On Alice, her clones and evolution
In the latest chapter of our multi-part set report from Resident Evil: Afterlife, we catch up to actress Milla Jovovich to talk about reprising her role as Alice and working in 3D.
Shock: Can you tell us what’s new about Alice in this movie?
Milla Jovovich: Well, without giving too much away, I think Alice is definitely a happier person. She’s more in control of herself and I definitely think she’s a little bit lighter because of things that I won’t talk about. But, she’s more herself I think than we’ve ever seen her ready to start relationships with people, ready to get back into the world a bit.
Shock: Producer Jeremy [Bolt] hinted that there might be some love interest for Alice in this film?
Jovovich: Potentially. [laughs]
Shock: We were wondering how much input you have on the script since you are living with the guy when he’s writing the script.
Jovovich: Well, definitely the Resident Evil world is a huge part of our daily lives as Paul is the writer and we’ve been working on these films for almost 10 years. So definitely there’s a lot of ideas going back and forth. Let’s just put it this way, draft one will never be seen. [laughs] He got a lot of boiling water from his wife about it. I mean, definitely the action sequences I’m very involved with and stunt-wise, I definitely love doing it, so I have just instinctual ideas about things that my character would do, or even really cool thoughts or dreams that I had, or something that like, “Oh, and this is 3-D, so let’s really take advantage of this new medium and do something like this or like that.”
Shock: Can you talk about stuff that you get to do in this film that you haven’t done before without giving stuff away? You ran down a building, you jumped off a bridgeâ¦you’ve done a lot of stuff already.
Jovovich: Well, gosh, I mean, this is definitely in my opinion, one of the most unbelievable Resident Evil films that we’ve shot. The stunts just really take advantage of the 3D medium even though we keep 2D in mind because a lot of people aren’t going to be able to either afford a 3D ticket, or they might not have a 3D theater in their town. So we’ve been very aware that whatever we shoot, even though it’s playing to the medium, we don’t want to just make a 3D movie. We want to make a movie that’s going to look great on TV, that’s going to look great in everyone’s home.
Shock: But it’s bigger…?
Jovovich: Oh yeah. I mean, the stunts just go off the charts in this one. There’s some really cool stuff and obviously taking advantage of green screen a lot for them because theyâre just physically impossible to build a set to jump off of that’s that high. It would just cost too much. So we’re definitely trying to make the dollar go as far as possible and take what we have and just multiple it. I think we really have. It’s very exciting in watching dailies. It’s a lot of fun. I think the characters in this one are so strong. I mean, we did a lot of work on making sure that everybody had their own presence in this film and it was really funny because I’m looking at the whole cast when everyone’s actually together in the film and going, “I can’t believe like, you guys are going to die. It just sucks.”
Shock: Who dies?
Jovovich: [laughs] But, it’s one of those things where it’s not very often in a movie like this that you’re sort of feeling bad about like, body count and, “God, you’re more to me than just body count.”
Shock: So are you the clones, or did they digitize a bunch of extras to make it you?
Jovovich: No, I am all the clones. I actually told the producers they should pay me by clone (Laughs) as opposed to me it was like, “How many clones are there?” But yeah, I’ve been playing all of the clones which has been really interesting and just kind of disconcerting because most of the time you’re playing to like an X over there and then going to the other side and playing to an X over there and having to do like, everything twice kind of thing, but a little bit differently so each clone kind of has her own personality and her own thing going.
Shock: I thought it was interesting you mentioned a little bit about working with Paul and hammering out the script and maybe hammering out him while he was hammering out the script. But, can you talk a little bit about that and sort of what the back and forth is like with you guys?
Jovovich: We definitely sit up a lot talking about the script and the story. Definitely it’s like, we talk about all the things that I like first and then we get into the things that I’m sort of not totally sure about. Pretty much it’s like either he’ll really explain a great reason for something and I’ll be like, “Oh, okay.” Or, if it’s something I feel really strongly about he’ll go and rewrite it.
Shock: Was there something that you’re pleased to see that he took your advice on and put in the movie?
Jovovich: Quite a bit. [laughs]
Shock: Something in particular?
Jovovich: I was very much just wanting the action to sort of step it up a notch for this one, especially with the 3D. I had always experienced going to the movies whenever there’s like â I don’t remember what it is, but you know that advertising â not advertising, but it’s like that amphitheater that you sort of swoop down into when you’re at the movies? I don’t know what it â
Shock: The logo for Pacific Theaters is like that.
Jovovich: Yeah, and I always loved that logo. [laughs] I was like, “Wow, you really kind of feel like you’re flying into it.” I was like â and if you see something like that in 3D, how amazing that is, that feeling of really sweeping down and flying and so we have Alice flying a plane in this one which is going to be really cool so that you really get this feeling of flying through things and flying low through things. Also, a big thing of mine was doing a great jump, especially in 3D so you really have this feeling of like, diving down like, an elevator shaft in a skyscraper. So it was constantly like, “Paul, have you written the elevator shaft scene? Have you written the elevator shaft scene?” So, he wrote this really great scene during the clone sequence where my clones crash through this plate glass window and then get into this needle dive going down like, 50 stories of like, the umbrella headquarters. They found this amazing place. It’s like the university here where they have those white floating pods which is actually like a coffee station I guess apparently for the teachers. So that’s like, the main, the Wesker Umbrella headquarter center. Then, I do this really amazing needle dive, the two clones shooting people as we go down âcause it’s in this atrium, so it’s all the balconies around, so the guards are coming and it’s [makes gun noises.]
Shock: Can you talk about how Alice has evolved a little bit this movie, especially her powers? I mean, one of the big scenes last movie was burning all the birds in the sky. Are we going to see those powers evolve again?
Jovovich: Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. I think one of the interesting things about this movie â actually, this is one of the arguments I had with Paul at the beginning of the script writing process that he convinced me that this is the way it should be which is really funny. I’m glad you reminded me of that. But she loses her powers in this movie. She loses her powers in this one and it’s actually a really great thing and sometimes it makes her human again which she’s wanted. I think it gives her a lightness too and like, a sense of relief to just be a badass again and not have to be a superhero. I think that shows throughout the rest of the movie is that kind of, in a strange way, a joy of just being herself again which is great.
Source: Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor
