We've known about the casting for the upcoming Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, Capcom's planned film reboot of its horror gaming franchise, but now we have a better idea of how it will look. Thanks to an exclusive given to IGN, some photos from the set have the film are available online and showcase Avan Jogia and Kaya Scodelario as Leon and Claire respectively. While I applaud the costume design, I'm not quite sure I see the resemblance to their in-game counterparts here.
Along with these photos, IGN had the chance to interview director Johannes Roberts and asked him how this new film would be different from the previous Resident Evil saga. Capcom isn't billing this as a reboot but is looking to make this film the official origin of the current series, so there was a lot of care given to making this film horror-focused instead of going for action.
"This movie really had nothing to do with the previous franchise," Roberts stated. "This was all about returning to the games and creating a movie that was much more a horror movie than the sort of sci-fi action of the previous films. I was hugely influenced in particular by the remake of the second game and I really wanted to capture the atmosphere-drenched tone that it had."
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Roberts details that the idea was not to cast "cosplay characters," but to find actors that embodied the spirit of Capcom's creations. To that end, the search for Leon took them quite some time. "We must have seen so many people – it was really quite a tricky role because of the balance of humor and weariness. Then Avan read and I was like he's the one! He gets it."
In another bold move, there won't be any ridiculous CGI in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. "There are no drone shots in the movie or crazy CGI camera shots that are physically impossible," Roberts stated. The movie has a very old-school retro feel to it." He mentions being heavily influenced by the filmmaking techniques of the 70s and wanted to capture that for this movie.
It doesn't sound too bad on paper, but I just don't see it in the photos. I'll reserve judgment until the movie is out in the wild and I can actually see it. With Capcom being closely involved, there is a good chance this will turn out much better than the previous series of films.
Source: IGN
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