Pallid and brooding, Milla’s rockstar edge vibed with the gothic industrial hellscape of the first Resident Evil, a role she pursued because of how much fun she had on the set of The Fifth Element, “doing these extraordinary stunts feeling like one of the characters in the sci-fi books that I had read my whole life.” In an asymmetrical red dress and combat boots, Jovovich’s Resident Evil protagonist, Alice, is drawn into a mission that involves descending into the Umbrella Corporation’s subterranean testing facility, The Hive. Milla commanded covers from Vogue to High Times, aiming her steely gaze at the camera with a joint in hand. A teenage supermodel with a rebellious streak, she was a ’90s “It” girl and a symbol of the era’s grunge and glamor. As Leeloo, a gun-toting humanoid with orange tresses and bondage-inspired outfits, Jovovich was a fitting heroine for the MTV generation, an embodiment of the era’s fascination with martial arts-meets-cyberpunk cool. Jovovich’s big Hollywood breakthrough came at the age of 21, when she starred in future ex-husband Luc Besson’s 1997 film The Fifth Element. Yet her latest role, if not her chef d’oeuvre, feels like a benchmark.įrom top: Jovovich in Monster Hunter, The Fifth Element, and Resident Evil: Apocalypse Photos: Screen Gems Alamy Stock Photo Jovovich has battled creepy crawlies and mutant abominations for nearly half her life. I’ve been fighting zombies for the last 15 years and now you want me to kill monsters?’” Tomatoes, tomahtoes. “So when he brought me this version and said, ‘I wrote this one for you and I think it’s the best one I’ve done,’ I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? We just closed Resident Evil. The most complete iteration, according to Jovovich, centered on a 14-year-old boy with more of a Harry Potter vibe.
#AL PACINO VOICE CHANGE MOVIE#
“He always wants to work with me.” According to the actress, Anderson, who’d been trying to develop Monster Hunter into a movie since 2009, wrote several versions of the script without a female lead. “I always tell, ‘I don’t know what you see in me,” Jovovich tells Polygon.
Shot on location in South Africa and Namibia, it also brings to life the game’s large-scale weaponry, intricate costumes, and colossal creatures.Īt the center of it all is Jovovich: an elemental force a smirking, teeth-gnashing toughie a presence that anchors the ludicrous wastelands and cavernous lairs of the Andersonian imaginary with a sense of grace and wonder. Complete with all the cheesy one-liners, tunnels, traps, and tumbling bodies that make up Anderson’s signature style, Monster Hunter will (as expected) irk the guardians of “good taste,” and enthrall those who embrace its lean, B-movie pleasures. Based on Capcom’s popular Monster Hunter fantasy franchise, the power couple’s latest genre experiment is a gleefully preposterous joyride co-starring Tony Jaa and Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman. Anderson, puts the so-called world’s least pretentious auteur behind the wheel of yet another game-to-movie adaptation, and supermodel-turned-action star, Jovovich, (Anderson’s wife and go-to leading lady) at the head of another ass-kicking trip down the rabbit hole. Monster Hunter, the latest blockbuster spectacle by Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat director, Paul W.S. “She’s a woman,” quips one of her foot soldiers, “but she still manages to make that sound like an insult.” “Alright, ladies, saddle up.” Her voice a low, husky growl that recalls the mumbling tough guys of ’80s action staples. She bangs the hood of a patrol buggy, snapping her team of roughnecks back to their mission into unknown territory. When she turns around, an extreme close-up chisels in the details: a layer of dirt on the face a pale, green-blue eye in profile. As the sunrise washes over her, a frenzied voice calls for backup on the radio. On a gravel plain stretching to infinity, Milla Jovovich’s Captain Natalie Artemis stands with her back to camera and a map in hand.