SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers through the end of video game “Resident Evil Requiem,” released Feb. 27 from Capcom.
Gamers who spent their weekends playing through the jump scares and zombie fights in “Resident Evil Requiem” know that the survival horror title amounted to so much more than DSO agent Leon S. Kennedy’s (Nick Apostolides) return to Raccoon City. While the “Resident Evil” franchise protagonist played a big part in the plot, he shared the screen with new character, FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft (Angela Sant’Albano).
For the majority of “Requiem,” the ninth mainline game in Capcom’s “Resident Evil” franchise, players are led to believe Grace is some kind of “key” or “cure” connected to the T-Virus spread in “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.” She’s has something to do with Elpis, a keyword that keeps getting thrown around by the team of villains who’ve kidnapped Grace in an attempt to replicate Oswell Spencer’s original work.
But when Leon and Grace make it to the bowels of ARK and Zeno (Craig Burnatowski) forces Grace to unlock Elpis (the password “hope” was discovered after Grace got access to her late mother, Alyssa Ashcroft’s, files), the truth is revealed: Grace is just a normal woman, no key, no cure. Elpis is in fact a cure to the T-Virus, but it’s not derived from Grace. She was an orphan that a dying Spencer adopted, and then asked Alyssa Ashcroft — who was interviewing him for an expose on his misdeeds — to raise, as a way to start to atone for all the harm he’d caused.
“You know what’s really funny? When we were shooting, I was led to believe — and I don’t know whether Capcom did this on purpose — but I was led to believe that I was the cure for a big chunk of it,” Sant’Albano told Variety. “And I think because Grace, or at least when I was kind of playing her, is sort of thinking, ‘Oh, am I the cure? Is that why? Because I am special?’ And then I can’t remember when exactly in the filming process we were enlightened to the fact that she wasn’t the cure. But in a beautiful way, my experience as Angela the actor, was very similar to Grace’s discovery of that fact. So I think it sort of just helped us in building that and making it feel real, like, ‘I’m not the cure. I am just normal.’”
Sant’Albano, currently best known for her role on HBO’s “Industry,” has been watching the buzz online over launch weekend and seen the number of memes from “Resident Evil Requiem” players poking fun at the fact playing as Leon is a piece of cake, while playing as Grace is a terrifying task. That is what the game developers and writers “were aiming for,” the actress says.
“It was something that we specifically worked on in creating the tone, that Leon’s bits are much more obviously action packed,” Sant’Albano said. “You have such a high skill level and they’re more an action-based storyline, whereas Grace’s are more the horror bits, so making everything that slow, creeping eerie tone. Knowing that Grace is walking in the dark and she might trip.”
Sant’Albano, who did the motion capture and voice acting for Grace, added: “I’ve been seeing all the comments of people saying how real it is, and they’re joking about how maybe the actor who played Grace was slightly tortured for some of the scenes. I think that is what motion capture is able to do. Because when you see me on the gurney upside down, they really did put me somewhat upside down and held me down and made me feel as close to that, in a safe way, as possible. And then, when The Girl pulls me and grabs me and drags me through the hallway, they hooked me up to a rope, and they dragged me across the room and so that scream, it’s as close to real as they could get in that suit and in a safe manner.”
Thrills and chills aside, Sant’Albano’s favorite part of “Resident Evil Requiem” was the growing relationship between Grace and Emily, the young, blind girl (played by Irish actress Emma Rose Creaner) Grace discovers in the Care Center and decides to help, despite her very creepy vibe — and the real possibility she’s going to turn into something like “The Girl.”
“I think Grace’s relationship with Emily is really the emotional arc for Grace in that, when we first meet Grace, she’s this very introverted character who hasn’t gotten very close to anyone since her mother’s passing, and she’s not very good with physical touch or deep emotional contact with someone,” Sant’Albano said. “And then, she meets Emily. And Grace doesn’t necessarily have super maternal instincts when we first meet her, but then, as she sort of moves through this world, she feels this great duty to protect this child. But that starts off as, why is there a girl trapped in a glass box? You know, could she kill me? Is she part of all this? Is she part of the reason why I’ve been kidnapped? What’s going on? And then their relationship really blossoms.”
Grace, who suffered the trauma of seeing her mother murdered right in front of her as a teen, protects Emily and tries to help her escape, only for the little girl to morph into a T-Virus monster that Leon has to incapacitate.
When the Elpis cure is discovered at the end — assuming the player enters the word “hope” and unlocks the treatment — Leon, Sherry and Emily are all saved from their infections. Sant’Albano is a big fan of this path.
“In the end of the game — if you play it right and get the right ending — you see that Grace has adopted Emily and made her her new chosen family,” Sant’Albano said. “I also just adored working with the actress who played Emily. Her name is Emma Rose, and she is this fabulous Irish actress. She did the full transformation into the zombie, which I don’t know if people know, but she literally would contort her body and turned into this crazy monster. We had a great time filming, and honestly, we were fast friends when we met, so the chemistry was just easy for us.”
Sant’Albano says she “would love nothing more” than to return as Grace for a future game.
“I don’t know anything yet, but I’d love to explore the relationship with Emily further as she grows up, and also see how Grace grows and evolves too, and also her dynamic with Leon, because I think she’s gained confidence from this experience,” Sant’Albano said. “Now, never quite Leon-level skill of confidence, but I think even just maybe bringing more of that confidence in her analytical brain and trusting that she does know what she’s doing with certain things, and she is actually courageous in her own way. And I think there’s so much self doubt that fills Grace in the beginning of Requiem, and it’d be interesting to see how that grows and develops and changes.”
While Sant’Albano says the “Resident Evil” franchise has “such a rich history of wonderful female characters,” she finds “none are like Grace.”
“None have her disposition. She’s not a badass,” Sant’Albano said. “But I do think the definition of courage is moving forward despite feeling immense fear. And Grace is a definition of courageous because she does move through this terrifying world despite being afraid.”
