{"id":865583,"date":"2026-09-30T06:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T06:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865583\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T06:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T06:42:11","slug":"austin-abrams-talks-resident-evils-fan-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865583\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Abrams Talks Resident Evil’s Fan Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zach Cregger\u2019s \u201cResident Evil,\u201d in a little more than two weeks, has already amassed nearly $200 million at the global box office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead of a straight adaptation of the long-running video game series (or an extension of the already-existing film franchise), Cregger chose to tell a new story within the world of the games \u2013 a story that follows a hapless medical courier named Bryan (played by Austin Abrams), who is sent on a desperate mission to the heart of Raccoon City during a zombie outbreak. It is an all-gas, no-brakes rollercoaster ride that is carried along by Abrams\u2019 performance \u2013 vulnerable, hilarious, inquisitive, the perfect audience surrogate. Even when things get weird, really weird, Abrams\u2019 oddly emotional performance keeps us engaged.<\/p>\n

Abrams said that Cregger first mentioned the project while the two were working on \u201cWeapons,\u201d which would go on to be a box office hit and an unlikely Oscar winner. But Cregger didn\u2019t say anything specific about Abrams joining the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until he was in post-production for \u2018Weapons\u2019 that he called and wanted me to read the script basically,\u201d Abrams said. He hadn\u2019t played the games (\u201cOther than seeing it and being too afraid to play it\u201d) but once he got the part it emboldened him to play horror\/survival games that had a similar spirit.<\/p>\n

Whereas \u201cWeapons\u201d was an ensemble piece, with Abrams portraying an unforgettable character (a junkie\/thief who stumbles upon the mystery of a missing classroom of kids), with \u201cResident Evil\u201d he would take center stage. The movie is him. And that left him a little nervous.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never know if you can do something until it\u2019s done. It\u2019s huge question marks. I feel personally like we\u2019re going to be interested enough in watching this person,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cNot that everyone could feel that way. Or are they going to be like, I don\u2019t really care about this guy that much. I don\u2019t really want to watch this movie? It could happen. There\u2019s a lot of feelings of the unknown came up.\u201d<\/p>\n

While shooting the movie, Abrams started to get the impression that it was going to be okay. \u201cYou catch the vibe of the people around you and they\u2019re seeming to be into the character and that helps. You\u2019re not getting like red lights. You keep going,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

And while Abrams knew that he would be the audience stand-in, crafting a character through physicality rather than dialogue (\u201cIt feels good being in the body and using it as a tool,\u201d he said) there were still some pretty radical changes to the final film, like when Cregger admitted that, after a test screening, he went through the movie and pulled out most of the jokes.<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Jennifer\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some asides where I was like, \u2018Are you going to keep that?\u2019 Or \u2018maybe check that out again.\u2019 There was a bunch of stuff like that where we would take it to a place that was too far, really for our own enjoyment. And you never really know, until you get in the edit, how much you\u2019re going want or not,\u201d said Abrams. \u201dEspecially for like this, where it\u2019s a straight shot and there aren\u2019t all these other characters that you\u2019re interacting with. You want options. I don\u2019t think it would be as enjoyable to watch if it was just straight through. If there wasn\u2019t any laughs in it, I think it would be too unrelenting. Adding comedy, which is what I think Zach is so smart about too, really helps the enjoyment of it and relieves some of the pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing scarier than zombies or plague-infested monsters was the response of the die-hard Resident Evil fans to Cregger making a movie that eschewed the classic characters and established lore of the series. They were very upset about his approach.<\/p>\n

Abrams was sympathetic. \u201cI read a book that I love and then they\u2019re going to do another one or make it into a different one. You don\u2019t want someone to f\u2013k it up. You have a personal connection with it. I get what that feeling is like. There\u2019s that passion there,\u201d Abrams said.<\/p>\n

He said that he and Cregger \u201cdid the best job we could.\u201d \u201cWe had a strong base of love and I think our best shot at making something that they would enjoy,\u201d Abrams said. Cregger is a huge fan of the games and has played them all, including this year\u2019s Resident Evil: Requiem. Their approach? \u201cMake what you dig and then hope that other people dig it,\u201d said Abrams.<\/p>\n

Fan service was not something that they were interested in (Abrams said it doesn\u2019t work in \u201ca meaningful way\u201d). \u201cIf you\u2019re going to end up making something that feels fresh, I think that\u2019s the best shot you have making something interesting,\u201d he said. But still, he said, \u201cI only send love to all those people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before he started working with Cregger, Abrams was a fan of \u201cBarbarian,\u201d his debut feature. He remembers thinking, I love whoever\u2019s made this movie, because they have guts and extreme talent and skill, and a comedic understanding that is really rare and that I relate to. Meeting him, Abrams found that they were perfectly in sync.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe connect on many other levels, aspiring for the same thing and we have a similar level of what we deem to be the work that we want to make,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cI think that helps us to push each other. We both understand what it is we\u2019re trying to make and have a similar sensibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a total dream to work with. I mean, truly a dream, and he is a beautiful, kind person. And he\u2019s such a formidable actor. He\u2019s so good at whatever he tries to do. I have yet to see him find his limit. That guy\u2019s range is miraculous,\u201d said Cregger. \u201cWhen it was time to go and put this one together, it was like there wasn\u2019t even a decision. There was not a moment of like, Well, who else could we? No, it\u2019s Austin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Austin\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t a role for Abrams in Cregger\u2019s upcoming sci-fi freakout \u201cThe Flood\u201d (which just cast Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role<\/a>), but when we asked Abrams if he was the Kurt Russell to Cregger\u2019s John Carpenter, he smiled wide and said, \u201cHey, you said it. I didn\u2019t say it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it came to \u2013 spoilers ahoy! \u2013 Abrams\u2019 monstrous transformation towards the end of the film, he said that he actually found the motion-capture process enjoyable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was shocked at like how minimal they needed to be able to capture everything,\u201d said Abrams. \u201cIt\u2019s all those other guys. You see them in a room, just imagining all this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

And given the open-endedness of the movie (and the fact that the video game series has been running for so long), we had to ask if Cregger had said anything to him about coming back for another installment. Another entry seems more and more likely, especially as its box office tally continues to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had the smallest of discussions. I also don\u2019t want to go into it too much at all because I don\u2019t know how things would play,\u201d said Abrams.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s very clear \u2013 if Cregger has an idea for how to bring Bryan back to snowy Raccoon City, Abrams would be there. In whatever shape \u2013 monstrous or otherwise \u2013 that would take.<\/p>\n

\u201cResident Evil\u201d is in theaters now.<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zach Cregger\u2019s \u201cResident Evil,\u201d in a little more than two weeks, has already amassed nearly $200 million at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[267495,88,206,49933,34726],"class_list":["post-865583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-austin-abrams","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-resident-evil","tag-zach-cregger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}