with real issues and relevant parallels to evil in our world.
"The Umbrella Corporation is a mirror of a lot of what is happening in the world today with the fallen economy, deregulation in America with banks and medicine," Milla reveals. "Of course there is a lot of basis in reality."
"But at the end of the day, we want people to have a good time. It's not a political movie, we are not trying to in any way be political, it just happens to be that coincidentally there are a lot of corporations that are not very nice, and the people pay the price for it."
Producer Jeremy Bolt explains exactly why we need another RE movie.
"We are back because Alice has not yet beaten the Umbrella Corporation and she needs to, to save humanity. We are back because the last film did $300 million world-wide which was the largest of the franchise, and a huge increase from the previous box office," he says.
"And we are in 3D because Paul is passionate about 3D and she shot his last film The Three Musketeers in 3D and he would like to never have to work in 2D again if it was possible". Fair enough!
Paul has a few final words for the many fans, including myself, whose hearts break knowing there is an end in sight to the franchise.
"This is the beginning of the end," Paul explains. "I would like to round out the franchise and make a final, final film, and I think this movie in my mind is very much the beginning of the end. It sets up everything for the final film where everything is over."
For you to witness the beginning of the end to this classic zombie sci-fi franchise, Resident Evil Retribution hits cinemas September 13. (OP note, this article is AUS., so this is the AUS. release date. It's the 14th in the States.)
Source One, Source Two, and Source Three.
Yes, these movies are terrible; yes, The Excutioner is a Pyramid Head ripoff (in both the games and the movies), but you know my ass is still going to be in the theater opening night if only for this GQMF right here:
