What's better: the resulting movie or George A. Romero's original screenplay?

[Bran]

It was a first draft, I can't stress that enough to people.
Capcom could have asked Romero to change things to be a little more faithful to the game, but instead they fired him because they didn't like his screenplay treatment.

Romero, according to interviews back in the day, did indeed write multiple drafts. There was never confirmation on what changes were made, though an unconfirmed sourced cited Chris Redfield being changed back to a S.T.A.R.S. member and (probably) monsters being cut for budget.

This seemed to be a trend, as the McElroy draft (which was the first writer) had almost every monster from the game (including the mutant bees), and each draft tended to shed material until finally Anderson's draft included only three monster types and a minimal amount of sets.

Romero's drafts were the most faithful to the game in tone, while the other writers varied. McElroy wrote something that may have been okay from what I gathered, but the others tended to go either for generic low-budget zombie film or something in the vein of the Doom movie.

The reason Romero was fired was because Constantin Films couldn't decide what they wanted to do. The quote from Capcom of "Romero's script wasn't good" was probably relayed from Constantin when Capcom asked why he was fired. They probably never saw the actual screenplay. In Romero's words, "They wanted a war movie."

I've broke down Romero's script before on other boards, detailing why he made certain changes based on his storytelling style, but it essentially came down to Romero wanting a film with social commentary and a diverse cast of characters.

 

[KevinStriker]

until finally Anderson's draft included only three monster types and a minimal amount of sets.

Aye, there's the rub.

Anderson's must have been the cheapest to make.

Mystery solved.

 

[Bran]

While Anderson is not a celebrated film director, he knows how to write a screenplay (which are good reads, even with his personal feelings included in them; in the Nemesis draft he had points where he thought the audience would be cheering for Alice), but the thing he knows best is how to be a showman. Coming into AVP's troubled production (considering AVP was in development Hell for 10 years) he channeled George Lucas and had an artist do several paintings to show off his vision.

For Resident Evil, I imagine he went into the meeting and said, "The problem is you have been trying to adapt the game. Why don't we do a prequel. Tell the story of how the outbreak occurred and introduce new characters." And then he proceeded to lay out his idea.

I absolutely despise his films (other than Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, and Soldier -- all three I can tolerate) but those wanting to become film directors can learn A LOT of positive lessons from Anderson in his scripting style and how he pitches his films.

 

[slack]

I've broke down Romero's script before on other boards, detailing why he made certain changes based on his storytelling style, but it essentially came down to Romero wanting a film with social commentary and a diverse cast of characters.

That's the one thing I hate about Romero, he tries to make all his movies satirical just to make some kind of lame statement on current hot topics. It worked for Night, Dawn, and Day of the Dead, but any movie of his made after those were just 'meh' at best -- entertaining, but still meh.

Romero actually declined to direct an episode of 'The Walking Dead' because he doesn't like when zombie themed shows and movies center around a dramatic 'soap opera-esque' (his words) character development heavy pieces. The man is a legend and I have the up-most admiration for him but I couldn't disagree more with that standpoint.

If they're (Constantine) gonna make a successful Resident Evil tv adaptation they need to ground the series and make it rely heavily on the character development (take a cue from TWD) while just giving the plot a slight overhaul... and ignoring any of the RE games after RE4

 

[Bran]

Well, that is just Romero's style. It is also a way to give a film more weight. You are completely right that only his original Dead trilogy worked. His newer films attempted too hard to shove social commentary down our throats, but the message he was attempting to send for Resident Evil was still better than Anderson's "Hey, watch my wife beat that monster that killed you 20 times in Resident Evil 3, and she has superpowers, and she is like better than any character from the game."

Also, information on the TV series has been getting twisted on certain websites.

There are TWO series in the works. One is Constantin Films' Resident Evil series that will continue on from Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. There are a lot of new characters introduced in the new film. I have a feeling that these will become the main cast for the TV series. So their series will continue to stay in the movie universe. The other series has been worked on by fans called ARKLAY. This has been talked about by various websites, but it is only a fan project that wants to follow the original games and the stories about Raccoon City. No further information has been released in the past two (?) years since its initial announcement, and whomever developed the idea may have abandoned it.

 

[slack]

I think Arklay may have gotten a cease and desist letter or something, or maybe it just crumbled like most things that sound promising.

Is it a fact that they're picking up the RE tv series in conjunction with the movieverse? That sounds absolutely horrible. They have the rights to one of the biggest franchises around with a gigantic fan base built from beloved characters. Why they don't start from the ground up and focus on the actual game characters is beyond comprehension, they're flushing something potentially great right down the sh!tter. I wish I could pitch my series arc just to say I tried.

 

[Bran]

I can't remember where I read it from. There have been rumors regarding what the final movie is about. I got a few plot points and believe they are true. The TV series would make sense regarding what the film is supposed to be about. Take it with a grain of salt and we will see once the final film releases.

I understand your frustration, Slack. I have been working for years at figuring out how to translate the games into a live action concept myself. Every few years I work at it, based on further knowledge gained about screen writing and directing. In my own topic on the boards I gave an outline, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I changed too much, and I felt I still wasn't keeping with the established storyline. I have recently been adapting the first game as accurately as I can, while keeping with the original game's story, characters, and themes. Still developing the first act of the script, but today wrote the first two scenes. It's a balancing act.

The first game is hard to adapt. I can argue all day with anyone that says differently. It is an important chapter of the story that sets everything in motion, but the story is loose, cliche, and illogical. The problem with the original game, and one of the reasons why many early drafts by Romero, McElroy, et al, changed aspects of the story were because there is no flow, no direction for the plot. You have characters essentially running through a mansion and other areas and eventually find a secret lab. The characters keep searching for an escape route, but for some reason go further underground. There isn't even a reason in game for going down to the Tyrant's lab room. Resident Evil 2 and further games in the series actually have better plots that flow better and have logical reasoning behind them.

 

[slack]

I'm getting the sense that you're a fellow film major haha.

The mansion incident is incredibly hard to translate into a cohesive and thoroughly entertaining script, I couldn't do it, good luck with that. In my series the show would kick off after the mansion incident and people would understand the gist of what happened though a few flashbacks, a nightmare sequence, and dialogue context. I also embellished the end result of the mansion incident by making a handful of STARS survive ( that way i can put alot more emphasis on how savage and scary Nemesis is when it comes around, oh and the remaining STARS members - except for Barry - stay in Raccoon City ) .

I have my pilot script all written, going into my 3rd draft and I absolutely love where I'm going with this. I can't post it -- I won't. I already have so much of the series plotted out and (not to sound overly hubris) I'm pretty proud of how it remains in the same vein of the game along with the necessary re-imagining it needs keep it fresh. It feels like it evolved into something beyond a average fan fic and i feel like it would be a bit hasty to not try to see if i can take it further.

 

[Bran]

I am self-taught. Been studying film since 2000. Most of my influences were self-taught as well, or have amazing beginnings as directors. Spielberg, Cameron, Hitchcock, Fincher, Lynch, Carpenter, Scott, etc. I have absorbed their knowledge and techniques over the years, studying what makes them unique.

Sounds like you have a great concept. Wish you all the luck on that. With fan films beginning to be noticed by Hollywood, it is only a matter of time before it is the dedicated fans that bring video games into media mainstream, and launch films on par with the success of current comic book and graphic novel films.

With my concept, I want to do two films that tell the story of the first two video games. I think the only way I would want to do them is if Joey Ansah (of Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist) were to produce. Probably follow a similar package as he did: film it as a feature-length film, cut into chunks as a web series, then release the full length feature as a movie on DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital download. Considering he has also dealt with Capcom for his project, he would be a great asset to convince them to allow my project, while dodging Constantin Film lawyers.

I am working through various concepts, such as writing the first act as a prequel to the first game, introducing characters and events in media res that lead into the opening of Resident Evil 1, with a combination of events from Chris and Jill's scenarios. Most of the monsters have been cut that don't make sense, while the focus shifts back and forth between the two characters. Each character has their own story arc, and I have already figured out how to add flow to the plot, and raise the stakes so that tension mounts.

If you wanna talk more, in a general sense of how to adapt the games to live action, just post on my topic http://residentevil.org/threads/live-action-resident-evil-concept.8781/ that way we aren't derailing this topic. Romero's draft is an interesting take on the franchise and I don't want to divert anyone's attention away from that.

 

[plant99]

No, i read the script. It's not what you think. Too much changes. At least when anderson inserts key characters he does it with keeping to their clothes and character.

 

[slack]

No, i read the script. It's not what you think. Too much changes. At least when anderson inserts key characters he does it with keeping to their clothes and character.

That's really not a good selling point at all. Japanese costume designs (especially in syfy stories and games) have a tendency (with the acception of the BSAA and some STARS outfits) to be totally impractical or over-the-top and /or ridiculous. Jill wearing a tube-top and a mini-skirt in the midst of the fall of Raccoon City is a prime example. If there's one aspect that could have been changed it's the costumes. The characters themselves should have been written and cast better.

[RANT] (not directed toward anyone here)
If you're gonna depict beloved fan favorites into a movie at least have the cast right. Not saying the actors they chose are awful, but they're awful for the roles they were chosen.
I love Ali Larter -- not a good Claire, love Oded Fher -- not a good Carlos, same goes for Jill and Barry. The only half-decent casting choice was Wenworth Miller as Chris. Also, what the f*ck were they thinking when they cast Shawn Roberts as Wesker is beyond my comprehension.
...sorry needed to get that off my chest... again.
[/RANT]