Resident Evil movie director reveals the movie's first scene with Chris, Claire, and Lisa Trevor

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"We have an opening moment, set 10 or 15 years before the movie starts"

Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City
(Image credit: Sony Pictures)

The new Resident Evil movie looks set to be a whole lot more faithful to the games than the previous Paul W.S. Anderson adaptations. Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down) is on directorial duties this time around and reveals to SFX, in the upcoming Star Trek issue of the magazine, what we can expect from the opening moments of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

"We have an opening moment, set 10 or 15 years before the movie starts," Roberts says, laying out the movie’s timeframe. "We are in Raccoon City Orphanage, which is from the second game. We meet young Chris and Claire Redfield, and we meet Lisa Trevor. We feel that something is very wrong here. 

"We then move to 1998. The whole movie is set in 1998, as per the first game. We meet Claire [Kaya Scodelario] and she’s coming back to town to find her brother, Chris [Robbie Amell]. She’s got this crazy journalist undercover guy, who discovers something is very wrong in Raccoon City."

"She’s there to see her brother, who she has not seen for years – they are quite estranged – to warn him that something is very wrong with this town," he explains. "Our version of Raccoon City is based around the classic Americana dying town. The Deer Hunter was a very key touchstone for the movie. 

"The characters we meet, Chris, Jill Valentine [Hannah John-Kamen], Albert Wesker [Tom Hopper], are all smalltown. Chris, the high school rock star, is now older and in the police force. We meet Leon [Avan Jogia], who is a fuck-up rookie, and it’s his first day on duty with the police force. All these different narratives come together on the last day of Raccoon City."

The movie will recreate iconic moments from the first two games in the series, including the Spencer Mansion and Raccoon City Police Department. Expect scares, zombies, and double-crossing. 

For much more on Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, be sure to pick up a copy of the new SFX Magazine, out Wednesday, November 3, and available to order online. 

Bryan Cairns
Freelance Writer

Bryan is a freelance writer who contributes regularly to SFX, along with ET Canada, Sci-Fi Magazine, SYFY Wire, Scream Magazine, CBR, and more. He's a sci-fi expert in the movie and TV space, and also has a great knowledge of comics.