Resident Evil Director To Hollywood: Stop Adapting Games You Haven’t Played
Resident Evil veteran Paul W.S. Anderson is calling out filmmakers who adapt video games without ever picking up a controller, blasting the practice as outrageous after steering four of the franchise’s six films.
Paul W.S. Anderson has been in the video game adaptation trenches for decades, so when he talks about how to do it right, I tend to lean in. And this time, he did not sugarcoat it.
Anderson calls out directors who skip the homework
On a recent episode of the Post Games podcast, the English filmmaker behind multiple Resident Evil movies went straight at directors who adapt games without actually playing them. His take was blunt:
"I think it's important for me to be a fan."
"It always shocks me when directors give interviews, and they're doing a video game movie and go, 'Well, I never played the game.' Like, that's outrageous! Would you adapt War and Peace and say, 'I never read the book'?"
He did not stop there, calling that approach a disservice to players who spend serious time in those worlds. His north star: understand why people love the game before you try to turn it into a movie.
What that looks like on his sets
This is where it gets a little nerdy in the best way. Anderson says he builds productions around people who know the source material, down to the feel of the camera.
- He makes sure production designers have played the game or watched full playthroughs, so the look and layout match what fans know.
- He wants the director of photography to understand how the in-game camera moves, and he tries to echo that language on screen.
- The goal, in his words: "Respect for the IP" and a real grasp of "what an audience gets out of playing the game."
Why his opinion carries weight
Anderson, now 60, practically kicked off the modern wave of game adaptations with 1995's Mortal Kombat and later steered four of the six original Resident Evil movies before that series got rebooted. He’s currently credited as the director of In the Lost Lands, and yes, he still talks about this stuff like a fan who never left the arcade.
Resident Evil is firing up another reboot
Because of course it is. The franchise is shifting gears again, with Zach Cregger — the filmmaker behind the upcoming horror film Weapons — set to helm the next Resident Evil reboot. Consider that one more reason this conversation about how to adapt games is not going away.
Agree with him or not, Anderson's stance is clear: if you want the keys to a beloved game, you better know how to drive it.