In 2007, director-writer-producer and Milla Jovovich’s fiancé, Paul W.S. Anderson, steered Milla’s life in a whole new direction when it was announced in April that she was pregnant with the couple’s first child. This section is aimed as an introduction to the man in and of her life.

• Full Name: Paul William Scott Anderson
• Date of Birth: March 4 1965
• Place of Birth: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, UK

• Selected Filmography: Shopping (1994) as writer/director; Mortal Kombat (1995) as director; Event Horizon (1997) as director; The Sight (2000) as writer/director; Resident Evil (2002) as writer/director; Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) as writer; AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) as writer/director; Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) as writer.

• Marital Status: Engaged to Milla Jovovich since March 2003; the couple’s first child was born on November 3 2007. This is Paul’s first child as well as engagement.

Born March 4th 1965 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, Paul William Scott Anderson graduated from the University of Warwick in 1988 as the youngest student to have achieved a Bachelor of Arts-degree, which he earned in the field of Film & Literature. Already at an early age did Paul have his eyes set on making a career in film, and, while studying at the University of Warwick, he wrote the screenplay for what was to become his first feature film.

Following his graduation from the University of Warwick, Paul immediately began establishing his career in the film industry. His early work includes; writing episodes for El C.I.D., an early 90’s action/adventure comedy series about two former Scotland Yard officers who move to Spain to start a business of their own, but find their former careers to be more difficult to shake off than they thought; directing and writing the short film Speed which was shot in his hometown of Newcastle; and directing The Spiral Cage, an award-winning documentary about the birth defect “spina bifida”.

In 1994, Paul’s silver screen writing- and directorial debut Shopping was released in the U.K. The film pictured British youngsters finding excitement in ram-raiding and stealing cars in a future England, with Sadie Frost, Jude Law, Jonathan Pryce and Sean Bean in the lead roles. The film was an exceptional debut, and caused an upraw in Paul’s home country due to its violent imagery, leading to the film actually being banned by some British cinemas. An edited cut of the film was eventually released on Region 1 DVD.

The controversial Shopping was in 1995 followed by Paul’s next directorial endeavour - Mortal Kombat, a silver screen adaptation of the hugely popular video game series by the same name. The film was a breath of fresh air among existing, less successful video-game-to-film adaptations, and is to this day regarded as one of Hollywood’s few acceptable silver screen renditions of popular video games. Indeed, the film was so successful it sparked two sequels - the poorly received Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and the upcoming Mortal Kombat: Devastation - but Paul declined offers to direct either one of the films.

The success of Mortal Kombat allowed Paul to choose more ambitious projects to work on. In 1997, he directed the small scale sci-fi horror film Event Horizon, which was both a commercial and critical failure, something which Paul himself blamed largely on cuts enforced by the film’s production company. (The film has, however, in later days generated a small, loyal cult following.) This film was soon followed by an even more ambitious project of his - the 1998-released Soldier.

Paul had already began working on Soldier during the Mortal Kombat aftermath, with actor Kurt Russell attached to the lead role of Todd, a veteran soldier in the American Forces who is presumed dead and transported to a waste disposal planet after a battle ensues between him and his contemporaries and a group of new, genetically-engineered soldiers intended to replace them in their posts. The film was intended as a continuation of the Blade Runner world created by Academy Award-winning director Ridley Scott, but was universally shunned upon its 1998 release and thus the film failed both commercially and critically.

The failure of his two post-Mortal Kombat films forced Paul to rethink his future project choices. He thus postponed his intended remake of the cult film Death Race 2000, and went on and wrote as well as directed The Sight (2000), a small-scale made-for-TV thriller about an American architect who, upon being sent to London, mysteriously aqcuires the ability to communicate with the dead. The film garnered moderate commercial success.

In 2002, Paul returned to video-game-to-screen renditions and penned as well as directed Resident Evil, the action/horror thriller based on the wildly popular Biohazard video games for which Milla is nowadays perhaps best known. Although the film was received with mixed (and largely negative) feelings by professional critics and video game puritanist, the film was nevertheless a commercial success and quickly earned a solid fanbase. Having met one another during production of the first film, Milla and Paul got engaged in March 2003. Furthermore, Resident Evil marked the first time Paul was credited as “Paul W.S. Anderson” rather than “Paul Anderson”, reportedly to distinguish between him and American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.

The success of Resident Evil prompted Paul to pen a sequel for the film, the Alexander Witt-directed and less well-received Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004). The same year, Paul released the much-anticipated sci-fi horror thriller AVP: Alien vs. Predator, which was a commercial, albeit not a critical, success, and remains one of the most successful films of both the Alien and Predator film franchises.

Following Resident Evil: Apocalypse and AVP: Alien vs. Predator of 2004, Paul took a break from working in the film industry, and did not return to his work until 2007, when he once again resumed the role of screenwriter in Resident Evil: Extinction, the Russell Mulcahy-directed third installment in the Resident Evil film franchise. Indeed, the year 2007 turned out to be a turning point in Paul’s life both professionally and personally, as it was announced in April that he and Milla were expecting their first child in November that year.

The coming years look to be busy for writer/director Anderson. His upcoming projects include the previously delayed remake of Death Race 2000, now titled simply Death Race (2008), in which he resumes the role of writer/director - filming has currently been completed in Toronto, Canada. Other upcoming projects include Necropolis (2008 - writer), Castlevania (2009 - writer), Man with the Football (2008 - director) and Spy Hunter (2009 - director).

If you are interested in further details about Paul W.S. Anderson, the below links might be of interest to you.

• Paul W.S. Anderson at IMDb.com
• Paul W.S. Anderson at RottenTomatoes.com
• Paul W.S. Anderson at Wikipedia.org
• Paul W.S. Anderson Gallery at the Milla Fan ‘Extinction’ Special