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What do you think it is that makes Resident Evil one of the few successful videogame to movie franchises?
“Every movie - we put so much work into it. We really, really try and this is not…Resident Evil is not a moneymaking exercise for us. Everyone started working on the very first movie because we loved the idea of making the film. Everyone was very passionate about it. We went to Berlin to go shoot it because I wanted like the big look for it, but we didn’t have the money to build these big sets. We had to find a city somewhere that had the big underground locations.
Each movie’s been a labor of love and I hope that shows in the films, that quality that we managed to achieve. I’m very respectful of the source material, but I also understand the need to go beyond the source material and provide a fresh story which sometimes irks the fans because they can’t stand the fact, the hardcore fans I’m talking about, they can’t stand the fact it isn’t an exact reproduction of the videogame. But, for me, that’s a pointless exercise because you may as well just go play the videogame again.
I think by broadening [the scope] we’ve given a fresh experience for fans of the game. It’s sufficiently the game, that they feel like it’s the game delivered but it’s telling a new story which is interesting. It’s kind of like why you go out and buy a new Resident Evil videogame instead of buying the same one. You want a similar experience, but you want a new story with potentially a new set of characters. We delivered to them, but also we’re very aware of trying to deliver to the [other] audience as well who may not have played the videogames.
I also think that Resident Evil is more than just a zombie movie, as well, which is why the movies ultimately do better business than just straight hardcore kind of genre gore movies. There’s a lot of science fiction ideas in Resident Evil that I think make bigger movies - the cloning, the Umbrella Corporation, these are all integral aspects of the film.”
You’ve been behind the scenes on this series since film number two. Is that merely so you can go on and do your side projects?
“I’m very involved in these films. Like on the third one, I was on board before Russ [Mulcahy] was hired and I’m still working on the movie now. So being behind the scenes is kind of like I’ve put a lot into the films. I’ve put a lot into [them] but the fact is it has allowed me to make several other movies. I mean, in four weeks time I go and start shooting Death Race. But in many ways, producing is as much if not more work than actually directing one.”
Death Race has a very devoted cult following and it was a satire which is kind of what made it work best. What direction are you going to take with the tone?
“It’s going to be a little… There’ll be a little bit of social commentary in it, just like the original was a commentary on the times. A little bit of the new Death Race is a commentary on kind of like reality television kind of run amuck. But we’re playing it as a much straighter movie. It doesn’t have the kind of campy elements that the first one had. It’s a straighter film, but it’s certainly got humor in it.
It keeps some key aspects from the original movie. It keeps Frankenstein; it keeps the monster, it keeps Machine Gun Joe. It’s a very violent movie like the first one is. It’s a hard R-rated film with a lot of blood, and it’s a race to the death. You can be first past the line or you can win because there’s no one left on the track.”
