Trivia
George A. Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead, was originally attached to write and direct, but left the project in 1999 due to creative differences over the script. The project was dormant for over a year before Paul W.S. Anderson signed on to write and direct the movie.
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This film was originally titled 'Resident Evil: Ground Zero', but the title was changed to just 'Resident Evil' after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the USA.
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A newspaper in Racoon City reads "The Dead Walk!" This is a direct reference to Day of the Dead, in which a newspaper at the beginning of the film reads the same.
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Reference to Resident Evil Code: Veronica: Matt runs into his sister that is now a zombie and has to watch her "die". This is similar to Steve Burnside having to watch his zombie father die, but by his own hands.
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The wedding picture of Alice and Spencer looks similar to the pictures from Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 (with the subjects up close and spliced onto the background image, and always in black and white).
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Like in the games, after something is switched on/off, something else happens elsewhere. When the Red Queen is deactivated for the first time, all doors elsewhere are opened.
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There is a shot of Alice's eye close up near the end of the film. This is a direct reference to the first game in the series; Resident Evil. The close-up eye shot is the logo/title screen of the game.
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Connections to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: - Main character's name is Alice. - Computer is named 'Red Queen'. - 'The Red Queen' needs to kill someone who is infected, so she tries to get someone else to chop off their head. (Off with her head!) - Alice in Wonderland paperweight. - A white rabbit was use to test the T-virus. - To enter the hive they go through a mirrored door (through the looking glass). - The Red Queen also succeeds in cutting off "her" head - the medic in the laser hallway. - Kaplan worries about time, as the White Rabbit does. (Mentioned in commentary) - Matt is sitting on the ledge when Rain and JD hear the first zombie. This is mentioned in the commentary as a reference to the Caterpillar.
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One of the smaller headlines on the newspaper at the end of the film references the S.T.A.R.S. from the first Resident Evil video game (Resident Evil).
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Reference to Resident Evil: Survivor: Some one loses their memory and at the end it returns to them.
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In the movie, Alice's fake husband is named Spencer. This is a reference to the first game which took place in a mansion named the Spencer Estate. Also, one of the three founders of Umbrella Corporation in the game series is named Ozwell Spencer.
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The presidents of Capcom Japan and America have cameos as zombies. Capcom created the Resident Evil series.
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When Matt and Alice return to the mansion at the end of the movie the case Alice is carrying is just a box covered in foil. The actual case was locked inside a studio.
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In the first draft of the script Kaplan was simply referred to as "Twelve". His full name was Isiab Tagawa Mercurio.
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After returning to the laser hallway they find the bodies have vanished. This is a direct reference to the games, in which the bodies will vanish if you leave and reenter an area. Kaplan's lines draw attention to this.
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According to George A. Romero the rejection of his script was due to Bernd Eichinger. Everyone else associated with the pre-production apparently liked the script.
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The pass code for opening the door in dining hall B, the one Kaplan has trouble remembering, is 04031965. Writer/Director Paul W.S. Anderson was born on 04 March 1965.
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Milla Jovovich did all of her own stunts except the pipe jump in the sewer scene. She used a stunt double in that scene, because her agent thought she would get strangled by the hanging wires.
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The banner on the bus in the end of the movie shows several toys on the right, among them a teddy bear. The text on the left reads: "At Umbrella Medical, we try to make teddy a little softer". Along the bottom, it reads: "Umbrella Medical - Sheltering Your Family".
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Even though Colin Salmon's character is referred to- and credited only as One, his real name is James Shade.
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The crew had a hard time dealing with the dogs who kept licking the blood and meat off themselves.
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The main actors were told to prepare for the film by getting copies of the games and playing them through. Some of them didn't know if they could complete them in time so they had to get video copies of other people beating the games and then watch it.
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The German version is infamous amongst fans for its incredibly bad dubbing, with some even referring to it as a "Pornosynchro."
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The zombie guard who attacks Alice after the appearance of the first dog zombie is the film's stunt coordinator and trainer, Jaymes Butler.
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During the shooting of the sewer scenes, Milla Jovovich right-hooked Paul W.S. Anderson in the face, giving him a big black eye. By the end she hurt about three cast and crew members.
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To prepare for their roles, the actors playing commandos and Milla Jovovich and Eric Mabius had a week of commando training (climbing, martial arts, weapons handling, etc.) with ex-Navy SEAL Jaymes Butler.
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George A. Romero's unproduced script features the game character Jill Valentine as the female lead.
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All the minor cuts and bruises on Milla Jovovich's character are real. No make-up was applied.
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In the commentary it's mentioned that actor James Purefoy (Spence) used his own blue jeans instead of the costume prop.
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Two full-scale Lickers (the 'Creature') were made. One was more detailed than the other and was capable of many movements (the jaw and lips could part open, the tongue could extend). The other was for wider shots where the whole body was seen.
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This is the only Resident Evil movie to be released onto HD DVD, but after Blu-Ray became the official format for high definition movies, Resident Evil then switched from HD DVD to Blu-Ray.
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On the cover Alice is using a G-36 C with grenade launcher from Heckler & Koch, but she never uses it in the film.
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Near the end, when the underground tram pulls back to the Mansion station, the serial number on the front of the lead car reads "ALEXIA" followed by a string of digits. Alexia Ashford is the final antagonist of Resident Evil Code: Veronica. Also, Undeground Trams are a recurring mode of transportation in the Resident Evil games.
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David Boreanaz was originally going to play Matt Addison, but turned down the part to work on his TV series Angel.
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The studio had hoped at one time to make the film PG-13, but the director insisted that to be true to the game, the film must be rated R.
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In December 2001, Sony gave fans a chance to design the film's poster with the prize being an undisclosed amount of cash, a free screening of the film and the chosen design being used on all the advertising material. Nick des Barres, a 23 year old aspiring actor and ex-video game magazine designer, won the competition.
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Its successful opening weekend sparked a frenzy among US studios, eager to capitalize on the interest in video games. Titles like Ultimate Doom, Silent Hill and Max Payne were all snapped up.
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Clashes with the studio - particularly after his experience with Event Horizon - prompted Anderson to seek financing in Europe. This came from Germany's Constantin Film and the UK's New Legacy. Sony Screen Gems picked the movie up for distribution halfway through preproduction.
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Anna Bolt learned how to scuba dive in order to portray the drowned research scientist who revives underwater.
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Jason Isaacs - a personal friend of director Anderson - took a day off from filming The Tuxedo for his cameo.
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Director Anderson hired composers Marco Beltrami and Marilyn Manson because he wanted an edgy score, similar to those that appeared in John Carpenter's early films.
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Opened with a $17.7 million dollar opening weekend. The second weekend's haul was down to $6.7 million and at the third weekend, it had nosedived down to $2.9 million. It fell out of the Top Ten after only 2 weeks, dropping from appearing at over 2500 screens down to just 67. Still, with a production budget of $32 million and a domestic gross of $40 million ($102 million worldwide), it is seen as a success and has spawned three sequels (2009).
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One of the most popular scenes in the film - when Alice runs up a wall and flings round to kick a zombie dog in the head - took 3 months of training for Milla Jovovich.
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Paul W.S. Anderson wanted to change the usual disclaimer at the end of the film to read that it didn't contain any resemblance to persons living or undead but he wasn't allowed to for fear of legal action.
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All the visual effects were done by the Computer Film Company, an FX house based in London.
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To help him achieve the underground look of the film, set designer Richard Bridgland visited nuclear bunkers in the UK and in Europe.
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When the Red Queen is watching Dr. Green yelling at the camera when the room is filling with water ("There's no fire!"), her face gets magnified in a yellow box with data under it, one of which lists her name not as Dr. Green but as Dr. Anna Bolt, which is the name of the actor who plays Dr. Green.
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Michelle Rodriguez had informed her agent that if anyone ever wrote a script about Resident Evil that she wanted to be a part of it. Her agent duly put her in contact with Paul W.S. Anderson when his screenplay was bought.
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A lot of the onscreen graphics provided by the London effects house AMX had to be redone as they weren't spelled correctly.
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According to Milla Jovovich on the DVD commentary, it was a crew member's birthday on the last day of filming. Bottles of champagnes were brought on the set. Paul W.S. Anderson was worried that the cast and crew would drink too much, but they said they'll just have a glass and no more. Sure enough, the whole cast and crew got drunk whilst waiting for filming the final scene in the film.
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Cameo
Jason Isaacs:
The narrator at the opening of the film and the voice of the scientist who wants to re-open the hive.
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