From the creator Andrew DabbNetflix series Resident Evil (which comes from a popular media franchise created by Capcom) serves as the third live-action adaptation in this universe. The show, which takes its backstory and lore from video games but branches into its own original continuity, is set in the perspective of two timelines, one set in our present and the other set in the distant future.
In 2022, Dr. Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick) and his two daughters Jade (Tamara Smart) and Billy (Siena Agudong) have recently moved to a new planned community known as New Raccoon City, in line with a vision created by the mysterious Umbrella Corporation, in which Wesker serves as an executive director and researcher publicly tasked with creating a new product known as Joy. However, secretly, Wesker is trying to develop a response to an epidemic of something called the “T-Virus”. Meanwhile, Jade and Billy, suspicious of their father’s real job, begin digging into Umbrella’s secrets - much to the chagrin of Wesker’s boss and company head Evelyn Markus (Paola Nunez).
In the future 2036 timeline, Jade (Ella Balinska) is on the run from Umbrella, who is looking for her for some nefarious purpose, but she also has to survive dangerous T-virus-infected groups of “noughties” in order to return home to her family. . However, Jade’s situation becomes even more complicated when it turns out that not only Umbrella, but also her sister Billy (Adeline Rudolph) also deals with it.
Ahead of the show’s premiere on July 14, Collider had the opportunity to speak with Balinska about joining Resident Evil universe, and how stunt training for the role of Jade Wesker was different from when she Charlie’s Angels. In the interview, which you can watch above or read below, Balinska discusses how familiar she was with the franchise before she was cast, how she collaborated with Smart considering they play two versions of the same character, how Billy’s survival discovery informs Jade’s arc throughout the season and more.
Collider: So glad to be able to talk to you about this show. I just finished watching season 1 the other day and it’s a blast. I’m already kind of demanding more, because where they leave [off] what’s up with that cliffhanger? I can not wait.
ELLA BALINSKAYA: I know it’s an aggressive cliffhanger, the end of the first season.
I would like to return it before the show even starts. How familiar were you with Resident Evil Franchise before you signed the contract?
BALINSKAYA: I played games and watched movies, so I knew each other.
When did you officially find out who you will play in the series? Have you tried out for anyone else? Perhaps it was a time when you wanted to play a couple of different roles? How did you end up playing Jade?
BALINSKAYA: Honestly, I immediately received an email for Jade. It was under the guise of a title Venus flytrapand I thought, “Oh, what is this? It is interesting”. Read the script and then about two pages later you see the word “Umbrella” and I’m like, “Oh, Resident EvilNow I know what’s going on here.” Resident Evilbecause I, as a fan, was so curious to see how they would develop the franchise’s story. And then I basically taped the scene of how I thought this character would approach this world, and the rest is history.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that you kicked your ass on this series and it’s so much fun to watch, but after working on a project like Charlie’s AngelsI’m curious how the learning process was different for you this time around. Have you ever approached tricks differently? How intense was that for you?
BALINSKAYA: Well, first of all, thank you. Secondly, the most interesting thing about this process, as you said, this was not my first rodeo in the field of tricks, especially with action. I had to unlearn a lot of things that I was taught, because a character like the one that Charlie’s Angels a trained operative, a very well choreographed fighting style, very regimented - but that’s with Jade, she’s not a superhero, she’s not a trained operative. So we wanted it to look messy, we wanted it to look dangerous, so we had to unlearn a lot of… that regimented fighting style. We did a lot of jiu-jitsu, that is, wrestling. It’s a lot of snappy decision making and that’s exactly what we need for a character so hopefully when you watched these episodes you felt very on the edge of your seat and it really does look a little more disheveled than something very polished.
This one definitely has footage for your character that looks like it’s taken straight from the game. I won’t go into spoilers, but there’s a POV shot where Jade is stumbling, stumbling, and I was like, “That’s [the] video game right here.”
BALINSKAYA: Of course, it was very important for us, for the producers, to really create such a feeling from Resident Evil feel real in this series. It’s something that even if you notice it, even if you don’t, you still get that feeling, and I think that’s something you definitely experience if you’re a fan of the franchise.
In this series, you have a unique overall position because you are part of a group of actresses who play one of two versions of the same character. As we learn from the series, the action takes place between the past and the present, with a difference of 14 years between them. I wonder how comfortable you were working with other actresses, especially Tamara. [Smart]while playing the younger version. Was there anything you could see from her performance? Anything you tried to take from her to bring into your own? To what extent was it a collaborative process?
BALINSKAYA: Yes, it was an example of two chosen people who really understood what we wanted to do with the character. We first met on set in South Africa, so the chemistry we had, even though we didn’t work together, was more of a smooth flow… One of those whistling words refers to Jade Wesker, and it was it’s nice to watch Tamara in her timeline, which was much cleaner than mine, and kind of make the decisions she made in Jade’s youth that formed the basis of all the decisions she made in 2036. traumas that happened to her in the past and how they carry over into the present, even something as small as her uncompromising stubbornness and some kind of fire that manifests in her moments later in 2036, but also a vision of guilt that she carries through both timelines, I think adds to her a very human and engaging character arc.
One of the themes in the series that seems so important is family, and we see it take shape in many different ways. There was definitely more of a nuclear family in the past, but in the future, Jade also has her own sense of family that she has established, which is a bit shattered by the sudden discovery that Billy is still around, someone she thought was gone. How does it inform her arc, is it a revelation and how will it play out for the season?
BALINSKAYA: Jade has done everything possible in the past to support her sister as much as possible, to the point where it gets her into trouble and she understands that and she has that responsibility and that guilt that I mentioned earlier all the way up to 2036. Clearly, the traumatic events of the T-virus and the takeover of Umbrella occur in the 14 years between them, which brings her to 2036, when we are in such survival mode in human life. She did her best to start her own family, tried to do the best she could, but still, the interesting part about Jade is that you love her and you kind of don’t, because there’s a lot of things she does. , is very doubtful.
She is away from her family [for] six months, that is, with her daughter, who is going through her formative years, while she is also trying to solve the T-virus, find a cure for it, and learn more about nulls to try and make the world a better place. place for my daughter. It’s a very interesting combination of responsibility and guilt, and this ongoing need to try to solve the problem on your own. She has an innate need to be independent and fix things because she has broken things so aggressively in the past.
Resident Evil currently available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Collider
