We finally get our first look at the new Resident Evil film’s interpretation of the iconic video game world of survival horror.
Whilst the action-based Resident Evil films featuring Milla Jovovich are liked by many fans of the Resident Evil video games, they aren’t really a true rendering of the series’ survival horror roots. But all of that is set to change with the film reboot, Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City, which hits cinemas here in the UK in early December.
Using characters and locations directly from the early video games, the film is set to recreate the dark and horrific tone from the iconic early titles in the video game franchise, although director Johannes Roberts has previously spoken about wishing to capture the spirit of the characters, rather than recreate them exactly.
As he has said before, “it was hugely important with the whole casting process to find people who embodied the spirit and energy of the characters I wanted to portray. I think often in game adaptations one of the big flaws can be just casting someone to look visually like the characters – giving them the identical haircut and clothes but not really trying to give the audience the thing that a movie does better than a game – which is to create a three-dimensional character that you can really connect with and believe in. I think as I said before one of the traps of falling into game adaptations is to make it feel like a giant cosplay version of the game.”
Roberts went on to discuss the casting process in detail, giving an example of how to him, the capturing the essence of a character was far more important than their look.
Now, we have our first look at those characters and settings, so fans of the games can judge for themselves. The film’s cast includes Kaya Scodelario as Claire Redfield, Robbie Amell as Chris Redfield, Avan Jogia as Leon S. Kennedy, Hannah John-Kamen as Jill Valentine, Tom Hopper as Albert Wesker, Neal McDonough as William Birkin, Donal Logue as Chief Irons, Nathan Dales as Brad Vickers and Marina Mazepa as Lisa Trevor.
The plot? ‘Set in 1998, Raccoon City was once the booming home of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corporation and is now a dying Midwestern town. The company’s exodus left the city a wasteland… with great evil brewing below the surface. When that evil is unleashed, the townspeople are forever changed… and a small group of survivors must work together to uncover the truth behind Umbrella and make it through the night.’
Here’s the international trailer for the film, with a bit of new footage…
And here’s the trailer that launched last week too…
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