The Ultimate in "Ju-On"-like Terror and Hollywood Coolness! Interview with Makoto Fukami, scriptwriter of the CG movie "Resident Evil: Vendetta

The CG movie "Resident Evil: Vendetta" will be released on May 27, 2017 (Saturday). The production staff includes Takashi Shimizu of "Ju-On" fame as executive producer, Takanori Tsujimoto of "THE NEXT GENERATION PATLABOR" as director, Makoto Fukami of "PSYCHO-PASS" as scriptwriter, Hiroyuki Kobayashi of Capcom as producer of the "Resident Evil" series as original story supervisor, and Hiroyuki Kobayashi of Capcom as music director. The film is produced by Marza Animation Planet, an ambitious CG animation production company with its sights set on the global market.

What kind of work is this film with the subtitle meaning "Vendetta"? What are its highlights?　We interviewed Mr. Makoto Fukami, who is in charge of the screenplay, on a certain day in April, just before the film's release.
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It All Started with Twitter

--I had a chance to see the freshly made video, and I was thrilled to hear that "it has a very bio-like feel! and it was exciting. First of all, could you tell us how you got involved in this project?

Makoto Fukami (Fukami ): Thank you very much. What triggered my participation in this project was when I was approached on Twitter by the producer in charge of Marza Animation Planet. It seems that he saw the movie version of "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass" and that's how he approached me. At first, all the communication was done via DM, and I thought the job might be a bit shady (laughs), but when I went to Marza, I found it to be a very respectable company and said, "Ah, a proper company. It's the company that made "Captain Harlock.

(*Note: The CG animation film "SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK" (released in 2013), produced by MARZA ANIMATION PLANET, has received high acclaim both in Japan and abroad.

--How did you decide on the seating of the main staff?

Fukami: First, Mr. Kobayashi supervised the original story, and then Mr. Shimizu was chosen, but he did not even take the megaphone. I joined as a scriptwriter around that time, and after that, Mr. Tsujimoto was chosen as the director.

--Resident Evil" is a big title in itself, but Mr. Shimizu, the executive producer, is also a big name, having directed the hit movie "The Grudge. What did you think when you were chosen to work on the scenario for such a film?

Fukami: I am honored. I have always loved video games, even before I entered the industry, and I have been playing "Resident Evil" since the first game, so it was a lot of fun as a video game fan. However, I was a bit intimidated at first. Resident Evil" is both a horror game and an action game. I thought that the inclusion of Mr. Shimizu would make the game scary like "Resident Evil 7," and that it would be more horror oriented. However, when I asked him about it, he said that he wanted a scene where New York is flooded with zombies.

--That's a very Hollywood-like or flashy direction, isn't it?

Fukami: Yes. So I was convinced that was the way to go, and we started working on the plot. Of course, it was not all flashy, but Mr. Shimizu wanted to strengthen the horror elements. I felt that Mr. Shimizu wanted something more like a Hollywood movie, so I asked him to make it flashy.

--I guess that was based on your work on the theatrical version of "PSYCHO-PASS: Psycho-Pass"?

Fukami: I think they probably also appreciated the fact that I am a regular movie buff. I had been writing my impressions of movies on Twitter for a long time, and the producer of Marza saw that. Of course, watching a lot of movies does not necessarily mean that you can write movie scenarios, but I think he trusted me to some extent in the basic education aspect.