George A. Romero's Resident Evil: A Documentary will offer fans further ideas about what the never-made film would have looked like. After Alan B. McElory's script was rejected and before Paul W.S. Anderson ultimately made the first Resident Evil film, the godfather of the dead took a crack at adapting the popular Capcom video game series. Certain information in this article comes from Bloody Disgusting.
Romero's script, which you can find online, follows the plot of the first video game relatively closely, though there are some deviations. For instance, Chris Redfield isn't a member of the Special Tactics And Rescue Services (S.T.A.R.S.) in this version. He and Jill Valentine, his partner in the games, are romantically involved. Additionally, Albert Wesker and Barry Burton were to be childhood friends.
The documentary was co–written and directed by Brandon Salisbury. Speaking with The Resident Evil Podcast, Salisbury detailed how he first watched Night of the Living Dead when he was only five. The film gave him the " horror itch" but also made him terrified of zombies. He wouldn't rewatch the movie for a long time.
Later, Salisbury got a PlayStation around the time that Resident Evil 2 was released. He bought the game and loved it. At which point, Salisbury went back and rewatched Night. Then he caught Dawn of the Dead and Tom Savin's remake of the original film on television, and from that moment, Salisbury became a huge fan of Romero.
"When it had been announced that he was fired, I felt really devastated because I felt 'this is thee guy if you want to make a good Resident Evil film.' I mean thee guy. There is no other person who could have brought Resident Evil to life with the kind of quality that you would expect of a something that would be more than just a videogame movie. He deals with subtext and layers and social commentaries, and I think that would have given a lot of meat onto the skeletal frame that the games have."
Making The Documentary
After serving in the military post-graduation, Salisbury eventually decided to return to his original goal of becoming a filmmaker. From there, around 2019, he decided to expand his earlier YouTube video about Romero's canceled Resident Evil movie. After restarting his research, Salisbury teamed up with Robbie McGregor, whose written for many movie and gaming websites, to write the script.
Salisbury's vision was different from your usual documentary. Instead of sticking Jason Bareford, Romero's assistant for eight years, in a room and having him tell his story, they would add more of a "creative lens." They'd stick Bareford into the room of an abandoned mansion made up to look like the Spencer estate, where the first game takes place. They would add the diegetic lighting of the game to make Bareford feel like he was there.
"And then what if we get a lot of really iconic shots, and we kind of dress this whole thing up so it feels almost like a horror film in its own right? And then we get all these other people who are connected to the movie, the games, people who knew George, and kind of get them to tell their stories and kind of do things in a creative way to really sell the style and love that Goerge had for this movie that he was going to make. And then the last thing I pitched was, 'why don'tdon't we try to see if we can somehow film four or five scenes from the script.' Break down George'sGeorge's style and find the common elements that make you feel like it's a George Romero film and inject that. Of course, it's still up in the air if they'll be able to do it, but that's the goal."
George A. Romero's Resident Evil: A Documentary is "Coming Soon."