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[adamsapple]

A very popular discussion point amongst the RE fan base, Romero penned a script for the Resident Evil movie which was rejected by Capcom.

A documentary on it being directed by Romero's personal assistant at the time, Brandon Salisbury, who played the game for Romero cause Romero wasn't much of a gamer.

His script used named characters and locations from the movie, rather than what Paul W. Anderson's movie did.








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The entire script itself can be found online.

One of the many videos on youtube summarizing the script:

 

[Moses85]

 

[Hugare]

4 pages in and Chris and Jill are kissing?

Capcom immediately:

They would rather greenlight shit from Paul W S Anderson than see Chris finally getting some

 

[Badlucktroll]

Do you know that the laser room protecting the computer was a george romero idea? paul ws anderson stole it and put it in his movie. believe it or not the romero film was not a slow burn forboding horror film. it was pretty similar to what paul ws anderson made, like the michelle rodriguez character (i think her name was Rosy) and the laser room

 

[coffinbirth]

Wow, I remember reading this at the time and being so completely stoked...and then the subsequent falling out and being bummed. After seeing what happened with Land of the Dead, I was far less bothered by it though, as Romero had clearly lost whatever touch he had, IMO.

This reminds me of Jodorowsky's Dune.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Do you know that the laser room protecting the computer was a george romero idea? paul ws anderson stole it and put it in his movie. believe it or not the romero film was not a slow burn forboding horror film. it was pretty similar to what paul ws anderson made, like the michelle rodriguez character (i think her name was Rosy) and the laser room

So iconic modern fiction is using it.

 

[adamsapple]

It's live on Prime Video.

Watch George A. Romero's Resident Evil | Prime Video

George A. Romero's Resident Evil gives viewers unprecedented access to the tumultuous behind-the-scenes dynamics, creative tensions, and ultimately, the poignant demise of the envisioned film. Revealing Romero's unique perspective, this documentary shows the intricacies of his creative process...

www.amazon.com

 

[RedC]

Do you know that the laser room protecting the computer was a george romero idea? paul ws anderson stole it and put it in his movie. believe it or not the romero film was not a slow burn forboding horror film. it was pretty similar to what paul ws anderson made, like the michelle rodriguez character (i think her name was Rosy) and the laser room

The movie that inspired that scene was the 1997 Canadian science fiction horror film "Cube".

 

[Aggelos]

That's a sweet documentary.

George A. Romero's Resident Evil - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[violence]

They would rather greenlight shit from Paul W S Anderson than see Chris finally getting some

I want to live in the time line where this guy did not steal the thunder from Resident Evil and AvP movies.

 

[Trilobit]

I've only played some and watched some Let's Plays, but I got the feeling from the first Resident Evil film (didn't watch whole as I got bored) that the movies were too action oriented and didn't focus enough on the horror aspect. I think Romero would have nailed that tension better.

4 pages in and Chris and Jill are kissing?

Capcom immediately:

They would rather greenlight shit from Paul W S Anderson than see Chris finally getting some

Haram, habibi!

 

[RagnarokIV]

Loved the script. It was just before Romero lost the plot and went super shit with films too.
It was an early draft and would have a fair bit more work done plus touch ups… I think once all done it would have been a classic.

 

[adamsapple]

FYI, for some reason this doc is available *cheaper* on Vudu/Fandango compared to Amazon.

Watching it right now and it's an incredible deep dive into the subject. Anyone who has even the remotest of interest in this should definitely check it out.

Fandango link, it's like $3 cheaper than buying it on Prime.

https://athome.fandango.com/content/browse/details/George-Romero-s-Resident-Evil/3948724

 

[Doom85]

I've only played some and watched some Let's Plays, but I got the feeling from the first Resident Evil film (didn't watch whole as I got bored) that the movies were too action oriented and didn't focus enough on the horror aspect. I think Romero would have nailed that tension better.

Also the fact Romero was actually going to focus on the game characters.

Anderson’s first movie had none of the game characters, so it’s like, okay, it’s doing its own thing, but then movie 2 and beyond starts bringing in a ton of game characters like Jill, Chris, Claire, Leon, etc. only for them to be small players if not basically cheerleaders for the protagonist Alice who is not from the games, and “coincidentally” is played by Anderson’s girlfriend and eventual wife Milla Jovovich.

Thank god Anderson only got his hands on Resident Evil and Monster Hunter, otherwise we’d be dealing with other Capcom “adaptations” like:

Mega Man, starring Milla Jovovich as Ann, with supporting character Mega Man
Devil May Cry, starring Milla Jovovich as Amber, with supporting character Dante
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, starring Milla Jovovich as Allison, with supporting character Phoenix Wright

 

[SF Kosmo]

I though the Paul WS Anderson movies were dog shit. I doubt Romero's would have been a classic but it would have been the better choice

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

I've only played some and watched some Let's Plays, but I got the feeling from the first Resident Evil film (didn't watch whole as I got bored) that the movies were too action oriented and didn't focus enough on the horror aspect. I think Romero would have nailed that tension better.



Haram, habibi!

This is how I felt about the movies. Seemed like a cool idea, then I watched the first one. Never turned even a second of thought toward any RE movie since that time.

 

[JimmyRustler]

I though the Paul WS Anderson movies were dog shit. I doubt Romero's would have been a classic but it would have been the better choice

I vividly remember the first RE being one of the first movies in my life where I was super close of walking out of it.

I did gain some acceptance for a couple of the RE flicks over the years but man, I was so angry back in 2002. They shat all over the series with this trash and everyone just ate it up.

 

[freemandos]

I readed the script years ago. It wasn't perfect but I think it would be better than the Paul W.S Anderson movies.

 

[Badlucktroll]

I watched the doc. I bet constantin passed on this because it was romero cheesefest splatter schlock that genre fans would have loved, which hollywood wasn’t making at that time (shit like scream mostly) and they wanted a quick sexy to the point sleek action film because the romero one had flop written all over it.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Imagine getting this instead of Paul WS Andersons tripe. His Resident Evil franchise is Uwe Boll levels of shit.

 

[Badlucktroll]

I remember back in the day you could email bruce campbell questions and he would answer them (sometimes it would take weeks) and i asked him if he was in the running for a role in resident evil (there was a rumor i think i saw on ign), and he said something along the lines of “yes, but george wants kurt russel”. also, the romero script reminds me of like deep rising or something like that movie wise from back then

 

[MMaRsu]

I vividly remember the first RE being one of the first movies in my life where I was super close of walking out of it.

I did gain some acceptance for a couple of the RE flicks over the years but man, I was so angry back in 2002. They shat all over the series with this trash and everyone just ate it up.

Compared to any other 'videogame' movies, RE movie was actually great.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

As someone that is a big fan of the franchise, i never knew this George situation. First 30 min I thought the docu was boring and was gonna turn it off. Then it kicked off like some detective drama and got me hooked, had no idea this whole background of what was happening behind the scenes. Fun watch for sure.

I did resonate with one part where they said RE2 already came out and now all the work on a RE movie based on the first game felt outdated because RE2 is the new golden goose. But as a fan, I do want to see each part of the game followed by a movie. The actual RE movie was pretty good but prblem for me was that even then they started mish mashing parts together. RE2 movie was all over the place with story continuation. After that it just went ape shit and nonsensical and frankly stupid.

I'd still put the first movie as a good flick just as mortal Kombat 1 was.

 

[Nickolaidas]

I am on good terms with Brandon Salisbury - we bonded over Mortal Kombat leak talks five years ago. Great guy.

Give this documentary a watch, and keep an eye out for his work. He's going to direct a couple of horror films based on video games.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Compared to any other 'videogame' movies, RE movie was actually great.

Compared to other videogame movies I actually cared for this series.

 

[Badlucktroll]

Why don’t they give his script a good re write and then produce it as a 3 part limited series or something

 

[MMaRsu]

Compared to other videogame movies I actually cared for this series.

I understand, but even comparing it to other videogame movies at the time, it still made a fun and engaging movie without shitting on the source material no?

I especially liked them not using main characters from the games.

 

[RedC]

I understand, but even comparing it to other videogame movies at the time, it still made a fun and engaging movie without shitting on the source material no?

I especially liked them not using main characters from the games.

I always thought it would be cool if Alice somehow made it in to the games, but then realized why it's never happened and highly unlikely to happen in the future due to Capcom not owning the rights to the character.

 

[Badlucktroll]

The Romero script reminded me of some shit like Deep Rising or like that type of movie from back then.