Original RESIDENT EVIL Game Actors Reunite After 25 Years For Fan Film Projects; Watch Short Film and Teaser Trailer
Thanks to a local filmmaker in Cedar City, Utah, the original voice actors from the Resident Evil video game franchise reunited for the first time in 25 years. The filmmaker’s name is Andrew Saullo, and he’s been working on a series of projects inspired by the Resident Evil franchise.
Resident Evil was released in 1996 and the survival horror game developed by Capcom for PlayStation in Japan, where it was known as Biohazard. In case you don’t recall, the original game included live-action interludes, or cutscenes.
Saullo explained: “At the time, Capcom hired a cast and crew to film both the opening and closing cutscenes. They were all live-action. I think it may have had something to do with both a creative take on putting a live-action scene in a game, as well as the graphic capabilities of the time.”
The actors that portrayed this character include Charlie Kraslavsky, who plays Chris Redfield; Eric Pirius, who plays Albert Wesker; and then there’s Greg Smith, who plays Barry Burton. Saullo said, “These are all very iconic characters within the entire Resident Evil universe.”
Saullo managed to get these actors together in Cedar City in June, marking the first time the three men had been together in 25 years. Saullo called them in to shoot a teaser trailer for a project called The Keeper’s Diary: A Biohazard Story and he also shot a short film titled Resident Evil: Resurrection, where they all reprise their roles.
Saullo’s most ambitious project here, which has yet to be produced, is The Keeper’s Diary: A Biohazard Story, a fan film that will be around 15-20 minutes long. The story centers around the “fate of an animal keeper tasked with managing the creatures in a secret underground lab that makes biological weapons, with infected zombies and monsters appearing at almost every turn. ‘Itchy. Tasty.’ reads a somewhat ominous message in the titular diary, which is uncovered by a playable character in the game.” Joining the cast is Gracie Madsen, who will play the character Jill Valentine.
Saullo is currently working on putting together a crowdfunding webpage to help raise funds for his “Keeper’s Diary” production. He hope to get the funding together, shoot it, and upload it to the ‘Residence of Evil’ YouTube channel within the year.
He shot the projects at Southern Utah Universities in their TV studio, where Saullo had built a two-walled set that replicated the look and feel of the original game’s sets. Saullo believes that bringing these actors together for these projects “is going to spark a lot of interest with fans.”
When talking about the Resident Evil Hollywood projects, he said: “The Hollywood films have little or nothing to do with the game. I don’t know how I would describe it. It’s like taking Luke Skywalker from ‘Star Wars’ and putting him in ‘Jurassic Park.’ It’s just very different. They take the names, they take the characters, but they just change everything else.”
He added: “So the movies with Milla Jovovich, I’m not a fan. You know, if you’re a fan, great for you. I have no ill will towards any fans. I get along with fans of the movies just fine. But they’re not for me.“I don’t mean to belittle them or anything. It’s just that they are their own thing, and the games are their own thing as well.”
You can watch a teaser trailer for The Keeper’s Diary, along with the short film Resurrection. Saullo also shot a 37-minute reunion interview with the three men, where they discussed reprising their roles and a variety of other topics. There’s an additional video of the actors amusingly attempting to play the original game for the first time and reacting to the experience. Saullo then posted a 14-minute video that shows Kraslavsky firing a Samurai Edge pistol (a modified Beretta 92F) along with some tactical rifles at zombie targets at a public shooting range.
You can watch all of those videos below. Anyone looking forward to seeing Saullo’s fan project?
Source: St. George News