RESIDENT EVIL Director Zach Cregger Understands Why Fans Are Frustrated Leon Isn’t in His Movie
If you’ve been waiting years to see Leon Kennedy get another proper shot on the big screen, Zach Cregger understands why his upcoming Resident Evil movie might have you a little annoyed.
The filmmaker behind Barbarian and Weapons is taking the franchise in a different direction, telling an original survival horror story rather than directly adapting one of Capcom’s games.
Cregger admits he underestimated just how much fans wanted characters like Leon, Ada Wong, and Jill Valentine to be part of the new movie.
Cregger told IGN: "I thought fans of these games, like me, would be thrilled that somebody was coming along and turning Resident Evil into a survival horror movie.
"I did not really appreciate the sentiment that, ‘We’ve been waiting forever for Leon’s story.’ And I appreciate that, and I’m sorry that’s not the story I’m bringing. I get it, I understand the frustration."
Instead of Leon, the movie introduces Bryan, a medical courier played by Austin Abrams. The story takes place alongside the events of Resident Evil 2 and follows Bryan as he heads to Raccoon City General Hospital to deliver a package. Naturally, showing up for work in Raccoon City during a zombie apocalypse turns out to be a pretty terrible day at the office.
The first trailer confirmed that the film has direct connections to the games, but some fans still weren't happy about the absence of familiar characters.
Cregger can relate. He has similar issues with the previous Resident Evil movies "because they don't look like the Resident Evil that I love."
His decision to avoid Leon and the other established characters comes from wanting to preserve what already works about them rather than creating movie versions that might feel like lesser copies.
"They exist so perfectly in the games that anyone I cast and any difference that I do with them would be, probably, to the detriment of what I was trying to do."
Instead, Cregger wants fans to give his original characters a chance and judge the movie on whether it actually captures what makes Resident Evil work.
"My only hope is that they’ll see the movie regardless of their skepticism or their disappointment that I’m not telling some of the stories that the games tell so well, and they will feel seen when they do watch the movie, and they will recognize all of the love for the games that are in this movie, because it is there.
“This is not me just telling a story and slapping Resident Evil on it so I can get a budget. This is me telling a Resident Evil story."
That's really what this movie will have to prove. You don't necessarily need Leon Kennedy, Jill Valentine, or another familiar protagonist to make a great Resident Evil story. The games themselves have introduced new characters and shifted perspectives plenty of times.
Cregger made that same argument while discussing the movie, saying: "I don't think that me telling a story that's not about Leon is a violation of the Resident Evil world, because the games do that all the time. Leon's not in 7 or 8... I'm just going to tell another story that feels like playing in the world of the game."
That approach could be exactly what separates this adaptation from what came before. Rather than trying to recreate a game beat for beat, Cregger appears more interested in capturing the survival horror experience of actually playing one.
Production designer Tom Hammock also described Cregger as "obsessed" with the franchise, so this isn't a filmmaker casually borrowing the Resident Evil name.
Fans wanting Leon are completely justified in wondering when the character will finally get the live-action treatment they’ve been waiting for.
But if Cregger can deliver the claustrophobic horror, grotesque creatures, limited resources, creepy environments, and constant feeling that something horrible is waiting around the next corner, I’m totally open to seeing what Bryan brings to Raccoon City.
We'll find out when Resident Evil hits theaters September 18.