Interview

GO: So are your biggest fans nerd guys who are into science fiction, or are they girls who feel empowered by a beautiful woman action hero?

MJ: I think both. I mean, the great, funny thing about the Resident Evil franchise is that it has really struck a nerve with a lot of young people, both male and female. You know, it’s the kind of film that girls will go see with their boyfriends, which is not very common for the action-horror genre. I went to England, and the family that lives next door to my fiancé Paul [W.S. Anderson]’s sister is Indian. They have five girls between the ages of 6 and 12, so the poor mother has been having kids, like, every year. And I knew that the family was kind of depressed because every time they went to their church, all the people would look at the mother like, “Oh, I’m so sorry you have four girls and now you’re pregnant with a fifth girl . . .” There’s just this cultural thing where they favor boys, and so I wanted to empower these girls. The older ones had seen the Resident Evil movies, and they all wanted my autograph and stuff, so I went next door and was taking pictures with the kids. And then before I left I said, “You know, women are so much cooler than guys because we can do more martial arts. Martial arts are pretty much made for women because we’re quicker and we’re smaller than men, and so we’re faster. You girls really should take martial arts.” And so now Elizabeth, Paul’s sister, told me that four of the girls have signed up for martial arts classes. [laughs]

GO: Oh, that’s great.

MJ: It is so cute. I don’t want them to go through life feeling like they play second fiddle.

GO: I guess it’s really kind of new, the female action star. I mean, we’ve had heroines before—in the ’60s there was Emma Peel on The Avengers—but you’ve taken it to the next level.

MJ: Yeah, definitely. The Resident Evil series was based on these very popular video games that my little brother loved to play. That’s why I was even interested in doing the film version—I had a 13-year-old brother who really loved Resident Evil and just thought I was the coolest person in the world to be in the movie. When he played, he would always play as Jill Valentine—he would always play as the girl. So it was also the one game where even the boys would play the girl.

GO: How kinky.

MJ: You know, that says a lot about why Paul [who directed the first Resident Evil and wrote and produced the entire series] decided to make thewoman the lead in the movie, because it really was a girl that was the lead in the games, even though you have guy options.

GO: Well, I don’t know anything about the Resident Evil game. Is Alice, your character in the films, also in the game?

MJ: No.

GO: Does that upset hardcore Resident Evil players?

MJ: You know, maybe in the beginning it did. But I felt like it was important to not be too tied to a preconceived world as we were making the films. Paul wanted to create another Resident Evil world so that he could have more freedom creatively with the characters. When characters from the game pop up in the movies, we are very loyal to who they are. But for the lead, Paul wanted to take more liberties—and that’s impossible to do with an existing character because the games are so prolific with histories and explicit about exactly what the characters do, what weapons they use, and everything. I mean, people get really obsessed with that kind of stuff, so you’ve got to be careful.

GO: These games are virtual worlds. Grand Theft Auto, Second Life—they’re like religions.

MJ: They are, and I think a lot of people try to take advantage of that for films. I mean, video games are perfect to make into films because they are so visual. Yes, they’re action and horror. Yes, they’re fun popcorn movies. But I think something that is really special about the Resident Evil franchise is that everybody involved really loved the games and really wanted to make the best possible movie. I think that the fans see that passion, which is really important, because they do take it all very seriously.

GO: Were you a physical, athletic-type person before you started making these movies where you do these amazing stunts?

MJ: I’ve always been athletic but I didn’t start
doing martial arts until I was a teenager. When I did The Fifth Element, I really seriously started training, which made me feel so much better than I normally did. I mean, when you’re doing martial arts, you feel like you can master certain skills and be so much more in control of who you are, so that really appealed to me. Before that, I rode horses and was just generally athletic. But I really connected with martial arts. I’d always had a fantasy as a kid of being a ninja warrior, so it definitely answered that sort of need in my psyche, too—a need to be superpowerful.

GO: Are you, like, a black belt in something or—

MJ: [laughs] No, no. Unfortunately, I don’t train enough on an everyday basis to be a black belt, but if I put my mind to it I think I could definitely move very quickly in that world. I really want my daughter to get into martial arts, so when she’s 2, I want to start training with her. I want her to feel like it’s something that she and her mom do together. I feel like one of the single most important gifts that I can give her is the gift of being totally in control of her body. And self-defense is so important to know in today’s society. It’s not just that you might get mugged. It’s more for confidence. It’s the way you hold yourself when you walk into a room. Every step you take is more sure and you’re much more aware of your surroundings. So, I think it’s a really important thing—-especially for women.

GO: That should be part of every model’s training.

MJ: [laughs] Models would be able to do much cooler stuff in pictures, that’s for sure.