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My Week With the DEAD: Part One[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]By JEFFREY REDDICK[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Filming on the remake of DAY OF THE DEAD, which I scripted, finished in Bulgaria on September 5, and Im back in the good old USA after fulfilling my geek-boy fantasy of being a zombie. In an industry where writers are considered the low men on the totem pole, you may wonder how I managed to nab my undead walk-on role. Well, I wish I could regale you with some sordid tale about being forced to sully myself by visiting the infamous casting couch
but it wasnt anything so tawdry. I just nagged director Steve Miner and the producers until they said, OK, if itll shut you up.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Im kidding. I actually made this desire known from the outset, and everyone was cool with it. Ive tried to pull a Hitchcock and perform small cameos in all my
films. My stint as a security guard in
FINAL DESTINATION wound up on the cutting room floor, but I was a strapping doctor in TAMARA. These blink and youll miss them parts are my way of keeping in touch with my acting roots. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The trip to Bulgaria is a 14-17-hour affair, depending on the connecting flight. Its a long, boring trip which could really use some muthaf**kin' snakes, or other rowdy reptiles, to liven things up. The country itself is interesting, to say the least; while the region is fairly poor, the people are hard-working and extremely nice. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When I arrive in Bulgaria, theres a message waiting from Steve. Theyve shuffled the shooting schedule, so everyone has the day off. Steve has been working his arse off and has taken a much-needed mini-vacation. So Ill catch up with him laterbut, being the ever-intrepid writer, I head over to the production office to visit the set and watch dailies. Its a six-week shoot, and Steve has been filming most of the script sequentially. This is really helpful for the actors, because they can clearly chart the emotional course of their characters.[/FONT]
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film is being lensed on two huge soundstages, along with numerous real exterior locations. I get a tour and am amazed that they built so many locations to scale. The bunker is a massive set, housed in an old Olympic-sized pool. It has several large rooms, as well as a network of corridors and catacombs that snake on forever. Im tempted to take some snapshots, but since I just arrived, I dont want to whip out the camera just yet. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Next, I settle in to look at the dailies. After several hours of viewing fun, I interrupt Steves vacation to call him and tell him how great the film looks. Steves got a strong vision for DAY OF THE DEAD, and hes really knocking it out of the park. Patrick Cady, the cinematographer, has given the
movie a gritty, realistic veneer that makes you feel like youre a part of the action, instead of just watching it. But I think the folks in the production office are getting a little sick of me. They thought I was only going to watch a few dailies, but Ive pored over all of them. Id better pack things up. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]But now, my excitement at getting my ghoul on is really high, because the FX look great. The makeup team consists of Dean Jones, Brian Penikas, Michael Mosher, Ken Niederbaumer and Jennifer Mann (whose collective credits include such films as PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, JEEPERS CREEPERS, STAR TREK and FEAST). The zombies are gruesome, realistic and disgusting. I also check out several of the kill scenes, and Im happy to report that flesh is ripped, blood flies and steaming entrails flow. The film is a hard R; hopefully, the ratings board will let us keep the more intense stuff. If not, thats why God made
DVDs.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The following day I arrive on set, where Steve greets me. Despite the grueling shoot, hes full of energy. Hes as giddy as a schoolgirla manly schoolgirlas he takes me to his trailer and shows me an edit of one particularly harrowing scene, involving actor Ian (WHITE NOISE) McNeice. The scene works great on both a horrific and emotional level. Steve has insisted from the beginning that this movie be about characters and story first; hes also one of the rare directors who really takes the time to work with the actors, and it shows in their strong performances. One thing I hate in horror films is when characters are terrorized in one scene, and in the next theyre all cheery like nothings going on. Thats not the case in this film. The sense of terror and dread are constant. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Since Im not working until later, I decided to get on-line and check out some of the Internet sites that are discussing DAY OF THE DEAD. Lets see, theres some really intelligent discussions
some interesting ideas/thoughts
some crazy complaining
posters personally tearing each other apart
random death threats. Hmmmm
maybe this Internet thing wasnt such a good idea. Actually, its great to see the fans excitement (even if some of that excitement involves folks wishing unspeakable death and torment on the cast and crew for daring to touch a classic Romero film).[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]But what the hell, Im jet-lagged and not one to shy away from a heated debate, so lets jump right in.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I get the subtle hint that a lot of people are sick of remakes. I cant say I blame them. At worst, theyre cheap grabs to make a quick buck. But the publics appetite for remakes is strong, as is evident by the box-office numbers. As a horror nut, Ive seen most of the recent genre reduxes. Some suck, but several of them have deliveredTEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE HILLS HAVE EYES and DAWN OF THE DEAD being among the good ones. The plus side of these updates is that they can introduce a new generation of filmgoers to
classic movies. We can only hope that the people making them know the genre and respect the originals. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When I was first offered the DAY remake, I was hesitant. Now, I have to admit that of the DEAD films, I personally feel that NIGHT and DAWN are the strongest. With these two films, George A. Romero got to make the films he wanted, but his DAY was hindered by the fact that the financing fell through at the last minute. He has stated that he was forced to abandon his large-scale movie and quickly rewrite it so that the majority of the film took place in one location
the underground bunker. George went on to include a lot of the excised plot and themes in LAND OF THE DEAD. So just using his unproduced script wasnt an optionplus, the rights werent available.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]But my initial trepidation started to fade when I found out that Steve was directing. Ive been a die-hard horror fan, and Fango reader, since the tender age of 13. Steve has directed some of my favorite genre films, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2, HOUSE, WARLOCK and HALLOWEEN: H20. As a writer, the chance to work with him was a dream come true. After meeting him several times, and seeing his passion and desire to make a frightening horror film that wasnt just a carbon copy of the original, I decided to come aboard. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The first thing Steve and I had to come up with was an approach for the film. We knew we were going to get flak no matter what we did. People immediately started screaming that we were going to go the OMEN route and do a scene-by-scene redux. Others complained that we were going to stray. I saw the horrendous flogging that Zack Snyder received before the new DAWN came out, so I was kind of prepared. Personally, I thought the DAWN remake was a damn good movie. I also consider the first DAWN a great film. Theyre two separate
movies, and they both succeeded in scaring their respective audiences. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DAY is considered a classic by many devotees, and we werent going to be arrogant enough to think that we could out-Romero Romero. You want to be respectful of the original film and the fans. But Steve and I are genre fans ourselves, and we decided that since LAND covered a lot of what Romero wanted to do with DAY, we would take the themes and elements from the original and reimagine them. I liken it to the ULTIMATE line of Marvel comics. They take the classic characters, stories and themes and present them in different ways. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The remake takes place in 24 hours
a literal
day of the dead. The story follows a small band of civilians, scientists and military personal as they struggle to work together and survive a zombie outbreak. The survivors seek safety in an old, abandoned military bunker, unaware that an even greater danger lurks inside. With the remake, we wanted to take a page from Georges unproduced script and show who these characters were, and how they were affected, before they were trapped inside the bunker. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The military and scientists are the central characters in the 1985 DAY. However, over the past decade, weve seen dozens of movies about hardened military warriors fighting the undeadfrom Georges films to 28 DAYS LATER and the RESIDENT EVIL flicks. Romeros films all commented on the state of society at the time they were released. Given the current world climate, we thought it would be more interesting to see how a group of unseasoned military personnel would react when theyre forced to deal with something unthinkable. But this isnt THE O.C. goes to war. There are a few teenaged characters, but lead actors Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon and Stark Sands are all in their late 20s (which is actually old if you look at the age of people currently fighting). The rest of the cast is rounded out by numerous, more seasoned actors and actresses, including lead Ving Rhames (from the DAWN remake!) as Captain Rhodes. Its a true cross-section of characters. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When finalizing the story elements, I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of interference from the producers. On many of my past films, we had executives breathing down our necks, offering suggestions that ranged from good to ludicrous. But the DAY producers trusted Steve and I to do our thing. And what the fans will get with this movie is a pure film unpolluted by the too many chefs syndrome. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Anyway, Im gonna sign off for now. When I return, Ill wrap up my adventures in zombieland, send you Fango readers a personal message from Steve The Man Miner and discuss the characters and cast
cause Ive been reading what you all think, and its not all wine and roses. Chomp!!![/FONT]
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TO BE CONTINUED[/FONT]
