Rue Morgue spent an afternoon on the Toronto set of Resident Evil: Afterlife last December, and the story of that visit is available to read in our current issue (RM #104). To preview the film’s Sept. 10 opening, here is more of our interview with series star Milla Jovovich.
On Alice:
“In the beginning Alice was definitely very different. I was definitely inspired by Alice In Wonderland. That was sort of the character that this innocent girl going into this twisted world. But I think once she remembered and all this stuff sort of got really inspired by like Clint Eastwood and Dirty Harry. That would be the attitude, that mysterious kind of person that gets things done, but don’t really talk too much about themselves or really see them cry. It’s just a lot inside and just that kind of… he wasn’t a superhero that Alice was, but especially in this one now that she’s not a superhero it’s even more so. She’s got the weight of the world on her shoulders, but she still has a sense of humour about it and doesn’t give away too much. You’re never going to see her have a big [breakdown moment].
On her character Alice’s growth:
“I change as a person so Alice is inimitably changing as well. It’s kind of organic, it just happens. I think definitely Alice is different from the last one. I think also, just the way the script is written, Alice has some big changes. She becomes human again. She feels like a member of the human race again and doesn’t feel like a machine that the Umbrella Corporation has created.
On her director (and husband) Paul W.S. Anderson:
“I feel like his energy is just what we need to make these movies what they are. I think for him to come back on as a director was just very natural because he’d done so much work on them anyway. I really don’t feel these movies would be the same without his passion and his vision for it. This is really his kind of love that brought this franchise to the table, and his love of the games and his love of monsters and explosions. He’s a kid in a sense.
On making the Resident Evil films:
“It’s a lot of fun, and I’m pretty trained at this point to do these kinds of films. For me it’s a lot of fun. I love it. That’s the thing: I really love making these movies and I love the character and I love the physicality. So for me that’s not difficult because it’s just something that makes me happy. For me I get to fly! So I’m like whatever, you know. I just get to go up in the sky and float around and do crazy tricks. I love to do that.”
“At the end of the day on Resident Evil, I might be a little bit sore but that will go away quicker than the sort of emotional bruising than goes on in one of these darker movies that I do, and I thank God for his franchise. It gives me the chance to fly on wires and shoot guns and be a badass.”
“We’re on number four of giving people what they want and delivering a good product that people know. We love it, we’re passionate about it. I think they can feel it when they watch the movie. It’s not just some random action film that we’re doing to make a bunch of money and it’s like whatever, and I really don’t want to do it because I want to be a serious actress. It’s like, no, I do it because I really love it. I do it because I’m into it and it makes me feel good. I’m good at it and I have a lot of fun doing it. The most important thing is I get to leave every day with a big smile and go ‘oh my God. Look what we did today. I have blisters on my fingers from shooting semi-automatics. How many people in the world can say that?
Jovovich (right) with director Paul W.S. Anderson
On her Twitter followers:
“I’m having a lot of fun doing it. I’ve met some really great people through it. Really funny people, really smart people. They entertain me, and I guess I entertain them. We make each other feel good, and people love to hear it, and I definitely enjoy writing about it. So it all kind of worked out.
“I was a little unsure about it at first because I’d never Twittered before, but once I got the hang of it I was like ‘this is interesting. This is cool.’ These people have no idea what it’s like to be on a film set. Suddenly I’m giving them a little taste of what goes on here. And something that’s not interesting for us because we’re doing it every day is really interesting for people.”
