In the six Resident Evil films made so far, Alice is the lead heroine who battles the evil Umbrella Corporation after a pandemic ends up converting humanity into undead creatures. Even though the film franchise bears heavy influences from the video games of the same name, Alice is an entirely original protagonist created by writer and director Paul WS Anderson. She's initially shown as being proficient in firearms and martial arts, but she later also goes on to possess superhuman skills like regeneration.
Even though films have faced their fair share of criticism from critics and video game fans, actress and model Milla Jovovich gained fame as a leading action star playing Alice.
Alice's Japanese Voice Actor Regularly Provides The Voice For Milla Jovovich
As Resident Evil's source material is a series of Japanese video games, each of the films received publicized Japanese releases too. Takako Honda provided the voice for Alice's Japanese version. Interestingly, the voice actress has also played several other characters played by Jovovich in the dubs for at least 18 films.
She also regularly voices characters played by Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, Hillary Swank, and Sandra Bullock. In the world of video games, Honda is chiefly known as the voice of Lara Croft.
Alice Might Not Be Her Real Name
In the first film, Alice isn't even referred to by her name. Simply known as The Girl, her name is written as 'Janus' in a minor scene from the second film, Apocalypse. Early drafts of Extinction even mention her as Janice Prospero.
If we are to believe the character's real name is Alice, then her full name might be Alice Abernathy, according to the official film novelizations. Her name's origin can easily be traced to Alicia Marcus, the daughter of Umbrella's founder who was cloned to form the film's protagonist.
Allusions To Lewis Carroll
As many would have guessed, the film does have several references that are linked to Lewis Carroll's classic children's novels Alice in Wonderland and its sequel Through The Looking Glass. Just like the film's heroine making sense of her life in a toxic dystopian wasteland, Carroll's Alice finds her way in an unknown world where she encounters the antagonistic Red Queen, a name shared by the film's supercomputer.
Resident Evil's Alice is also tasked with protecting the Looking Glass House, which served as a front for Hive's illegal activities. This is another reference to Carroll's literature as Alice escapes into a parallel dimension through a mirror known as the Looking Glass.
Some Of Her Costumes Were Designed By Mila Jovovich's Fashion Line
In 2003, Jovovich and her fellow model Carmen Hawk launched a clothing line simply called Jovovich-Hawk, which was based in Los Angeles. For Resident Evil: Extinction, the third film in the series, Alice's outfit was designed by the same brand.
The shorts she wears were a variation of a range of 'Alice Star' shorts from the line's 2007 Spring Collection. As the business grew big and demanded a lot of Jovovich's time, Jovovich ceased operations in 2008.
Clint Eastwood As An Influence
The series was praised for its depiction of leading women (although some had complaints about unnecessary sexualization in a few scenes). One pro-point, in particular, is that Alice and her allies hardly delve into unwanted romantic relationships and exchange minimal dialogues. They just fight their way through their undead enemies without any melodrama.
'That’s what I feel these characters are. They’re harkening back to the Clint Eastwoods of the world,' says Paul WS Anderson. Jovovich herself added in the same interview that she 'wanted her (Alice) to be the female Dirty Harry'.
Milia Jovovich Performed Her Own Stunts
For many scenes in the franchise, Jovovich has been performing her own stunts. In the first film, she had performed almost all of them, including the iconic scene that features Alice kicking a zombie dog. That sequence alone took three months to master.
Additionally, most of the minor cuts and bruises Alice sports are all real wounds, with no makeup or VFX being used. In the first film, the actress didn't perform a particular scene involving a jump in the sewer as her agent felt the hanging wires could strangulate her.
Alice's Eye Is A Callback To The Game
Towards the end of the first film, a close-up shot features Alice's eye. While it adds to the horror themes of the film, this particular shot is an Easter Egg that dedicated gamers can easily identify.
Even though Alice isn't featured in the games, a similar zoom-in on an eye features as the logo and title screen of the first-ever Resident Evil game that was released in 1996. Similar frames began to be used in several other games in the series like Resident Evil Outbreak and Revelations.
Jill Valentine Was The Original Heroine
Before creating Alice, the films were expected to go ahead with the game's character Jill Valentine (who is later featured in the films, played by Sienna Guillory). For this role, various actresses were considered like Gwyneth Paltrow who was riding off the success of her Oscar win for Shakespeare in Love.
Other choices included Natasha Henstridge of Species fame, Kirsten Dunst who was then most popular as Mary Jane in the Spider-Man films, Jennifer Love-Hewitt from I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Sarah Michelle Gellar from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Most of the actresses rejected the role apparently for the high levels of violence and nudity that the character demanded.
Capcom Would Never Feature Alice In The Games
Fans wonder why Alice never made an appearance in the game franchise that continues to have new installments to date. Capcom explained that it's fine with licensing the game's story and characters but would otherwise want the cinematic entities to stay separate from the games.
This is also the reason behind Jill Valentine and Leon Kennedy not making an appearance in the final film, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, as Capcom didn't wish to get the characters killed in the movies.
A Stuntwoman Playing Alice Faced Life-Threatening Injuries And Sued The Filmmakers
In The Final Chapter, Alice is featured in several high-octane bike chase sequences. One of these stunts went horribly wrong after South African stuntwoman Olivia Jackson crashed into a camera crane. This resulted in a coma that lasted for two weeks and many injuries, including an amputated arm.
Jackson claimed that the crane operator did not lift in time and the producers had made her falsely believe that insurance would cover her injuries (although she found out no liability coverage for her claim). In 2019, she successfully won a lawsuit against the filmmakers.