Resident Evil The Final Chapter

Director Paul W. S. Anderson Talks Zombies!

- Simon Hooper

Director Paul W. S. Anderson, the man behind Alien vs Predator and the Death Race reboot has had his fair share of online trolling over the years but his towering six foot three frame takes it all in his stride. Perhaps rightly so because as writer/director of Resident Evil he’s one of the few people to have made a successful video game to film adaptation with a franchise, which to date has made over $1billion at the global box office and now comes to a close with the sixth film. Each film has opened at No1 at the US box office and it’s worth bearing in mind that no matter how popular the video game is, their film versions often struggle to replicate the same success. Last year’s Warcraft tanked in the US taking only $43m, the recent, Assassin’s Creed film is struggling to make its money back and the less said about 1993’s Super Mario Bros film the better.

Though modestly budgeted, Resident Evil films have no such problem, turning a sizeable box office profit and the latest in the franchise, The Final Chapter looks to continue the trend. Anderson has made the franchise his own and handles the action with aplomb and it didn’t harm the series that its easy on the eye lead star is the unfailingly glamorous supermodel turned actress Milla Jovovich (who also happens to be Anderson’s wife) who is no stranger to high octane action films, having first caught the public’s eye with her turn in The Fifth Element sporting little more than some orange belts to cover her modesty.

Having chosen to shoot the final film in South Africa we spoke to the director on the eve of its international release.

SCREAM: It’s an exhausting movie to watch.

PAUL W. S. ANDERSON: That was my intention, like you’ve actually been to a zombie apocalypse!