Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City director and writer Johannes Roberts has revealed his desire to return to the game’s horror roots.
Capcom’s Resident Evil series is perhaps one of the most well-known horror game franchises to date. Even the recent release of Resident Evil Village was met with widespread internet thirst for its towering antagonist and a slew of positive reviews for the game’s actual content.
But tall, attractive vampire women aren’t all there is to the Resident Evil series, and director Johannes Roberts only emphasises this in his email interview with IGN, detailing a whole host of exciting ideas. Ideas that include going “back to the horror of it all”. I know I’m ready for a good, cinematic scare again.
Roberts makes sure to note that there will be clear differences between his film and the Screen Gems film series, starring Milla Jovovich and produced by Paul W.S. Anderson. He emphasises that he “actually [loves] the first movie so much”, but admits that it “wasn’t really Resident Evil” and “never captured the game”.
It’s certainly true that the original movies chose to skew their source material quite a bit and although Roberts says it’s “not a criticism”, it’s nice to know that maybe this time around we’ll get a more faithful adaptation.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City director Johannes Roberts talks to IGN about casting the new movie versions of the iconic game characters, designing the creatures, and collaborating with Capcom. https://t.co/84TzCvy78Z#ResidentEvil #WelcomeToRaccoonCity @ResidentEvil pic.twitter.com/wN20C3REiE
— IGN (@IGN) August 30, 2021
His vision is apparently somewhat old-school. Working “hand-in-hand with Capcom”, he aims to create “scares and atmosphere” by taking inspiration from ’70s film techniques. Instead of using drones, CGI, and hordes of zombies with no individuality, the director promises to “really focus in on each creature” and pay attention to the details.
Casting was supposedly one of the more difficult parts of the movie’s process, with the character of Leon proving to be “quite a tricky role”. Choosing to “move away from the buff action hero”, we’ll finally be gifted with a Leon played by Avan Jogia, who’s as out of his depth as any normal person would be in his situation.
Jill (played by Hannah John-Kamen) on the other hand, will be “kick-ass but not in a superhuman way”.
Allow me to introduce you to some of our residents❗️ #ResidentEvil: #WelcomeToRaccoonCity is coming exclusively to movie theaters November 24. pic.twitter.com/0lR7g0wJZC
— Resident Evil (@ResidentEvil) August 30, 2021
With claims of the creatures in the film looking “fucking incredible” and a desire to “be as faithful as possible” to the game, the hype is seriously building for the movie’s release.
Hopefully by the time it hits cinemas on November 25th in Australia, we’ll all be free from lockdown for viewing.
