Pre-production turned down directing the film though stayed on as both producer and screenwriter.|alt=Paul W. S. Anderson, a Caucasian man in his mid-forties with messy brown hair seated in front of a microphone and looking to the side While promoting the first
Resident Evil film in late February 2002,
Milla Jovovich and director
Paul W. S. Anderson discussed a potential sequel. Anderson said he began writing the screenplay for the second film after completing the first, and had plans for Alice to meet up with Jill Valentine. Jovovich confirmed her character would return in the sequel if the first film was successful. In early March,
Eric Mabius, who played Matt Addison in the first film, stated a sequel was confirmed, would be set in Raccoon City, and would feature the Nemesis character. The sequel was officially
greenlit by
Sony Pictures in mid-2002 but Anderson chose not to direct due to his commitments to
Alien vs. Predator (2004). He stayed on as the film's
screenwriter and as one of its
producers.
Casting Jovovich was the only person to reprise a role from the first film. Mabius initially told reporters he would be reprising his role as Matt Addison in the form of portraying Nemesis, The original film did not feature any characters from the games, but it had always been the intention to add several to
Apocalypse. Reports of actresses who were approached for the roles of Valentine and
Claire Redfield, the latter of whom did not end up featuring in the film, were made prior to production, though Anderson later dispelled these as baseless rumours. The role of Valentine went to
Sienna Guillory who prepared for the role by studying Valentine's movements and posture in the games. The role of L.J. was written specifically for
Snoop Dogg, though he dropped out of production and was replaced by
Mike Epps; the character was rewritten to suit Epps's personality.
Evanescence guitarist
Ben Moody was given a cameo as a zombie Ginovaef kills. Cinematography was performed by
Christian Sebaldt and Derek Rogers, Jovovich and Matthew Taylor spent several hours a day for six weeks practicing martial arts together for the fight scene between Alice and Nemesis. Anderson and other crew members considered making the zombies move faster but decided that it would be breaking a fundamental element of the games. Anderson considered several ways to justify having the revealing costume in the storyline, such as making it her
undercover outfit, though eventually decided to ignore the issue on the grounds that anyone questioning her attire "probably shouldn't be watching a
Resident Evil movie". The Nemesis character was created with a costume, and the only CGI effect added was an adjustment to his eye. Despite the character's height,
aspect ratios were still modified to make him appear 10–20% larger in certain scenes.
Frantic Films created 78 special effects for the film including
tracer fire,
muzzle flashes, lasers and slow motion, using effects programs
Eyeon Fusion,
Autodesk 3ds Max as well as in-house software. Mr. X Inc. created additional effects including the scene showing the destruction of the Toronto City Hall building. Four months were spent making a 1/6 scale model of the building with 1,600 panes of glass, each of which was wired with an explosive to create the final effect.
Jeff Danna composed the
film's score performed by the
London Philharmonia Orchestra. It was released on September 28, 2004. Mike Brennan from Soundtrack.net gave the score 2½ stars out of five, praising the blend of orchestral and electronic styles, though saying it "could have easily benefited from some more thematic development and a bit more variation in the sound of the music". ==Release==