Resident Evil director Zach Cregger has revealed he was going through hell while making the movie, which is about a man going through hell.
He told The Hollywood Reporter that he had pneumonia for the first half of filming on Resident Evil. For the second half of production, he had Campylobacter jejuni. This causes diarrhea, and man, that sucks for anyone, but especially if you’re trying to film a big-budget, highly anticipated film based on a property with legions of fans and great expectations creatively and commercially.
“So I was very, very ill for the whole production, and everything felt so barely in control because my body was failing me,” Cregger explained.
Cregger said he credits his “wonderful, talented” department leads to help him through, while he also praised Resident Evil star Austin Abrams for going above and beyond. He said Abrams is “one of the most can-do, positive people I’ve ever met. I was spoiled by the people around me.”
Not only was Cregger physically sick while making Resident Evil, he had to deal with freezing-cold conditions in the north of the Czech Republic where the movie was filmed. “We froze our asses off,” he said.
This wasn’t the first time Cregger was dealing with physical turmoil while making a movie. On his last film, Weapons, it was so hot and humid that he needed an IV and directed scenes remotely.
Resident Evil releases on September 18, and it’s expected to have a huge, record-setting opening weekend. The movie stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier named Bryan who is an “idiot” everyman who finds himself in a world of pain.