Zach Cregger discusses his new film, Resident Evil, including how dangerous the stunts were at times and how it will differ from the video games.
To say I am excited for Zach Cregger’s upcoming Resident Evil film is an understatement. As a massive fan of the games, as well as Cregger’s previous work, I know this is a winning combination.
Mama’s Geeky was invited to attend a special event for the movie, where we were treated to the first eighteen minutes. It hits the ground running and never looks back, very much channels the intense, chaotic energy of the games. It’s scary and quite funny at times. The film stars Austin Abrams as Bryan, a man who is just trying to do his job of delivering a transplant organ to Racoon City. If you know Resident Evil, you know that this means he is about to have a very bad night.
The story takes place on outbreak day, but does not involve any of the main characters from the story. This is for a very good reason, which Zach Cregger explained. After the footage there was a moderated Q&A where writer and director Zach Cregger shared behind-the-scenes stories about writing the script, directing terrifying stunt work, and how it will differ from the fan favorite video games.
Zach Cregger: I have been such a giant fan of those games since two came out and I have played all of them. I love spending time in the worlds. I love the pacing of the games. It’s not survival action, it’s survival horror. You always feel like you have just enough to survive but probably not. And that is so portable into a movie. I just wanted to make a movie that would celebrate everything I think make those games so special, but not cannibalize the stories that those games tell so well. Because I don’t think I can tell Leon’s story better than the games tell Leon’s story. That, to me, feels like a losing endeavour.
Zach Cregger On His Love For Resident Evil & More
Moderator: Was it freeing to write a story that goes straight from point A to point B without taking your foot off the gas?
Zach Cregger: It was very freeing. I didn’t want to be like the weirdo who like, you know, breaks story structure. You know, because I did that with Barbarian, I did it with Weapons, and I figured, you know, that it would be really 180 for me to do something that is just locked in with one character from point A to point B, and just keep it simple. And the challenge is, can I tell a story that feels like, you know, once he hits her, we’re like, I don’t know, seven, six minutes in? Can I put my foot on the gas and not take my foot off the gas at the end of the movie? Like, that to me is like, okay, so that’s the challenge of this. Can I just fucking floor it all the way through the movie? And, you know, I think I did. And so it kind of, by design, it just, it does not stop. It’s an unrelenting thing. So this was, it felt like a new, fresh thing for me to do.
Moderator: When you wrote this script, did you anticipate that you would actually get to direct it?
Zach Cregger: Yeah, I’d only made a $4 million movie. I knew that this was going to be way more expensive. In a theory, like, you need a, it’s a valuable property. Resident Evil has value as a brand. And I was like, they’re not going to trust me with something like that. And so I was able to write it kind of like, who gives a shit? I’m not making this movie. So I’m just going to write my favorite Resident Evil thing. You know, sucks to be the dude that has to figure out how to chew all this stuff. But I’m just going to write it and I don’t care. Which is the best attitude you can have when you’re writing is to not care. And so that let me just have fun. And then what happens is as you write that, you start to fall in love with what you’re writing. And so when I was done with it, I was like, fuck, I really hope I can be the one to direct this movie. So luckily they trusted me.
Moderator: Can you tell us about the rooftop zombie scene in the trailer and how dangerous that stunt was to shoot?
Zach Cregger: So there’s a scene in this movie, it’s in the trailer momentarily, but like he’s running down the street and there’s zombies on the roof of the buildings on either side and they’re all leaping at him. And so we had to basically design this thing where he’s just running and bodies are just falling and detonating all around him. And I knew I didn’t want to do it with VFX because I feel like it would just look like VFX. So I was like, how do we do this where all these explosions are real? And the way to do it is you get a bunch of cranes and you have all these body-sized blood bags and you rehearse the shit out of how they’re going to fall and how fast he’s going to run and then you just shoot it. And he’s chasing the camera car and he’s running and they’re releasing these bags and they’re falling and hitting all around him and exploding. And one triggered too early and it missed him by inches. And he’s probably like 150 pounds. It would have killed him if he had been one step to the right. He would have died. It’s in the movie, so it’s fucking worth it.
Moderator: You mentioned having a character shorthand on set using three iconic cinematic roles. How did that work?
Zach Cregger: Kevin McCallister, John McClane, and Marty McFly. Yeah, because they all kind of, it’s kind of obvious how it works. You know, we would level up and do, do you think I’m more McClane or McFly here? And I was like, you’re McFly here. Most of the movie you’re McFly, which is Marty McFly, Back to the Future. It’s kind of like, I don’t know what to do, you know, that’s your baseline. And every once in a while you get to do something badass and you’re John McClane from Die Hard. And a lot of times, you know, you’re a total little bitch and you’re Kevin McCallister from Home Alone. So we would always be like, is this McCallister or McFly? Is it McClane? That was fun for us.
Moderator: What do you hope people take away from this movie experience?
Zach Cregger: I want this to be a big rollercoaster ride. I want people who love the games the way I love the games to feel like they’re getting a Resident Evil movie. That is deliberate. I want people to feel seen. Because I love these games and I am making this to celebrate these games. So that is something I really hope. I also think if you’ve never played a video game and you’ve never heard the words Resident Evil, you don’t even worry. There’s no information you need to know. You can enjoy this movie completely cold and you’re going to get it. It’s not complicated. It’s a fucking blast. I just want people to be scared and laugh every once in a while and walk out and be like, that was fucking awesome.
About Resident Evil
From the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) comes a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise. In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.
Resident Evil comes to theaters on September 18th.
