Let’s explore an alternative reality, shall we?
Most horror fans are by now aware that George Romero *almost* directed the feature film adaptation of the Resident Evil video games in the late ’90s. Back in April of last year, our own Daniel Kurland wrote an in-depth piece exploring what almost was (Remember When George Romero Nearly Made a Resident Evil Movie?), so we encourage you to read that piece if you’re looking for more information about that. But to make a long story short, Romero’s script was more faithful to the games and would’ve resulted in more of a straight-up horror movie than the frenetic, action-heavy film Paul W.S Anderson ended up making; alas, Capcom didn’t dig the script and Romero lost the gig. A shame, considering the games likely wouldn’t exist without him.
Hell, zombies as know them today wouldn’t exist without Romero.
But what if Capcom *did* like the script? And what if George A. Romero’s Resident Evil was released into theaters back in the late ’90s? It’s interesting to ponder what this alternate reality would’ve been like, as both the film franchise and Romero’s career would surely be in far different places than they are right now. Change one thing, as they say, and you change everything.
For starters, let’s look at the franchise itself. Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil tripled its budget at the worldwide box office back in 2002, ensuring that it would soon spawn a handful of sequels. And there’s no doubt that Milla Jovovich’s Alice played a huge part in the film’s success; of course, Alice went on to become the main character of the entire series, and her story is (allegedly) being wrapped up in this year’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. As fans of the game know, Alice was a character created for the film, and it was Anderson who wrote her into existence. What am I getting at here? If Romero’s Resident Evil was made instead of Anderson’s, not only would Milla Jovovich likely not have been cast, but the character of Alice simply would not even exist.
Can you imagine that?! Would the film franchise even be as popular and successful if it weren’t for Alice? Romero’s script primarily centered on video game characters Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, and there’s no way of knowing who would’ve been cast in those roles or how well-received those characters would’ve been. Would the series have even made it to six films?
What’s even more interesting, at least to me, is what would’ve become of Romero’s career had he directed the first Resident Evil film. If his unmade iteration of the project was as successful as Anderson’s, it stands to reason that Romero would’ve become something of a hot commodity in Hollywood. He could’ve possibly directed subsequent installments and/or gone on to become a major player, directing bigger films and perhaps even abandoning his own zombie franchise. Keep in mind that Romero made Land of the Dead in the wake of his frustrations with Hollywood; his Resident Evil script being rejected, among several other failed projects at the time, no doubt played a huge role in Romero throwing in the towel and returning to his own independent world.
Would Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead even exist if Romero’s Resident Evil was made? I’m going to say probably not; and let’s be honest here, Romero’s career probably would’ve been better off if the latter two films never came into existence. If Romero had a hit on his hands with Resident Evil, he could’ve gotten bigger budgets and would’ve been given the freedom to make more of the projects that he wanted to make, and it’s entirely possible that in this alternate reality, we’d still be seeing Romero-directed films on the big screen today.
At one point, you may recall that Romero wrote a script for a film adaptation of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books; maybe if his Resident Evil was a hit, it would’ve been developed?
Of course, it’s impossible to know how anything would’ve turned out had this butterfly flapped its wings. But one thing is for certain: if Romero’s Resident Evil script was given the green light, we damn sure wouldn’t be sitting here right now looking forward to Milla Jovovich kicking ass up on the big screen as Alice once more. And that’s a pretty strange thing to ponder, don’t you think?
Change one thing. Change everything.
