Milla Jovovich On Passing The Torch Of The 'Resident Evil' Franchise

The Resident Evil film franchise may be six movies worth of hostile, homicidal undead types running amok, but for Milla Jovovich — who's been kicking zombie butt as series heroine Alice since the first movie was released in 2002 — it's synonymous with life and love. After all, the first movie was where she met and fell in love with the franchise's mastermind, writer-director Paul W S Anderson, her husband and father of her two daughters. The sixth and most recent instalment of the saga, titled The Final Chapter, co-stars the couple's eldest daughter, Ever, as the enigmatic artificial intelligence entity known as the Red Queen.

"Every film [in the franchise] has great memories for me," says Jovovich, calling from Hong Kong late last year during a global press tour for Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. "But the top three would the first one, the third one and this last one. The first one was where I met Paul, the third one was me and Paul's last stand as a young couple with no children — we had such a great time filming in Mexico City, drinking tequila and acting like kids. And this last one because of our daughter — she's such a phenomenal little actress."

Jovovich's dedication to the franchise is evident — she started filming The Final Chapter in South Africa six months after giving birth to her second daughter, Dashiel, a pretty amazing feat given the physical demands of playing Alice. "It was intense!" Jovovich admits with a laugh. "It was the most challenging prep I've ever had for a movie but it was worth it for such amazing memories." (Among those memories: "We had our baby on the set, lying on this pink blanket, and all these zombie actors were coming up and going 'Ooh, she's so cute!'" laughs Jovovich. "It was pretty surreal.")

"If you'd asked me when we made the first one, I couldn't have imagined in a million years I'd be sitting here in 2016 still talking about Resident Evil."

Of course, the Russian-born Jovovich — who began her career in front of the camera as a 12-year-old model before shifting into acting as a teenager — isn't short of Resident Evil memories, having spent the last decade-and-a-half slaying the undead with shotgun blasts, sharp objects and a well-placed roundhouse kick or two. And she admits she's amazed that the franchise has enjoyed such a long and successful run — the average budget of a Resident Evil movie is around $US50 million; the six films have taken in close to $US1 billion worldwide. "If you'd asked me when we made the first one, I couldn't have imagined in a million years I'd be sitting here in 2016 still talking about Resident Evil," she says.

So why call it a day? After all, the title The Final Chapter is pretty definitive. "I don't think Paul dreamed that Resident Evil would be this kind of success either, and when we did the second one he thought it would be great to do a trilogy," says Jovovich. "And then when we did the third one, and he [knew] the studio was asking for a fourth, he thought it would be great to do another trilogy, this time in 3D. So, this is his dream come true — this is the third part of his 3D trilogy. I don't know if it was a master plan as much as a writer having a story in his head and thinking 'Wouldn't it be interesting if this happened, and then this and then this...' and it just happened to stretch over six movies."

While Anderson has been the guiding hand behind the franchise, directing four of the films and writing all six, Jovovich has provided her share of input during the development stages along the way. "We have a blast sitting around talking about ways to skin a cat, so to speak," she smiles. "I could never imagine writing a script — I have a lot of great ideas but they're scattered — so I have so much respect for people like Paul who can take a story from beginning to middle to end. But I read everything Paul writes, I ask a lot of questions and I point out what I see as inconsistencies. Things only someone else could tell you because when you're writing it you're right there in the middle of it, and you need someone with an outside perspective to say 'Hey, that's really weird'. And I talk to him about dreams I have — or nightmares I have! — and sometimes he'll put it in a script."

Still, the core of Alice is Jovovich's creation. "She kind of represents the best parts of me — she's like the ultimate me," she says. "She's decisive and strong, she inspires me when I'm feeling weak or insecure, and I do draw on her sometimes when I need to get back up and fight. As actors, the characters you play do change you. And especially after six films, Alice has really become a part of me. She's made me who I am today."

As tough as Alice is, she's far from the only woman fighting for the future in the Resident Evil franchise — since the series began, its female characters tend to be the ones in the thick of it. This is partly due to the video game series on which the films are based ("My little brother would always play the game as Jill Valentine," says Jovovich) but partly due to Anderson's appreciation for strong female characters. "Paul has always had a lot of respect for women and thought they were underused in the genre," says Jovovich. "He also talks about how a beautiful woman with a gun will really help sell a movie!"

And what do you know, there just so happens to be a few beautiful women with guns in The Final Chapter, among them Australia's Ruby Rose, whose character Abigail is a dab hand at blowing shit up. So in Jovovich's expert opinion as a veteran of the genre, could Rose carry her own franchise? "Oh my gosh, are you kidding? She totally could!" she exclaims. "She's a force of nature — a strong, funny and complete personality. And I had so much fun working with her. A set like this can be very challenging — you're working long hours, the sets are incredibly dirty and uncomfortable, so it's not a very glamourous scenario. An energy like Ruby's can defuse everyone's frustrations, which is so important. She's a great person to spend 14 hours with, in a post-apocalyptic landscape."

But if anyone is going to take over the Resident Evil franchise, perhaps reboot it sometime down the line, Jovovich is looking a little closer to home. "You know, six, seven years from now, Ever is gonna be ready to carry the torch."