Zach Cregger’s “Resident Evil” has, in just over two weeks, collected nearly $200 million at the global box office.
Rather than a direct adaptation of the long-running video game series (or an expansion of the existing film franchise), Cregger chose to tell a new story within the world of games – a story that follows a restless medical courier named Bryan (played by Austin Abrams), who is sent on an emergency journey into the heart of Raccoon City during a zombie outbreak. It’s a gas-free roller-coaster ride carried along by Abrams’ performance – vulnerable, funny, knowing, the perfect agent. Even when things get weird, very strangeAbrams’ strangely emotional performance keeps us engaged.
Abrams said Cregger first mentioned the project while the two were working on “Arms,” which would go on to become a box office hit and unlikely Oscar winner. But Cregger did not say anything specific about Abrams joining the project.
“It wasn’t until he was in post-production for ‘Weapons’ that he called and wanted me to basically read the script,” Abrams said. He hadn’t played the games (“Besides watching it and being too scared to play it”) but once he got the part he took it in to play horror/survival games that had the same spirit.
While “Army” was an ensemble piece, with Abrams portraying an obscure character (a scavenger/thief who stumbles upon the secret of a missing children’s class), “Resident Evil” would take center stage. The movie is it. And that left him a little worried.
“You never know if you can do something until it’s done. It’s a huge question mark. I personally feel like we’re going to have a lot of interest in watching this person,” Abrams said. “Not that everybody might feel that way, or are going to be like, I don’t really care about this one at all. I really don’t want to see this movie? It could happen. There are a lot of emotions about the unknown that have come up. “
While he was shooting the film, Abrams began to get the idea that he was going to be okay. “You catch the energy of the people around you and they seem to be in character and that helps. You don’t become like red lights. You keep going,” he said.
And although Abrams knew that it would be the audience’s stance, creating a character through physicality rather than dialogue (“It feels good to be in the body and use it as a tool,” he said) there were still very radical changes to the final film, as when Cregger admitted that he went through the film after a test screening and pulled out most of the jokes.
“There were others where I was like, ‘Are you going to keep that?’ Or maybe look at it again.’ There was a bunch of stuff like that where we would take it to a place that was too far, really for our own pleasure. And you don’t really know, until you get into editing, how much you’re going to want or not,” Abrams said. “Especially for something like this, where it’s just a scene and you don’t have all these other characters that you’re interacting with. You want choices. I don’t think it would be as enjoyable to watch if it was just straight through. If there weren’t any laughs, I think it would be too difficult. Adding to the comedy, that’s what I think, it really helps to relieve stress and pressure. Zach.
One thing that was worse than zombies or monsters with pests was the reaction of die-hard Resident Evil fans to Cregger making a film that avoided the classic characters and was based on the lore of the series. They were very confused about his approach.
Abrams was sympathetic. “I read a book that I love and then they do another one or make it into another book. You don’t want someone to pick it up. You have a personal connection to it. I get what that feeling is like. There’s that passion,” Abrams said.
He said he and Cregger “did the best job we could.” “We had a strong foundation of love and I think it was our best shot at making something they liked,” Abrams said. Cregger is a huge fan of the games and has played them all, including this year’s Resident Evil: Requiem. Their approach? “Do what you dig and then hope other people dig it,” Abrams said.
Fan service wasn’t something they were interested in (Abrams said it wouldn’t work in a “meaningful way”). “If you’re going to do something that feels new, I think that’s your best shot at something interesting,” he said. But still, he said, “I will only love all these people.”
Before working with Cregger, Abrams was a fan of “Barbarian”, his first feature. He remembers thinking, I love whoever made this movie, because they have great talent and skill, and a sense of humor that is very rare and I relate to it.. Meeting him, Abrams discovered that they were perfectly in sync.
“We connect on many other levels, aim for the same thing and have the same level of work that we think we want to do,” said Abrams. “I think that helps us push each other. We both understand what we’re trying to do and we have the same sensibility.”
“It’s an absolute dream to work with him. I mean, really a dream, and he’s a lovely, kind man. And he’s such a strong actor. He’s so good at anything he tries to do. I’ve yet to see him find his limit. That man’s range is amazing,” Cregger said. “When it was time to go and put this one together, it was like there wasn’t even a decision. There wasn’t a moment like, Well, who else could we? No, it’s Austin.”
Abrams has no role in Cregger’s upcoming sci-fi series “The Flood” (which just cast Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role), but when we asked Abrams if Cregger’s John Carpenter was Kurt Russell, he smiled broadly and said, “Hey, you said it. I didn’t say it.”
When came – spoilers! – Abrams’ dramatic transformation near the end of the film, he said that he really enjoyed the motion capture process.
“I was amazed at how little they needed to be able to capture everything,” Abrams said. “It’s these other guys. You see them in a room, just thinking about all this stuff.”
And given how open the film was (and the fact that the video game series has been running for so long), we had to ask if Cregger had said anything to him about returning for another installment. Another entry seems more likely, especially as its box office numbers continue to grow.
“We’ve had minimal conversations. I don’t want to go into too much at all because I don’t know how things would be,” said Abrams.
But, it’s pretty clear – if Cregger has an idea of how to bring Bryan back to snowy Raccoon City, Abrams would be there. Whatever form – monstrous or otherwise – that would take.
“Resident Evil” is in theaters now.
