William Levy: Resident Hunk

By Gill Pringle

“It’s just for the interviews,” William Levy answers dryly when asked about his solid build. Then laughs heartily. With his Brad Pitt good looks, the actor has built a strong resume of Spanish-language television and film, and now looks to break into Hollywood. “I go to the gym every time I have a chance. I used to play a lot of sports. I still do sometimes. When I came from Cuba, on a raft, I had to work hard.” We think he’s joking…

“But no, every time I have a chance, I do a lot of push ups, pull ups, less weight, more natural stuff. I don’t want to look more fat? I want to look more thin.” Judging by the way he looks, he’s not joking here…

 Did you actively go for the role, or did they approach you?

“I was lucky enough to have them offer me a role, I didn’t even know they were making the movie! I just got a call out of nowhere from my agent saying ‘Hey, they’re offering you a role for Resident Evil. Do you want it, if you like it, it’s yours’, and I said ‘Are you fucking kidding me? I don’t have to fucking read it man! Just say yes, and I’ll read it on my way!’ I’m a big fan of the franchise. I’m making a cross over from the Latin market for Hollywood, and I know that this is a big franchise, not only here, but all over the world, so it’s a nice way to break.”

Are you planning to get into more action films?

“Well I love action films. I really love them. Even though I love doing drama, of course, because when you do things like that, it’s very good as an actor. But action movies are more fun! Hopefully this movie puts me out there, to all the guys, and producers to know who I am! (Laughs). I’m trying to make it happen right now.”

Can you tell us a little bit about your character in this film?

“His name is Christian. Obviously, he’s a troublemaker, just like the kind you like! He’s a tough guy, he doesn’t trust anybody, so when Milla’s [Jovovich] character comes to the group, he makes things very difficult. He doesn’t trust her, so he’s not willing to give away his life, and everything he’s worked for, and fought for, because of some stranger. So at the beginning, he makes everything difficult for the whole group, to a point that he makes people choose sides? And from there, things start to get difficult. And he has his reasons to be the way he is. He’s very unpredictable. He can be calm, and all of a sudden, he just goes crazy. And I love that about his character. He’s a new character in the franchise, and last, because it’s the last! (Laughs) Hopefully, I guess you are allowed to say it’s over.”

There may be a next one?

“I guess you should never say ‘over’!”

Was it difficult to become a new member of the Resident Evil family?

“No! It was very easy. They told me, and a week later, I was already in South Africa shooting, and I got there, and everybody was so nice. It was like family. I guess if you are working for a long time at it, so, Paul [W.S Anderson], Milla, Ali [Larter], the whole cast, for some reason, even though we were very international, we got along very well. We had people from Japan, from Australia, London, everywhere! It was just a very, very international cast, and it was like we all knew each other, for a long time.”

How did you get along with Ruby [Rose]?

“Ah, very well! She’s a cool girl, man. We went to lunch, and she was just amazed at how much I can eat! ‘How do you eat so much William?’ (Laughs) I’m like ‘I spent 15 years in Cuba without eating, so… I’ve dieted a lot. (Laughs) Now I have the chance to eat whatever I want.’ So, we had a great time when we were together, and she’s very cool. Very down to earth.”

Did you get to do all the cool stunts? What was the craziest thing you did?

“I did a lot of things. There’s actually a scene in the movie where I kill like seven zombies, one after another, using the guns, and the sword that I have in the bag. I saw the other movies before, and I think it’s the best movie out of all of them. Of course it’s the biggest budget. You can always do more things with a bigger budget, but sometimes you have a big budget, and a bad movie but this movie is very good man! It’s very fun. It was kind of hard, because sometimes we ran into difficult things like when we were shooting in Johannesburg, in an amazing location, three days after people were killed, so we had to leave the set, we couldn’t work there anymore, and we needed a set, so they had to build a whole new set in Cape Town.”

What happened there?

“Well, it was a building where there was no security. People were living there because they took over! They just took over that building. There was no paying rent, or buying houses, it was just a place that they just…the people there, just took it because they wanted it. We were shooting very early, there very loud guns, so these people just got really upset. They were so freaking mad, shouting, shooting and throwing rocks. So we got out of there. They had to rebuild all these new sets. That’s what happens when you work in Hollywood in a big budget movie…”

Are you based in Hollywood or are you still in Miami?

“I still live in Miami. I’m planning to move out here, but they hardly shoot anything here. They don’t shoot anything anymore, so I just plan every month and week, probably 2 weeks, to just come down here and have meetings, be here for a good time, and then come back to Miami. I have a whole family there. I’m spending all my life, working really hard to take them out of Cuba, and now leave them in Miami, it’s kind of like ‘Ach, it’s so difficult.’”

So now with Cuba opening up, do you think that it will become a movie filming destination?

“I think about the people, because they’re going through a really hard time over there, so by opening doors, for now, those relationships, hopefully everything gets better. But then, filming wise, of course! I mean Cuba is an amazing place. Not because it’s my country, but it’s just… I mean it was an amazing place before freedom. Everybody for me was there! It was like the best place to go! Paradise man! And all of a sudden, it became the worst thing. But, right now it’s an amazing place. It has so many beautiful places to shoot! And it’s so new… for the world. It has been almost 60 years, the world hasn’t seen anything in Cuba! So, when we’re talking about people born, 50 something years ago, they have no idea about Cuba! So, I think it’s going to be very fun to go and start shooting movies over there, because people are going to watch something new! And I know it’s a place filled with amazing people, full of love, and willing to do whatever it takes to be happy. That’s all they think about. It’s kind of like Resident Evil. They fight to live over there! One more day of life, surviving…”

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is in cinemas from January 26. Read our interview with director Paul W. S. Anderson here.