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George A. Romero's other Resident Evil scripts still exist!

Bran

Independent Film Director
Unfortunately I'm not allowed to share the script, but I can post differences between early Roberts' draft and the final movie. As far as I remember:
- Claire arrived to Racoon City just to get her brother out of the dying town, she didn't show him Ben Bertolucci tape and didn't tell him any conspiracy theories, she doesn't know what's going on in Racoon outside of all the weird and scary stuff that she saw when she arrived or when she escaped The Raccoon City Orphanage when she was a kid. She also didn't know Ben Bertolucci personally, Ben was a TV reporter in Racoon who claimed that Umbrella poisoned water in the city.
- Truck driver tried to sexually assault Clarie, but she quickly "disarmed" him and it didn't go any further. Part of the scene is actually in the film.
- Leon had more character development and kind of a character arc. There was an extra scene when Leon woke up in hangover, his father called him and expressed his disappointment in him after that accident with Leon's partner and that he hopes Leon won't embarass him even more on a new job. Leon was really embarassed he let down his big name father as he watched their family photo from Leon's police academy graduation. He was still kind of comedy relief character, but I thought it worked in the context of the story, he had an underdog hero's journey arc. He's incompetent, but gets better and in the end saves the day by killing mutated Birkin and I guess making his father proud. There was an emphasis on this arc that I felt was missing in the final film.
- Dialogues were noticeably better with a lot less exposition and character names dumps.
- Raccoon felt more developed in the script and there was no exposition text, with bigger emphasis on its current status.
- Rebecca Chambers and a bunch of other characters had cameos in a caffee instead of Wesker and Jill. One of the cops (not Wesker) tried to make fun of Leon because of his backstory with shooting his partner, but Rebecca calmed her teammate down and was really nice to Leon. Wesker, Jill and Chris actually made fun of Leon in the police station by putting different things on him while he was peacefully sleeping after hangover. They had some extra interractions where Chris and Jill were foolling around the police station while Wesker watched them (it's implied that Wesker has feelings for Jill, just like Chris, but they are just close friends since school)
- There was Barry Burton instead of Richard Aiken and he played the same role, so it was more a character name change.
- There was an extra scene with Ada Wong. People complained that Wesker was dumb in the final film and was manipulated by phone messages, but in the script he secretely met Ada in the police station behind his friends' backs, to discuss what he has to do in Spencer Mansion, right before they board the chopper to fly there.
- Jill was a bit less agressive and rock-n-roll, probably closer to games.
- During chief Irons' briefing in the police station he reported that Chambers' team didn't come back after they went to check reports of animal attack near the Spencer Mansion and he also got audio messages with screams and shooting. There was a funny scene where Barry, after hearing those messages and a long pause, assumed it was a bear and everyone in the room rolled their eyes and looked at him like he's an idiot.
- Chief Irons was such a coward he was ready to leave his family in Raccoon and tried to escape the city without them as his wife tried to call him to find out what's going on in the city, even though Irons felt guilt about that. There was a very similar scene to Resident Evil: Apocalypse where large crowds of people and cars gathered near the walls with Umbrella's mercenaries. Irons tried to use his status to escape, but mercenaries wouldn't let him. Then mercenaries opened fire at people when they saw first infected folks in those crowds and Irons had to drive back to police station to find some other way to escape. It was probably cut because of budget constraints.
- Wesker's betrayal was better written. After Jill saved Wesker from the fallen chopper, a bunch of zomies started moving towards them and Wesker grabbed Jill's hand and took her to the room with a piano. Then he opened the tunnel to the lab and told her about his secret connections and real plans in the mansion (steal Birkin's documents, earn a lot of money and escape the city using the underground train). Jill told him that she actually knew about his secret meetings and the same people tried to make the same deal with her, but she would never agree to betray her friends, so he should just forget about this nonsense and come with her to save Chris. Wesker thinks that Chris is probably dead and that risk of coming back is not worth it. Jill doesn't believe what she hears and pulls Wesker to come with her (come to light in a symbolic way). He hesitates for a second, lets her pull him, but then says no and leaves, entering the tunnel to the lab, betraying his friends to save his ass. Jill on the hand runs to find Chris, she saves him from zombies and they both fight their way to the tunnel. In the contrasting moment, wounded Jill asks Chris to leave her to save himself, but he point-blank refuses to leave her.
- Wesker reluctantly threatened Birkin and his family to give him documents and was really surprised he took his wife and daughter here. Birkin ouright refuses to give the work of his life and opens fire at Wesker. Wesker returns fire and mortally wounds Birkin. Annett Birkin calms her dying husband, then suddenly grabs husband's pistol and wounds Wekser. Wesker docks to cover and blindly shoots back, killing Annett. Wesker is shocked by what he just did, he never killed anyone before. He really regrets it, calls Birkin a madman because forced him to do this and screams to Sherry that he didn't want to kill her parents. But there's no turning back.
- Wesker was "killed" by mutated Birkin, not Jill. Chris and Jill came to Birkin's lab a bit later and found Wesker's body.
- Birkin was a bit more likable and scenes with his family life were different and a bit longer.
- Birkin had no personal connection to Chris at all, he took no part in his education/growing up and they probably hadn't seen each other since orphanage.
- Lisa Trevor showed up in the final battle to help our heroes and attacked fully mutated Birkin on the train. She jumped him like raptors vs T-Rex in Jurassic Park, but after some fight Birkin killed her.
- After our heroes escaped Raccoon, they had a conversation that Umbrella must be stopped and the world must find out what really happened in Racoon. Leon sighs and says he needs a drink. That was actually the only "save the world" dialogue, all characters' motivations throught the script were personal.
- Wesker's ressurection was part of the ending and not post-credit scene, but it's word to word the same as in the script.

This all sounds so much better. It addresses the problems I had with the script.
 

Ark2000

Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing all this Maverick! I agree with Bran, it sounds much better and would make a better movie. Now i wonder, if Constantin had something to do with changes made on the script, will we start hearing usual rumors about studio interference and such, if Roberts or somebody else involved in the film gets asked about any problems it had during production...
 

RedfieldFanboi

Well-Known Member
It really does support that one or two things happened:
Firstly, that a lot was cut/changed due to time or budget.
Secondly - possibly - that at the wrong point in production the studio reduced the budget.

Either way I liked the movie, but these differences so sort out many of the criticisms I had with it.
 

Hardware

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the breakdown, @Maverick1, very much appreciated. I was always under the impression some things were added at a later stage (like Chris and Birkin's relationship, which didn't make any sense) and that a lot was cut. I wonder how much was altered in pre-production\principal photography and how much was put in during the infamous reshoots.


it's kind of impressive they even managed to make anything out of this budget.
I think that does speak up for Robert's chops as a filmmaker. I wasn't very familiar with his work but my impression is that he does know how to put a horror movie together - he just had his hands tied and is probably going to take the fault for the movie being so poorly received in the years to come, which is unfortunate. Truth is, there are more capable directors out there than one might think: the problem is that most of them are rather unlucky and find themselves trapped in deals such as WTRC, with little money and even less decision-making power. Even James Cameron started out as an out-of-luck filmmaker who got to make a turd like PIRANHA: THE SPAWNING and, to add insult to injury, he was even removed from it. Luckily for him, things got better (especially since he then married Gale Anne Hurd, who was his producer on The Terminator and Aliens and stood by him during the troubled making of the latter, even when half the crew went on strike to have Cameron removed and replaced by the 1st AD).
 

Ikawaru

Well-Known Member
'47 Meters Down' was made on a $5m budget and grossed $65m at the box office. I guess they thought Roberts could also work that magic with Resident Evil...they were wrong.
 

Maverick1

Well-Known Member
I think that does speak up for Robert's chops as a filmmaker. I wasn't very familiar with his work but my impression is that he does know how to put a horror movie together - he just had his hands tied and is probably going to take the fault for the movie being so poorly received in the years to come, which is unfortunate.
Yeah, it's very unfortunate, Roberts nailed it on paper and I can only assume actors also thought they signed up for a much better movie than what was released.
Truth is, there are more capable directors out there than one might think: the problem is that most of them are rather unlucky and find themselves trapped in deals such as WTRC, with little money and even less decision-making power. Even James Cameron started out as an out-of-luck filmmaker who got to make a turd like PIRANHA: THE SPAWNING and, to add insult to injury, he was even removed from it. Luckily for him, things got better (especially since he then married Gale Anne Hurd, who was his producer on The Terminator and Aliens and stood by him during the troubled making of the latter, even when half the crew went on strike to have Cameron removed and replaced by the 1st AD).
That's a good point and example. If Terminator never happend, we wouldn't find out that the guy who's credited as Piranha 2 director could become one of the greatest Hollywood filmmakers. Directors and writers, especially not established ones, have to deal with a lot of crap when they do a studio film, from many studio notes (some of them can be good, but there are tons of bad ones too) to potential budget cuts, it gets even worse if the person who approves all the decisions is completely insane like some infamous studio executives and producers.
 

Hardware

Well-Known Member
Directors and writers, especially not established ones, have to deal with a lot of crap when they do a studio film, from many studio notes (some of them can be good, but there are tons of bad ones too) to potential budget cuts, it gets even worse if the person who approves all the decisions is completely insane like some infamous studio executives and producers.
It's not just people doing "studio" movies: even indie filmmakers, at any level, can find themselves into similar trappings. The legend that if you're a director and go indie you have more power is just a legend: it all boils down on who hands out the money and what your contract says. You can have your hands tied even on a micro-budget movie if whoever is paying for it has his own plans. WTRC is not a "studio" movie either, nor are the other RE movies: they are all International co-productions spearheaded by a German company (Constantin Film). A studio movie is something produced by a major Hollywood company (a so-called "studio"). It doesn't make much difference at the end of the day ("pecunia non olet", as Roman emperor Vespasian once said - literally "money doesn't stink"), it's just a matter of labeling.
 

Ikawaru

Well-Known Member
There actually was a time when Hollywood gave far more leeway to directors for creative freedom. However, catastrophic flops like 'Heaven's Gate' and others put a stop to it as it was too much of a financial risk. For 'Heaven's Gate', There were reports that director Michael Cimino would actually wait for days for the right type of cloud to show up in the sky before he actually filmed anything, burning through cash like you know what.

Funnily enough, both Jaws and Star War were exceptions to the norm at that time period and did have strong studio interference during the films productions, and both were smash hits!
 
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Maverick1

Well-Known Member
It's not just people doing "studio" movies: even indie filmmakers, at any level, can find themselves into similar trappings. The legend that if you're a director and go indie you have more power is just a legend: it all boils down on who hands out the money and what your contract says. You can have your hands tied even on a micro-budget movie if whoever is paying for it has his own plans. WTRC is not a "studio" movie either, nor are the other RE movies: they are all International co-productions spearheaded by a German company (Constantin Film). A studio movie is something produced by a major Hollywood company (a so-called "studio"). It doesn't make much difference at the end of the day ("pecunia non olet", as Roman emperor Vespasian once said - literally "money doesn't stink"), it's just a matter of labeling.
I do agree it depends on who gives you money and contract. But at the same time, in many cases, with smaller budget your hands are less tied (with exceptions like above mentioned Piranha 2). WTRC is not financed by a major studio, but it's not an indie film either.
 

Ark2000

Well-Known Member
Looks like i'm bit late to do that, i suppose PlutoKick already sent you a copy. Hope you'll enjoy it, it's not exactly unproduced masterpiece, but still pretty decent survival thriller in my opinion. Personally, while i really like the script, i'd put Carpenter's other unproduced 70's script, horror thriller Meltdown (Halloween in nuclear power plant), and based on scripts i read, few other unproduced Carpenter projects above it; Shadow Company (80's Kurt Russell vs zombie soldiers, nuff said), Pincushion (female version of Road Warrior starring Jamie Lee Curtis or Cher), his 90's Creature From The Black Lagoon remake, and probably Riot too (Die Hard in a prison starring Nicolas Cage).
 

Ark2000

Well-Known Member
NEWS?? ABOUT ROMERO'S SCRIPT

Is something wrong with your messages? Because this one and one at my George Romero RE fan comic thread didn't show up for what seems like couple weeks. Anyway, as far as i know, at least when it comes to script trading and collecting, there were no news about any more Romero's drafts or any of McElroy's showing up anywhere. Some more details were found out recently, like number of drafts or exact dates, and while anything can help with trying to find those, we're still talking about scripts which have been lost ever since '97/'98. It's a damn miracle that Romero's first draft leaked out in first place, so if i were you, i wouldn't hold my breath for any more to show up, at least for a long time.
 

Juan388

Well-Known Member
I'm looking for the script of resident evil WTRC to read it, and read the differences between the script and the movie it seems that the script sounds better than the final product. I really didn't like the WTRC movie very much, it was better that they mix 2 and 3, jill, wesker, león and vickers are the worst, change claire's personality and what do I find annoying.
 
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