Production on Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was marked with tragedy in September 2015 when stunt woman Olivia Jackson was horribly injured on the first day after she crashed into a camera crane on her motorcycle, made even worse by the fact that she wasn't wearing protective headgear due to the nature of the scene being shot. The accident left her in a medically-induced coma for two weeks, and she was later forced to have her arm amputated. Needless to say this event affected everyone involved with the movie, including Milla Jovovich, who plays the lead protagonist, Alice. Here's what she recently had to say about the horrible matter:
We were going to pull the plug on production, period; it was close. It happened on the first day of principal photography. Today is our first day back. What happened to Olivia was a nightmare, plain and simple. Paul was crying on the phone, I have never heard the man cry in the fifteen years that we have known each other, I mean it was the most shocking thing that I have ever been through, that Paul has ever been through and anyone on these movies has ever witnessed. That accident shouldn't have happened. It was one of the most typical shots you could do on a motorcycle: straight ahead, camera goes over, you know it was something that everyone on crew has shot a million times in shooting car commercials. They are investigating what actually happened on that camera, but that shouldn't have happened, it wasn't, I mean all stunts are dangerous, but it wasn't in anyone's mind a dangerous stunt.
During an interview with Collider while principal photography was still happening, Milla Jovovich gave the above statement about Olivia Jackson's accident, mentioning how the "nightmare" of an accident nearly shut down Resident Evil: The Final Chapter's production permanently and how it was the first time she saw director Paul W.S. Anderson cry. Sadly, this wasn't the only tragedy that happen during the shoot. On December 3, 2015, crew member Ricardo Cornelius was crushed by a Humvee that wasn't properly secured on a rotating platform, and he died a few hours later. Nevertheless, production pushed forward and concluded later that December, but its effects are still being felt over a year later, and will continue to be felt in the future.
As the title makes clear, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter will be the last entry in the Resident Evil film series that's been going since 2002. The sixth movies will pick up immediately after the events of Retribution and see Alice returning to the location where this insanity began: Raccoon City. From there, she'll wage a final battle against the Umbrella Corporation, the organization responsible for this world's zombie apocalypse, as they unleash their forces against the remaining survivors.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter hits theaters on Friday, January 27.
