Filmmaker Paul WS Anderson has directed Milla Jovovich in no fewer than four films in the apocalyptic Resident Evil franchise and has written two more in which she starred. He also directed Monster Hunter (2020) and a 2011 version of The Three Musketeers.
But what sounds like a series of genre nightmares is actually a dream arrangement: Anderson and Jovovich are married and have three children. A shared love of visual storytelling — often in the form of Jovovich’s slaying of monsters in Anderson’s post-industrial wasteland — has fueled them throughout a roughly 20-year collaboration that began with Resident Evil (2002), a video game adaptation they both had played. (A separate Resident Evil series is now available on Netflix.)
On a recent video call, I spoke to the happy couple about their partnership: Jovovich, 46, from Los Angeles, who recently completed Breathe, a dystopian thriller; Anderson, 57, from Kraków, Poland, where he is in pre-production on her next project, In the Lost Lands, based on a short story by George RR Martin. The family business continues with their daughter Ever Anderson appearing as Wendy in David Lowery’s upcoming Peter Pan & Wendy. This interview has been abridged and edited.
How did you meet each other?
PAUL WS ANDERSON We went to Pinewood Studios [outside London] to start production on Event Horizon and they ripped off these really cool looking sets for The Fifth Element. [starring Jovovich] that had just finished shooting. Our paths almost crossed there. And then we were at a premiere together, apart.
JOVOVICH MILE A premiere?
ANDERSON Yes! A Drew Barrymore film. “Unkissed.”
JOVOVICH I can’t imagine you watching a rom-com like this! This is hilarious.
ANDERSON It obviously attracted me for another reason, because you were there. Then I officially met Milla for the first time in 2000, just before we made Resident Evil. She was sitting on the steps in front of my office. I thought she was the coolest woman in the world. And I had just seen this really cool truck parked on the street outside – and it was her truck.
What was it like making notes on your first film together?
JOVOVICH Oh my god it was a disaster. I had read for a specific version of the film and I got the new rewrite the night before I had to go to Berlin [to shoot]. Paul pretty much wrote me out of the movie. I was the damsel in distress who kept saving Michelle Rodriguez—the “Look out! Behind you!” Girl. So when I got to the hotel, Paul’s very sweet producing partner was there with flowers, and I took the flowers and said, “I want to see Paul in my room within an hour. There are no script readings in the mornings!” Then I quickly got changed, put on my makeup, put on a really low-cut top and got together for some script editing. [Laughs] He said, “What’s the problem?” I said, “Okay, let’s get started: Page 1!”
Do you even work together now to write the stories?
JOVOVICH Paul is the writer, I’m just asking questions and trying to understand where my character fits. He does the heavy lifting and I come in and occasionally bring a kink to the work.
ANDERSON But it’s a hugely important part of the process, and Milla is really good at the script. I remember “Resident Evil: Afterlife” [2010], I had written the screenplay and Milla said: “There’s just something missing. It needs a characteristic action scene where I’m doing something, some kind of dogfight. And I had a dream last night: I jumped down an elevator shaft.” And I was like, oh my god, that’s a great idea. I went away and wrote a big rewrite. And Resident Evil: Afterlife starts off with this needle diving sequence, where it’s set in this underground skyscraper. She was right!
What do you think are each other’s strengths when it comes to filming action?
JOVOVICH Paul is the Action Master. It made a lot of sense when I found out he was the jailer [as a kid] because it takes that imagination to guide five nerds playing Dungeons & Dragons for 18 hours. And he still does it with our kids. It is so much fun. I’ve always been fascinated by the way Paul’s mind works because you’re the nicest guy but you have these horrific, disgusting visions and fantasies in your head.
ANDERSON Monsters from the ID!
JOVOVICH Who knows what would have happened if you couldn’t take it out in your films? You would have this conversation from prison.
Milla, your mother was an actress. Was that an influence for you?
JOVOVICH My mother was a movie star in the former Soviet Union. We defected to America in 1981 or so, my parents literally started from scratch. My mother tried to teach me what she knew to help us settle into a new country. So acting wasn’t really a choice for me. It was more of a necessity. I feel like maybe part of the reason I’m having such a hard time seeing myself on screen is because I never really believed in myself that I could be as good as her. But I don’t blame my mother; now i’m really thankful for that, because with my own daughter [Ever Anderson]I feel like I really nurtured her talent.
Paul, were there any filmmakers that inspired you?
ANDERSON The Scott brothers were a huge inspiration as Ridley and Tony were also from the north of England. It used to be shipbuilding and coal mining, and when I was a kid it was all industrial decay and unemployment.
Is industrial decay a key to all the post-apocalyptic landscapes in these movies?
JOVOVICH Paul is the king of industrial decay. My mother always complains. [Russian accent] “Why don’t you put an evening dress on her and do beautiful, glamorous hair. Always dirty. Always dirty. Always blood. Always terrible places. Disgusting.” [Anderson laughs]
ANDERSON I remember walking into the makeup trailer of Resident Evil: Extinction in the desert in Mexico [on a visit to the set of the 2007 film directed by Russell Mulcahy]. Milla is in there and the makeup artist has put on so much dirt. I think that’s enough dirt! And you could see that Milla was a little upset. A minute later I see her outside, chasing a truck around because it’s kicking up so much dust. And she’s just trying to get extra dirty!
JOVOVICH I’m telling you, nothing suits me better than blood and dust.
