Ali Larter: Resident Evil is about girl power

BEVERLY HILLS, California — You will have fun watching Resident Evil: Afterlife (and the first three flicks before it) if that’s what you have in mind - having fun. But if you watch it expecting an art film, you will be disappointed.

“That’s exactly what the film is all about,” Ali Larter told members of the international press at a function room of Four Seasons. “It’s bloody, it’s gory but it’s a fun movie just the same.”

Ali showed up that Saturday afternoon heavy with her first child. She’s bubbly and engaging, definitely fun to talk with.

“Thank God I started conceiving after the shoot,” she said, touching her tummy. “It’s kicking and moving around today.”

Which is what Ali does a lot in Resident Evil: Afterlife in which she reprises her role as Claire, a survivor (like Milla Jovovich’s character Alice) of a viral attack in Resident Evil: Extinction, who leads fellow survivors to what she (wrongly) believes is a safe haven in Alaska. Based on the popular videogame, the film also stars Prison Break’s Wentworth Miller and is directed by Milla’s husband Paul W.S. Anderson.

“It wasn’t such a healthy environment,” Ali described the set. “There’s thick smoke... you’re living in a moldy, nasty, wet and dirty surrounding, doing crazy stunts. Yes, I did all my stunts, no double. But it was fun.”

Being very athletic and in pretty good shape, Ali said that she was up to the demands of the role.

“So I didn’t really have to train specially for it. But I did study how to shoot a gun properly. It was cool, and fun, too,” adding, “like Claire, I’m a survivor. In Hollywood which is highly-competitive and where there’s so much rejection you can’t be otherwise, you just have to learn how to survive.”

The two Resident Evil flicks are far removed from Ali’s other starrers, such as the NBC drama Heroes (about everyday people who discover that they have super powers), the other TV show Nikki Sanders (as a single mother who struggles to support her exceptionally gifted young son’s private school education and whose mirror image has many secrets), Final Destination, Legally Blonde (with Reese Witherspoon), American Outlaws (with Colin Farrell;) and Varsity Blues (her film debut).

A native of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Ali began modeling at age 13 and traveled the world before settling down in Los Angeles with her husband.

Since she also enjoyed a successful run on the New York stage in The Vagina Monologues, I asked Ali if she thinks that, innocuous videogame thought it may be, Resident Evil is about women empowerment (since the main characters are women).

“I do think so, in the same way that the main character in Salt is a woman. I love watching Angelina Jolie in that movie. It’s very exciting. Bringing two women to Resident Evil is, I think, a fresh take on the genre. I’m sure people, especially women, would love watching a movie about women so independent that they don’t need men to take care of them.”

Can she take care of herself in real life?

“Oh yes, I can,” she replied laughing, “although not as good as Claire. But if caught in a world like what Claire and Alice find themselves in, I’m sure I would survive at all costs and save other people as well.”

How will motherhood affect her choice of roles?

“You know, I feel so lucky that I work with professional people who see beyond gender. I want to emulate the examples of Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon who know how to keep a balance between motherhood and career. I find myself changing very much through this pregnancy. I feel calm and I’m loving it.”

Veronica Velasco ‘New Force’ in Philippine Cinema

Speaking of girl power in cinema, we have in a sense a local counterpart of Ali Larter in the person of Veronica

New ‘mainstream’ director Veronica Velasttco (center) with Erich Gonzales and Enchong Dee, topbilled in Star Cinema’s romance-comedy I Do

Velasco, director of I Do, the new Star Cinema offering starring Erich Gonzales and Enchong Dee.

Touted as “a New Force” in Philippine Cinema, Veronica started directing indies with what is known as “out-of-the-box” themes, such as Inang Yaya (with Maricel Soriano as a nanny taking care of another couple’s child at the expense of her own), Prinsesa (with Romnick Sarmenta as a young father struggling to renew his ties with his estranged daughter), Last Supper Number 3 (a humorous look at the circuitous path of our legal system) and Maling Akala (with Victor Basa and Jodi Santamaria as a gay man and a pregnant woman in a marriage charade).

It’s interesting to see how direk Veronica treats I Do, her first “mainstream” assignment, since the romantic-comedy requires a kilig factor to please the two stars’ fans.

Direk Veronica ventures into the mainstream with impressive credentials: Bronzo Cairo Award for Inang Yaya, shared with Pablo Biglang-awa, at the 2008 Cairo International Filmfest for Children; Balanghoy Trophy, Best Film for Last Supper at the 2009 Cinemalaya; YCC Award, Best Film for Inang Yaya, also shared with Biglang-awa at the 2007 Young Critics Circle... and nominations from 2007 FAMAS Awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Story for Inang Yaya; Best Screenplay from the 2007 FAP Awards for Inang Yaya; and for Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Screenplay for Last Supper at the 2010 Gawad Urian.

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