Post Games The Resident Evil Auteur in His Own Words (Paul W.S. Anderson)
Feb 23, 2026
Paul W.S. Anderson, filmmaker behind Mortal Kombat and the Resident Evil films, shares his path from shopping-set director to genre auteur. Kazuma Hashimoto, game critic and analyst, guides newcomers through Resident Evil play order and hidden gems. They discuss adapting games to film, design choices like Goro, franchise longevity, and how remakes reshaped the series.
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How a Cruel Review Led To Hollywood Breakthrough
- Paul W.S. Anderson moved to L.A. after Shopping was savaged by British critics and embraced at Sundance, which led him to land Mortal Kombat.
- He couch-surfed in Hollywood, leveraged Shopping's low-budget glossy look, and got his break directing Mortal Kombat.
Cracking The Video Game Movie Code With Mortal Kombat
- Anderson saw Mortal Kombat's mythology as a cinematic foundation and sold it as Enter the Dragon meets Sinbad with Ray Harryhausen vibes.
- He recreated game sets like The Pit exactly, winning fan approval when audiences recognized familiar layouts.
How Playing Resident Evil Sparked The Movie
- Anderson binge-played Resident Evil 1 and 2 on PS2, isolating himself for weeks and deciding to adapt it into a film.
- He filmed most of Resident Evil in Berlin for vast underground spaces, then flew through New York on 9/11 en route to Toronto.