Hit My Line' — The Walking Dead Star Chandler Riggs Made His Own Resident Evil 7 Fan Film, and He'd Love to Work With Zach Cregger on a Sequel
Chandler Riggs, best known for playing Carl in The Walking Dead, made his own fan film adapting an iconic moment from Resident Evil 7 — and he’d love to collaborate with Zach Cregger on another movie in the RE universe, if he’s up for it. Just a month after Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil adaptation hit theaters, Riggs released his own short film further along in the games’ timeline in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Riggs adapted the iconic garage fight between Ethan Winters and Jack Baker in a high-octane 20-minute journey, motivated by a love for the game rather than fame.
“We were in pre-production when the article came out that Zack Cregger was going to do his [movie]. I was like, ‘Oh man, all right, we got to get ours out first.’ We were trying to beat the clock and get it out about a month ago, but parts just didn't align that way,” he explained. “I've been looking forward to [Cregger’s RE movie] for so long,” he added. “And I mean, one of the big reasons I even made this is, you know, I was just dying to see a good, true-to-the-game live-action adaptation of Resident Evil. I cannot wait to see the new one.”
While Cregger’s film was well-received, it has proven divisive among hardcore fans who wished for a 1:1 game adaptation. Riggs discussed the challenges of his own project, noting that while he and his team were trying to be faithful to the source material, they had to make choices regarding Ethan Winters' face to appeal to a wider audience. “Look, it's impossible to please everybody, you know?” he admitted. “I think there's always going to be a crowd that is unhappy, but I think that it's a great way to try to get more people into the series, into the franchise, and tell a story that you want to tell.”
Riggs stated that his primary motivation was simply enjoying the process of filmmaking. “A huge reason for me even doing this in the first place is that I love being on set and collaborating with cool people, and that's all it is at the end of the day,” he told us. “And just because I want to be on set more, and if I can't be on set doing more films or TV shows or whatever else, then I'll just make it myself. I'll just make it happen. And that's a huge proponent of this. So, if [Cregger] wants to continue in the universe, I'm all for it. Listen, my phone is open. Hit my line!”