Paul W.S. Anderson

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Paul William Scott Anderson (born 4 March 1965) is an English film director, producer, and screenwriter who regularly works in science fiction and video game adaptations. Anderson made his independent film debut with the British independent film Shopping (1994) and found commercial success with his second film, the Hollywood-produced Mortal Kombat (1995), based on Midway Games' first two video games of the same name.

He is best known as the creative voice behind the Resident Evil film series (2002–2016), which stars Milla Jovovich and is based on the Capcom video game series of the same name.

The series is based on six films, of which Anderson produced four of them, that have grossly grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the most commercially successful video game adaptation to this date.

Event Horizon (1997), Anderson's first critical and commercial disappointment that earned renewed interest in home video; Alien vs. Predator (2004), based on the crossover concept of the Alien and Predator franchises; and Death Race (2008), a sequel/prequel to 1975's Death Race 2000. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt founded Impact Pictures in 1992, under which the bulk of Anderson's films were made.

His films have been generally favorable.

Although Mortal Kombat and a few of the Resident Evil games appear on lists of the best film adaptations of video games, such lists include that the films in the series are at its best lackluster.

Anderson has often said that he considers himself a "populist filmmaker," who is more concerned about whether his films please the audience and make it cheer in the theater than their reception by professional critics.

Early life

Anderson was born in Wallsend, North Tyneside, England. He began filmmaking with a Super-8 camera at the age of nine. He graduated from the University of Warwick with a B.A. after attending Newlands Preparatory School, Gosforth and Newcastle's Royal Grammar School. In film and literature, there has been a lot of film and literature.

Personal life

Milla Jovovich, a Resident Evil actress, was first introduced to Anderson in 2002. He proposed to her in 2003, but the couple became a couple again in 2007. Jovovich gave birth to their first child, daughter Ever Anderson, on November 3, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. They married on August 22, 2009. A daughter was born in April 2015. After losing her pregnancy two years ago, Jovovich revealed in August 2019 that they were expecting their third child. In February 2020, their third daughter was born.

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Career

Anderson began his writing career on the British crime drama comedy series El C.I.D., which starred Alfred Molina in its first two series from 1990 to 1992, and featured him as a writer on El C.I.D. He met producer Jeremy Bolt and together formed Impact Pictures in 1992, aiming to raise funds for Anderson's debut as director from an action crime drama script of his own, called Shopping. After a lot of unsuccessful attempts to secure funds, Shopping, which stars Sean Pertwee, Jude Law (in his first feature film role) and Sadie Frost, was released in the United Kingdom in 1994. The British Board of Film Classification's censors were not happy with the film's violence and delayed its release for months. Critics condemned it as soon as it was released, and some theaters voted to ban it from promoting a "ethical" outlook. Two years after, it was just an edited, direct-to-video film in the United States. Anderson credits Shopping for triggering Channel Four Films, who had funded it, to finance the more popular Shallow Grave and Trainspotting films by Danny Boyle, who, in turn, made critics revisit their film in later years as one of the first in a new wave of British films concerning its youth. Anderson's one and only British film is this one, as he grew up watching American and mainland European films, never picturing himself as a British filmmaker. Even though the Sundance Film Festival was a success, American studios immediately noticed its striking look and style, which culminated in opportunities for Anderson in Hollywood.

In 1995, Anderson made Mortal Kombat, a fantasy martial arts video game play adaptation. The film was based on Kevin Droney's script, but elements and characters were based on the original game's sequel, Mortal Kombat II. Robin Shou played Liu Kang and Christopher Lambert as Raiden in the film. Anderson became involved in the project because he played the game at arcades often. Based on the company's successful creative flair of Shopping, which had been shot on a very low budget, the production company decided to add him based on the company's budget. Anderson, who at the time had no knowledge of visual effects or combat scenes, had to read every book on visual effects and learned about filming the fight scenes when they were being shot, often advising those who were experienced in combat choreography, such as Shou. The film underwent extensive reshoots in order to include more combats based on feedback from test screenings, which were attended by video game enthusiasts. In the hopes that the film would become a summer blockbuster, the production company decided to announce Mortal Kombat in August 1995. Previous video game adaptations, including Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, and Street Fighter had mixed reviews; although Street Fighter was a commercial hit, Double Dragon was unable to break even, while Super Mario Bros. became a well-known box-office bomb. Critics, who gave it a mixed to a hostile reception, made Mortal Kombat more welcome. Critics lauded the setting, photos, and combat sequences, but critiqued the plot, dialogue, and acting. On a CinemaScore poll, it did well with fans and followers of the video games, and it received a high A*. As a result, it lasted three weeks as the top-grossing film at the US box office and earned over $122 million worldwide, which was made on a budget of $18 million. Anderson's debut was a huge success, and it has been named as one of the first commercially successful film adaptations of a video game. Anderson and many of the cast members, including Lambert, have dropped out of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which, when it was released, was critically criticized and underperformed at the box office.

Anderson had the freedom to choose his next project, Blade Runner screenwriter David Peoples' success with Mortal Kombat. The people's script —and eventually the film — refers to his Blade Runner work, and can be considered to be a sequel or standalone sequel of sorts. Kurt Russell became attached to the role but took time off to develop his body, as required by the role. In the meantime, Anderson produced Event Horizon, a 1997 science fiction horror film starring Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill. Despite recognition for its scenics and production design, it was not well received by critics or audiences (D+ on a Cinemascore survey) and didn't break even more, which Anderson attributed to a tight post-production deadline and studio-enforced layoffs. It later became a small cult following after being well-received on home video and gaining a small following. Plans to finish a director's cut were shelved or degraded when it was discovered that the majority of it had been lost or degraded. In 1998, the soldier was completed and released in the United States, but it was also a major and commercial disaster, earning less than $30 million in the United States on a budget of $60 million and a straight-to-video in many other markets. Anderson has expressed regret that due to the El Nio hurricane, the planned location shoots had to be changed to studio soundstages, ultimately compromising the film's appearance. He also expressed his dissatisfaction with Warner Bros., who, in his opinion, sought to reach the same male audience as Mortal Kombat rather than to grown-up audiences, including women.

Anderson was compelled to cancel his proposed remake of Death Race 2000, starring Andrew McCarthy, after his poor showings in his previous two films. It was supposed to be a pilot for a forthcoming series, but despite getting high ratings, it wasn't picked up. Anderson referred to himself as "Paul Anderson" in his earlier films, but as filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson had registered himself with the Writers Guild of America as "Paul Anderson," making it impossible for either of them to both write and direct films as "Paul Anderson."

Anderson returned to cinema screens in 2002 with Resident Evil, a science fiction action horror film loosely based on Capcom's Capcom video game version of the same name. After playing the first two games for days in his apartment, Anderson came up with the suggestion of adapting the games. Anderson convinced Constantin Film, who had acquired the rights to the series, that they were not keen to invest more money than they already had on failed attempts (including a script by George A. Romero), so they were encouraged to write the script titled The Undead on spec. If they liked it, he'd offer it to them as a Resident Evil film; if not, he'd take it elsewhere and make it unrelated to the games. Fans described the film as a prequel to the first game in the series, but as such, he did not include any of the games' characters. Rather, it portrays Milla Jovovich as an original character, Alice. Jovovich is the only actress to reprise her role in all of the series's six films. Resident Evil was produced on a modest budget of $33 million and became a commercial hit with just over $100 million at the box office, relative to Anderson's previous two films. It also did well on home media. Resident Evil was not well received, but some studies characterized it as one of the best attempts to convert a video game. According to a Cinemascore survey, it received the "fair" rating of B by the participants. Capcom paid tribute to it in video games Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles due to its relative success. Anderson did not direct, but he wrote, produced, and was otherwise heavily involved in the production of two sequels, Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and Extinction (2007), which was the first of the eventual two Resident Evil films. Anderson started to introduce characters from the games, but in supporting roles as opposed to Alice. Both films received largely critical feedback to their first film, but they were still much larger commercial success.

Alien vs. Symence was Anderson's next project. Predator is based on the common sense of the Alien and Predator franchises, which has been popularized by a string of Dark Horse comics and hinted at in Predator 2. Despite the franchise's expansion into every other area of media, from novels to comics to video games, a film version had been trapped in development hell for several years. Anderson produced the film from a script of his own, and it was released in 2004. On a poll by audiences, it received critical feedback and a B. It was a huge commercial success, but it was still on a smaller budget, grossing less than $170 million on a $60 basis. Aliens vs. Suomo was the basis of a sequel. Requiem, a film in which Anderson was not presentable or even critical, lacks to replicate Anderson's commercial or even critical success, a claim Anderson has used to defend his film.

Alien vs. Sally Poirier vs. Anderson, the Preservator, restarted work on his proposed Death Race 2000 remake, which was first announced as Death Race in 2008. Jason Statham and Anderson produced the science fiction action thriller based on his own screenplay. It's more of a prequel than a remake on the home video announcement's commentary. Critics generally gave it an average reception, and the Cinemascore survey gave it a solid B+. It took in just over $75 million on a $45 million budget, failing to be a commercial success on the level of Anderson's previous two films. Death Race 2 (2011) and Inferno (2013), Anderson's two straight-to-video prequels, both written and directed, set before the 2008 film's events. Death Race: Beyond Anarchy (2018), a sequel to the first film, was written and produced by the author.

The Resident Evil films were chastised for dangerous filming and using shell firms to shield liability. Ricardo Cornelius, a crew member of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), died after being trapped underneath a Humvee sliding off of a rotating platform. During the filming of a motorcycle stunt in rain and freezing weather, stuntt-woman Olivia Jackson lost most of an arm and was partially paralyzed. It was found that she was wearing ineffective safety equipment and that the stunt's timing had been changed without her knowledge. Twelve extras were hospitalized with leg, neck, and back wounds after falling from a collapsing high-wheeled platform during the production of Resident Evil: Retribution (2012).

Anderson wrote and directed the first installment in a second trilogy of Resident Evil films titled Resident Evil: Afterlife in 2010. The film continues to tell the tale from the beginning of the last one. Anderson envisioned the new trilogy as a way to make use of a new stylistic approach by using slow motion and 3D. Anderson filmed in native 3D using the Sony F35 camera, which was previously used in Avatar. Despite criticism from analysts and a lukewarm B in a Cinemascore survey, the film earned more than $300 million, making over $300 million over the franchise's first best film, Resident Evil: Extinction, despite poor reviews by critics and a lukewarm B.

Anderson's next film was The Three Musketeers, a 3D romantic action adventure film based on Andrew Davies and Alex Litvak's screenplay based on the same book. The protagonists from Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d'Artagnan, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, and Logan Lerman respectively appear, while Milla Jovovich plays Milady de Winter. In addition, Christoph Waltz portrays Cardinal Richelieu, Orlando Bloom portrays Buckingham, and Mads Mikkelsen appears as Captain Rochefort. Critics who had rated it highly sluggish, so it was given a B on a Cinemascore survey. It did not do well on a reported budget that could range from $75 to 90 million.

In 2012, Anderson wrote and directed Resident Evil: Retribution's fifth installment in the Resident Evil film series. Anderson brought back several actors from the original trilogy of films to perform alternate interpretations of their characters. On a Cinemascore survey, generally critical feedback and a C+ were among the film's lowest scores. It took home $240 million on the box office, which is $60 million less than the previous film's gross, but the total budget is still higher than the original trilogy's gross, but it is still larger than the original trilogy's gross.

Pompeii, his 3D historical romance film, was released in 2014. The film was inspired by Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 1979, which destroyed Pompeii, a Roman Empire city, by James Burns, Lee Batchler, and Michael Robert Johnson, and Kit Harington, Emily Browning, Carrie-Anne Moss, Adewale Akinnuoye, Jessica Lucas, and Kiefer Sutherland. Critics generally dismissed the film as unsatisfied, and a Cinemascore score gave it a B. Pompeii was a modest box office success on the box office, grossing $108–118 million on a reported budget of between $80 and 100 million.

Anderson's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in late 2016 in Japan and early 2017 in the United States, and perhaps some in the rest of the world, is the last Resident Evil film they will work with. Anderson directed the film "to come full circle," provide answers to some of the series's mysteries, and provide insight into Alice's character. He decided to abandon the previous two films' stylistic tactic of using slow motion in favour of a more immediate and gritty feeling, as well as filming with 3D cameras. Ever Gabo Anderson, his first daughter, was cast in a dual role as both a young Alice and the red Queen's character from the original film. The film received average to negative feedback, marginally better than the previous versions, and much more along the lines of the original film. On a Cinemascore survey, it was rated B, the highest rating in the series, and it was distributed with the first and second films. The film earned $312 million on a $39 million budget, in large part due to the Chinese's record breaking opening of a record $94.3 million, making it Anderson's highest-grossing film.

Anderson produced Monster Hunter, based on Capcom's Monster Hunter video-game line, in December 2020. Following delays relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced in December 2020, resulting in a disappointing gross of $43 million against a $60 million budget. It received poor feedback.

The Warded Man, Peter V. Brett's fantasy book, was selected for film production by Anderson and longtime producer Jeremy Bolt, but Brett's website announced that they were no longer interested in the project in 2016.

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