The fifth film of the Resident Evil franchise, Resident Evil: Retribution, once again finds Alice - played, as always, by Milla Jovovich - battling the vicious Umbrella Corporation and zombies. Jovovich isn't yet tired of donning skintight leather and latex, and is always game for climbing into the character of Alice. And at the 2012 San Diego Comic Con, a gathering that's always welcoming to the Resident Evil cast, Jovovich talked about working in 3D and collaborating again with her husband, writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson.
Milla Jovovich Interview - Resident Evil: Retribution
What do you like about 3D films having a few under your belt now?
Milla Jovovich: "3D is this wonderfully immersive experience and if it's done right, I think it adds to the spectacle of this kind of epic, action films, event movies I guess. In that sense, I think it's fun because it really becomes a thing where you have the super big screen, your 3D glasses, and it really is like an occasion that's festive, in a sense. You know, it makes dinner and a movie more exciting, especially if you' re with younger people. It's just fun. It makes it more like a roller coaster ride.
But saying that, you got to be super careful how you shoot it and how it's rendered. I know Paul really takes the science of 3D very seriously because so many people got flack for shooting it badly and doing it after the fact, whatever that's called."
Cheating?
Milla Jovovich: "Cheating, exactly. But it's tough on the eyes. Two percent of the public can't see 3D, or it really spins around with their eyes. But for most other people, if you don't do it right, it doesn't work. I've left after 3D movies where I felt my eyes hurt or just sometimes I'd think, 'Did you notice that it got really blurry during that one shot when they did a quick pan?' Then we would rent the movie and just slow it down so there's quick pans and Paul would point things like that out to me.
You have to know like what to focus on because your mind is taking in so much information now, whereas before, you were just watching a flat screen. Now, your mind is going, 'What do I focus on, the nose or the person behind, or the thing on the table?' It's a whole lot of information. If you don't do it right, it really does give you a headache and so it takes a lot of time. I guess that's the downside.
I've seen actors go bananas because they're like, 'It's not ready and I'm ready but the camera's not ready!' It is what is, because if you want good 3D, you've got to take the time to do it right or else it's just a big mess and people leave hating your guts. So we're very happy that we took the time to do it right, you know, to really take that time to reboot the camera, to refocus, just to know what exactly you want to be focused on. There's just lots of different ways to shoot stuff.
And it's your kind of style of shooting. For the moment, there aren't many people who can handle like a hand-held 3D camera, because they're so big, there's just no way. We did a couple of steady-cam shots in the last movie. I don't even think we used a steady camera in this film, but we've been using a lot more cranes actually on these movies. So, there are good parts and bad parts to it. But for the most part, I think if you shoot it right, you could get something that is beautiful and such an experience. But if you shoot it wrong, it's not good. It's literally what I call visual feedback. You're at a concert and the guitar player turns on his amp too fast. It's the same thing with your eyes."
What makes your collaboration with Paul on these Resident Evil films so successful?
Milla Jovovich: "I wholeheartedly believe that the reason people love the Resident Evil series is because we love it, we love making it, and we have so much fun doing it that it translates. An innate good time that everyone's having, it really translates.
When Michelle [Rodriguez] and I got onboard for the first one, we were both coming from just being fans of the game. Paul was a fan of the game and it felt like everybody involved were really into the games and what they represented,which for us was like you have to be super cool to be in Resident Evil. It wasn't it was that commercial. It was underground. It's funny because I feel like we really took it to this level where we introduced Resident Evil to a lot of people that didn't know about the game back in the day, 10 years ago when it first came out, and gave it a new life, which is amazing because I see there's so many young people who are into the games now because of the movies.
We have fun together. We have a good time. We're not like working on any crazy super dramatic, soul-sucking stuff. It's just fun. It's like going to Disneyland to work, like a theme park for big people, for big kids or something. Coming on our set is always like fun. There's always an explosion or somebody doing the stunts somewhere or somebody chopping up the top of a car or something that both boys and girls can have fun doing."
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Resident Evil: Retribution hits theaters on September 14, 2012.
