Resident Evil: Ground Zero is already one of the most eagerly-awaited pictures in movie
history. Based on Capcom’s best-selling computer game since 1996 the series has grossed
over $600 million - the $35 million action Horror thriller has just finished shooting at the
spanking new Studio Adlershof in East Berlin and on stark locations all over that city.
Starring Milla (The Fifth Element) Jovovich, Michelle (Girlfight) Rodriguez, James
(Lighthouse) Purefoy, Eric (The Crow: Salvation) Mabius, Martin (Dream Team) Crewes
and Colin (The World Is Not Enough) Salmon, for a while it didn’t seem that the high
profile Constantin Film production would ever get made. Numerous genre talents from
George (The Vanishing) Sluizer to George (Dawn of the Dead) Romero tried writing scripts
but no one could ever properly crack the concept of taking an interactive video game and
transferring it intact to the big screen as viable entertainment.
Die-hard Fan
That was until Paul Anderson came into the frame. The director of Event Horizon, Soldier
and Mortal Kombat, the latter significantly being one of the few video-game-to-film box-
office success to date, said, I’m a huge fan of the game and as a die-hard fan I wanted a
movie version that is respectful of it, builds on its premise and delivers on its promise. To
be scary you have to be unpredictable and that’s why I felt completely free to reinvent
the story and use my own set of fresh characters. There was no point in using the Jill
Valentine character from the first Resident Evil game as the fans would know she wasn’t
going to be killed because she pops up in the later games. The suspense dynamic of who
is going to live, who is going to die and what people’s allegiances are was only going to
work with new characters.
Anderson’s story, originally titled Undead, is set in the Hive, a vast underground genetic
research facility where a deadly viral outbreak occurred just hours earlier. Alice
(Jovovich) and Rain (Rodriguez) lead a crack team of commandos sent in to isolate the T-
virus that has wiped out the entire research staff and brought them back as ravenous
Undead. Alice and the military task force have only three hours to trap the virus inside
the hi-tech complex or the Undead threaten to overrun the Earth. To make matters
worse they soon realize that not only Undead humans are roaming the corridors of the
sinister compound.
Prequel
What led to the Undead in the mansion? continued Anderson. How did the deadly T-virus
escape into the underground laboratory? This film is the explanatory prequel all the game
players have always wanted to see using the scary mechanisms and devices that have
become part of the Resident Evil cyber-culture. I felt the Ground Zero idea was the
correct approach for both people who had never heard of the game and were unfamiliar
with it and for the avid players who will adore all the references included in the action-
packed scenario just for them..."
Anderson’s past experiences in the Fantasy and Science-Fiction realms, and his love of
the Horror genre, also gave him an insight into what audiences expect from a multi-million
dollar terror extravaganza. He said, It’s all about maintaining surprise so I’m slightly
twisting the genre to keep audiences constantly on the edge of their seats. I worked
hard on that aspect of the script. When Resident Evil: Ground Zero begins the audience is
introduced to a set of characters and I expect them to start picking which one will be the
lead. A few minutes later they’re all dead! I continually want to pull the rug out from the
audience’s feet by ever-increasing smart shifts in tone and clever mood changes...
(Thanks to Resident-Evil-Forum for this information)
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