Zach Cregger was determined to put some practical filmmaking into Sony Pictures’ forthcoming Resident Evil reboot, eschewing the digital effects that so often are called upon to manufacture tension. For the director, it was a matter of commitment to a kind of grounded realism, though in the case of star Austin Abrams, that approach almost proved catastrophic.
Cregger was candid about the perils of one of the film’s more visceral set pieces at a recent Q&A and screening of footage. The scene, which is given ample play in the teaser trailer, has Abrams as Bryan, an ordinary medical courier, putting on a run down a Raccoon City street while zombies pour off the rooftops. To get the high-impact feel without the aid of CGI or a digital double, Cregger went with stunts. That meant having cranes hoist 150-pound bags of blood the size of a man to be dropped around the actor as if they were bodies hitting the ground.
Read Also: Unflinching and Lean: Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Teaser Sets a Survival Gauntlet
It was a recipe for trouble. A glitch in the timing saw one of those heavy payloads go off early, coming within inches of Abrams. “If he had been one step in, it would have been fatal,” the director said of the near-miss, yet the unscripted nature of it all earned its way into the final film.
Abrams put in his share of hard time on the job. Over the course of the long nights during the multi-month shoot, the lead actor was put through a gauntlet that left him needing stitches after he split his head open in an elevator shaft. All of this physical exertion is in keeping with Cregger’s vision for a narrative that is as unbroken and relentless as the survival ordeal in Resident Evil 2, capturing a terror that is very much of the moment.
Sony has the date set for September 18, 2026, for the theatrical and IMAX release of Resident Evil.
Source: Slash Film