F L A U N T
It has been a fraught few months for Angelenos, with both Eastside and Westside residential locales razed to the ground after intense wildfire outbreaks spurred by some truly diabolical Santa Ana winds. Milla Jovovich, shooting on location and away from her hillside home and her family, had to watch it all unfold from a distance, her heart in her chest. Just a few days after the fires had been damped down, and as the city began to pick up the pieces, the actress and icon took the time to talk to FLAUNT about her new George R.R. Martin action-fantasy, In the Lost Lands, and everything that led her there.
Hi Milla. How are you?
It’s just been crazy. I’ve been away doing this movie in New Mexico, and when the Kenneth Fire broke out, it was literally behind our home. I was texting [my family] all like, “You have to get out! You have to get out now!” [Despite the dramatic evacuation, Jovovich’s home, husband, and daughters Ever (17), Dashiel (9) and Osian (4) all made it through.
This week has been extremely life-changing for everyone. So much so that I thought that it might be hard to focus on this interview. But I really appreciate you calling in, and we’re going to do just that. I wanted to ask, after thousands of shoots over your career—you started professional modeling at 12—are you still having fun in that space?
You know what? At this point in my life, I want to just be a mom and stay home with my kids. And, I don’t know, just “find myself” again. I’m 49. It’s that funny age where I’m just sort of reassessing who I am after three kids and a 30-year career. Multiple careers. I used to be really into photoshoots, but I don’t know if photoshoots are really where I’m at anymore. It’s a general feeling I’m having; I’m kind of questioning decisions that I made in the past, things that worked 10, 15 years ago. I’m like: “Does it work for me now?” I feel like I am at an age where I am reassessing—“Who is Milla? What do I want, what do I need, and where do I belong in this Universe?” [laughs.] A lot is in flux, let’s just put it that way.
This week in LA has given us all some new perspective on what’s important in life. In many ways, it’s provided the ultimate moment to contemplate those questions and proved that there’s no time to lose doing anything that isn’t how you truly feel.
I guess so. But it’s such a broad statement. You know, I’ve battled my whole life with “What do I truly feel? And what do I truly want?” I’m not a maestro on the piano, and I’m not this incredible guitar player. I do know I’ve always loved writing and reading, I’ve always been a good songwriter; I’m good with lyrics and things like that. But again, I’m at this place where I don’t even know what I want to say anymore. I’m trying to figure it out, but then there’s always some emergency or some after-school activity, somebody gets sick. It’s one of those things where you’re going through life, you don’t have a manual, and you’re just trying to figure it out.
George R. R. Martin’s In the Lost Lands is one of the now acclaimed Game of Thrones author’s earliest fantasy tales, published as part of the Amazons II anthology in 1982. The post-apocalyptic fantasy feature will be released by Constantin Films/Vertical on March 7th, 2025. It’s directed by British director-producer Paul W.S. Anderson, with whom Milla made the entire Resident Evil series of six features between 2002-2017 playing the telekinetic, zombie ass-kicking Alice, as well as The Three Musketeers (2011) and Monster Hunter in 2020.
You’ve worked with your husband Paul on so many films now; would you tell me a bit about your continued life-work collaboration and the new film he co-wrote and has directed you in, In the Lost Lands?
Paul is my best friend and life partner. I would definitely be adrift without him in my life. And he’s the best father and best life partner I could ever imagine. We’re complementary, like, he’s good at math. Which is very helpful when you have three kids and you have to keep track of so much practical stuff.
In the Lost Lands is something that we’ve been developing together for many many years, when I got the script in its original form—which was very different to the movie that we made—I read it and I was like, “This is George R.R. Martin, this is a great property. We should hang on to this and maybe we can do something with it down the line.” So all in all, we’ve been developing it for the past seven or eight years.
It’s based around a collection of three short stories, and so the question was, “How do you take a short story and make it into a feature-length movie?” That was a bit of a challenge. We’ve caught up in that process of mapping it out, of writing and re-writing. Trying to figure out conceptually: what is the movie? So it’s been a labor of love, a real passion project, like a puzzle that we’ve been putting together for a very long time. I’m just so happy that we got it financed, and got it made, especially after COVID and the strikes, it’s a miracle.
Your character Gray Alys is a bewitching sorceress, who embarks on a long and arduous quest, as every great fantasy heroine must?
Yes. My character is a sorceress. She’s a mythological creature that has always “been there.” We don’t know how old she is, she’s sort of like the Scales of Justice. She has this curse where if you can find her—and only people who desperately need something can find her—if they ask her for something, she cannot say no. She refuses no one. At the same time, you have to be very careful what you ask for, because sometimes those things that you think you want aren’t really what you imagine them to be. So it’s kind of one of those existential questions: we think we want this, we think we want that. But what are the ramifications of that? Is that really what we wanted, in the end? And are we really ready for our wishes to come true? Because sometimes they come true in ways that we didn’t expect them to. And maybe we would have been better off without them to begin with.
You’ve made many action films; this is a non-stop narrative where you have to fight through a wilderness of creatures to reach your goal. What do you love about actioners?
Listen, I just love to make movies. I love fantasy. My favorite books to read are fantasy books, and sci-fi. So that’s something that has always been close to my heart. I’ve always wanted to escape into different worlds. For me, reading has always been my favorite thing to do because I can just go into all these other magical universes. So In The Lost Lands was very much up my alley because it’s not only a dark fairytale, it’s an action-packed dark fairytale. A Paul W. S. Anderson-style dark fairytale.
What I’ve seen reminds me of the darker children’s fantasy films like Labyrinth (1986) or The Dark Crystal (1982), but made for adults.
I really think it checks a few boxes that are interesting, and haven’t really been done much. You have your action genre, you have your fantasy genre, horror genre, but this is kind of a mixture of a few different things. Which is something we’ve never done before: its really taken us—taken Paul—out of his comfort zone. The George R.R. Martin short story is amazing, and we wanted to do justice to that, but at the same time, it needed to translate in a visual sense onto the big screen and be fun, be something that leaves you at the edge of your seat. So there were a lot of kinks to work out, how to blend all of those things together to make something cohesive and conceptually grounded.
From just watching the trailer, your look, hairstyle, the costumes, it’s a full-on fantasy universe—a nuanced and wonderfully immersive world.
It is. A lot of world-building went into the pre-and post-production of In The Lost Lands. We created the world through the Unreal Engine, which actually creates some of the best video games. So the world was created a year before we actually shot. So when we shot on location in Poland, just after the pandemic restrictions lifted, we had the entire world built out in the computer already. You could literally walk through the world, you could see where the sun rises and sets. Everything had depth and was a “real” space.
I also noticed from the trailer that your character’s skin seems to be patterned with symbolic tattoos?
They’re actually brands. There is this idea that every time she grants someone a wish, it gets burned into her skin. Each one becomes a part of her. Which also reiterates the fact that once she says she’s going to do it, you can’t go back. She will give you what you want, but beware. Because it will come to you; if you weren’t specific enough or you didn’t really understand, you don’t know what you’re gonna get.
Wow. So your wish is her command—whether you like it or not. It’s like, set in stone.
Set in skin.
Let’s talk about some of your past movies and the long path towards today. What is it like to have been involved with some of the most artistic creators of the 1990s and 2000s as a model?
I was a teenager and young adult in the 90s, and it was an amazing period for me and my peers. There was a lot of expression happening, and a lot of raw energy. People were just thinking outside of the box. Everything changed after the year 2000. There may be a new style of fashion going on now, but it doesn’t feel like it’s something that is taking us to a new generation. It feels more like pieces of this and that from the past Frankensteined together. I feel really lucky to have been part of a generation that had such a strong sense of individual style. Working with Mario Sorrenti, Glen Luchford, Frank Buscarello [Frank B], Drew Jarrett, Terry Richardson, Craig McDean…There was a whole crew of us that were friends, we all hung out. There was definitely a feeling in the city that was very alive. People were creating. People were still shooting film, still developing film. We would also hang out after the shoots—go to the developers and watch them develop the images. All the effects you can sort of do with apps now, [back then] you had to do by hand. It was all more time-consuming, but it was beautiful and it was real. It was tactile. It was just so fun, and such an interesting scene to be part of.
Milla was never just any model, by the way. She was the top of the top, booking edgy editorial and high-paying commercial across the board. Her piercing ice-blue natural “fox eyes” and smooth, carved ivory cheekbones make for an eternally lethal face card. From Karl Lagerfeld to Peter Lindbergh, she’s always been—and continues to be—more of a “Universal Muse.” Prada, Chanel, Versace, Dior, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Armani, Hugo Boss—take any major house, and Milla is sure to have been their campaign star at least once, a state of affairs which landed her on Forbes 2004 List as the world’s highest paid supermodel.
After being an integral part of some of the most iconic style images of the 90s, you went into feature film. What was that transition like for you? To go from being such an active participant in the image-making process to breaking into “The Hollywood System” at that time?
For me—like I said before, I was never one of the lucky people that just knew what my passion was. And that’s one of my biggest fears for my kids, like, “What do you love? What can you do that you can lose yourself in?” I’ve always been that way. There have been years where I just did music. When I quit modeling and I quit acting, I just focused on music. That came from my experience of just starting acting way too young, making movies that I wasn’t proud of, movies which probably exploited me because I was of such a young age, and eventually turned me off from the business.
So, I went into music because I felt like that was where I could express myself, and show my inner thoughts as a writer. Those were some of the most inspiring times of my life as an artist. Not the times that paid my bills, mind you…But they were definitely the times that made me feel like I belonged in the universe of art, that I had a place there.
It’s hard to imagine, embedded as we are in a perma-hustle 24/7 social media culture where everything is an opportunity for a crossover content collab, that at the time, Film was Film and there was scant intersection with the rarified world of high fashion. Turning up as a M-T-A (model turned actress) was a tough deal. But Milla was tough. Point any lens at Milla Jovovich, polaroid, film, digital, or movie, the results will pack punch. With her catlike visage and sylphlike form, she was simply born that way, and the camera has always known it, and shown it. But that wasn’t the only reason brands, photographers, and now directors and producers, booked her. It’s because she was Milla—cool, quirky, mysterious. Making independent and instinctual choices, Jovovich traced her own path between the lines, leaving naysayers in the dust of yesterday.
So take me back to the beginning of your acting journey.
I started so young, doing Disney films, and Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991), Chaplin (1992). I look back now and see that I was pushed into stuff before I was ready, and I was exploited in a hyper-sexualized way that really wasn’t “fun” for me. Actually, “Not fun for me,” is a major understatement. It definitely took pieces of my soul and made me very defensive, put a chip on my shoulder in a lot of ways, really turned me off acting. It was only when I got The Fifth Element that I rediscovered my love for what acting could be, again. Because with someone like Luc Besson, he wasn’t interested in that—I mean the outfit was sexy, but Leeloo was very pure and very different and like nothing we’ve ever seen before. And I had so much fun creating that character. It really was about me just getting out of my own head and doing things that I would never normally do.
I think that’s where my love of film really resurfaced because that’s what movies are about for me. I guess with my love of fantasy and sci-fi, playing superheroes in action films gave me this feeling of power: I could do things that no one else could do, I could walk up walls, slide under the enemies… I felt in a way like I was a soldier; I was being trained. I loved that aspect of it. I feel that a lot of actors—not all, but a lot of actors—want to escape themselves. Then you get to 30 years later and you realize, “Hey, I never focused on that stuff. And now it’s still there, and now I have to figure it out.”
Acting is such a seductive form of escape, because if you’re truly engaged and locked in, you don’t have to focus on your own problems, your own phobias or weird idiosyncrasies; you just focus on the character.
With laser-focus like that, cinematic auteurs all over the world loved her equally as much as fashion photographers. From strumming an acoustic guitar in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused (1993) as soulful beauty Michelle with her hippy beads and purple tube top, to the elfin Eloise in Wim Wenders’ The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) with Mel Gibson and concept by Bono, shot in DTLA, or striding through the battlefield armored-up as Joan of Arc in The Messenger (1999), Jovovich gave her all to each dramatic incarnation. Spike Lee cast her as the troubled Daktota against Denzel Washington in He Got Game (1998). Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli’s Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal’s Caligula (2005) saw a toga- draped Milla dropped into a decadently re-envisioned ancient Rome. But most indelibly seared onto popular consciousness forever is her 1997 triumph as tangerine-haired Leeloominaï Lekatariba-Lamina- Tchaï Ekbat de Sebat. Here, Milla literally was “The Fifth Element,” a perfect heroine, solely created to save the Universe. Over the rocky course of the Space epic, her charming, willful alien rapidly learns Earth ways and the meaning of love, thanks to Bruce Willis’ Korben Dallas. Jean-Paul Gaultier designed the film’s outré costumes, with Milla rocking a devastatingly chic Egyptian goddess style beaded gown from John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture AW 1997 for the red carpet and premier party at the 50th Cannes Film Festival.
Leeloo was…iconic. We all want a multi-pass to flash and sort everything out.
Right? Leeloo changed my life. She changed the way I look at the universe, she changed the way I looked at myself as an actress, the kind of movies I wanted to make. She really represented that escapism for me, to be able to just completely tune out who ‘Milla’ is and dive into a character that had absolutely nothing to do with Reality.
I was actually witness to a beautiful film you were a key part of, Wim Wenders’ Palermo Shooting, I was at the premiere in Cannes—it must have been 2008. It was based around a shoot in Palermo, Italy. So I just wanted to ask you about that, as I remember you were pregnant with your first child in the film?
Yes! It’s funny you should ask about that, because a lot of those smaller art films and indie movies I made, they sort of fall by the wayside, and no one remembers them. But that was such a special movie for me. Wim Wenders and his wife Donata are such amazing artists, and they’ve always been an inspiration to me, like extended family. They became the godparents of my eldest, Ever. It was such an honor to have them call me and ask me to do this extraordinary,
larger-than-life, hilarious, photoshoot with Peter Lindbergh. Peter was like my dad, too. It was really like a family affair in that sense. We all knew each other and we all just had unique relationships with one another which got caught on camera. It was definitely a time of my life that was precious, and Wim was able to capture the aspects of that—the more macabre aspects, as well as the ridiculousness of the fashion industry. Everyone just laughed so much, and had a great time shooting these scenes because they were just so crazy, and really encapsulated what the fashion industry is like.
Well, I will never forget that film, or being there in Cannes to see it with you all there in the Palais du Cinema. You truly do have more insight into the actual high fashion industry than any other working actress in Hollywood. Which brings us to Zoolander (2001) and Zoolander 2 (2016), and Katinka, where the hysterical and histrionic aspects of the fashion industry are played up and exaggerated into caricature and comedy.
Zoolander was always so great because I feel like when you make a caricature of an industry, or of archetypes of people, it can really hit the nail on the head in so many ways. Yes, it’s an exaggerated version, but hits very close to the truth. I just kind of tried to channel all the people I’d met in the industry who had made me feel small or unappreciated, or “unfashionable.” The critics, the people that judge you. You’re constantly being judged. And I think Zoolander really captured that, with Katinka. That character that is always looking down on people and you can never be good enough.
And Ben Stiller truly did take it as far as it could go. So what’s up next, feature-wise?
I’m in New Mexico right now filming a movie called Protector. It’s also a small, tight-action thriller. I play a woman whose daughter is kidnapped, and I have to get her back. It’s special to me, as my eldest is just at that age—the plot hit me in a personal sense because obviously that’s every parent’s worst nightmare. What I love about this movie is that with the stunts, with all the action, I was very specific about using methods and choreography that felt like a woman could do this. I said to the stunt choreographer, “If this was your sister if these were your nieces, how would they get out of this situation? I want to know the most efficient ways a woman can take a man down.” Not in the most fantastical movie magic ways—I don’t want to be flying over rooftops and doing spinning heel kicks, it has to be real. This isn’t the movie for that. This is the movie where I want women to watch and think, “Ok, if I practice and if I focus, I can get there. I could learn to do this.” Because of this mindset, we’re focusing on wrist locks, how to manipulate joints, things that women can do.
During every stunt rehearsal, I feel like I’m learning. Because in the story, my character in this movie comes from the military, so she has that training, but at the same time, I’m like 140 pounds, you know? How could I realistically take down a guy that’s 6’4’’? To be able to do that, you have to understand the human body, you have to understand pressure points. Even if the somebody is three times your size, if you can land this move, they’re neutralized. I love that, because I feel that I personally have never done that in a movie. This is all very different from the more fantastical movies that I’ve made, where from the start you understand, “Oh she’s got super powers, and she’s special, super strong.” I feel that it’s important to have a movie that is high-impact action but is based in reality as well.
Action movies are a fantasy—but it’s amazing if you—and viewers—can really learn something useful from the moves onscreen. That’s highly admirable. And after all this extra training, you are now even more of a lethal weapon. Even I have to practice. You can learn all the moves, but if you don’t practice them everyday, it’s useless. That’s the secret sauce—the time you put into it daily.
And you’ve done so for so many years. So with your daughter Ever Anderson now active in both features (Black Widow (2021), Peter Pan and Wendy (2023)) and booking big fashion campaigns, (Miu Miu, Marc Jacobs, Celine) what kind of advice does a veteran of it all like yourself give her? I’m sure you’re the most proud mom in the world, but did you also counsel her about the dangers of the industry out there?
You know, Ever is a force to be reckoned with. She’s 17 at this point and she’s a smart, very serious person, which I’m so proud of. Obviously the state of the film industry now, compared to what I had to negotiate, is different. Which means she won’t be taken advantage of the way I was. But it still offers other challenges when a young person really wants to work, really wants to make movies. I’ve said, “Ever, I compare you to that storm that you see at the horizon, building. Then it just slowly comes, slowly it coalesces, and then once it hits, it just levels everything. That’s where you’re at right now. You are the storm that’s building. So now, stay grounded. Just work on your craft. Then when you’re 18 and you’re able to really contend with older actors for the same roles, that’s when the storm will be unleashed. So just be patient. Be patient and be strong. Because no matter what you do, no matter how good you are, no matter how good or bad the movie is, so many things are out of your control. No matter what, there are always going to be people that hate you, and think you’re the worst—and there are always going to be people who think you’re amazing. Neither of them are right.”
I told her, you have to go to class, and you have to train… that especially because I’m her mom, and her dad is her dad, and she’s grown up in this industry, people are going to be harder on her. So we’ve definitely been training her, honing her, kind of like when you make a sword: you have to heat it up, hammer it, and shape it. And when the sword is ready, it’s gonna be the perfect weapon. But it takes years of hard work. You’ve got to take the beatings, you’ve got to take the disappointments, take the criticism, and allow it to make you stronger. Look at all that as the hammer beating the sword. Without that, the sword doesn’t get strong.
That’s such a poetic way to put it. Such a wonderful metaphor. That idea of being beaten and coming back, and back is also something we can apply to the city of L.A, right now.
Either you’re gonna get beat and you’re gonna buckle, or you’re going to get beat and it’s going to turn you into the perfect blade.
Like a hand-forged steel katana that will last 1000 years…
Yes. There, that’s my fantasy background coming back again. So as our conversation ends, Milla’s potent imagination has brought us right back around to where we need to be—In the Lost Lands, both real and metaphorical. And with the acrid ashes still in the air, and so much left to do in her home town, after her shoot I know she’ll return and throw her energies into real actions that will support the reconstruction of her creative community. It’s all about “LA Strong”— and Milla strong, too. All is not lost. Life-paths and ambitions change and adapt to pragmatic circumstances, but dreams can still come true here. What comes to pass next upon these charred lands, and this city’s beleaguered creative industry, will be part of a new future, one perpetually forged anew through trial and turmoil.
There is a bright vision through the dark clouds. As Milla wrote and sang so movingly in her song, “On the Hill” in 2001:
Then the wind will follow
Blowing away any trace of tomorrow
On the hill grows
A single silver rose
On the hill grows
Everything is ever longed for.
Photographed by Greg Swales
Styled by Christopher Campbell
Written by Hannah Bhuyia
Hair: Jstayready at Chris Aaron Management
Makeup: Rachel Goodwin at A Frame Agency using Addiction Tokyo
Nails: Ginger Lopez at Opus Beauty using Apres
Producer: Alexey Galetskiy at AGPNYC
Production: Ryan Fahey at AGPNYC
Talent Manager: Chris Brenner
DP: Chevy Tyler
Editor and Sound Designer: Leila Lorenz
Camera Assistant: Melanie Wick
Movement Director: James Kweisi
Lighting Tech: Tutu Lee
Lighting Assistants: Gavin Samples, Sasha Vasha, Slava Vasylkovska
Digi Tech: Rick Rose
Production Assistant: Ivan Shentalinskiy at AGPNYC
Location: AGP West Studio
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