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Land of the Dead SPOILERS

post #1 of 19
1/13/05 at 6:05pm
Thread Starter 
Land of the Dead Synopsis:

Sometime ago an unimaginable catastrophe destroyed much of human civilization. The recently dead, for an unknown reason, had returned to life and taken the lives of their living brothers and sisters. These "zombies" multiplied rapidly by adding to their ranks with every new victim. Many years later, the dead greatly outnumbered the living. The remnants of humanity fled to a city, where a feudal like government had taken hold. Fiddler’s Green, the center of this fortress city, is where the rich and powerful lived in luxury while the rest of humanity lived in poverty around them. Paul Kaufman, leaving no room for freedom in his kingdom, rules with an iron fist and overwhelming firepower.

In order to ensure his dominance, and upscale lifestyle, Kaufman financed the construction of Dead Reckoning, a fortress like vehicle that could venture out into the world with relative ease. Riley Denbo, both the designer and commander of Dead Reckoning, has had enough and just entered retirement. Unlike Kaufman, Riley is respected by the citizens of the fortress city for his work to protect them from a dangerous world. However, after a series of incidents, Riley winds up in jail with his best friend Charlie Houk, a member of the Dead Reckoning team, and Slack, a prostitute.

Meanwhile, Cholo DeMora, the 2nd in command of the Dead Reckoning team, has gone rogue! Having his dreams shattered by Kaufman, Cholo is out to even the score. With the Dead Reckoning, as well as the rest of its team, he sets his plan into motion. With no where else to turn, Kaufman and the city elite turn to Riley to fix the situation. Riley is in a race against the clock to stop Cholo from exacting his revenge and killing a lot of incident people in the process.

However, the living will not be the only threat. As hinted in both Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, there is more to the undead than first meets the eye. With a new threat on the horizon, will humanity be able to survive a new onslaught? Is humanity even worth saving in the New World?

Updated Cast List

Riley - Simon Baker
Charlie - Robert Joy
Cholo - John Leguizamo
Kaufmann - Dennis Hopper
Pillsbury - Pedro Miguel Arce
Teahouse - Krista Bridges
Big Daddy - Eugene Clark
The Butcher - Boyd Banks
Gus - Jason Gautreau
Barrett - Christopher Russell
Brubaker - Alan Van Sprang
Slack - Asia Argento
Foxy - Tony Nappo
Anchor - Tony Munch
Pretty Boy - Joanne Boland
Mouse - Max McCabe
Chihuahua - Phil Fondacaro
Manolete - Sasha Roiz
Pretty Boy - Joanne Boland
Blade (Zombie) - Tom Savini
Teenage Zombie Boy - Michael Belisaro
Zombie Cameo - Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
(Writers of "Shaun of the Dead")
Zombie - Boyd Banks
Zombie - Jennifer Baxter
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post #2 of 19
1/13/05 at 6:07pm
Thread Starter 
INTERESTING TIDBITS

--Greg Nicotero and KNB EFX Group will be doing the makeup FX for George's new film.

--Shaun of the Dead's Edgar Wright (director/writer) and Simon Pegg (writer/actor) will play zombie extras on Land of the Dead. Longtime FX partner to Romero, Tom Savini, is said to have a prominent role.

--George Romero's statements at the 2003 Fright Fest at Station Scare (Pittsburgh, PA), the film is now being changed from Dead Reckoning to Land of the Dead. Fox Searchlight still has an agreement with Romero but there are still much to be worked out before the film is greenlit. Romero says that of his active projects, Land of the Dead is furthest from production.

--The big news from last year's (2003) Fangoria Weekend of Horrors was George A. Romero's announcement that a fourth Living Dead film now looks likely, and could be distributed by 20th Century Fox. "I do have a script at Fox for a fourth zombie film, which looks like it's going to happen," Romero said Saturday, August 17 at the Fango conference at the Pasadena Center. He added that the film would likely be R-rated for its theatrical release, then make it to DVD in an unrated version. "They're basically going to let me make my film and cut it back for R-rated release." The film should be budgeted at about $10 million. "It's going to be the most expensive one," Romero said. Romero was the highlight of the biggest Weekend of Horrors in years.


Then there was this revealing interview that AICN did w/ Mr. Romero back at the end of July:

Quote:
Capone: George, you might be the most talked about director in the last week who doesn't have a movie coming out this summer.

George Romero: That's weird, ain't it man? Ain't it cool, I guess, right?

Capone: Was the way that the Variety article described the plot of LAND OF THE DEAD more or less accurate? And is it true there were some issues about using the phrase "...of the Dead" in the title?

G.R.: Initially we were negotiating with Fox to do this, and it just went on and on, about a year and a half, literally. One of those typical Hollywood negotiations. They wanted to call the new movie NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Their thought was that they were starting over, this is a new franchise. And I said, "I already made NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Gimme a break over here!" At the time, my title of DEAD RECKONING, that the title I preferred, but apparently there's an old Bogart movie with the same title. So they said, why don't we call it NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: DEAD RECKONING? They wanted NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in the title. I said, "Look, you can make reference to "Night of the Living Dead" all over the poster, why does it have to be in the title?" Turned out they wanted to own the franchise.

It turned out that Richard Rubinstein, my ex-partner, had unbeknownst to any of us registered NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD with the MPAA. There was a time when he represented that film, he was trying to get a three-film set with DAWN and DAY, so we had to negotiate with Richard to get it back. But it doesn't matter because of Mark Canton's new company Atmosphere. Mark was, by pure chance, was having lunch with my agent who was complaining about Fox. Mark said, "Let me see the script." He read the script that night, called me the next day with a deal. Not a development deal, but an actual deal. They said, we're shooting this movie. We just jumped on it. They are great guys over there. Mark loves movies. It's a great company to be working with.

Capone: You've been making come adjustments to the script over the last couple weeks, right?

G.R.: With them. They had a few suggestions, many of which were good ones. My partner and I wanted to go through the script again and clean it up, as well as making a couple of the changes that they wanted. In the end, the changes weren't very significant.

Capone: How old was the script your agent gave to Canton?

G.R.: I sent the first version of it to my agent two days before September 11, 2001. So the response we got, naturally, was "We want warm and fuzzy now." So then I took it back and sat on it a while. It wasn't until a year and a half ago, when you could see the aftermath of the post-9/11 mood. I wanted to build a lot of that mood into the film. I had changed it myself to reflect the idea of life after something terrible.

The concept for these films has always been people attempting to ignore the problem and going on with life, and it became a little more meaningful in this post-9/11 fear of terrorism and all of that shit. The protagonists in this film are the guys who have to go outside the protective walls out where the zombies are.

Capone: So the Variety version of the story is more or less accurate? That the surviving humans are in a walled in city?

G.R.: Protected city. It's not walled in. I wrote it for Pittsburgh, so it's geographically protected by rivers. Pittsburgh is on a little triangle of land with two sides cut off by rivers and the base of the triangle, if you can imagine that, is very narrow. It's less than a mile across.

Capone: So the plan is to still shoot in Pittsburgh?

G.R.: I'm hoping. It ain't a done deal though. The city and state are trying to come up with some incentives to make it economically competitive with Canada. The producers are looking at Winnipeg and, get this, South Africa. Apparently that's where everybody's going these days.

Capone: I didn't know that South Africa was the Canada for filmmaking.

G.R.: It's one of them. They're off Bulgaria now.
Capone: But clearly shooting in Pittsburgh is your preference.

G.R.: I wrote the film for Pittsburgh. There's kind of a family thing with the other films. I would use Pittsburgh at least in a couple of shots in the film to establish that geography.

Capone: So if the protective means about this city of the living is water, does that mean your zombies won't be able to walk along the bottom of the rivers as we've seen in other films?

G.R.: I'm not sure if I should answer that, but I will say this: I had a certain scene in LAND OF THE DEAD written before PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN came out.

Capone: I wasn't even thinking about PIRATES. I was thinking of Fulci's ZOMBI 2, the one with the zombie versus the shark.

G.R.: I don't know that one. But most of the film's action is outside the city. The humans have this big armored vehicle they go out in loaded with big guns and shit. They go to all these nearby towns and hit the supermarkets and liquor stores for supplies. It's a little different than the previous films where the living would go out scouting for any survivors. They had enough supplies in those films. In this film, this is their way of life. They have these hard-ass guys that are volunteers and willing to take the risks.

Capone: It sounds like even in this small society in the fortified city that there's a hierarchy.

G.R.: Absolutely. The fat cats live in this one building called Fiddler's Green. All the peons live on the streets in squaller.
Capone: In terms of the nuts and bolts of LAND OF THE DEAD, is Tom Savini involved in this film at all?

G.R.: I don't think he's going to be in charge of the effects. Actually, it'll be one of his proteges, Greg Nicotero, who runs KNB that the producers wants. They want that kind of reliability and substance. Greg worked very closely with Tom on DAY OF THE DEAD, so I don't think there will be any animosity. I'd like to give Tom maybe one zombie character or a special appearance. But I'm also plugging for him to do a role. I have a perfect role for him, so I'd love to make that happen, but I don't have control over that this time with the bigger budget.

Capone: Since you brought up casting, has the production progressed that far yet? Is Atmosphere looking to get name actors or got with relative unknowns like you've done before.

G.R.: Of course, I'm plugging for that. I don't think I'm going to get away with it. I think two things are going to happen. I'm going wind up having to cast people that mean something to them. Obviously, we don't have the bucks for big stars, so I'll be saved from having to worry about that. There are a couple of people I'd love to get, Asia Argento being first and foremost. If I could get a couple people like that, I'd be thrilled.

Capone: So you're looking for relatively known people who are still affordable.

G.R.: Yeah, that's basically the idea. Asia is directing now, but she had actually agreed to do what was going to be my next film, DIAMOND DEAD. I just spoke to her a couple weeks ago about that.

Capone: Now that LAND OF THE DEAD is not with Fox, does that free it to be released unrated in theatres?

G.R.: No, that was going to be my second point. Mark Canton used to be the president at Warners, and I think still has some connections there. I think he's hoping that they'll distribute it. Although the film is financed. He has a company called The Wild Bunch in France, and they're co-financing. They're not waiting for distribution; they're just trying to make a good deal. So yes, I'm going to have to release it R-rated, but they want me to shoot it they way I want to. And if there are scenes where I can't cut some of the gore out, I'm going to have to shoot a softer version. But in Japan and later videos and all that shit, they want the hard stuff. I'm satisfied that I'll get the make the movie I want. I'm hoping fans will go see it anyway, and then go check out the DVD.


CONTINUED...
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post #3 of 19
1/13/05 at 6:12pm
Thread Starter 
CONTINUED

Quote:
Capone: Get them at least twice that way, right?

G.R.: Twice? If they keep bringing out these new DVDs of my old movies like DAWN OF THE DEAD, or new material on NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD "With new material!" What? I didn't shoot any new material.

Capone: It seems there's one of your zombie films is reissued every year on DVD, and I keep buying them. When we met a few weeks ago in Chicago at the Movieside Film Festival, the remake of the DAWN OF THE DEAD had just been out and you made it pretty clear what your feeling were about that. Was there anything about that film that you though was a great idea that you wish you'd done?

G.R.: It's still hard for me to get past the idea that the zombie were running around. They are supposed to be dead and all messed up. The thing that I liked the most was the guy across the street in the gun shot, who the people in the mall communicated with with signs. That was a neat idea. We put the gun shop right in the mall, which is very improbable. There are no gun shops in malls. I always felt a little weird about that, that it was a bit of a cheat, but we did it anyway. Fuck it. But really nothing else. I felt it lost it's reason for being. It lost the satire, the whole consumerism thing. It doesn't mean anything anymore. Having said that, it was better than I'd expected it to be. It was a hot action flick, but in my mind that's all it was, an action flick.

Capone: So you didn't have love for the zombie baby?

G.R.: I don't. I kept thinking, How can that be? I didn't get it. I guess if the baby died in the womb, it would be born dead. I may have been prejudiced because Jack Russo, one of my old guys from the original Image 10, made something called CHILDREN OF THE DEAD, which was about all these zombie kids being born. But in the remake, I just didn't like it. For of all, you can see it coming. That wasn't one of the high points for me.

Capone: Does it put you in a strange place to realize that the popularity of films like the DAWN remake or 28 DAYS LATER, which I know isn't a zombie film but it gets lumped in with them, have generated a new interest in these types of movies and given you a chance to direct your long-awaited, long-delayed fourth Living Dead movie?

G.R.: I think that was more true when I was negotiating with Fox, because Fox Searchlight released 28 DAYS LATER. But not Mark Canton's group. The president of Atmosphere is a guy named Bernie Goldberg, who is a Pittsburgher. He's into it as a fan and as a guy from Pittsburgh. In this case, the dig it for what it is. And they're not making me have the zombies run.

Capone: In looking at your films over the years, particularly ones that you've written, you always come back to the theme of individuals who live in their own minds or small groups of people who are forced to live, survive, exist on their own.

G.R.: Well, I've never been able to afford big groups...

Capone: True. But perhaps better than most, you've managed to successfully capture that solitary man or societal microcosm. Where does that come from?

G.R.: I was the spic kid who was getting beat up by the golden guineas in the Bronx, so it probably comes a little bit from that. I felt like that guy. I had to be past the gang on my way home from school. So there's some of that, but isn't that also just the way most people feel? You feel like a faceless member of society.

That's really what BRUISER was about, loss of identity, finding a way to be seen. I almost give the guy in BRUISER points finally standing up and striking back. I'm sure that some of that comes from the anger of growing up an outsider. I was very weird for me, because me dad was Cuban and his family was from Spain and they went to Cuba and bought a hotel there. They thought of themselves as Castilians. And my dad probably had more a prejudice against Puerto Ricans than our Irish neighbors. So on the one hand, I saw that shit, which I thought was wrong; on the other hand, I was identified as a Puerto Rican on the outside, so I guess I felt like "Can't we all just get along?" like Rodney King said.

The NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD thing, though, I basically ripped off from Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND, which is really the "Man Alone." One of the movie versions was THE LAST MAN ON EARTH. I didn't think he dealt with the idea of revolution, it really was the man alone in an unexplained situation. I also have always liked the monster within idea, the Jeckyl and Hyde thing. I like the zombies being us. Zombies are the blue collar monsters.

Capone: Although, according to reports about LAND OF THE DEAD as well as the DVD commentary for DAY OF THE DEAD, it sounds like the zombies get smarter and evolve somewhat.

G.R.: They have been. The last zombie you see in DAWN is holding a gun with some familiarity. And of course, in DAY OF THE DEAD there's Bub. In LAND, I'll have uber-Bub and a couple others that make it clear that the zombies are getting it together a little bit. They're still stumbling around, but they are developing a bit and there's more memory.

Capone: Back to the theme of isolation, the man alone. Do you feel that way in the movie business?

G.R.: In the Biz? There's some of that too. That's what KNIGHT RIDERS is about. That was really my ode to trying to do it right and not being able to get it through people's heads. I don't feel embittered at this point. It's all about telling the tale, trying to get people to understand and stick with it, finding a way to work through the politics and the bullshit. I'm not trying to discourage. I'm trying to show that if you can keep it together, you can find a way. I've had a tremendous amount of luck, despite all the frustration in my "blue period"I've been able to stay at home, raise a family and live fairly comfortably, not wealthy by any means.

Capone: You mentioned when you were in Chicago about scripts you'd written in the 1990s, like the first draft of THE MUMMY...

G.R.: Yeah, also GOOSEBUMPS. We had this other project called BEFORE I WAKE, which went from New Line. We had a deal at New Line, and they just never made a movie with us. We got this property out of there when we left and MGM picked it up, we developed it, rewrote it, all the other bullshit. They didn't do it. We'd gotten the greenlight right at that period to do THE MUMMY, but MGM wouldn't less us out of our deal. It came down to 12 days, they wanted to hang onto us for 12 days, and then they ended up not making BEFORE I WAKE, and we wound up losing them both. They started to piss at each other, the two studios. Then Chris Columbus picked it up, and we wrote more drafts and got it together. But by then, there was so much money against the project, something like $3 million or $4 million spent. It's still one of my favorite scripts. I think it went back to MGM at some point. Maybe someday...

Capone: In the meantime, not counting LAND OF THE DEAD, you've got a couple other projects that are fairly far along in preproduction. Until recently, DIAMOND DEAD looked like it was going to be your next film. And where does THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON [based on the Stephen King novel] stand?

G.R.: That is still very much alive. Both of them are very much alive. In fact with DIAMOND DEAD, they basically have the money to do it. The only question is, can they wait for me? We're going through that right now, or do they need to use somebody else? I think everyone involved would like to have me do it because of the "Dead" issue. As for TOM GORDON, that's an adaptation I did of Steve's novel. Steve loves it, I love it, we really want to do it, but it's not an obvious thing for either one of us. But that looks very good for us too.

Capone: At least critically, it seems to be King's non-horror stories that adapt the best into films: SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, STAND BY ME, GREEN MILE.

G.R.: But not necessarily at the box office.
Capone: True. Have you even gotten as far as considering casting of the little girl in TOM GORDON. Dakota Fanning would seem the obvious choice.

G.R.: We had her lined up, but that blew up after she was in MAN ON FIRE. She signed with a new manager who basically told us bye-bye. They're looking for an Oscar role for her. So that blew up. But there are still some wonderful child actors out there. That younger girl from IN AMERICA would be sensational. Be that as it may, I have real high hopes for both of those projects.

Capone: When is Atmosphere shotting to get LAND OF THE DEAD in theatres?

G.R.: I don't know about release dates. I know they want to start shooting in early October. I hope they don't try to get it out next summer. I'd hate to go against the big blockbusters, but they probably will try it and lose by it, but you never know.
Capone: Are you going to have to dabble in the realm of computer generated effects for this film?

G.R.: Yeah, but we're still going to do all the zombie stuff practical. But I have a big sequence that needs CG, a bridge collapse.

Capone: Is that your first use of CG?

G.R.: I've used it. The birds in DARK HALF. We did some little stuff with it in BRUISER. Just enhancement. But nothing to this scale. I'm going to have to do a little changing of the scenes. With DAY OF THE DEAD, we used matte paintings; now it's all computers. I'm not afraid of it. I certainly don't plan on overusing it. But there's a sequences that's going to need it because we can't collapse a real bridge. They won't let us do that.
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post #4 of 19
1/13/05 at 6:13pm
Thread Starter 
Land of the Dead: On Set Pictures



taken from Movies Online

Thursday 18th of November 2004 -

Well folks we have some new set pictures from Land of the Dead for all those zombie fanatics out there! The picture below was taken at the Downsview Park film studios and reveals some pretty neat stuff.



If you look closely you can see several different set items. The picture, as you can see, is of a sort of junk yard/used car lot with various junked cars piled on top of eachother. In the center of the picture you can see a tower that will most likely be used as a guard tower (expect some beefy machine guns) and of course the best part of the pic is the Land of the Dead set poster. It's a little small but you can definately make out the 'Dead Reckoning', which is the heavily armed assault vehicle used by the humans. Below is another picture showing a horde of extras (or are they zombies?) roaming the streets. Phew, glad I'm not down there!

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post #5 of 19
1/13/05 at 6:14pm
Thread Starter 
Here's an article from Cinema Eye:

Quote:
BEHIND THE SCENES: Land of the Dead

Note: Huge thanks to Roy Frumkes for writing this exclusive behind-the-scenes article about the creation of George Romero’s LAND OF THE DEAD. You may remember that Roy is the director of the cult-classic DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD which documented the production of Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD. Now Frumkes is back on the set of Romero’s new movie making a new documentary. We at Cinema Eye were incredibly excited to learn the news. The following article should only further whet your appetite. We will be bringing you more DEAD coverage as we get closer to the films actual release date.


Quote:
It was a call out of the blue. Mike Ruggiero at the Independent Film Channel was curious to know if I would be available to direct and host a TV special on the Toronto location of George Romero’s LAND OF THE DEAD. Does a zombie know how to bite? I was already packing my suitcase, and the shoot was still two weeks off.

Canada has for some time been saving US film productions megabucks, both in tax incentives, and in the buying power of the US dollar. George shot his last film, BRUISER, in Canada, and other friends have done the same: Jimmy Muro, who directed STREET TRASH, was Director of Photography on OPEN RANGE in Calgary, and Bryan Singer, who was once a lowly Production Assistant on STREET TRASH, directed X MEN 2 north of the border.

However, by the time we got there, the dollar’s buying power had drastically declined, and few American films were traveling North in hopes of such savings. The Canadian crew was enthusiastic because of the opportunity to work with Romero, who is much loved. But otherwise they were a dour, sensitive lot. It looked like, at least for the time being, the honeymoon was over.

George was under a lot of pressure, compressing the script, doing whatever was necessary to meet the new economic crunch. I’d seen him under such conditions before, with TWO EVIL EYES, when the lab ruined five days of shooting. His kind nature remains, but you can feel the strain. We first ran into each other in a white, endless corridor inside an abandoned military base outside the city. It felt very DAWN OF THE DEAD to see him ambling in my direction. When he realized it was me, there was a warm hug. I hadn’t seen him for a few years. It had been 26 years since I first documented his work, and 15 years since the last time. He was preoccupied, so I quickly let him continue on his way.

Then my crew and producer and I went exploring. The facility was vast: bigger than any two film studios combined. You could film two features within eyeshot of each other but the sound on one wouldn’t intrude on the other. At one point our cameraman pointed and said “I think that’s John LeGuizamo.” I looked. The tiny figure was two football fields away, and looked like an ant. There was no way to distinguish any features on it, and yet…it was definitely LeGuizamo. Just…something about it. So I hopped out of ‘Dead Reckoning’, where we were setting up lights and gels for interviews, and trotted in the distant humanoid’s direction. When I got within one football field I shouted, “John?” It stopped, paused, and headed in my direction. I kept talking, explaining who we were. He wasn’t on our schedule to shoot, but slowly I reeled him in, and when he got close enough to converse with me, he figured he might as well go all the way and do the interview, so we hauled him into the anti-zombie vehicle and stole a few minutes of his time.


Quote:
That’s pretty much how it was, and how it’s always been, doing these documentaries. You’re on a live set, with people going about their business, and time is money. So we were like guerilla filmmakers, prowling about stealthily, capturing footage and interviews when we could. George responded to this, since his zombie films are also war films. We’ve always gotten along; rarely gotten in his way.

Tom Savini was back, too. In fact, our access to the shoot was timed by Universal Pictures to coincide with his appearance. 26 years ago one of his biker cronies smashed a pie in my face – blueberry, incidentally – and so it was really shaping up as old home week in Toronto. Savini, now 58, was the same wired, remarkably fit individual he was half our lifetimes ago. He was talking up a new TV type series called THE CHILL FACTOR, that he’s selling on the internet, the way David Lynch has been selling ERASERHEAD.

We all moved out onto the location – three city streets converted into the ‘Zombie Ghetto’. Wonderful art direction. 150 crew members. 125 actors and extras. Lots of energy. Very cold! I had to give those Canadian extras credit. I was wearing four layers, and one by one the cold penetrated them, seeking me out. George, in a parka, was marching around, conferring with the various department heads and actors. He was still looming above them, like he did in that shopping mall so long ago outside Pittsburgh. It’s a great advantage for a director to be six foot four – you don’t have to yell to get everyone’s attention. They just look for your disembodied head, floating above the crowd.


Quote:
I know I’ve set the scene rather tantalizingly, and now you’re all waiting for the details, but I’d be remiss if I let any cats out of the bag. LAND OF THE DEAD is filled with surprises, with carefully thought out details and plot elements that fans will be euphoric about. But I don’t think I should reveal any of them just yet. However, like yourselves, I’m looking forward passionately to the end result. If all goes as planned, my latest coverage of George will be aired on both the Independent Film Channel and The Monster Channel a month before the film comes out next Fall.

Take care,
Roy Frumkes
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post #6 of 19
1/13/05 at 6:16pm
Thread Starter 
A couple of interesting reports from the set of LOTD taken from Movies Online regarding the infamous walk-off incident:

Quote:
Exclusive : Land of the Dead, Romero Walks Off Set Update

Wednesday 22nd of December 2004-

As you probably have figured out if you are a regular reader we are monster fans of George Romero and even bigger fans of Land of the Dead. Last week we had a scooper tell us that Romero had walked off the set of Land of the Dead, and we then had some follow up news about a person working on a Land of the Dead documentary confirming this fact. Needless to say this information alarmed all of us.

In an effort to gather some information on this matter we talked to some of our insider contacts who were able to give us some more information. As for Romero walking off set, according to our reliable sources, yes it was true he did leave the set. But their is a big difference between LEAVING the set and "quitting the movie" . Remember Romero is working on a very big budget film, even bigger then he has ever worked on and sometimes you just need to take a break.

Our sources tells us that yes like any big project their are pressures and producer demands and I am sure that did put pressure on Romero, but isnt that a producers job? So our understanding is that yes their were production issues in making the movie, and yes Romero did leave the set, but no he didnt quit, and no their is no threat of the movie not meeting its deadline. Romero is used to doing films in a very independent film makers way, taking his time to put his touches on things. Sometimes producers and movie timelines can get in the way of that. Such is life!

There is absolutely no reason to panic since he walked off on the final day of shooting 5 hours before it was supposed to wrap. Look at it like leaving early on a friday. The rumors of him quitting the movie, or just giving up and throwing in the towel are silly. The producers and the rest of the crew stepped in and finished shooting the film which was just insert shots that they needed. Considering it was only 5 hours before the final wrap it was obviously only going to be small things that needed to be done. Something that they could do easy enough without George. Mr. Romero is a really cool guy and it is shown by the fact that 2 days later he was at the wrap party and seemed in good spirits.

Land of the Dead will continue as planned, with the same estimated release date as far as we know. So get out your wallets, this movie is going to be one worth seeing, if only because George Romero is directing. Later on today or tomorrow we will share some more goodies from Land of the Dead, we just dont want to overwhelm you with info all at once

The moral here is that yes Romero did leave the set, no he did not quit the movie, and yes we will get Land of the Dead. So put down your pitchforks, unload your shotguns and get ready for Land of the Dead. Good things cometh! As with anything take it with a grain of salt, and keep two things in mind a) George Romero is the king of zombies and will deliver like he always has and b) Universal is involved and they have proven with Dawn of the Dead 2004 and Shaun they know a good zombie movie!
Sounds like trouble in paradise. And then there was this follow-up...

Quote:
Friday 31st of December 2004 -

As you will remember a while back we broke the news that Romero had walked off the set of his movie Land of the Dead. This information came from an insider who witnessed it. We were sent another follow-up by another person today. I have to add first that we are very guilty of sugar coating what we were sent earlier this month We did that to try and be fair to Universal and George. So here is the latest, un-edited.

I was there and I saw the occurrance, he left 'cause the producers were keeping him from doing what he does best.."DIRECT". Telling him that they were cutting scenes here and there and then bringing them back in and having someone else direct them. Knowing that it was the last night of shooting, does anyone really believe that the director would "go home 'cause he's tired", after all those months of prep and shooting...not likely. And the Window Shot is the best moment of the production, the final shot when everyone can say "Yeah!!" and congratulate each other on a job well done...

Do you really think that George, again after all this time would leave before thanking everyone for their hard work...I think not. The man has great integrity, and I wouldn't blame him for leaving the set. I was also at the Wrap party and George was there for the "Crew Members" they were the ones that made this film possible. It was the crew he appreciated...and it was the crew who appreciates and LOVES George ! Did you get your information from someone in the production office ? Who else would deny the walking off portion... Production offices will tell you what they want you to hear..."only great stuff" real people know the real story...find someone outside the production office and you'll hear real stories.

I hope that George gets the recognition of a job well done and I hope that the film is a great success, not for me or for all the other persons that worked on this, but for George..he's the man ! No one can compare ! hope this clears a few things up...I don't like causing "rumors"...I tell it like I see and hear it.

Cheers !

Thanks for sending this in. I agree its not likely Romero would leave the set because he was tired, we were just playing devils advocate in our earlier report. Trying to present both sides of the story, since George Romero hasnt emailed me nor has Universal to give me their side of how things are going So to be fair, I tried to present theories, fair to both sides. And you are exactly right, their is no way that Romero would not thank his crew and cast. Romero is one of the coolest celebs I have ever met. I am proud to be one of his biggest fans since he is such a nice guy.
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post #7 of 19
1/13/05 at 6:17pm
Thread Starter 
Here are the first official LOTD production stills released:



Asia Argento looking lucious as always packing some heat for the zombs.



Simon Baker perched on top of the Dead Reckoning telling a couple of zombie bums that he doesn't need his windows washed.

Universal is set to release LOTD on October 21, 2005.
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post #8 of 19
1/13/05 at 6:23pm
I really want to be excited for this movie...Romero is a god when it comes to this stuff, but the script just didn't do that much for me...Here's to hoping that he can make this an awesome flick...
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post #9 of 19
1/13/05 at 10:16pm
I'm a big fan of the Living Dead films. I think Romero is great. BUT, I was extremely disapointed when he decided to film in Canada. I was hoping to make LOTD my second major film job and worked really hard to make it such. My first taste of the runaway production demon. Ah well worked out better in the end for me but I have honestly lost a bit of respect for him. The series has such a strong connection to Pennslyvania, and from what I understand the government was trying to make it as feasible as possible to film there. Ah well. We will have to see.
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post #10 of 19
1/13/05 at 10:18pm
I think at the end of the day, he wants to be able to use his resources as much as possible, and he's still probably smarting from the experience with DAY OF THE DEAD and what that movie originally was. I can't say I blame him.
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post #11 of 19
1/16/05 at 10:46pm
Thread Starter 
From IGN filmforce:

John Leguizamo talks Land of the Dead!

John Leguizamo, who plays Cholo in George A. Romero's upcoming Zombie movie "Land of the Dead", talked to IGN about his experience shooting the movie.

Here's what Leguizamo said:

"It was amazing, man. I felt blessed... I just finished… I'm hoping that that's his masterpiece, man. I've really got a lot of high hopes for that flick. I love the man. He's incredible. He's 68 years old and he's got an ageless career. He's at the top of his game. We do all-night shoots, exteriors… He's smoking, drinking tons of coffee...."

"I play a zombie killer. It's an apocalyptic world. It's very political too. It's very operatic, man. It's a very ambitious piece. It's an action movie, it's political. It's got a little bit of comic relief as well. The zombies have taken over and there's only certain patches of right wing people controlling everything… Then there's the working class people, which is me and Simon Baker coming in to try and help to get supplies from the zombies. We are minimum wage men. (Laughs) It's a weird thing. I've got my own hypothesis too about the politics. I think it all has to do with, in that situation with the war in Iraq and all that and our sense of, it lightens things up, when you can't take death so seriously, it lightens it up. It plays with that, sort of, our anxiety. I know I've got a lot of anxiety. I think it has to do with right-wing, neo-conservatives controlling things and corporate power..."

As has been Romero's trademark, the film promises to have a sense of humor, including some amusing cameos. "Those guys from "Shaun of the Dead" are in the movie. As zombies, yeah. (Laughs) Romero's beauty is that there's always a sense of humor. There's always a bit of a wink to things."

Then he confirmed some Zombie facts. Yeah! They are slow! Romero never had plans too make them move fast:

"They're slow. He will not do fast. He has his really strict theories about zombies. He created it; he's part Cuban, and zombies and voodoo and all that comes from the Caribbean. I think that was cool. It has its own fascination, but zombies can't be fast. They're dead people. They're corpses. How are they going to move fast when they've got rigor mortis, you know what I mean? They're a lack of logic in those movies. The mythology of zombies, which comes from West Africa, they were dead people who died and came back."

And we will see plenty of gore, thats for sure.

"I've never worked in a movie where there was so much fucking gore! They put, like, real guts in mannequins and then they pull at spleens and intestines..."

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Is it October already ? I don't want to wait any longer !
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post #12 of 19
1/17/05 at 1:03am
That's a lot of info. Thanks for putting that together for us to read.
Looks good so far. I hope it is a good movie, and it should be. I haven't read the script but I've read a summary of the story (larger then the one posted here) and I like it.
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post #13 of 19
2/4/05 at 7:17pm
Thread Starter 


ROMERO BACK IN ACTION!!!

Some more pics from the set:



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post #14 of 19
2/4/05 at 7:21pm
Thread Starter 
An article from DarkHorizons.com:



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Tom Savini talks about Romero's Land of the Dead
Monday, August 30th, 2004

A reader at Dark Horizons recently sat in on a Q & A with effects guru, Tom Savini, where he discussed George Romero's upcoming cotinuation of his zombie series with the crowd...

"Shooting will be in Toronto starting in early October and apprently Romero has been spending his days location scouting around the city. Savini also talked about how he will have a large role in the film playing a character who goes into the the zombie infested world to get supplies for wealthy survivors.

The coolest part he mentioned was that he would also be reprising his role from the original 'Dawn of the Dead' (the Biker Gang guy) that died and fell into the fountain in the mall- who has since become a zombie. He said that he will actually kill his zombie self in the new film.

There was also talk of using several CG zombies to sort of update the effects and show the audience things that a guy with makeup on could never pull off. Lastly he said Romero has made it clear his zombies will slow moving, as compared to the 'fast zombies' like in the 'Dawn' Remake, the way Romero always did it."
and from HorrorChannel.com:



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Effects guru Greg Nicotero talks Land of the Dead
Thursday, October 7th, 2004

George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead. Say it. Say it again. Doesn’t it just roll off the tongue? I don’t know about you, but every time I imagine seeing those words on a theatre marquee or, even better, on the big screen itself, a little chill runs down my spine. If there is a single positive note that has come out of the recent uptick in zombie films, particularly the remake of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, it’s that the legend himself has finally been given the green light to do it his way.

And right by his side is makeup effects wizard Greg Nicotero, an icon in his own right and arguably the one man -- aside from Tom Savini, of course -- who could shoulder the responsibility of bringing Romero’s vision to life in the 21st Century. Nicotero needs almost no introduction to genre film fans. KNB EFX Group, the company he founded with Howard Berger and former partner Robert Kurtzman, is world-renowned as one of the best makeup effects shops in the business with a long and extensive list of credits that practically encompasses all horror filmmaking of the last two decades, not to mention mainstream hits like Spy Kids, Kill Bill, and Austin Powers in Goldmember.

For Nicotero, Land of the Dead is a special project on a very personal level. He was studying to be a doctor when he got a chance to assist Tom Savini in creating the makeup for Day of the Dead nearly twenty years ago, and to use the old cliché, he has never looked back. Now, in a sense, he’s coming around to where he started, working once again with George A. Romero on a zombie movie; and as you might be able to guess, Nicotero couldn’t be happier.

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The Horror Channel: How the hell are you?

Greg Nicotero: I’m very good. It’s the eve of one of the soon-to-be-greatest zombie horror movies ever made!

THC: Let’s talk about that. How did you get involved?

GN: Well, of course, my movie career began twenty years ago in Pittsburgh with George Romero on Day of the Dead. So I’ve always felt . . . not an obligation . . . but I always felt that George and Chris (Romero) and Tom (Savini) opened this tremendous door of opportunity for me, and I’ve always been really respectful and proud of the fact that they gave me that opportunity, and they’re such great people.

I’ve been friends with Tom since then, and I’ve stayed in touch with George and Chris ever since as well. And, you know, there have been a lot of incarnations of Land of the Dead that were floating around for a couple of years. At the same time, I was able to introduce George to people like Frank Darabont and Guillermo Del Toro -- I was trying to put all my friends together. So the idea for Land was around for a while, and no matter what anyone thinks of the Dawn of the Dead remake, the fact that the movie comes out and makes $60 million would show the most stubborn studio head that there’s a place for George’s film. It’s taken a little while, and George and Christine have really fought the good fight to get it made, and I couldn’t be happier to be involved in it. When I did my initial bid for the script, that was almost two years ago, so we’ve been talking about it for quite a long time.


CONTINUED...
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post #15 of 19
2/4/05 at 7:29pm
Thread Starter 
CONTINUED

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Now, Tom and I have been talking about it for quite a long time as well because the first thing that most of the fans ask George is, is Tom Savini doing the special effects makeup? And the three of us have collectively talked, and I also agree that a George Romero zombie movie is not complete without Tom Savini’s name in there. Tom has become quite a good director, and he’s acting quite a bit, so we both looked at each other and Tom said, “Well, I don’t do effects anymore. I’m a director and actor, and I want to have a part in the movie.” So I said, ‘That’s cool, and meanwhile, you and I can consult on the effects and we can talk about gags.” And I’m sure there’s gonna come a day on the set when, for old time’s sake, we’re gonna hand Tom the blood syringe and say, “All right, Tom, show us where it all came from.”

So, when I told George that, he said, “Look, I want Tom involved in the movie.” And I said, “Tom and I have already talked about that, there’s no hard feelings, there’s none of that. Tom wants a part in the movie.” And George was like, “Done.”

THC: What’s your take on the script?

GN: The script has been probably gone through three or four drafts, and usually what happens is that you have a script, and as they rewrite it, it gets pared down and all the good stuff gets taken out. All of a sudden, it’s a skeleton of what it was originally supposed to be. But in this case, the script has gotten better. Every time George has gone in and done another pass, it’s gotten more of the Romero flavor. I can’t remember a time when that’s ever happened. I’ve read several drafts of this script, and it gets better every time.

It’s basically taking the idea of where we left Bub in Day of the Dead, where there’s a glimmer of intelligence and they’re not just mindless devouring animals. This movie takes that to another level. So a lot of the lead zombies are all gonna be cast and they’re gonna be performers, so we’ll get a lot of that sort of Howard Sherman performance, which really brought the character of Bub to life. I mean, he wasn’t just a guy in a rubber face -- people genuinely love that character.

It’s funny for me to listen to people talk about Bub and know that George’s movie is going to come out, and twenty years from now, there could be another iconic zombie that could be created based on George’s vision, the character, the makeup design, and the actor.

THC: Your job is to build on the first three movies, plus take into consideration everything that’s come after them, and strive for something new. So what’s your mindset and approach going into this project?

GN: We’ve been doing makeup designs and tests for a while. One of the things that we talked about is that even in Day of the Dead, there were different kinds of zombies: There were the character makeups, then the blue background ones, and then the old man masks. It never really felt like there was continuity between the three because there were so many different people doing them. So what we’ve talked about is changing the color palette. Dave Anderson did a great job on the Dawn of the Dead remake with gelatin and latex, making it look like the skin is sloughing off and peeling away, and the guys at Optic Nerve did a great job on Savini’s version of Night of The Living Dead. So our hope is just to make it look different. None of us want to see the same zombies, so we’re gonna try to avoid those looks and focus on character design for each one. We want to keep the real actors’ brows and maybe accentuate the mouth and cheekbones and chin a little bit, and we’re going into a very different color palette. Instead of the traditional blue-gray, we’re gonna maybe go into this sort of putrid yellow look. We’re really putting a lot of thought into it because it’s important to me that people remember these zombies as well in years to come.

We’re doing a lot of puppet heads; we’re doing a lot of mechanical zombies. We’re planning on doing a lot of stuff involving rig removal, where there will be guys puppeteering full body zombies, and we’ll erase the puppeteers out of the shot so that you don’t have to have digital zombies. You’ll have a live zombie there, operated by guys -- similar to the way that it was done in Army of Darkness, except that was prior to the rig removal concept. We want it to be something where you’re seeing every different kind of zombie there is. There’s gonna be Berni Wrightson-inspired, really gaunt, skeletal zombies with bone hanging out, and then there’s gonna be the more traditional types. You have to also remember that these things have been existing outside, in the sun, every day, so there’s gonna be peeling, leathery, black-looking skin.

George has been, as usual, so receptive to every idea. He’s liked everything we’ve shown him, so the project is completely open to whatever we can come up with. George really wants to see things that we’ve never seen before, and he really doesn’t want to have to rely on CGI stuff, so we’re coming up with a lot of concepts that we can do with mechanical makeups and prosthetics as much as possible. Nothing looks better than the real thing. Even if we digitally remove an actor’s nose, you always have to start with the actual physical (zombie) on set.

THC: When I last interviewed Romero, we touched on the “slow zombies vs. fast zombies” debate, and he was firmly in the “slow” camp.

GN: Oh, me too. Listen, with fast zombies, you have more of a chance of being trampled than being eaten (laughs). That was always my concern. I loved 28 Days Later; I thought it was great -- although they weren’t zombies, they were infected people -- but if you see Shaun of the Dead . . . I can’t say enough great things about this movie. And they tip the scale right back to the slow zombies. To me, it’s always about slow zombies. Even though a lot of people never thought the Mummy was scary, he still always catches you. And it’s the same with zombies!

It’s strength in numbers. At this point in the Dead series the zombies are the majority, so they are now the norm for society, and the humans are the ones struggling to live and struggling for existence.

THC: The other element that Romero is famous for is the way he uses his stories as social criticism.

GN: In the rewrites George has been able to inject his social commentary into the film. The world, even in the shambles that it is in this movie, is still about greed, and it’s still about power, and it’s still about control. It doesn’t matter what’s happening in the world, that’s still what everybody strives for and wants.

THC: Something else that George has been upfront about is the fact that for business reasons, he’s got to deliver an R-rated film for theatrical release, but of course he’s got the DVD down the line to put out the film the way he wants it.

GN: There’s no reason to worry. I know what George’s intention is, and we know what the fans want to see, and I’m hoping that there’s a point where, if they release the R version and it does well, then maybe they’ll release the unrated cut for midnight screenings to whet their appetite for the movie to come out on DVD.

THC: Universal Pictures has to know that there’s a market for the uncut version…

GN: Absolutely. Why do it if you can’t? We all saw how unfortunate it was that George’s original vision for Day of the Dead was never realized for that exact reason, but the world’s a much different place now. Movies have a whole second life on DVD now, and the marketing campaign for DVDs is almost as big as when the movies come out! All I can tell you is that for what we’re planning, we’re not pulling any punches. One thing we may do is get the primary shots with the main unit and then let them walk away while we work with a small unit to get some bloodier stuff. George was delighted with the idea because he knows that if we can take time and finesse the gags with a small unit of people, it’ll be that much better. We were usually just never able to afford that before.

THC: What else is going on at KNB?

GN: We’ve had the best year we’ve ever had. We’re currently working on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. My partner, Howard Berger, has been in New Zealand for the last three months, and he’ll be through in December or January. We’re doing all the creature effects for that. I spent three months in Austin, Texas, working with Robert Rodriguez on Sin City, which is based on the Frank Miller graphic novel. That’s supposed to come out in March, and that was an absolutely unbelievable project to be involved on. We recently wrapped on House of Wax, and we also did Serenity, which is the Joss Whedon feature film version of Firefly.

So it’s been a great year, and for me to be able to see my career come full circle . . . in July we did a life cast of my head for Land of the Dead for a test makeup, and as we were getting ready to do it, I said, “Twenty years ago, we were casting my head to be a zombie on Day of the Dead, and now we’re casting it to do test makeups for George Romero’s Land of the Dead.” So this is an ultimate dream come true. It’s a project that I have wanted to be associated with for so long because of my friendship with and admiration for George and Christine and the debt of gratitude that I’ve always wanted to repay them for. They came to L.A. and the KNB shop, and they pulled me aside and said, “We are so proud of you. Look what you’ve accomplished in these past 18 years.” And I said, “Guys, you opened that first door for me, and I will always remember that.”
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post #16 of 19
2/4/05 at 11:36pm
Thanks for the posts Eye. Keep it up. Maybe Nick can make this a sticky thread.
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post #17 of 19
2/7/05 at 7:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Floydian_Trip
Thanks for the posts Eye. Keep it up. Maybe Nick can make this a sticky thread.
No problem-- I will continue to update it as much as I can.
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post #18 of 19
2/26/05 at 12:46pm
The experiences of Lee Karr who had the pleasure of being a zombie in "Land of the Dead"

http://www.homepageofthedead.com/baps/lotd_journal.html
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post #19 of 19
4/26/05 at 11:24am
It's not really news but a reason to get this Topic back to the top:

Land of the Dead has a new release date: June, 24th for the US. A trailer is rumoured to be released in the next few days.
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