Anderson Not Directing 'Resident Evil 2'

[Scott W. Davis]

A little over a week ago, on some recent developments concering RESIDENT EVIL 2: APOCALYPSE. (and God, I love that pic of Milla striking her best sultry John Woo pose).

One of the surprises in store was that, despite working hard on the project for the last year or so, Paul W.S. Anderson was not listed as director, the director being listed as "TBA" instead. Speculation was that Anderson would bow out this time around.

Speculate no more. reports that Anderson is indeed sitting out the sequel to his RESIDENT EVIL. CC suggests Anderson may be busy with the ALIEN VS. PREDATOR project. He will however, still pen the script and executive produce, so he's still keeping a close eye on production.

So who's directing in his place? The man to watch is Alexander Witt. This is Witt's first time in the main director's chair, but he knows his way around a camera. Witt was the Second Unit Director on the original RESIDENT EVIL, as well as FORCES OF NATURE (which has some interesting color schemes, really), THE BOURNE IDENTITY, XXX and . He seems to work well with directors. Jan De Bont hired him for SPEED 1 + 2 as well as TWISTER. And Ridley Scott has utilized Witt's talents for GLADIATOR, HANNIBAL and BLACK HAWK DOWN (he was also on the second unit of Scott's BLACK RAIN and THELMA & LOUISE). So, the guy can shoot. Can he scare? We'll have to see when RESIDENT EVIL 2: APOCALYPSE opens next year.

----------

Comment on RESIDENT EVIL 2: APOCALYPSE in our FORUMS!

[JohnShaft]

Interesting.

I really wanted Resident Evil to be a great movie (being a fan of the first couple of games and the whole Umbrella, Bio-plague-driven Zombies) but ended up dissapointed with it. Far too little gore and zombies for my liking. Hope they correct it with the second. The sequel was as inevitable as gravity, especially the way RE ended.

I still think Romero could have made a better fist of it if they'd given him the chance.

[DevilMan]

Personally, I agree with you JOHN. I think someone should have called up old GEORGE ROMERO for this one. The first RESIDENT EVIL movie ended just as perfectly as you could have hoped for to become a great new DAWN OF THE DEAD-style movie in the sequel.

-Steve