Resident Evil Movie info.
Big Poppa
today. The latest news is at the bottom and explains that indeed there
is a super computer and a "red queen" and the main character is alice. A
cheap Alice in wonderland poltline. Read for yourself. It's going to
look funny but I'm not going to sit here and reformat all the
paragraphs.
Resident Evil
Genre: Horror/Action/Video Game.
Studio: Unknown.
Production Company: Constantin Films/Impact Pictures/Intermedia.
Project Phase: In Development.
Who's In It: Unknown.
Who's Making It: Paul Anderson (Director, Screenwriter); Paul Anderson,
Jeremy Bolt, Berd Eichinger (Producers); Ennio Morricone (Musical Score,
unconfirmed); based upon the Capcom video game Resident Evil.
Premise: Something evil and not human lurks in the forests outside
Raccoon City. Members of S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad)
are called in to investigate a series of gruesome murders that happened
on the outskirts of town. When they investigate strange happenings at a
deserted mansion in the woods, they instead find a horror from beyond
the grave. A secret organization dubbed 'Umbrella' has unleashed a
biological experiement that's turned their workers into the living dead.
and now these zombies want to expand their ranks.
Release Date: Halloween 2001?
Developments:
Mid July, 1998... Legendary horror director George Romero announces he
will both write and direct this film.
Comments: Resident Evil has made a huge splash in the arena of video
games. Originally a Sony PlayStation game that was later adapted to the
PC market, RE has spawned a sequel and a Director's Cut, complete with
even more gruesome graphics. In the game you play one of the STAR cops
who are fighting for their lives against hordes of undead in a deserted
mansion in the middle of the woods and dead of the night. The game's
creepy and most importantly, fun to play. Here's the best summation on
why so from Nick R., a scooper:
"For those unfamiliar with the game, it would make a pretty excellent
movie if they got it right; the plot involves a crack team of 'special
agents' investigating bizarre murders outside 'Raccoon City'. They end
up in a huge mansion and soon find out that it's the cover for a series
of genetic experiments resulting in the creation of zombies and other
more outlandish monsters - including the game's eventual 'boss' creature
- the distinctly trouser-wetting 'Tyrant'. Although the game has you
choosing between Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine as the main character,
there are a host of other characters who get offed fairly early on in
the game - most of them before the end of the intro sequence! Whatever
happens, the game succeeded by (a) exploiting video gaming's current
obsession with blood and gore, and (b) successfully imitating the creepy
atmosphere of those 'serious' zombie movies like Romero's etc. If this
film was made, it would have to be an R. And despite the burgeoning
demographic of video game players, aren't they all (as far as Hollywood
is concerned) 14 years old? Still, Sony are Sony and the Resident Evil
license has proved immensely popular in Japan (where it is known as
Biohazard)."
To give you some idea of the popularity of the game...Resident Evil was
Capcom's biggest-selling game. Ever.
Rumors: Resident Evil is also known as Biohazard in Japan, but from what
we were able to discern the film's producers are calling it Resident
Evil for the moment. That one small confusion is enough to throw
hundreds of thousands of fans into a collective state of disarray, but
when you consider the amount of rumors we've heard thrown about around
this picture, no wonder fans are totally mixed up about the project.
Here, then, is CA's Resident Evil rumor control and fact-checking
run-down. We at least deserve a game for this!
Scoop Feedback:
March 29, 1998... Coming Attractions Resident Evil film page is online:
The Facts:
Constantin Films, the German film production company that also made the
never-released Fantastic Four picture for Roger Corman, owns the film
rights to the property. Presently the screenwriter working on it is Alan
McElroy (scrrenwriter of Spawn).
The Rumors and Speculation:
In early spring of 1997, screenwriter Alan McElroy landed the writing
gig. [Thanks to 'icehawk', Christian, 'kcswan', 'Widgett', 'wrobert' and
Richard Hudson for identifying the corpse.]
In May of last year, German film magazines reported Constatin Films had
aquired the film rights to the property. A budget of $25 million was
mentioned in some of these magazines.
POSTER #1 _____________________ POSTER #2
Then, from about September 1997 onward, a enigmatic poster (POSTER #1)
thought to be from the actual project made the rounds on the Internet.
While it generated huge attention from the gamers, it also had the
effect of confusing them.
Around this time rumors began to trickle in that Bruce Campbell (Army of
Darkness) would be in the film...then he changed his mind. A director
named George Sluizer was linked to it, then he wasn't. Then the first
production poster was sent to us... [Gnawed at by James Furlong.]
Soon after that poster started making the rounds on the 'net, the rumors
changed. Now Jason Patric had been cast in the film as the game's male
lead, Chris Redfield, and Samantha Mathis as tough-woman Jill Valentine.
Even though it wasn't true, lotsa people told us it was. Worse, dozens
of video game magazines all over the world picked up the rumor and
helped spread it! [Outnumbered 100 to 1 by zombies are Mike Smith,
'dn09', Nick R., 'Seamus', 'songbird', 'johndethx', 'evilres83'.]
Then another poster (POSTER 2) made its way to us. Now, as far as we can
tell, both Poster #1 and #2 were made by unknown fan(s) of the game and
not from the company that bought the film rights. Notice the credits are
all blurred out at both posters bottoms? Look at the detail on the
treetops silhouetted by the setting sun? They're crisp and easily
distinct. That shouldn't be the case if this was truly a digitized photo
of a poster; and if not, then the film credit block should be
discernable. And, of course, the tag line font is completely different
in the two works. Nice work, but it just ain't the real thing.
[Villagers seen with torches coming up the path include Mary Hammond,
'pwyatt'. Special thanks to James Furlong and 'pwyatt' for Poster #1,
Mike for Poster #2.]
Once the Patric rumor picked up momentum (which didn't take long; this
project is has a ton of fans behind it), the Internet Movie Database's
Resident Evil page went online. It said the film had been already in the
can, then was later corrected to say it would be shooting shortly.
Again, more confusion was generated, and even with the IMDb's excellent
attention to detail, the information became distorted and changed as it
was passed from one person to another. Scoops were coming in as late as
January '98 that the film was scheduled to open in March '98. [Raised
from the dead are 'Dr. Creaux', anonymous.]
When the Resident Evil 2 game was released in December of 1997, there
was a blurb on the cover saying there was soon to be a Resident Evil
picture and included a contest entry slip that the game buyer would fill
out to win a walk-on part in the forthcoming film, due back no later
than April 15, 1998. This has no doubt caused the more potent of the
rumors, that the film was shooting very shortly or was already being
filmed, to spread again. We've seen dozens of emails from CA readers
asking if the film was shooting in the middle of April because of the
contest entry's deadline. ['venom8', 'jrlaffoo' 'Scaleb', 'RioRana',
'FanBoy1/2', Mark H., 'Dr. Creaux', 'iptthfu', 'Militia_12'and anonymous
are all turning a horrific shade of green...]
The latest issue of Fangoria magazine (April 1998) said that McElroy
hasn't finished the script yet and a director had yet to be found for
the project. [Thanks to our man 'V.V.' for the scoop.]
Then a rumor began that George Romero (director of the Dead trilogy of
zombie films) wanted the directing job. Indeed, Film Threat magazine
picked up the rumor and covered it in their January issue. While we
can't think of a better pick, we believe this is a rumor started by fans
dreamcasting for the picture. We've never seen anything official from
Mr. Romero...yet. [Mutilated remains thought to be from James, 'e-man'.]
This scooper heard a rumor that Romero did helm the Japanese commercials
for RE2, but we haven't been able to confirm that. [Only these people
made it out of those woods alive tonight: 'mola-ram', 'benson'.]
Bottom Line:
Resident Evil is not filming at present. McElroy's script isn't complete
just yet. No one has been cast in the movie. We know these things. Now
let us go play the game.
[Finally, the hordes of screaming Resident Evil players have forced us
to craft a page for this project. Many thanks to these legions of undead
gamers: 'nitemare', 'Vincent Vega' and the many anonymous senders who
eagerly await the movie one day...]
April 7, 1998... Thanks to all the RE2 gamers who confirmed that Romero
did indeed direct the game's Japanese commercial. But Art Santana and an
anonymous user went a step further. They gave us a URL where we can
download two different Quicktime format of the commercials that can't be
shown in America due to an exclusive agreement with Capcom Japan.
Resident Evil 2 commercial (Version 1):
www.ugponline.com/media/news/video/re2c.mov
Resident Evil 2 commercial (Version 2):
www.ugponline.com/media/news/video/re2c2.mov
[Thanks to 'Monkeyboy', 'h0l', 'cilano' and anonymous for the
confirmation.]
As for directing the feature, Romero flat out states he's interested in
the gig in ish #171 of Fangoria. ['Bomberg', 'cnicker' and Nicholson
bring us the corpse.]
April 12, 1998... PSM Online reported late last week that the film's key
crew positions had been filled. The film's producer is Bernd Eichinger,
the German film producer who also brought to the big screen last year's
Smilla's Sense of Snow picture. The director won't be George Romero but
instead George Sluizer. Sluizer's directed the films The Comissioner,
Crimetime, and The Vanishing. Alan McElroy still has screenwriting
credit. Production is scheduled to commence this November. [Thanks to
'gsimm' for passing the word; originally reported by PSM Online.]
May 12, 1998... Although he directed the Japanese commercial for this
game, and a 'making of' video will be available in Japan for purchasers
of the game, George Romero has no connection with any feature film
project related to the game. End of story. ['Jet Jaguar' helped us out
with this one.]
July 11-21, 1998... According to our records, the website DVD Review was
the first to break word about George Romero confirming plans to direct
Resident Evil.
This is taken from the site's interview with Romero, posted last week:
"After all this technical talk, we then had the chance to meet with
George A. Romero. The horror meister who brought us horror cult classics
like Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead and Day Of The Dead,
among others. It was very exciting to hear him talking about his plans
for the next installment of the Dead series. Yes folks, you read this
right. George Romero is currently working out the financing details to
finally realize the next part in his zombie installment. This is no
rumor any more. He is now actively pursuing the project. 'First I will
do Resident Evil however', he says and once again lightning struck. Only
last week, he signed the contract to write and direct the infamous and
highly anticipated Resident Evil movie after months of uncertainty and
negotiations."
That would place the date Romero signed the contract at about the start
of July. 'DWP' said that Romero made the announcement at the July VSDA
(DVD) Las Vegas convention and that he's also penning a new script for
it. Since then the story's been widely reported on the Internet (we just
felt like moving like a zombie for this one scoop.) Looks like the
McElroy script is out. [Credit should first go to 'Jiven' for being the
first to report the scoop. Additional thank yous to: 'DPW', 'JHunter',
'jraysen', Jamie, 'UberNeuman', D. Walt, 'Bub', 'dmorrell', 'prozac',
'cserb', 'melaugh', 'kch', 'Ben Grimm', 'AoD137', 'MikeA1129',
'slydr2000', David, and many anonymous letter writers.]
August 30, 1998... Well well well. If our scooper's overheard rumor
turns out to be correct, it seems that Sarah Michelle Gellar (from TV's
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer series) has been offered the Rebecca Chambers
role in the Resident Evil film. Will she or won't she? ['Psycho Dave'
loves blastin' 'dem zombies to pieces.]
September 22, 1998... DPW comes back with a caution against recent
information making its way round the Net: "It appears that the same
clown that said that Brent Spiner would be in Alien Resurrection and
David Duchovny would be in MIB2 has posted on the IMDB that Jennifer
Love Hewitt is playing Rebecca Chambers and Maxine Bahns is playing Jill
Valentine in the movie Resident Evil. Don't belive anything you hear
that says this is true cuz' its not." [Thanks to DPW for setting the
record straight.]
December 14, 1998... We have been told "The release of the movie will
correspond with the release of the third game. Romero says that the
movie will be more of a horror flick. The movie would be targeted at an
older audience ,mostly the fans of the games. George wants the movie to
be inthe spirit of the game, dark and chilling. Romero says that the US
release will get an R. HE wants to shoot it balls out which means there
will be a harder version that will either be released in other countries
or a Director's Cut will come to existence evantually.The plot will be
based on that of the first game, with the STARS(Including Chris Redfield
and Jill Valentine) and the mansion." [So spake DPW. And he had a big
gun. So of course we believe him.]
Then there's this casting rumor: "A source very close to me, who works
at Warner Brothers claims that a certain star that appears on a certain
vampire slaying show this has been approached this past month to play
both Rabecca Chambers and Jubilie in two certain upcoming movies."
Wouldn't Sarah Michelle Gellar be afraid of getting typecast as "that
girl who kills undead things"? Whatever. [Thanks to 'psychodave1']
Oh, and then there's this casting rumor, while we're on the subject:
Christopher Walken as the evil Wesker? Hmmm. [Thanks to 'red']
As for when to expect the film (and if what's above is true the third
game)? The IMDB is telling us October of 2000. [Originally appeared in
the IMDB; reported by 'bensonb']
Then anonymously were given a pointer to this little gem . Supposedly
from a 20th Century Fox member magazine. Notice the release date at the
bottom... [Thanks to anonymous for the tip]
We received many a summary of the film, reportedly from PlayStation
Magazine (PSM). SPOILERS abound, so swipe if you wish:
"It starts off like the game does: people getting attacked by monsters
in Raccoon Forest. The government sends in a SWAT team that gets killed.
Then they grab Wesker out of an asylum, where he was for some
unexplained reason. He is instructed to break into the lab in the forest
presumably to rescue scientists. Wesker recruits Barry, Chris, Jill, and
Brad to help him. But unknown to the rest of the team, Brad is replaced
by Mike who is trying to find his girlfriend Becky who was in the first
SWAT team. They again follow the game, and set down in the forest, are
attacked by mutated dogs, and make it to the mansion. Inside they fight
all of the monsters from the game (cerebrus', zombies, spiders, bees,
etc...) near the end, only Jill and Chris are alive and they reach the
lab to find a scientist who tells the plot. The whole team was to be
infected with the T-Virus and then set out to spread the virus to the
world. They grab the antidote and get out of the lab before it explodes.
Then they are attacked by the Tyrant (actually a mutated Wesker). They
dispense with him, take the antidote, and walk off. " (End of SPOILERS)
"The movie will involve some of the classic items from the game
including: the cerebrus' jumping through the windows in the hall and the
zombie turning its head to look at you. As of now, it looks like the
movie will be an 'R' but unfortunately 20th Century Fox might tone the
gore down, to make it 'PG-13' so that they can make more money by
letting younger viewers see it." And what's this we hear about a shower
scene involving Jill Valentine? [Thanks to anonymous, 'Vamp90210',
'e-man']
December 26, 1998... And we had this comment come across the wire: "The
release date at Movietunes.com says the film is due out October 2000.
Jesus, why do they wait until the popularity to disappears to bring out
the movie. Can we say Street Fighter?" An interesting point. Will the
market still be there when the film arrives? Granted, the comparison
hopefully isn't valid because Street Fighter sucked rocks and this film
will rock, right? Er, right? [Thanks to 'BV1979' for the commentary]
Still, the smart money is betting on that late summer/early fall 2000
release date. That's when the third Resident Evil video game would be
most likely released. Can you say 'tie-in'?
Meanwhile, last month at Philicon, Tom Savini spoke about the
possibility of working on Romero's next flick. After speaking to Mr.
Savini, the implication our reader got was that Tom expected to
participate in Resident Evil but that he is not. Now, it's true that
Romer usually calls Tom at the last minute to bring him on-board, and so
the door isn't completely shut on his involvement with RE...but still,
the impression our man got was that he wouldn't be working on the
picture. [Go on, just ask Jeff Spivack.]
January 4, 1998... An old rumor is further laid to rest by the man
himself. But is another old rumor kicked back to life again? Probably
not. We received this: "On Bruce Campbell's official homepage, he
answers the question of whether or not he's in Resident Evil thusly: "I
AM NOT INVOLVED WITH THAT FILM IN ANY WAY. JASON PATRICK HAS THE LEAD
(CHRIS) OPPOSITE SAMANTHA MATHIS." Does he know something we don't, or
did he fall for those early rumors about Jason Patrick?" Since we can't
imagine The Bruce being fallible enough to fall for a simple rumor,
we're going to say that he was just messing with everyone's heads. After
all, he is...The Bruce. [Thanks to the anonymous for passing along the
words of that eminent sage]
January 7, 1998... We have received word that Ennio Morricone has been
tapped to score the project. [Reported by 'BV1979' while he was
whistling a very familiar tune...]
January 12, 1999... We're told that something of interest to Resident
Evil fans is in a certain video game magazine now on sale..."In the
latest issue of EGM magazine George Romero said that he hasn't started
filming and has only been working on the script for 3 weeks. No cast has
been decided." [Thanks to the anonymous scooper]
January 14, 1999... We sit corrected. We've been informed anonymously
that the Romero interview appeared in EGM, Electronic Gaming Monthly,
not ECM, Esoteric Cartographers Monthly, as originally reported. We
apologize for any confusion and only hope that ECM appreciates the
sudden increase of sales for this week; nevertheless, we've corrected
our January 12 entry. [Correction supplied by anonymous.]
January 19, 1998... It appears we have a point of contention. Is George
done or isn't he? Let's let the anonymous scooper explain: "Okay i'm a
bit confused hear because your last entry reported that George Romero
hasn't really finished the script yet, but over at 'Homepage of the
Dead', a horror movie site reports that he did finish the script. They
posted an article dating back to October 24, 1998 in an interview with
TalkCity Romero mentioned that he finished the script, and kind of gave
the story of the movie. He mentions that in the movie Chris is not a
member of STARS, he's just a local guy. On the other hand Jill is
working undercover for STARS in Raccoon City, and they fall in love
except Chris doesn't know that Jill works for STARS. He said that Chris
ends up following the STARS team in the mansion. On an October 21st
posting the owner of the site managed to ask Romero, in a 50 minute
Yahoo! Chat session, if he was finished with the script. Romero said he
was done with the script and it took 6 weeks to write." A quick check
over at the HotD (which is quite spiffy for you Dead/Romero fans out
there, BTW) confirms that the post is there.
One could assume that perhaps the EGM interview was conducted before the
the October postings at HotD, even three weeks maybe? But that's not the
real question here. The question is, if the script is indeed finished,
where's our copy? Sheesh. And if the anonymous scooper would get back in
touch with us, we want to talk with him about some of the info he sent.
Also, he reminded us to put up this poster... [Assistance provided
anonymously]
May 4, 1999... Here's a report from the Windy City: "I'm a resident of
the Chicago area (but am not evil, haha), and came across an interview
with George Romero in this morning's Tribune. In it, Romero mentioned
that the Resident Evil project may be, well, deceased. Evidently, about
a month ago, the company holding the rights to the film didn't renew its
option (whatever that means). Quoth Romero, 'It's just been a mess. I
did a bunch of drafts of the script and, you know, the same Hollywood
story.... I don't know if it's dead or what.'" [Scoop handed in by
'jschoenm', who we know for a fact is evil.]
June 8, 1999... '0Kelvin' breaks it down for us. According to Gamespot,
"It says that George Romero was fired because they didn't like his
script." 'Wiegeabo' chimed in too that the same news, "'His script
wasn't good, so Romero was fired,'" was what Capcom producer Yoshiki
Okamoto told Electronic Gaming Monthly." So Romero is out, apparently,
but the project is still marching forward. [Thanks to '0Kelvin', Merlin
and 'Wiegeabo' for staying alert.]
Dojo Max reports in with more stuff about thenews regarding Romero's
ousting from his post. "Seems that Romero's liberties with the RE
franchise (such as Chris not being part of S.T.A.R.S.) did not sit too
well with Capcom." He lets us know thatover on Homepage of the Dead,
Capcom has new people working on a script...other than Romero. Dojo Max
had this to say in the way of commentary:
"Personally, I think this is a big mistake. Romero is the perfectman for
the job & without him the RE flick has every possibilityof going the way
of every other video game movie. It's unlikely they'll find someone else
with as much clout. Another problem is that gamers are growing tired of
the RE franchise. Capcom is readying two more installments of the series
for the Sony Playstation and Sega Dreamcast that will be released within
the next six months (RE3 and RE: Codename Veronica, respectively) and
are rumored to be working on yet *another*(new) RE game for the Nintendo
64. Originally, the RE movie was to coincide with one of these games.
Not anymore. The longer things get put off (as they clearly are) the
less impact the movie will have. If Capcom releases the movie
simultaneously with an inevitable RE4 game everything will be beyond
stale. Here's hoping Romero may still be somewhat involved (who knows,
maybe he'll maybe still come in and direct?)." [Special thanks to Dojo
Max and The Homepage of the Dead for thoughts and news.]
July 15, 1999...Dojo Max returns with more word on the split between
Capcom and Romero:
"Following up on the previous scoop I submitted on RE, it looks like
George Romero is *completely* (and officially) off the RE movie project.
As reported before, Capcom, the game company behind the RE series,
apparently did not like the scripts submitted by Romero. Now, a source
close to the project has confirmed Romero's removal and revealed that,
although they were initially thrilled to have Romero helming the RE
movie, their dissatisfaction with his scripts is indeed the reason he's
gone.
"A Capcom Rep commented on the original excitement about the
collaboration, admitting that many members of the RE team in Japan were
fans of Romero's work—including Yoshiki Okamoto. Okamoto, Capcom's
director of R&D & the creator of RE, has even sited Romero's Living Dead
movies as being an influence on RE in the past. Additionally, Romero had
directed the (excellent) Japanese commercials for RE2 with no apparent
problems & everything seemed perfect when he was signed on for the
movie.
"Romero was eager to be writing/directing the movie, though admitted he
had never played the game and only had watched (and video taped) his son
playing & beating it. Apparently, his unfamiliarity with RE began to
show and as draft after draft was turned in, Capcom's enthusiasm
increasingly began to wane. Romero's scripts took several creative
liberties with the game's characters, such changing the roles of the
game's heroes, STARS agents Chris Redfield (who was a civilian in at
least one version) and Jill Valentine, developing a romance between them
and just generally straying from the game's premise. Romero had stated
that he intended to make the movie more action oriented than his
previous zombie-fare, yet sources report that Capcom viewed all of his
manuscripts as 'too zombie-ish' and very reminiscent of Dawn of the
Dead—including elements of sick humor. According to the source: 'He
wanted to put sunglasses on the zombies and do other goofy stuff that
didn't fit in at all.'
"It wasn't true-to-the game, nor innovative enough for Capcom, who
apparently want the RE movie to be 'new and original' and Romero
consequently got the 'heave ho.' Romero has seemingly has been out of
the picture for awhile as well. Coming Attractions' May 4th scoop
implies that Romero has had no idea what has been going on since April,
if not earlier, long after he completed his various drafts. So while
it's not known exactly when Romero was let go, (or when Capcom starting
seeking replacements for Romero) these developments have likely been
underway some time.
"On one hand, it seems like a real waste. Romero's commitment to the RE
movie prevented him from being directly involved with the Night of the
Living Dead 30th Anniversary Special Edition or any other projects.
Additionally, I'm sure I'm not the only Romero/RE fan who wouldn't mind
seeing a Dawn of the Dead-esque RE flick. What's worse, is that the RE
movie remains very much a mess.
"Capcom is now hinting that the movie will likely be released around the
second Star Wars movie, and not in theatres until at least 2001. This
would put the RE movie's release at a time when Sega, Sony & Nintendo's
next-generation home video game consoles (Dreamcast, Playstation 2 and
Dolphin, respectively) will all be available in the US. This is
significant, as it allows Capcom to release a slew of RE games for these
systems (RE: Code Veronica, will be released for DC in early 2000) as
potential tie-ins to the movie. Will people be sick of RE by then?
Judging the longevity of other popular Capcom franchises (i.e. Street
Fighter and Mega Man) probably not—though each delay does make the
movie less and less exciting. Romero is at least the second screenwriter
to take on RE unsuccessfully, which isn't unusual for Hollywood, but
really bad for a rapidly aging video game franchise.
"Of course, these recent statements make it sound that Capcom is
committed to making a really excellent RE movie; let's hope that their
standards of high quality eventually yield a great director and script.
Though Capcom aren't commenting, they may have even found their man
(men? people?), or at the very least narrowed it down to a talented few;
they've already been negotiations with several talented directors."
[Originally appeared in 'psx.ign.com'; reported and with commentary by
Dojo Max. Additionally reported by Spartacus.]
July 17, 1999...We received this anonymously today: "Not to beat the
Romero dead horse, but the Hollywood Reporter had a story this week
about Romero directing a film entitled Bruiser in which a businessman
wakes up one morning and discovers his face is missing. He then decides
to get revenge on an overbearing boss, his cheating girlfriend and a
duplicitous buddy. So, in other words, Romero has moved on to other
things." Yes, folks, that's Bruiser and not Face/Off 2. Yeah, we got a
million of em. We'll be here all week. Thank you Houston, good night.
[Originally appeared in the Hollywood Reporter; reported anonymously.]
July 27, 1999... 'The Evil Resident' banged on the wall with a broom
handle and said Capcom has "...people working to finish the script. They
have not, to the best of my knowledge, named any names." He says to
expect the film in 2001. [Thanks to The Evil Resident.]
August 21, 1999... RE Online is reporting a bunch of stuff. First, stuff
that could be good. Romero is apparently still in the director's chair,
just not at the writing desk. The website refers to his RE script as
"his fourth Dead movie," and of course, Capcom had other ideas. Namely,
less-zombie heavy and a more widespread and liberal use of additional
monsters.
Now stuff that is definitely questionable. They talk about a new script
which has a story that follows that of the game and has been approved by
Capcom. They also relate that said script has been completed by none
other than Andrew Kevin Walker. Now we checked with our sources and we
can tell you for certain there isn't a lick of truth to that part;
Walker is not writing the Resident Evil script. There may be a script
completed, sure, but it wasn't by Walker. So is there anyone out there
in Hollywood-land who can tell us who, if anyone, has been assigned the
new RE screenwriting job?
RE Online also reports that Bruce Payne is not Wesker, but Dolph
Lundgren instead. Bill Pullman is in the cast as well. But considering
they were 100% wrong about who's writing the new script, we highly doubt
anyone is actually attached to this project. Finally, the website
reports Capcom stated they want this project in cinemas in 2001.
[Originally appeared in RE Online; thanks to Domingo Martinez and
anonymous.]
August 30, 1999...An anonymous report from the Outer Dark has come to us
with the following info. Eichinger, the producer, is still looking for a
director, we are told. Rainer Matsutani (Romantic Fighter), we are told,
is working on a treatment while Paul Anderson (Event Horizon) is writing
a script. The scooper says even that "Eichinger said he does not like
gory movies and is therefore looking for something less bloody."
We're not sure what he's doing on this project if that's what he wants,
but c'est la guerre. Also, if this is true about them still looking for
a director, this puts Romero back into limbo. Can anyone confirm this
scooper's statements? [Thanks to anonymous for stirring the cauldron.]
September 7, 1999... Okay, this one definitely gets written 'down in the
column you reserve for unsubstantiated rumors. 'Night Watchman' writes
in to say, "Sketches have been drawn for the costumes and have been
finished. Bernard Eichenger is not writing the script definitely--he's
writing the backup script in case no other writer is found in time. Also
the location hunting is still going underway, in the Philadelphia
Inquirer there was some talk about an unamed movie location crew heading
through New Jersey." Our subscription to the Philadelphia paper expired
a few months back. We should have renewed our subscription. Anyway, can
some Philadelpha reader help confirm the mention of the film crew?
Thanks. [Night Watchman made the rounds.]
September 16, 1999... So is Romero in or out? Well, according to this
scooper the man himself isn't sure. "George Romero made an appearance at
the Toronto International Film Festival, introducing a screening of the
Powell-Pressburger classic Tales of Hoffman. At the Q&A session
afterward, I asked: 'Mr. Romero, are you going to direct the Resident
Evil movie?' His answer, in brief: 'I don't know. The Internet says yes,
but I have no idea.' (He also mentioned that he'd been filming Bruiser
in the Toronto area, and that movie is now in post-production.)" [Thanks
to 'mattogre' for the tip.]
April 11, 2000... Well, it's been a little bit since we've updated this
page, and there's a good reason: we haven't heard anything new. Although
we love dearly all of you people who maintain there's a full cast out
there and insist on sending us this information daily, we just haven't
heard anything to show that it's so. Neither has 'Blackbird', who scoops
us what we think is a pretty good "State of the Resident Evil Feature
Film Union."
"I just thought I'd add something since your page about the Resident
Evil movie hasn't had anything new since September of last year.
Anyways, I went through a bunch on search engines in attempt to find
some new scrap of information for you guys, there was none. In fact,
about three quarters of the pages I found for the RE movie weren't there
anymore. And the ones that were there still carried the news that Jason
Patric and Samantha Mathis were still in lead roles. The point I'm
trying to make is that it's unlikely we'll ever see a Resident Evil
movie, which is a shame since it had extreme potential. Alas, Capcom
dropped the ball and the RE franchise got stale."
[Commentary by 'Blackbird'.]
June 23, 2000... Kevin Alphonso has been doing his summer reading. Have
you? He's here to present his script review report on a draft of
Romero's work. Here's what the man spake:
"The script I read is the first draft dated October 7, 1998. The credits
read 'Original Screenplay By George A. Romero, Based on the game by
CAPCOM, Screen Story By George A. Romero & Peter Grunwald'. The
production companies are listed as Constantin Films and Romero-Grunwald
Productions. While this was only the first draft and clearly could have
used work, it was the basis for what would have been a cool movie.
Faithful to the game, but able to stand on its own.
"For those familiar with the game, the character of Chris Redfield, who
was a member of S.T.A.R.S in the game, is here just a local guy who runs
his family's farm. His girlfriend, Jill Valentine, works for the
S.T.A.R.S, which is a secret military organization. Chris doesn't know
Jill works for S.T.A.R.S., and he ends up following Jill when she is
summoned away on a mission, early in the morning.
"Jill and her team reach the mysterious Arkley Mansion, which is on the
outskirts of town. The mansion has been deserted for years, and was
originally built by a wealthy, paranoid man named Arkley. Jill and her
team have orders to break into the mansion, which has been converted
into a laboratory. They must find the lead scientist, a guy named Dr.
Marcus (who we meet in the meant-to-scare you out of your seat opening
sequence) and get a secret virus that he and his colleages have been
working on.
"Jill and her team are attacked by mutated dogs. Jill is the only
survivor and barely makes it into the mansion in one piece. Her superior
officer, the team's leader, hard-assed Albert Wesker leads the remaining
team to come after them. Chris also follows Jill and the team into the
mansion, and he gets in through some secret underground tunnels, that he
knew about because he used to play around the mansion as a kid. From
that point on, everyone must work together to accomplish the mission and
make it out alive.
"For those of you familiar with the game, some of the characters have
been slightly changed: Chris Redfield, besides being a local guy, is
half-Mohawk (half-Native American); Barry Burton, the big-bearded,
weapons guy, has been made African-American; and Ada Wong, who is
actually a character in the 'Resident Evil 2' video game, appears near
the end -- in a somewhat important role -- as one of the scientists.
"Aside from a lot of Romero's trademark 'zombie moments' there are some
interesting action sequences that would have been pretty cool to see:
the team fights a giant killer snake (which is in the game); they are
attacked by self-aware plants; at one point the team is trapped in an
aquarium with zombie-sharks; some creatures called 'Hunters' (from the
game, too) chase the team around, leading to some good suspense; and
there is a battle with the game's boss, The Tyrant, a big badass
creature.
"At different points, we meet one of the executives of The Umbrella
Corporation, which caused the disaster in the mansion, and now wants the
disaster contained. We don't see the face of the Executive guy (who's
always referred to 'Man With Ring', because of his fancy looking ring;
how creative), so ultimately, he's kind of like Blofeld from the 'James
Bond' movies.
"There are flaws of course; the screenplay is a good read, but it's far
from perfection. The banter between the S.T.A.R.S. soldiers is nothing
we haven't seen in a dozen war movies; the dialogue can sometimes be
border-line stupid; and the characters sometimes feel lifted from
Romero's zombie films. There are quite a few scenes that reminded me of
Dawn of the Dead, where zombies creep up and/or spontaneously attack
people. I guess the classics never die (no pun intended).
"Oh, by the way, I almost forgot -- there's a very funny line of
dialogue, where Romero pays homage to HIMSELF. When the team finally
learns about the spreading 'T Virus,' which causes the zombie outbreak,
one character exclaims 'Christ, this is like ... Night of the Living
Dead!' Cute, very cute.
"Not a bad script, not a great one, but it would've been a hell of a
movie with some rewriting. Although I haven't read any of the later
revisions, I've heard that one involved invincible zombies that could
only be killed by total dismemberment. That would've been pretty cool.
But, it's too bad that Constantin booted Romero; they lost their big
chance of making a truly great kick-ass movie."
[Script review by Kevin Alphonso.]
July 30, 2000... An anonymous scooper pointed us to the man
himself--that's right, George A. Romero has got his own official
website. On it, he sounds off a bit about a number of projects that he's
had in the works for some time (want to hear how his Mummy project would
have come off at Universal?), and this one was no exception. Here's an
excerpt...
"But the biggest damn shame was Resident Evil. We busted balls writing
drafts of that screenplay. I'm talkin' marathons, seventy-two hours
straight. I really wanted this project. I had directed a TV commercial
for ResEv II, and being on the set again with zombies (by Screamin' Mad
George), I was hooked. Deep in my heart, I felt that ResEv was a rip-off
of Night of the Living Dead. I had no legal case, but I was resentful.
And torn...because I liked the video game. I wanted to do the film
partly because I wanted to say, 'Look here! This is how you do this
shit!'"
A very interesting rant from Romero himself, and you can find it on his
website here.
[Special thanks to Anonymous.]
September 29, 2000... According to SFX, director Paul Anderson will be
at the helm of this long awaited video game to big screen production.
Not to be confused with director Paul Thomas Anderson of Boogie Nights
fame, this Anderson would be considered a cool score for the project by
fans of his previous films Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon. Will the
project finally be able to pull itself out of development hell? Stranger
things have happened. Well...two stranger things, anyway. [Appeared at
SFX; reported by Reg.]
October 8, 2000... Fleshing out a bit of the info on the new unlife
breathed into this bad boy, a reported budget of $40 million is out
there, with a production start in January over in London. They'll be
eyeing a Halloween 2001 release. What's this version about? According to
Variety, "Story focuses on a military unit that fights against a
powerful super computer that is out of control. In order to save the
world, the military unit must combat hundreds of scientists who have
mutated into flesh-eating undead due to a laboratory accident." This
from the upcoming script by Anderson himself. [Originally appeared in
Variety, Hollywood Reporter; did we actually say "fleshing"?]
October 18, 2000... Variety reported today that Intermedia has inked a
deal to distribute and co-finance this project. [Originally appeared in
Variety.]
October 21, 2000... Bongo passed along word that casting call
information is up on BIOHAZARDextreme. Not sure how long it will be up
there, but it's apparent that the original characters and plot of the
games are not going to survive the trip to the big screen. The
aforementioned supercomputer is called The Red Queen and along with the
undead they're causing problems for the following characters:
ALICE: a 21-year-old athletic amnesiac (Alice? Red Queen? Get it?)
MATT: a man claiming to be a police officer
ONE: leader of the commandos
TWELVE: body-armored techie guy, commando
J.D.: tough commando guy
SPENCE: man on the scene who may or may not known more than he lets on
RAIN: tough commando gal
Of course, there are those that are a little hacked off at the changes,
and because this is the Net, a petition has sprung up to ostensibly
convince those in the know to get a storyline and characters that fans
recognize. To read the casting info for yourself (SPOILERS involved, so
be careful) and also get info on the petition, click here. [Originally
appeared at BIOHAZARDextreme; scooped by Bongo.]
Copyrights and trademarks for the film and related entertainment
properties mentioned herein are held by their respective owners and are
used with permission or solely for the promotional purposes of said
properties.
All other text and images copyright © 1995-2000 Corona Productions.
Last updated: Saturday, 21-Oct-2000 21:59:31 PDT.
webm...@corona.bc.ca
diritol
The movies gonna suck...
A Super Computer?
Lame..
diritol
They should have kept George Romero on as the Writer/Director...
The games, after all, were inspired by his movies....And, he did direct
the commercial...
Even Romero thinks the games were copies of his movies...
diritol
it, At
>least that was a good movie and true to the game.
I think the director who directed the first Mortal Kombat is directing
the RE movie...
He also directed Event Horizon (Which I thought was a good/scary movie.)
It's just the description of the plot I can't stand...
read some of George Romeros news on his website.. He talks briefly about
wanting to make it..
www.georgeromero.com
www.georgearomero.com
azel
It does sound like it's gonna suck, A super computer sounds REALLY lame, I
always hate it when people make movies of videogames, And then try to change
everything around.
Umm wasn't the game a success? What needs changing?
Of course they copied romero, RE 1 was kinda a spoof, Since they made it like a
B horror movie.
Capcom doesnt have the best track records with movies (Street Fighter).
They should have let the people that made the mortal kombat movie do it, At
least that was a good movie and true to the game.
----------------------------------------------------
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