Milla Jovovich pitched a fit, threatened to quit the production and seduced the director, so Rodriguez was demoted to a supporting role and killed off.
I almost quit the movie. I was shooting something else, and Paul had hired Michelle Rodriguez to play Rain. And she had just come off Girlfight and there was Oscar buzz. She was very hot at that moment, and my hotness had sort of been already four years old by that point. So Paul rewrote the script for her. It pretty much made my character “the girl,” and Rain was “the guy.” She got all of my big action scenes, and she became like Alice. And then Alice became this tag-along. I didn’t get the new draft until I was leaving to go to Germany from Canada, where I was working. I ended up reading the script on the plane, so by the time I landed in Berlin I was livid. I got to the hotel and said, “We have to have a big talk, or I’m going to be on a flight tomorrow morning.”
I had read for a certain version of the movie, and I got the new rewrite the night before I had to go to Berlin [to shoot]. Paul had pretty much written me out of the movie. I was the damsel in distress that Michelle Rodriguez was saving constantly — the “Look out! Behind you!” girl. So by the time I got to the hotel, Paul’s very sweet producing partner was there with flowers, and I grabbed the flowers and said, “I want to see Paul in my room within the hour. There won’t be any script readings in the morning!” Then I quickly changed, did my makeup, put on a really low-cut top and met for some script revisions. He said, “What’s the problem?” I said, “OK, let’s start: Page 1!”
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