Team LBD meets... Milla Jovovich

She's graced the cover of glossy magazines worldwide, topped the charts as a singer/songwriter, designed her own line of (gorgeous) clothing and is internationally recognised for her role as superhero, Alice in the Resident Evil movies. Milla Jovovich is a one-woman global phenomenon. But as Team LBD found out, unlike her tough on-screen persona Milla is a lover not a fighter (though she's got a lot of fight in her) and she loves dressing up in a LBD for her husband (designed by herself, of course). And her favourite past-time? The Hollywood star likes to build doll houses! Read on to find out everything you didn't expect and more about Milla Jovovich... Resident Evil is back for its fifth instalment, what can we expect from the film? In this film, we are in the belly of the beast. This is where Alice's world gets completely turned upside down, and in so many crazy ways, even she doesn't understand. It's really exciting as well because we're able to go all around the globe this time. Paul (W. S. Anderson, writer/director and Milla's husband) came up with a great concept. We were on vacation when he pitched Resident Evil: Retribution to me. When he stared describing it to me, I remember thinking the concept was really cool. It's incredible because the way you see the world in this new movie is like you've never seen it before. The ramifications are quite intense and quite insane. It's just a really fun movie with, you know, bigger and better everything; a real action story. Sounds exciting! Your life has changed a great deal over the course of the movies. After all this time can you still relate to Alice? Of course I can relate to her. Alice is one of the most honourable characters I've played. I think she is amazing because she is a person who keeps her promises. And you can't say that today- people don't swear oaths like they used to. When Alice says she'll do something she will do it even if it kills her. I admire that about her, I think more people need to take their oath seriously. We see Alice's maternal side in Resident Evil: Retribution. Did being a mother help you with the whole process? Oh definitely, are you kidding? It was very lucky that I had a child because when you have a ten year old on set and everyone around is a man and they're all scared to direct her because she's a little girl, they're like: "Milla will you talk to her?”, I'm like: "Yes of course, I have a child, I know how to talk to a little girl!” Some of our readers might not know that you design Alice's costumes. She looks really sexy in her black catsuit on the big screen! What do you have in mind when you are designing her costumes? Yes I did! I wanted the audience to be able to recognise Alice from her silhouette. I designed the costumes with my partner Carmen Hawk and the choices we made for her outfit from the buckles on her boots (which were inspired by snowboots!), have a reason for being there. Carmen and I would spend a lot of time talking about why she would wear this in that way, because it can't be sexy for the sake of being sexy, there needs to be a practical reason why it's there. You and model Carmen Hawk created your own clothing line, Jovovich-Hawk. How was it? What made you want to go into fashion design? Our fashion label Jovovich-Hawk was a huge success. I've always liked to express different characters with my clothing. I've always had a lot of fun playing with style. Ever since I was little, I've loved to draw beautiful women wearing dresses which is probably the main reason why I'm involved in the designing. My collection had this vintage feel which is very true to my own style. Are you wearing your own design today? Jovovich-Hawk is done, but I do design for other people now. This is Alice and Olivia and my friend Isabel Marant designed the shorts, but I've been kind of more into baggy corduroys and t shirts lately. It's almost like the contrast. How long does it take you to get dressed in the morning? Sometimes forever. You should have seen me yesterday, I had on this really amazing Erin Fetherston black dress that was super short. I really liked the way it made my legs look but when I tried it with heels I looked like a total hoochie mama! It was way too short to wear with heels. In the end I wore some shorts underneath, so I wouldn't be all ass! And after trying three different pairs of heels, I realised it wasn't working so I wore my ballerina flats and suddenly it worked. You don't have to wear heels to be sexy. Are you a heels girl though? I pretty much live in heels or flats but nothing in between. You know Japanese girls have the best style in the world and they can really get away with wearing flats. Where else do you draw your fashion inspiration from? I draw inspiration from looking at people on the street. I think: "Oh, I like the way she put that together, I'm going to try that.” I've always got my designer eye on! Do you have a fail-safe LBD in your wardrobe? I have an amazing LBD that we designed a while ago. It's tight. We designed it with Marilyn Monroe in mind so it was very much that kind of black dress. If you're skinny it will look good on you but it will especially look beautiful if you have boobs and an ass because it has that 50s pin-up, hourglass shape. When we were making clothes it was really important to us to cater to many different body shapes. When was the last time you wore it? I wore it to dinner with my husband. I was out somewhere nice for cocktails and I like to make an effort for him. Your husband is the writer and director of the Resident Evil films, how is it working with him? It's amazing. He has such a beautiful personality. He's such a strong guy. Very calm. Very collected. Very organised. But still very passionate. It's a real pleasure because he knows what he wants and he's made the decision and he's got great reasons for it, and I love people who understand what they're doing. It makes life a lot easier, especially when you're an actor, when you work with people who really know what they want from you. If you get in a fight at home and then you have to go to work together, does that create tension on set? We don't fight that much. It's hard to fight with Paul. He's really sweet. I'm like the feisty person. And he'll be like: "Yes, darling. Okay.” He's very patient. I'm sure working with your partner can be a potential problem on a set, but we've got a relationship where we don't argue that much. It's very rare. Which fellow actresses do you think dress well? Keira Knightley. I love everything about her. She is elegant but not in the 'Let's drink tea with our pinkie up' kind of a way. She's just chilled out and elegant. She's a normal person who just happens to act in films and have a great sense of style. I love how she can go to the Academy Awards and look elegant in an evening gown and then you'll see her walking down the street in a hat, and in a shapeless dress and she still looks amazing. What's your favourite job – model, actress, fashion designer? It's really hard for me to answer that, because in some way, I feel that I could not do any of them without all the others. I started acting at a very early age. If my mum didn't teach me to be an actress, I don't think that I would have been able to model. I was eleven when I started modelling. You don't just do stuff like that at eleven if you don't know how to act. So my acting classes at nine prepared me for my first modelling job, because it was like: ‘Oh, pretend to be your mum.' So I was thinking: "I am sexy and I am my glamorous mum". So I would just remember what my mum did, when she was ready to go to dinner with daddy. She would do her lipstick and make faces in the mirror, so I would just pretend to be my mum. It's all creativity for me in one form or another. Describe a day in the life of Milla Jovovich. My regular life isn't as spectacular as my public persona, which isn't that spectacular anyway! My regular life is reading books, making doll houses, sewing dolls with my daughter and throwing BBQ's with my family and friends. A super model come actress come fashion designer who makes doll houses!? Yes! I'm even more into it now that I have a little girl. My obsession is making miniature houses for little dolls. Paul is always tripping over the little tables and chairs I've made. When he goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night, the poor guy has to tip-toe down these little avenues I've created, which have little trees, little gardens with little cows and I also have a maid carrying the tea tray out – it's getting ridiculous now! So there you have it, Milla Jovovich: on-screen action hero, model and fashion designer, real-life, wife, mother and doll house maker! We told you there was more than meets the eye to Milla! Resident Evil: Retribution is out in cinemas on September 28.