Transcript
IJUNKET INTERVIEW (UGO): Welcome to the Resident Evil I-Junkets. We're here with actress Michelle Rodriguez. Also, welcome UGO for joining us here. Michelle, UGO wants to know had you played Resident Evil before, and if not, have you played it since you were cast?
Michelle Rodriguez (MR): Oh yeah. I'd played it way before this script came to my face. I was definitely intrigued by the videogame and thought right away that it should become a film. Not because of the role playing acting in the videogame but the videogame itself, and the kind of journey that it takes you through I think is incredibly interesting and filled with suspense. The kind of suspense that we kind of lack in horror films lately. And I think that the perfect kind of tool to making a really great film that is horror is by having such a great videogame like this, because you already have your chosen audience which helps you get more money to make the movie and I think that that has been the greatest problem with rated R horror films, is the lack of budget, so you've got that really fake looking arm that that zombie's chewing on, you know, so it kind of helps to like have that extra kind of dough even though it's considered pennies in Hollywood right now, what they made this movie with. So it's kind of intriguing to see how he made this miracle occur. Especially with the technology you need to use to make this movie too. I mean, he had to recreate, lasers and the Licker - and that's stuff that would ordinarily be considered in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars. So it's kind of intriguing to me that Paul was able to do it with such tiny amount of cash.
UGO: All things being equal, who'd win in a fight? Diane Guzman, Letty from Fast and the Furious, or Rain?
MR: I think Rain would kick all of their asses, just because of the fact that she's got the ex Navy Seal thing going on and the commando training and she's more focused on killing people rather than just hurting them, so, I think Rain would rip them all to shreds [LAUGHTER].
UGO: If you were bitten by a zombie, would you hack off the limb, take yourself out, or hide?
MR: If it were up to me, I would have used my knife, and I would have degutted the zombie and ripped out the spinal cord with my own bare hands from the connection to the membrane. Would have been nice, but Paul thought it was too much work [LAUGHTER]. No fun [LAUGHTER].
UGO: Since you'd already done a whole lot of boxing training, did you make everyone else on the cast look like wimps when it came time to throw down?
MR: I don't know what they were thinking. Maybe they were thinking that, maybe they weren't, I don't know [LAUGHTER]. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings, other than, you know, the props and toys that I had to play with [LAUGHTER].
UGO: Did you ever [LAUGHTER]- - did anyone ever get the zombies together and do a choreographed Thriller dance?
MR: Oh, definitely, plenty of times, come on, man, they were all dancers. Of course they gotta do the Thriller thing. I mean, yeah, whenever they said cut, I mean, we were goofin' off like hell with the, uh, zombies. Actually really great and, uh, those German like stunt double zombies. It's amazing, like, one of them was just getting burned and like turned down and burned and then turned down and then burned again like, a good 20 times and I just didn't know how this guy did it, man. Pretty sick. These guys got some serious balls, man. I look up to those guys.
UGO: No kidding [LAUGHTER]. Who's your favorite or what's your favorite horror movie monster?
MR: [SIGH] Horror movie monster. God. Can't be Freddie. The Licker's pretty fierce.
UGO: I knew you were gonna say that.
MR: The damn Licker, I can't get over him, man. Like when do you get to see like the full blast of gore, you know, the way you do in this film. It's just kind of sick, the metamorphosis he undergoes, you know. I mean, the Licker's brain is out, the flesh, the muscle structure, the fangs, the goo. It's pretty sick. I mean, if they would have just done a good hour of just the Licker, it would have been so luscious. You know, just watching him walk around and breathe and watch, you know, his muscles kind of like pump along with his heart and just the nails, man, the nails. It's [SIGH]- -
UGO: Well I can't follow that up and- -
MR: I don't really- - when it comes to horror movies - sometimes it's really great to use your imagination, and that's Hitchcock, that's all the old school stuff, you know. But when it comes to film- - to films nowadays, I wanna see it. You know. I want it in my face. I want that MTV A.D.D. kinda thing goin' on and I think the Licker kind of does it for me, right away. Like, you know, just the thought of him creeping behind my neck right now, you know, with his like fangs just breathing you know down my throat is enough to make me pee on myself and that's horror films. So, it's the Licker I have to say.
UGO: There you go [LAUGHTER], and that's our time. Thank you, UGO for joining us and participating in the Resident Evil I-Junket. Michelle, thank you again and be sure to check out Resident Evil, opening nationwide March 15th.
Sources