Sigh. I'm not a real happy camper today. I don't like all this negativity a coming our way today. Ya know. The key statement below is the one about how they didn't want this to be too DAWN OF THE DEAD-ish. Well God fucking forbid that should ever happen! I mean, we ALLLLLLLLL know how TERRRRRRRIBLE that would be! I mean DAWN OF THE DEAD is only one of the GREATEST HORROR FILMS MADE ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH and RESIDENT EVIL should pray 500 times a day and a Million on Sunday that R.E. is a pimple on the ass of DAWN OF THE DEAD! Sigh. I'm sorry. I get... Emotional when people complain about a movie possibly being like in any way a great film of yesteryear... then... act like that's a BAD THING. Here's the Kahoona Burger with the details....
In my nightly sweep of all things geeky and exciting I received an upsetting piece of news last night. You see thanks to this wonderful thing we call the web I have friends all around the world. One place being Japan, I am a huge Resident Evil fan you see.
Well since the first time I heard that George Romero was going to direct a commercial for Resident Evil 2's release in Japan I was damn excited. All sorts of possibilities went flashing through my heard, one being would it not be the coolest if he was to direct the movie of the game!!!
After seeing the advert, which had some slightly stinky acting but great pace and tension, I went through the roof speaking to my Japanese friends trying to find some news. But Capcom was not forthcoming, then a couple of months afterwards they released that in fact Mr. Romero was indeed writing a draft and going to direct.
As a wise cat and dog once said, HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY :) I was then sent a fair but unsubstantiated amount of rumours about trouble in camp Capcom. I brushed them aside as just the usual rumours and speculating until last night!!!
A friend of mine sent me bits of press releases from various sources regarding Capcom's stance on the movie, and here I have to sadly say is what has gone down:
Most fans also know that Capcom had, at one time, hired cult Director George Romero to direct Resident Evil The Movie, and as of recently officially let him go.
A Capcom representative commented on their initial working relationship: "We were initially very positive over acquiring George to direct. Our Japanese team - particularly Okamoto [Yoshiki Okamoto, director of R&D, and president of the game scenario company, Flagship] -- love's his stuff, and we are overjoyed at acquiring him for directing this movie."
Romero directed the first Resident Evil commercial that aired on Japanese TV, but it was not shown in either the US or UK. He is best known for his dark-humour zombie films, Night of the Living Dead (shot in black and white, 1968), Dawn Of the Dead (which takes place at a shopping mall), and Day of the Dead (the last of the three). Romero also directed two less than spectacular films, KnightRiders and Monkey Shines. So, why did Romero leave?
It has been speculated by an alleged insider source that his scripts just did not get any Capcom Exec's excited in the project. Several sources close to the project said that his scripts were to zombie-ish, which I find incredibly hard to believe. I mean the game is about a Zombie infestation after all, not some bad skin complaint that zit wash can get rid of!!!!
The source close to the project said that when they hire a new director they are going to be expecting a new approach with fresher ideas. Ouch, that's got to hurt Romero as he basically invented the Zombie formula that the game designers said inspired them and copied to give the atmosphere of the game!!!
As the mud kept flying, it was also stated that Romero lacked the understanding of the Resident Evil story. It seems he wanted to do radical things to the Zombie's, that was seen by Capcom as his attempt to make a Dawn of the Dead film.
As of the present time there is no new director though Capcom his searching hard for new talent to bring life (pardon the pun) into the project :)
One of the sources stated that "Resident Evil The Movie will happen.", "It's a great idea. Okamoto is excited about it. It's got a lot of life left in it. Though the movie will not appear in the year 2000, however. It'll probably be in cinema's at earliest in the year 2001. Resident Evil The Movie will be produced by Constantine Pictures.
Well there's a kick in the face for the ultimate Zombie film, you see I do not think that Mr. Romero is going to be able to find enough funding else where for his own vision unfortunately. He had a pretty good gravy train in Capcom cause they would have thrown a reasonable amount of money at him, but alas all good things have to come to an end. Even if its before the movie is even made, DOH!!!
With the way the wind is blowing I do not see this project doing that well without a good director at the helm who has a passion for the material when on a smaller budget!!!
I am off now to release my new Quarter pounder with cheese Zombie KahoonA Burger, a sure fire seller for my niche zombie demographic :)
KahoonA Burger
