Actress, model and singer Milla Jovovich first came onto the scene in 1987, when she began modeling. Not long after that, she scored her first movie role in Return to the Black Lagoon. Over the next 15 years, Jovovich grew to become one of the most well-known action movie stars of today, partly due to her portrayal of Leeloo in The Fifth Element. Between her hectic filming schedules, Jovovich also managed to release a full length CD, The Divine Comedy, and continue to pursue an active modeling career. She has starred in quite a few comedies and dramas as well, alongside such big names as Adrien Brody, Robert DeNiro and Robert Downey Jr. However, she is perhaps best known for her role as Alice, the ass-kicking zombie killer in Resident Evil and its three sequels.

Now, the fifth film in the series, Resident Evil: Retribution, has been shot and is in post-production being prepped for its September release. Jovovich takes some time out of her busy schedule to sit down with Campus Circle.

Campus Circle: What’s different about Resident Evil: Retribution? What does it offer that the other films haven’t?
Milla Jovovich: I think it’s just this epic movie. We’ve gone through so many different locations, and we’ve brought in so many different cultures and so many different continents. Just aesthetically speaking, we’ve got so many different set pieces and stunts, and the stunt sequences are so much bigger. And of course, for me, now, to do stunts, I have to up the ante every time because, you know, been there, done that. I have to do something I’ve never done before! But I think also, the script is really different from the other ones.

CC: You can see in the teaser trailer that it looks very different.
MJ: It takes you on this journey where you never really know what’s real, what isn’t real, what’s going to happen next, who’s a friend, who’s an enemy. So you really have that tension in the movie where it really takes you by surprise. It’s almost like a page-turner! You don’t really know what’s going to happen next!

CC: The movie’s tagline is “Evil Goes Global.” Can you tell me what that means?
MJ: Well, this time around, we really attack some major cities and destroy them. 

CC: In true Resident Evil fashion!
MJ: It’s cool, because in the last movie we nuked Japan. That was awesome, so we decided in this one, it would be great to just bring in different cultures and take their most wonderful monuments and destroy them. (Laughs) It’s funny because there’s a twist to it. It’s definitely global, but the way we go global is very interesting. You’d have to see the movie to understand exactly what’s going on because it’s a very cool concept.

CC: The fourth film, Resident Evil: Afterlife, looked amazing in 3D. How does this movie compare?
MJ: Oh, this blows it away. It’s almost like Afterlife was [director] Paul [W.S. Anderson] getting his feet wet, and then we did The Three Musketeers, [and] it was gorgeous. He really was able to take the 3D and do things that we’ve never seen a 3D camera do for a period piece. To take all that experience into this film, he was just so much more confident with the way he would set up the shot because now, you’re not just talking about right to left. You’re talking about back to front and what’s in between. There’s a lot of components to making a good 3D movie that doesn’t give you a headache!

CC: Departing a little bit from Resident Evil, let’s talk about the music that you’re working on. You’ve said on Twitter you’ve decided to do a video for a song entitled “Wake Me Up.”
MJ: I was thinking about doing it to “Wake Me Up,” but now we just did another song that I think might be better. It’s been like, “How am I reintroducing myself to people as a musician?”

CC: It has been a while since your last CD, The Divine Comedy.
MJ: Yeah, I’ve done stuff in between, collaborating with people, but this is the first thing I’ve done just as me. Obviously, people aren’t expecting me to just come out with a mandolin. (Laughs) Do you know what I mean? I definitely did that when I was 17, but, um...

CC: Well, you’ve done some more electronic music.
MJ: Yeah, it’s definitely gotten a lot more electro, but it’s like African-electro, sex -beat music.

CC: So can we expect a full-length album?
MJ: I think an E.P. would be safe to say. We’ve got eight songs right now that are in production, and one that is as close to being mixed as possible to shoot a video. We literally were mixing yesterday, and now it’s just listening for the next few days to see if that’s the right direction.

CC: What is it like with your daughter Ever being on movie sets now? Is everyone receptive? 
MJ: Oh, yeah! Especially on a Resident Evil movie because it is momma and papa’s movie in a sense. I did another film that was indie, and I tried to bring my daughter and they were like, “It’s not safe!” But it was like, “Dude, my daughter knows her way around a set. Don’t worry about it!” But whatever, they were scared.

CC: So the Resident Evil: Retribution set is more family-oriented?
MJ: Well, in the sense of like, what are they going you say? You know what I mean? It’s our daughter, and she does know how to get around a set. She knows when they say “action,” you can’t talk, and when they say “cut,” you can start talking again! And she knows, there’s no running because it’s dangerous, and the set is not a playground –it’s a dangerous place. Here is your area, with mats. Here’s a couple of zombies for you to play with... (Laughs) I’ve got probably one of the least fearful 4-year-olds. She’s definitely not scared of monsters under her bed.

CC: She’s fearless like her mom!
MJ: She sees them make the monsters –right there in the makeup trailer. 

CC: So, nothing to be afraid of!
MJ: (Laughs) Yeah.

Milla Jovovich stars in Resident Evil: Retribution, in theaters September 14.