Milla Jovovich and husband Paul W.S. Anderson have worked together nine times over the years — but their first creative collaboration didn’t start off all that smoothly.
“There was one point during the first Resident Evil where both myself and the director of photography had black eyes because Milla had punched us,” Anderson, 60, exclusively shared in Us Weekly’s latest In Conversation series with Jovovich, 49, on newsstands now.
While Anderson, who directed the film, clarified that Jovovich’s punch was not “in anger,” Jovovich confessed that her husband “asked for it” — literally.
“They put me in an impossible situation,” she explained. “Paul said, ‘Just punch straight at the camera as if I’m the camera.’ But he didn’t have a camera, so I just punched him straight in the eye.”
Anderson, however, had a different outlook on the miscommunication. “Well, I imagined that [Milla] would imagine there was a camera in front of me. It takes her about ‘this much’ space, but she just imagined the back of my head was the lens,” he argued with a laugh. “And [then] just, wham. So I saw how powerful her punches could be in real life.”
Jovovich starred as Alice in the 2002 post-apocalyptic thriller, a survivor of a global pandemic who is faced with defeating legions of zombies created by her former workplace. She would go on to become the face of the franchise across seven films — all of which are directed by Anderson.
While Jovovich is synonymous with Resident Evil now, landing the job wasn’t as easy as she expected. Jovovich joked that she was exasperated by the fact Anderson made her audition for the role after starring opposite Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element, but she eventually agreed to the terms.
Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich. Us Weekly
“She did [read for the role]. She read with a very good friend of mine, Jason Isaacs,” Anderson recalled of the audition process. “And he was in town and he’s like, ‘I want to come in and help, anything I can do.’ So he read with Milla.”
Once the reading was over, it was clear to the White Lotus star that the chemistry between Anderson and Jovovich wasn’t only going to be in front of the camera.
“Milla left, and Jason turned to me and he said, ‘Well, that’s it then.’ And I said, ‘So you think she’s great for the movie?’ And he said, ‘Oh, forget about the movie. You and her,’” Anderson told Us. “So he felt there was some electricity in the room, and he was not wrong.”
Anderson and Jovovich went on to tie the knot in 2009, and they have since welcomed three daughters: Ever, 17, Dashiel, 9, and Osian, 5. They’ve also collaborated on various projects outside the Resident Evil universe, including 2011’s The Three Musketeers, 2020’s Monster Hunter and 2025’s In the Lost Lands.
For Anderson, the best part of getting to work so closely beside his wife happens right before all the on set chaos truly begins.
“The first half an hour when it’s just you and me on set with a couple of cups of coffee before the crew turn up where we get to talk about the day, and it’s pure creativity without 150 people there, asking questions,” he told Jovovich, noting those quieter moments are “terrific freedom” for them both. “It’s a wonderful time to create, connect with our surroundings, connect with the set. Really understand.”
The pair were able to do all of that and more for their latest film, In the Lost Lands, which hit theaters on March 7 and serves as the film adaptation for George R.R. Martin’s short story of the same name. Jovovich stars as the powerful sorceress Gray Alys opposite Dave Bautista’s quiet cowboy-like hunter Boyce, with Anderson in the director’s chair.
As for how the married couple got involved in the movie, Anderson confessed it was Jovovich who brought him the idea and introduced him to screenwriter Constantin Werner. Jovovich called it a true “passion” project that took nearly seven years to complete.
“For me, the movie was a wonderful combination of two things I love. It was an adult fairytale where [the theme is], ‘Be careful what you wish for because bad things are gonna happen,’” Anderson explained. “[And] because this is a George R.R. Martin story, and also it was a western. I felt like George had written this story about two characters that don’t necessarily trust one another who have to go off on a mission together and learn to respect one another and care for one another.”
He continued, “That really reminded me of movies I’d loved as a kid. Like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Two Mules for Sister Sara — these iconic, strong 1960s, 1970s movies.”
As for getting to team up with her husband again, Jovovich was quick to share exactly what she loves most about being his muse.
“I respect and love when directors know what they want,” she said. “One of the first bits of direction he gave me on the first Resident Evil was, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ … And I never did. And it wasn’t the punching thing, either.”
In the Lost Lands is in theaters now.
