WGTC: You actually answered my sub-question too. I was going to ask how you use it without it becoming a gimmick, how you approach it artistically.
Anderson: Yeah, I think that’s the answer. I was on a running machine yesterday when Jaws 3 was on, and it was a surreal thing, watching this 3D movie, but in 2D. It looked terrible, because of the 3D gimmicks. It’s so much of a 2D movie, when suddenly they’d have these things… and that’s when 3D is bad. 3D is motivated by the action and is well-planned. That led into the movie and it doesn’t draw attention to itself. Then it doesn’t really matter whether you’re watching it in 3D or 2D. You’re just watching a movie.
WGTC: I wanted to move on from Pompeii now and ask a couple of general questions about the future. I wanted to ask you how things were going on Resident Evil 6. Last we saw Alice, thing were going a bit crazy. She was standing atop the White House, ready to face the full wrath of the Red Queen. Where can we expect to go from there?
Anderson: I can’t tell you too much about it. What I can tell you is that we’re definitely going to make another movie. It’ll be a continuation of the cliffhanger that we saw at the end of the last film. We’re making steps to make that happen.
WGTC: I’ve also read reports that this is going to be the last one. Is this true, that this is going to be it for you and Milla Jovovich?
Anderson: Yeah, it’ll conclude the franchise, so it’ll be the final chapter.
WGTC: My last question also has to do with looking forward. We’ve seen that you like to direct movies that are from established material, such as video games, or even novels. Is there any other material that you want to try your hand at, or are perhaps working on?
Anderson: The thing I’m very keen to do is I would very much like to do a TV show. That’s kind of like the bee that’s in my bonnet right now. I started in television, you know. That’s how my career started in Great Britain. I was a writer and director on television. For me, the advent of iTunes and AppleTV have revolutionized TV watching. I’m one of those people that hates watching something and having to wait a week to see what happens. Also, it’s almost impossible for me to be in the same place at the same time two weeks in a row, so even if I did want to watch that show, I’d never be able to.
So the advent of being able to watch a whole season of something in a 24-hour period is how I watch everything now. I just love it. It really started with 24, but that’s how I watched all of Game of Thrones, American Horror Story, Homeland, all of my favorite shows. I kind of binge-watch them like that. The night a season finishes, I’ll then watch everything in the next 24 hours. I would very much like to explore doing something like that.
WGTC: Did you have a specific one in mind, or is that just an area you really want to go to?
Anderson: I’m developing a couple of things, but nothing that’s set in stone yet. It’s definitely something that would be in my wheelhouse. It’s not like I’m going to do a sitcom. You won’t be seeing ‘Paul W.S. Anderson’s Two and a Half Men.’
WGTC: (laughs) That would be interesting though…
Anderson: (laughs) Yeah, it might be. My version of it would definitely have Charlie Sheen in it.
I’d like to thank Paul W.S. Anderson very much for this exclusive interview. You can check out Pompeii when it hits Blu-ray this Tuesday and for more on the film, watch our interview with the cast below.
