Jovovich, Milla (Ultraviolet)

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So maybe you were one of the few that got out to see Ultraviolet during its opening weekend, and while no one will argue that the film is a classic waiting to happen, few can say it’s not fun watching star Milla Jovovich kick ass for 90 minutes. So when you’re done watching her kick all that ass, maybe you want to have a conversation with her? I know I do. To that end, our man Clark sat down with the star as part of a pre-release roundtable to discuss the film, the results of which are below. Enjoy!


Question: Do you see yourself as a role model to your female fans much like Sigorney Weaver was in the Aliens films?

Milla Jovovich: I think it is a bit different. I think it is a bit more of a role model because there are so many amazing martial arts in this film and women don’t have to do martial arts because they don’t need to be strong. It’s really about being fast and using other people’s strengths against them. It’s kind of a perfect sport for women. You get in great shape and you don’t feel the time go by; it’s not like the Stairmaster (laughs). So I really recommend it and I think it would be great for someone like Violet to be a role model.

Q: What was it like working with the little boy in the film? Is he like a regular kid or more like an adult?

MJ: A bit of both. Young actors are crazy in that sense because they are so mature and so professional. On the one hand it’s kind of sad because I remember myself being that age and having to work and stuff. On the other hand it is what it is and I have a felling that he is going to be one of the alright ones (laughs).

Q: Did you play video games with him?

MJ: Yeah and he is like a little hacker too. He showed me all of the tricks on some of the games I like to play and how to cheat your way into getting more weapons or more land for your villages. I’m very much and Age of Empires like strategic player. I would like build up the city and he would go to war.

Q: Did you have any input into your costumes?

MJ: Definitely, I have a lot of suggestions when it comes to fashion for sure. They gave me a lot of input. Violet was really crazy sexy which is what I wanted because I have never really played a part that is that sophisticated on film before. All of the action movies I have done in the past have been kind of funny parts but not sexy per say in a typical sort of way. So I wanted it to be more straight ahead sophisticated hot chick (laughs).

Q: Were the outfits uncomfortable?

MJ: Yeah, definitely (laughs). Definitely, I don’t ever want to wear it again for sure. If they ever do a second one I will have to think of something else or better. But they were really cool, like really insane in real life. My design partner of my clothing line came to China to visit me because we were working on stuff and she came over for a few weeks and she came on set and was like, “Oh my God, this is so insane.” It looked like clowny and everybody is dressed in these super crazy outfits and it looks like some bad Euro-trash bar. All of these men in like raincoat material and different colored jackets and then me with that weird kind of crazy… it’s a little like stripper friendly (laughs). Very kind of old Cristina Agulara of before. Then she saw the previews and couldn’t believe it was the same clothes. It looks so good in the movie. I find with modeling and acting that a lot of things that look ridiculous in real life but then on film something translates and it is really that movie magic thing.

Q: How were you with the motorcycles?

MJ: I didn’t do any of the stunts. I did pretty much everything else except for the motorcycle sequences. I like to be in a very safe and controlled environment and I am not safe or controlled in any way shape or form. I like to have boundaries and have people taking care of me when I take risks like that.

Q: How different was the preparation on this from Resident Evil?

MJ: It was very different, actually. Surprisingly so because I never worked with swords and weapons the way I did in this movie. I had to do all of this sword spinning and using a wide cornucopia of weaponry in this movie which is a lot of fun but at the same time very different because Resident Evil is much more straight ahead fighting, and this was much more of an Eastern style of martial arts. There were a lot of elements of Chinese filmmaking. So I had to learn a lot. I started learning the choreography before I started Resident Evil 2. So I was working on it like six or seven months before I got to China and worked on it for like three months there and filmed the movie. It was like a year and a half in the end doing all of this stuff but it’s cool because I can still do it. I have all of my swords at home and have my sticks next to my bed and wah! (She makes her karate face)

Q: Did you ever play the Resident Evil video game?

MJ: I did, and that’s why I ended up doing the movie because I have a younger brother and he loves Resident Evil. It was something that he really wanted me to do. He and I would end up sitting for hours playing this game and really getting into it and I ended up having a really great time playing with him and he was like, “Oh you would be so perfect and you could be the girl from Resident Evil.” So when it came up I had to say yes.

Q: Now you are in preparation on the third one correct?

MJ: Yeah.

Q: Does that start shooting in a couple of months?

MJ: Yeah in May. I just started training recently but it has been hard while doing the press for this one.

Q: Can you tell us anything about what the third one is going to be about?

MJ: I don’t know if I’m allowed (laughs). I think there are a lot of people who would pay good money for that information.

Q: Didn’t they sort of set you up to be the villain in the last one?

MJ: Maybe, maybe… (with an evil grin) maybe.

Q: Was it the sexiness that drew you to this role and made it different from some of the other science fiction or action roles you had played in the past?

MJ: I definitely thought the story was really touching. The fact that she is this bad ass fighter; she’s actually fighting for a cause against this totalitarian government who’s trying to destroy a group of people. Through this, she meets this sick child and has to make the choice whether to save his life or continue with her crazy mission. So I thought this was really kind of important. There’s something really special about that relationship, which I related to as well because I’m getting to that place where I’m going to think about kids and family and stopping the totalitarian machine of my life to have kids (laughs). So of course I felt as a woman, it’s kind of the norm today that women are in their 40s and still not even thinking of having kids. It’s like this new generation that those issues are so different today. My mom had me when she was like 24. I’m already like 30. Oh my God, like, this is insane. You’re comparing yourself to mom and all that stuff, so yeah there’s a lot of that going on. What a weird personal reason.

Q: As a model and sexy actress does that worry you what childbirth might do to your body? Change it?

MJ: Oh right. Listen, for sure it will change my body, but I think I’ll be alright. I mean like I said women today, honestly either they’re like in their 40s with no kids or they’re in their 40s and you would never know they have kids. It’s just, you don’t see that especially in LA or New York. You don’t see women getting out of shape anymore after kids. That’s kind of like the last generation maybe. I don’t know. But it’s definitely women have a new motivation today. Kids mean the beginning of something, not the end of something. I don’t know. It’s so different. I’m 30. My friends are in the mid-30s. But we still feel like kids. You look at that car commercial for like Audi, or maybe — God they’re going to hate me probably, this car company — the poster said, “Adult-ish.” That to me was like a perfect nutshell of what my whole generation is. We’re all kind of in our mid-30s, but like still sort of trying to pass as like, like we’re there, but like “Come on, I’m different. I’m cool.”

Q: Would you say you have a high or low tolerance for pain?

MJ: Um, it depends. It depends if I’m working or not. When I work, I have a very high tolerance for pain because it’s like I’m not myself. I’m in a different mode. It’s like, “Okay, go.” I’ve done crazy stuff on movies, like injuries and yeah, when your endorphins are rushing, that adrenaline, it’s like you don’t feel stuff. It’s like when people tell you like football players: “Oh you don’t feel it when you get hit. It’s afterwards really, like oh I can’t move my arm.” But like in real life, I have no tolerance for pain. It’s the funniest thing. It took me like three years to get my wisdom teeth pulled out. I just got them done before Christmas — all four at the same time — and it was a disaster. It was fine three years ago and then suddenly two years later my dentist is like, “Oh my God. What’s going on in there? You’ve got to get it out!” “I know! I’ll do it.” You know, its like, “I have to work. I have this. I have that.” You know and then finally. I can’t deal with it. I’m like, “No it’s for real. I feel it.”

Q: When you’re not training for movies, do you work out a lot on your own?

MJ: I’m going to start doing yoga for sure because it’s great for your white brain mass, to meditate; proven fact there. But yeah, I’m going to start that. I do a lot of stretching. You know, I still have all my swords and stuff, so I definitely give them a spin every once in a while just to make sure I still have it but mostly stretching.

Q: So you don’t pump iron?

MJ: No. I do pushups sometimes, but I don’t need to. I’m built very sturdy in that sense, so I do a little bit of work and I become really big, so I don’t need that. I just need to be limber because I’m not the most limber person.

Q: In this film you play a vampire yet there was no traditional vampire action in the film. Was the vampire action cut out or not filmed at all?

MJ: No. I haven’t seen the latest version, so … No there’s no blood sucking. Never was. The whole thing is the vampires, they’re just sick people. They call them vampires. It’s like the press makes up that name because it’s easier than saying “hemophage” all the time. The whole point was it just makes you stronger. We didn’t want to make a typical vampire movie. It was an action film. I just think it’s more a reflection on the fact that people stereotype. And even when it’s not what it is, they’ll just stereotype you because it’s easier.

Q: What would you say are the differences between Alice and Violet?

MJ: I think Violet is very much like some mythological character I had in my head, where Alice is a bit more of a modern character in my head. Violet was kind of all my dreams of being a ninja my whole life, like coming true in this moment. There was a bit more of that comic book edge so it was a bit brighter. She doesn’t react to a punch or pain in the same way that Alice is a bit more real in that sense. Where Violet, because of the advanced state of her sickness, she’s got just like super powers and so it really gave me a chance to you know, not make faces and be all like super cool. Not be like, “Grrr!” (grimaces) all the time like in Resident Evil=” where constantly I need to be really tough, sell that. Where here I got to be really gorgeous.

Q: Are you constantly on a diet working on these types of films and what is it you like to eat?

MJ: Pretty much. I try and cook. I try to eat fresh. I don’t eat junk food or anything like that. Diet for sure is important. I take vitamins. I definitely don’t eat trash … regularly (laughs). To be perfectly honest with you, I’ve been really into Brussels sprouts recently. I’ve just had this thing, like steak and Brussels sprouts. I don’t know, like, I saw them in the store, and I was like, “Oh my God. They look like alien pods.” I had to get them and steam ’em up.

Q: What was it like working with Kurt? Had you seen Equilibrium?

MJ: Yeah, me and brother had seen Equilibrium. I was really happy because he’d done such a great job on the action sequences in that movie. I knew I’d be working with someone who had experience, which was great. And it was amazing because Kurt came to me saying, “I wrote this with you in mind.””So it was really, of course, really incredible because it’s not every day you get a director sort of writing something for you. So I was really honored and it felt really flattered that he had done that.

Q: Were you excited to do gun kata?

MJ: Oh yeah. Well, Mike Smith the fight choreographer was so incredible. There’s quite a few things in this movie that just from an action standpoint we’ve never really seen in a western style martial arts movie. If there really is any … well I guess there was like in the early ’80s, but I don’t want to say anything. No, I won’t. I think it’s kind of like setting some sort of line for what a western style martial arts movie could be. I feel really good because it’s not a lot of white girls that get to kick butt like that. I was pretty happy.

Q: Do you think the future will be like this but with flying cars and such?

MJ: I don’t know. I’ve been wondering that myself recently. I was like, “Flying cars? I don’t know if they’re going to work.” You know, I think the only way that flying cars would work is if GPS becomes really super-advanced. But then we would have to lose control of the car because it’d have to be on some grid. And that’s like, smells of socialism right there. You’re like, “I don’t know. Government-controlled cars?” The next step is like the iron fist comes down. (slams fist on table)

Q: What is your favorite action movie?

MJ: I would have to be a throw up between, for the moment, Crouching Tiger and well, I guess Hero.

Q: Tell us about .45 and Fade Out…

MJ: Well, Fade Out is still in pre-production. They’re rewriting the script and stuff. But .45 is a film that I did last year, and hopefully we should see it soon. It’s a really small movie that’s about domestic violence. The writer and director wrote one of my favorite plays called Blackout. It was really incredible to work on the part because it’s something I’ve experienced growing up and like knowing lots of Eastern European people, domestic violence is a very normal part of life. So it was really important for me to make a movie about a woman who is trying to escape this vicious cycle. It was great. It was an independent film.

Q: Do you think it can really change the world with a serious issue like that?

MJ: It can change somebody’s world I think.


Special thanks to Kara Silverman and all the people at Sony for making this interview possible. Ultraviolet is in theaters now; be sure to give it a go!

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