History Trivia / ResidentEvil

* HeAlsoDid: Hideaki Utsumi, the lead sound engineer for most of the classic games up until ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', is also the same guy whose pet chattering lory "Gumi" is the star of the [[https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/red-bird-laughing-then-staring Red Birb meme]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DVmNrX8dZU WUEWUEWUEWUE!]]

* OvertookTheManga: The fourth S.D. Perry novel (''Underworld'') was set after the events of ''[=RE2=]'' and featured plot elements that diverged from what was revealed in later games. Perhaps the biggest offender is the original character "Trent", who is [[spoiler:the son of the scientist team who created the T-Virus and were murdered for it]] and who thusly serves as TheManBehindTheMan for ''all'' of the good guys (including Ada) out of his desire to bring Umbrella down, being quite effective at helping because [[spoiler:he's secretly working amongst the upper echelons of Umbrella]].

* HeAlsoDid: Hideaki Utsumi, the lead sound engineer for most of the classic games up until ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', is also the same guy whose pet chattering lory "Gumi" is the star of the [[https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/red-bird-laughing-then-staring Red Birb meme]]. [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=t6RVrvNo1fw WUEWUEWUEWUE!]]

* HeAlsoDid: Hideaki Utsumi, the lead sound engineer for most of the classic games up until ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', is also the same guy whose pet chattering lory is star of the [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ewf-8rx9_uQ "Red Birb" meme]].

* HeAlsoDid: Hideaki Uetsumi, the lead sound engineer for most of the classic games, is also the same guy whose pet chattering lory is behind the [[MemeticMutation "Red Birb" meme]].

*** Creator/DCDouglas (''The Umbrella Chronicles'', ''Resident Evil 5'', ''The Darkside Chronicles'', ''Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', ''The Mercenaries 3D'', [[spoiler:''VideoGame/UmbrellaCorps'']], ''TEPPEN'')

*** Jeff Schine (''Resident Evil 3 (Remake)'')

** The original versions of ''[=RE2=]'' and ''[=RE4=]'', known as ''Resident Evil 1.5'' and ''3.5'', respectively. Both versions were scrapped due to the developers being unsatisfied with the direction they were taking. One of the scrapped ''Resident Evil 4'' ideas had Leon going through a castle fighting living dolls. Which was deemed too "supernatural" for a series based on science. The two versions of ''Resident Evil 4'' before that got retooled into ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' (the "Stylish" build) and ''VideoGame/HauntingGround'' (the "Castle" build), respectively. At one point, according to an interview with the actor who played Leon, Leon was actually supposed to be killed as a result of the virus mutating inside of him, but this tested poorly even among Capcom executives and the idea was scrapped (Paul Mercier was kept, much to his delight, however).

*** Creator/{{Michael McConnohie}} (''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2 Revelations 2]]'')

*** Richard Waugh (''Code: Veronica'', ''Wesker's Report'', ''Resident Evil Zero'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'')

*** [[Creator/DCDouglas D.C. Douglas]] (''The Umbrella Chronicles'', ''Resident Evil 5'', ''The Darkside Chronicles'', ''Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', ''The Mercenaries 3D'', ''TEPPEN'')

* FanNickname:
** "''The Resident of Evil Creek''," taken from a hilariously out-of-touch judge's opinion on the First Amendment rights of video games.
** Some fans have dubbed [[VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica Alfred's]] [[CreepyCrossdresser "Alexia" persona]] as "Alfrexia."

* CharacterSpecificPages:
** [[Characters/ResidentEvilChrisRedfield Chris Redfield]]
** [[Characters/ResidentEvilLeonSKennedy Leon Scott Kennedy]]
** [[Characters/ResidentEvilEthanWinters Ethan Winters]]

* AuthorExistenceFailure: With the passing of writer Noboru Sugimura, Capcom refused to provide an actual conclusion to the cliffhanger which saw [[spoiler:Wesker raise an army armed with advanced B.O.W.s in order to kill Umbrella security officers, allowing him to steal research data and samples to gain influence with black market terrorists]]. The original conclusion was the 2000-2002 "Castle" version of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', in which [[spoiler:Wesker's army attacks Umbrella's headquarters and mutually destroys Leon's organization, US-STRATCOM (introduced in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilGunSurvivor Dead Aim]]''), who have also attacked the base]]. Later games acknowledge that [[spoiler:Wesker became rich on the black market and indirectly caused the terrorism throughout the series]], but what happened to [[spoiler:the H.C.F.]] is left a mystery.

[[folder:2002 film]]
* AwesomeDearBoy:
** Creator/MillaJovovich became a massive fan of the games through her younger brother Marco, whom she used to play them with, and joined the film for cool it would be to be in ''Resident Evil''.
** Creator/MichelleRodriguez told her agent to let her know the second a ''Resident Evil'' movie was greenlit, because she would accept any role available in order to be in it. Sure enough, she ended up cast as Rain.
* CaliforniaDoubling: The film, set in an indeterminate part of the Midwest, was shot in Germany.
* DescendedCreator: They were short on extras to play zombies, so several Capcom executives agreed to appear as such. As did the producers.
* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: The first film would have the subtitle ''Ground Zero'', but that was left out after 9/11 happened.
* DoingItForTheArt:
** Creator/PaulWSAnderson wrote the script for the film specifically because he wanted to ensure that ''Resident Evil'' got a decent cinematic adaptation, and the next films are loaded with winking little references to the games.
** Creator/MillaJovovich trained for three months to be able to do the stunt where Alice runs up the wall and kicks the dog in the head.
* DolledUpInstallment: Creator/PaulWSAnderson's script began as a standalone film (though it was heavily inspired by the games), before getting integrated into what became the adaptation.
* DVDCommentary: On the Deluxe Edition, Creator/PaulWSAnderson, Creator/MillaJovovich and Creator/MichelleRodriguez crack jokes and argue about meaningless crap.
-->'''Anderson:''' And in this scene we...
-->'''Jovovich:''' Who cares about that, you can see my boobs! Look!
* DyeingForYourArt: The actress who plays the scientist that revives underwater in the first film, Anna Bolt, learned how to scuba dive for her OneSceneWonder role. Likewise all the actors playing commandos, as well as Jovovich and Eric Mabius, had to undergo a week's training with a Navy SEAL.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Subverted. The studio tried to make the film PG-13 but Paul WS Anderson insisted a ''Resident Evil'' adaptation had to be rated R.
* FakeAmerican:
** Creator/MillaJovovich as Alice is a borderline example. She's Ukranian by birth but has been in America since she was a child and thus doesn't have to fake an accent.
** Creator/ColinSalmon, Creator/JamesPurefoy, Creator/JasonIsaacs, and Liz May Brice are all British. The Umbrella employees are played by a mixture of British and Irish actors.
** Lisa is played by German actress Heike Makatsch.
* FakeNationality: JD's last name is Salinas, suggesting he's Hispanic. His actor Pasquale Aleardi is Swiss-born, of Greek and Italian descent.
* FollowTheLeader: The success of this led to other video game films like ''Film/{{Doom}}'', ''Film/MaxPayne'' and ''Film/SilentHill'' being greenlit.
* LoopingLines: Creator/MillaJovovich ended up redoing all her dialogue with ADR, as she was dissatisfied with her performance. In the ADR, she gave Alice a lower speaking register than before.
* NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals: The dogs kept licking the make-up and blood effects off themselves.
* NoStuntDouble: Creator/MillaJovovich did all her stunts herself, except for when Alice's pipe jump in the sewer scene (her agent was afraid she'd be strangled by the hanging wires).
* RealLifeRelative: Producer James Bolt's sister and girlfriend appear as zombies.
* RomanceOnTheSet: Anderson and Jovovich met while working on the movie; currently, they're married.
* ThrowItIn: The movie was not supposed to have the little nudity it did, according to the DVD commentary. Apparently, Creator/MillaJovovich had a WardrobeMalfunction twice in the same movie and it was left in.
* WagTheDirector: Creator/PaulWSAnderson had initially conceived the character of Alice as a full-on DamselInDistress, with Rain being the only ActionGirl in the film. When Creator/MillaJovovich found about it, she went to Anderson and convinced him to change the character to a more action-oriented one.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/GeorgeARomero wrote [[http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/resident_evil_romero.html a screenplay]] for and was to direct the first film. It was thrown out entirely when he was kicked off the project, as Capcom thought that, while Romero's script was close, it wasn't a full adaptation of the game, and they believed fans would complain about the changes while newcomers would dislike the premise too. Confusion sets in when they approved Anderson's script even though it's a much, ''much'' farther cry from ''Resident Evil'' (in as few words as possible, Romero's script was a rough adaptation of the first game and included all of the main characters, while Anderson's was a completely original story that featured all new characters, and whose only connection to the games was Umbrella, the T-Virus and zombies). WordOfGod is that Capcom didn't want a direct adaptation, out of fear that fans would stop playing the games in favor of watching the movies. Romero's script was also partly rejected because it would likely get an NC-17 rating.
** Creator/DavidBoreanaz was approached to play Matt but he turned it down due to ''Series/{{Angel}}'' commitments. Hilariously, at one point, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar was set to star as Alice too. For a while he was in talks to star in a smaller role, but ultimately nothing happened.
** Creator/GwynethPaltrow was considered for Alice.
** The White Queen from ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction'' would originally have appeared in this film (one of the older scripts for the Alice version, not the Jill and Chris one). She would be the A.I. monitoring the Hive from Umbrella Headquarters, and jam the Red Queen's systems after the incident -- explaining why the soldiers were able to enter the Hive so easily.
** At one point Rain was going to die relatively early in the film -- at the end of the failed escape from the Dining Hall. Apparently due to complaints from Milla Jovovich, this death was given to JD instead.
** An ending that nearly got filmed had [[spoiler:Alice and Matt being captured by Umbrella, but then being freed by the White Queen as the T-virus spreads throughout the world. They would be seen driving together through a deserted road, with the implication that they'd become lovers]].
** Another drafted ending still had [[spoiler:Matt become a monster (but not Nemesis) and in the hospital room with Alice when she wakes up. The credits would roll there, leaving it ambiguous as to whether she got away. Another version of this ending had Matt just with memory loss but still helping Alice escape]].
[[/folder]]

** [[Characters/ResidentEvilClaireRedfield Claire Redfield]]
** [[Characters/ResidentEvilJillValentine Jill Valentine]]

* CashCowFranchise: ''Resident Evil'' is one of Creator/{{Capcom}}'s most popular and successful franchises.

*** Erin Cahill (''Vendetta'')

*** Creator/JeffSchine (''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage Village]]'')

** ''Last Empire: War Z'', a ZombieApocalypse base-building game for smartphones, has an item that looks identical to the T-Virus samples; i.e. a glass jar with a double-helix decoration down the middle, capped with a metal plug on each end, filled with green liquid. To really ram it home, the item is called "Virus Stock" and is used to manufacture zombie-based SuperSoldiers--basically Tyrants and other B.O.W.'s.

** ''Resident Evil Zero'' was originally supposed to be one of the final N64 releases, still making it an exclusive Nintendo title. Not much is known about this game apart from Rebecca sporting a drastically different uniform (complete with a hat), and a fully-playable demo was released. Capcom later released more information in the run-up to a re-release of the finished game, including they'd at one time planned for two-player co-op. [[note]]Something the main series didn't implement until ''Resident Evil 5'', a full eight years and two console generations later.[[/note]] As a continuity nod, the HD port of ''Zero'' features several DLC outfits for Rebecca and Billy, including Rebecca's beta ''Zero'' uniform.

-->'''Anderson''': And in this scene we...
-->'''Milla''': Who cares about that, you can see my boobs! Look!

* FakeNationality: JD's last name is Salinas, suggesting he's Hispanic. His actor Pasquale Aleardi is Swiss born, of Greek and Italian descent.
* FollowTheLeader: The success of this led to other videogame films like ''{{Film/Doom}}'', ''Film/MaxPayne'' and ''Film/SilentHill'' being greenlit.

** Creator/DavidBoreanaz was approached to play Matt but he turned it down due to ''{{Series/Angel}}'' commitments. Hilariously, at one point, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar was set to star as Alice too. For a while he was in talks to star in a smaller role, but ultimately nothing happened.
** The White Queen from ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction'' would originally have appeared in this film (one of the older scripts for the Alice version, not the Jill and Chris one). She would be the AI monitoring the Hive from Umbrella Headquarters, and jam the Red Queen's systems after the incident - explaining why the soldiers were able to enter the Hive so easily.
** At one point Rain was going to die relatively early in the film - at the end of the failed escape from the Dining Hall. Apparently due to complaints from Milla Jovovich, this death was given to JD instead.
** An ending that nearly got filmed had [[spoiler: Alice and Matt being captured by Umbrella, but then being freed by the White Queen as the T-virus spreads throughout the world. They would be seen driving together through a deserted road, with the implication that they'd become lovers]].
** Another drafted ending still had [[spoiler: Matt become a monster (but not Nemesis) and in the hospital room with Alice when she wakes up. The credits would roll there, leaving it ambiguous as to whether she got away. Another version of this ending had Matt just with memory loss but still helping Alice escape]].

* AuthorExistenceFailure: With the passing of writer Noboru Sugimura, Capcom refused to provide an actual conclusion to the cliffhanger which saw [[spoiler:Wesker raise an army armed with advanced B.O.W.s in order to kill Umbrella security officers, allowing him to steal research data and samples to gain influence with black market terrorists]]. The original conclusion was the 2000-2002 "Castle" version of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', in which [[spoiler:Wesker's army attacks Umbrella's headquarters and mutually destroys Leon's organization, US-STRATCOM (introduced in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilGunSurvivor Dead Aim]]''), who have also attacked the base]]. Later games acknowledge that [[spoiler:Wesker became rich on the black market and indirectly caused the terrorism throughout the series]], but what happened to [[spoiler:H.C.F.]] is left a mystery.

* CashCowFranchise: ''Resident Evil'' is one of Creator/{{Capcom}}'s most popular and successful franchises.
* DoingItForTheArt: One scene in the remake has a closeup of Wesker's boot, which shows that the top buckles are not laced up. In the same game, the character select shows that for Chris' police ID, a coin is stuck in the clear plastic where the photo is. He'll also fire a shotgun from the hip but when fighting bosses decides it's time to stop monkeying around and shoot properly from the shoulder instead.

** Some fans have dubbed Alfred's "Alexia" persona as "Alfrexia."

*** Charlie Kraslavsky[[note]]Credited as "Charlie".[[/note]] (FMV scenes)/Scott [=McCulloch=] (''VideoGame/{{Resident Evil|1}}'')

*** Kevin Dorman (''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles The Umbrella Chronicles]]'', ''[[Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta Vendetta]]'');

*** Gregory Smith[[note]]Credited as "Gregory".[[/note]] (FMV scenes)/[[TheDanza Barry Gjerde]] (''Resident Evil'')

*** Linda (FMV scenes)/Lynn Harris (''Resident Evil'')

*** Eric Pirius[[note]]Credited as "Eric".[[/note]] (FMV scenes)/Pablo Kuntz (''Resident Evil'')

*** James Baker (''Revelations 2'')
*** Stephanie Panisello (''Resident Evil 2 Remake'')

*** Sally Cahill (''Resident Evil 2'', ''Resident Evil 4'', ''The Darkside Chronicles'', ''[[Film/ResidentEvilRetribution Retribution]]'');
*** Creator/MeganHollingshead (''The Umbrella Chronicles'');

*** Jolene Anderson (''Resident Evil 2 Remake'')

*** T.J. Rotolo (''The Umbrella Chronicles'', ''The Darkside Chronicles'', ''Operation Raccoon City'', ''Resident Evil 2 Remake'')

*** Eliza Pryor (''Resident Evil 2 Remake'')

*** Jeff Schine (''Resident Evil 3 Remake'')

*** Neil Newbon (''Resident Evil 3 Remake'')

** ''Last Empire: War Z'', a ZombieApocalypse base-building game for Smartphones, has an item that looks identical to the T-Virus samples-ie, a glass jar with a double-helix decoration down the middle, capped with a metal plug on each end, filled with green liquid. To really ram it home, the item is called "Virus Stock" and is used to manufacture zombie-based SuperSoldiers-basically Tyrants and other B.O.W.'s.
** ''VideoGame/PlagueInc'' has the Necroa Virus as a DLC, a highly mutagenic virus that induces a HealingFactor in it's victims strong enough to bring them BackFromTheDead (sounds an awful lot like the T-Virus, doesn't it?). [[MultipleChoicePast In it's American backstory]], it's a bioweapon created by an unscrupulous pharmecutecal MegaCorp that throws their considerable resources behind covering it up. Unlike Umbrella, said company has a HeelFaceTurn and uses it's RedShirtArmy to try and fix things. Eventually.

*** Claire was another character named Elza Walker.[[note]]Who is blonde but has lots of Claire's traits; this change was made as without Chris and Claire's relation, there's no tie between the first two games.[[/note]]
*** Leon would've already been in the RPD and would've begun his scenario trying to rally the rest of his devastated force to combat the zombies, Chief Irons would've filled the role of Marvin Branagh.[[note]]Heavily wounded, heroic authority cop figure.[[/note]]
*** Robert Kendo was originally Ada's boyfriend John.[[note]]It's not clear what role Ada filled at this point; John was one of Elza's support characters.[[/note]]

** ''Resident Evil Zero'' was originally supposed to be one of the final N64 releases, still making it an exclusive Nintendo title. Not much is known about this game apart from Rebecca sporting a drastically different uniform (complete with a hat), and a fully-playable demo was released. Capcom later released more information in the run-up to a re-release of the finished game, including they'd at one time planned for two-player co-op.[[note]]Something the main series didn't implement until ''Resident Evil 5'', a full eight years and two console generations later.[[/note]] As a continuity nod, the HD port of ''Zero'' features several DLC outfits for Rebecca and Billy, including Rebecca's beta ''Zero'' uniform.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: With the death of writer Noboru Sugimura, Capcom refused to provide an actual conclusion to the cliffhanger which saw [[spoiler:Wesker raise an army armed with advanced B.O.W.s in order to kill Umbrella security officers, allowing him to steal research data and samples to gain influence with black market terrorists]]. The original conclusion was the 2000-2002 "Castle" version of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', in which [[spoiler:Wesker's army attacks Umbrella's headquarters and mutually destroys Leon's organization, US-STRATCOM (introduced in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilGunSurvivor Dead Aim]]''), who have also attacked the base]]. Later games acknowledge that [[spoiler:Wesker became rich on the black market and indirectly caused the terrorism throughout the series]], but what happened to [[spoiler:H.C.F.]] is left a mystery.

* NoDubForYou: Prior to the 2010s, the games are only voiced in English for quite some time, being released with subtitles for different regions but without the corresponding voice tracks even in Capcom's native Japan. The trend later got averted when Chris, Jill, Wesker, Leon, Ada, and others received Japanese voice actors for the live-action films and {{Crossover}}s like ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' and the ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' games. ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations Revelations]]'' marked the first time players could choose between Japanese and English audio and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 6]]'' released a free DLC update which provided a Japanese voice track.

*** Creator/CourtenayTaylor (''Operation Raccoon City'', ''Damnation'', ''Resident Evil 6'', TEPPEN)

*** T.J. Rotolo (''The Umbrella Chronicles'', ''The Darkside Chronicles'', ''Operation Raccoon City, Resident Evil 2 Remake'')

*** Patricia Ja Lee (''The Umbrella Chronicles'', ''Resident Evil 5'', ''The Mercenaries 3D'', ''Teppen'')

*** [[Creator/DCDouglas D.C. Douglas]] (''The Umbrella Chronicles'', ''Resident Evil 5'', ''The Darkside Chronicles'', ''Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', ''The Mercenaries 3D'', ''Teppen'')

*** Courtenay Taylor (''Operation Raccoon City'', ''Damnation'', ''Resident Evil 6'')

* NoDubForYou: Prior to the 2010s, the games are only voiced in English for quite some time, being released with subtitles for different regions but without the corresponding voice tracks even in Capcom's native Japan. The trend later got averted when Chris, Jill, Wesker, Leon, Ada, and others received Japanese voice actors for the live-action films and {{Crossover}}s like ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' and the ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' games. ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations Revelations]]'' marked the first time players could choose between Japanese and English audio and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 6]]'' released a free DLC update which provided a Japanese voice track. ''[[Anime/ResidentEvilDegeneration Degeneration]]'' also had dual audio, but the direct sequel ''[[Anime/ResidentEvilDamnation Damnation]]'' surprisingly only has the original English dub.

*** The game's models are less detailed but as a result the game can make better use of the PlayStation's processing power, as more zombies were visible on screen at a time, they had more variants, and could be gibbed in much more varied ways.