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Yesterday, I had the opportunity to participate in a teleconference interview with George A. Romero who was promoting the upcoming release of the Unrated Director’s Cut of Land of the Dead on DVD for Tuesday, October 18th. It was a very strange forum to interview one of my idols, but as in the past I found George to be genuine and warm and someone who himself is a fan of the genre we are all love. Hopefully, in the near future we can sit with the King of the Zombies one on one to get a proper interview, but until than here is sampling of the questions and George’s responses. Hope you enjoy.
On the differences between the theatrical and director’s cuts of the film:
George A. Romero (GAR): "Well, there are a few effects that Nicotero did that we--I just didn't even try to pass by the MPAA because I knew that they wouldn't happen. A guy's face gets ripped off. There's a few things like that. And basically there are some other effects that are in the film that are just a little longer. I mean you see them a little more clearly. The MPAA will never tell you to cut a scene. They'll just say well, you know, take ten frames off that. They don't want to appear to be censors. So we extended those. Most of the difference--I think it's only about five minutes longer. I don't remember exactly. But most of the--half of that is made up by a scene that we just--I didn't think worked as well as it might have. And it's a scene where Leguizamo, when he first comes into Fiddler's Green , goes into an apartment next door to Kauffman's apartment, and there's a guy that has hung himself. And I just didn't think the effects came off that well, and I didn't--I just didn't think it was as good as it might have been, so we cut it out of the theatrical release. And so that makes up most of the difference in the running time. And of course it's a little harder. I mean, you know, it's a little--there's a little more gore. That's not--I don’t know. That's not the important thing to me, because I think the film worked as it was. I think that, you know, I literally was able to get away with murder, maybe because it was a major studio this time. And I didn't really have to change that much. I was quite pleased with the way it all turned out the first time. So I don't think it's, you know, hugely different."
On the influence of the DVD format during the making of the film:
GAR: "I felt that I got away with murder with the MPAA. I used some tricks to get some stuff into the R rating. I literally walked zombies in front of a green screen so that I could, you know, move--walk them, composite them onto the picture and basically take frames off of some of the gore. So a lot of the stuff--really all we did was--I knew that DVD was coming, but I didn't really change the film that much, the intention of the film. The DVD is a little harder, but not that much. And I think that really what the fans are going to like about it are the extras, the other stuff that's in there, which, you know, there were contributions made. John Leguizamo shot a little film, and the guys from [unintelligible] of the Dead shot a little film while we were shooting the movie. And, you know, we cut some extras together, and I think that's going to be the most fun. But no, I--as a filmmaker, the intention of the film isn't really any different."
On working with established stars:
GAR: "I was a little more uptight going in, because I didn’t know some of these people. Simon Baker had shot a TV series in Pittsburgh, so we had some commonality there. Dennis Hopper - even though he’s sort of gone Republican, yes, Easy Rider wears golf pants, I’m not blowing his cover or anything, he wears them proudly - but we made our first films as directors right around the same time, so we had that commonality. I worked with Robert before, I’ve known Asia since she was three-feet tall. And nobody had an attitude, and let me tell you - this was a grueling shoot, the toughest I’ve ever been on. Everybody came to work, man. It was great. There were no problems, it was just like old times. I didn’t sense any difference."
On the influence of the Post-9/11 world on the overall atmosphere, style, and tone of the film:
GAR: "I did the first one in the 60s and then 70s, 80s, and I wanted to do the 90s and missed it because my partner and I were--we got involved in all these development deals, Hollywood development deals. No movies ever got made. You know, I made a lot of bucks, but never made a movie. And in frustration, I fled and made a little film called Bruiser that nobody's ever seen, and missed the 90s. And as soon as I finished that movie, I went home and started to write, draft - It was called Dead Reckoning. And I sent it around literally days before 9/11 happened. And then of course everybody wanted to make, you know, soft ice cream movies, fuzzy, friendly movies...And so I put it back in the drawer and came back to it after the invasion. And I realized--I said wow, this is a lot stronger. And it's funny. You don't have to change that much, you know. It's like there's--I had the armored vehicle. I had Dead Reckoning. And I had it driving through this little village. But after you'd seen all that stuff on CNN, you know, it just resonated that much more to have, you know, an armored vehicle going through a small village, you know, then everybody wondering why they're pissed off at us. A lot of that just resonated. I threw in some cheesy, you know, dialogue, like we don't negotiate with terrorists...You know, and it's darker, I think. We made the tower taller. And it's not really post-9/11. It's about 9/11, pre and post, you know, the idea of feeling protected by water until the water gets breached and, you know, anyway, all that. And these are just snapshots. I'm not meaning to be--I don't know. I'm not Michael Moore. I'm not trying to raise hell. I'm just sort of-- Iike the idea of these things being snapshots of when they were made."
On working with a big studio (Universal Studio) on this film:
GAR: "Well, I didn't have to rethink it. I mean I--not in that sense. I was amazed at what we got away with, actually. I mean, you know, we would send the stuff in, and I'd keep--I'd figure man, it's going to come back with, you know, black pencil marks all over it. We got away with a lot. I think that maybe because it was a major, maybe you don't get hit as hard, but I don't know. I mean the movie is my movie. I mean I was actually quite amazed that I was able to make the movie, you know, that I wanted to make. And you know, I used some tricks, walking bodies in front of a green screen so I could lay them over some of the gore, you know, because the MPAA will never say cut this. They'll say cut so many frames out...They don't want to appear to be censors. But I was actually quite amazed that the film made it, you know, not only with the gore, but even politically. You know, I thought I might even get some heat about that. Of course, Valente [phonetic] is not there anymore, so maybe that's why. But the movie, I thought, was--I mean it was--it's basically my film. I mean I didn't have to back off much of anything for the theatrical version. So as a result, the DVD is not--you know, it's stronger here and there, and it has, you know, a couple of effects that we didn't even try with the MPAA because we knew that it would never get through. But mostly half of the added length is a scene that we cut because we didn't think it worked that well, you know. And then there's just little add-ons, little trims, you know, scenes that are a bit longer because we had to cut them for the MPAA. And then there are a couple of things that are new, but not that many. And I don’t think the intention of the film has changed at all. I think it's the same movie, basically. It's just a little broader. It's a little gorier and--you know, I was not at all hung up by, you know, what I had to do to this movie. So sometimes when they promote, you know, the director's cut, it's supposed to be this angry thing, you know, that the rest are coming back and saying take this, you assholes."
On the social and political messages in the film:
GAR: "Well, you know, I think of these films as snapshots of the decade when that--when they were made. I'm not trying to be Michael Moore or be, you know, hypercritical in any way. I think this film--anybody that looks at it that way will understand that I'm not a big fan of the Bush administration, but I'm not--I'm more interested in just sort of reflecting the times when the films were made. And that's my--you know, that's my platform. I sort of keep coming back to that. You know, I've made four of them now, and each one is different stylistically and it's different--you know, the attitude, sociopolitical reflections in them are different. But again, I'm not trying to preach or anything. I think I was just trying to make this film, you know, dark and show some of the paranoia that's going on today and the mistrust and all of those things. I actually wrote a draft of it before 9/11 and sent it around, you know, right--and then 9/11 happened and nobody wanted to make hard-ass movies, so I had to put it away for a while and came back to it after the Iraqi invasion. And some of the stuff I didn't even have to change. I mean there were themes in there that just resonated more because--you know, because of all the stuff we'd seen on CNN. So basically what I try to do is just do a snapshot of the times and stylistically make the film look like a contemporary film. That's an exercise for me in a way. It's --more than anything it's an exercise that--you know, and I'm proud of the work and I enjoy doing it... I don't know. I don't know if it'll have any of that kind of impact. I don't think anybody would notice it. I think I could show this movie at the White House and George Bush would say that's a piece of shit and never notice that it was, you know, maybe a little bit about him. It's basically a thrill ride. I just don't want to--I just can't--I don’t want to do things that are just shallow that way, you know. Like I don't--if I’m in the shower and trying to dream up an idea for a new movie, I don't think of, you know, guys in hockey masks with knives. I always try to think of well, what can I say here or what can I--how can I reflect something about the times? But you know, I’m not--I don't think I'm out there raving, you know, or marching or anything like that. I think really I'm just sort of saying hey, guys, take a look at this. I think this is where we're at today. And that's what these are about...Yeah. I mean [unintelligible]. I don't know. But they always--they're changed. They're different in each of the four films. I mean they're--you know, it's just hey, you know, this is where we're at now. The first one was--you know, it was in the riots and the ghettos and the beginning of the war and, you know, it was anger. And the second one was all of a sudden, you know, we had a lot of money and we were celebrating consumerism. And so I was trying to satirize that a little bit. The third one in the 80s, we were, you know, not only starting to mistrust institutions, but mistrusting each other. And this one is, you know, man, worried about war coming to the homeland, basically. And so they are just basically that. They're snapshots and reflections of the time and stylistic reflections as well. The films, I think, look like the decades that they were made in, or at least I was trying to make them look that way."
On the use of CG effects in the film:
GAR: "Well, you know what? First of all, I'm a Harryhausen fan, and I wanted to do everything, and so did Nick Otero, wanted to do everything practically. And there was really only one effect that we couldn't pull off, the headless priest where the guy's head is hanging off a little, you know, cord on his neck. And we couldn't pull it off. We had to do that CG, which caught us by surprise at the very end of production. We even tried to reshoot it, and we just couldn't make it look realistic. The puppet just didn't look real enough, so we would up using CG. The rest of the stuff--I mean we only used CG to--if we needed more zombies than we could afford to hire, so we used--you know, we had to tile in zombies when they were coming out of the river and coming up the street. And then we had to put the building in, which--the building was a fiction. And you know, it was the obvious stuff. But none of the effects were CG. Now when people say wow, Greg, you know, did this fabulous job. Isn't that terrific how far these prosthetics have come? You know, by me, the yeoman's job, and no one talks about this, but the real standout thing that Greg and his guys did was the makeup. This is the first time that--I had a dozen zombie characters that were actors, that were real players, that had to be there, you know, three-quarters of the days that we were shooting. And those cats had to put those people in the chair and make them up and make them look consistent and all of that. And as far as I'm concerned, that's--the greatest thing about the advances in the prosthetics is that, you know, the thinness of the makeup. I mean you can make Big Daddy look dead, but he still has total facial expression. And they have to do that every day. And to me that was the toughest job that those guys had, and it was the best thing that they did in this film. I mean otherwise--you know, the gore effect. I mean there's only--what can you do, rip a guy's arm off? I mean you know, it's not going to look that different now than it did in Dawn, you know. Maybe a bit more realistic, but not so you'd notice. I think that really the greatest thing that they did was make up those characters and make them believable and make them sympathetic and make them consistent."
On being considered a cult director:
GAR: "Man, this is a toughie. Well, I would rather be a cult figure than Bruce Willis. So in that sense, yeah, I'm glad. But I don't know. What does it mean, cult figure? I don't know, man. You know, you don't think of yourself in those terms in any way, shape or form. You think of yourself as a person and, you know, I'm just sort of--I'm doing something that I love to do and, you know, I just--I don't--you don't ever think of yourself as, you know, somebody who has had an influence or has inspired people or anything like that. You just don't think of it on a day-to-day basis. You never do. Every once in a while, you reflect on it and you say gee, maybe I did okay. But that's about it. I'm sorry. Is that not…Well, what leans me toward it is that I grew up on it. Basically, I grew up on EC comic books and watching old horror flicks and The Thing, you know, Christian Narby's [phonetic] thing. And you know, I just always loved the stuff. What I think--the reason--I don't know. I mean, you know, you can ruminate about this stuff. I don't know. I think that a startle or a scare comes up out of your soul, just the way a laugh does. You don't know exactly what makes you laugh. All of a sudden you're watching something and you crack up, and that's an involuntary response that comes up from somewhere inside, which tells you something about yourself. And I think that in a weird way, scares and startles work the same way. Something comes up. Something either scares you, like Alien, and it really scares you. And then you know, some garbage monster flick comes up and you laugh at it, you know. It's not scary at all. But I think that probably, you know, the first tales that we told each other sitting around the first fire that was ever built were probably scary, you know. What's up in the sky there? Scary or mysterious or, you know, what's going on. There's something else happening in the universe that we don't know about, and that's frightening. And I think that, you know, some people, not all, take some enjoyment from experiencing that in a safe context like a movie theater where, you know, it's not like I almost got hit by that car. You're safe, but you can let it fly. You can let your--you can let those responses come up out of you."
On zombie evolution during the 4 films:
GAR: "I mean I don't think--in my mind, the character of Bub in Day of the Dead was in fact more advanced than Big Daddy in Land of the Dead. I mean the cat almost spoke. And I didn't think it was a great leap. And it's amazing, actually. People say wow, all of a sudden your zombies, you know, have some character or some organization or something. I think Bub was the sort of perfect introduction to that. Big Daddy, I think is maybe a bit dumber than Bub was, even. But as--he's a strong presence. I tried to indicate by making him African-American that we were--that I, anyway, was switching allegiances and you should like this guy. But he just has, you know, star quality, whatever it is. And so where Bub was imitating the scientist who was trying to tame him, quotes around that word, now all of a sudden other zombies are imitating Big Daddy's actions, and he's almost teaching them. Not directly, but you know, that makes it a bit more--makes them a bit more dangerous. And so I'm sort of marching along that road. Like if you leave this stuff alone, if you don't address it, if you don't try to--you know, it's just going to snap up and take over you. It's like the war against terror. Who's going to ever win that war, you know? Give me a break, not a chance. So that's partly what I'm saying, is that this is a new society that is coming in, and you may not understand it, and it may be, you know, weird or whatever. But it's something to be reckoned with, and you can't just sort of write it off."
On the possibility of a sequel:
GAR: "Well, there's nothing directly in the works. I thought for a while that, this being a big studio release, if it made lots of money, I might have to make a sequel quickly, which I didn't really want to do because these have been so far apart, and I like the idea that they reflect different decades. So I sort of left it--in two ways left it open. I left it open for--if I needed to make a sequel quickly, I could just continue this story. I could either follow the truck or follow Big Daddy and just continue the same story. At the same time, the only--there's no way to end this, right, except for some sort of détente. You stop eating me, and I'll stop shooting at you. So I tried to wink at that at the end when Riley [phonetic] says, you know, they're just looking for a place to go, same as us. And so if this is the last one, if I don't live long enough to make another one, then you know, I’m content. Otherwise, I'm going to wait for sort of another event. Maybe somebody will, you know, nuke DC, and then I'll have something else to talk about."
On a possible successor to take over the franchise:
GAR: "I don't think I would consciously hand it over and--say here, take this over. Because it's not like that for me, you know... It's like I've done--these things are my things, you know. Stephen King is always asked how do you feel about people--filmmakers ruining your books? And Steve always says they're not ruined. Look behind me. They're right on the shelf. Nothing's happened to them. And that's the way I feel about my stuff. And I'm not really a student about everything else. I don't think I would ever hand this over, man. I mean I don't think so. This is my--it's my platform. It's my sort of franchise. Now to the other part of that question, as I said before, I don't know if I'll live long enough to make another one of these, because I wouldn't...I mean left to my druthers, I would wait, you know, another ten years or until something politically changes which justifies making another one. So I don't know if I'm going to live that long. So what I did in this one was--and rather consciously--sort of left it open. The only way to end this is some sort of détente, as I've said before. And so I left it with Riley at least recognizing that, you know, they're just looking for a place to go, same as us."
On which one of his film best translated to the silver screen:
GAR: "Martin. Not even a second of doubt. Martin--what I had on the page in Martin, absolutely I was able--and again because of a lot of other people, I was able to completely execute it. And it's the first and only time that I was really able to completely execute exactly what was on the page, and that's why Martin is my favorite flick. I also remember the good times making it and the people that were working on it. Not even--I don't even have to think twice. That's the one."
On doing the commentary on the DVD:
GAR: "Well, I mean being completely honest, you know, this time it was, you know, Peter, my partner, Peter Grunwald, and the editor, Michael Dougherty, happened to be here in Toronto, and that's the way it happened. They said okay, we're doing the commentary. So I said okay, guys, come in so I don't have to be by myself. This is the first time I've done a commentary so closely tot he completion of production. Usually it comes--in the past, because my other films were--you know, there was no such thing as DVD release and commentary tracks and all that. So I've usually had to do them years later. And I don’t know. You just phone around and say hey, do you want to do a commentary track? Like when I called John Amplas for Martin. You know, you just phone around and see who's available and who's willing to do it. It's very informal. It is informal, and I'm not sure the fans realized how informal it is. But it is. It's not--you know, it's sort of no big thing. Let's go watch the movie and talk about it. That's really what it is... You know, sometimes that's hard. Like we, years later, did a commentary track for a DVD release of Knight Riders. And Tom Savini came over, who was not only the effects guy, but acted, was an actor in Night Riders. And the two of us sat there and actually wept remembering, you know. There were moments in there, like when Ed Harris gives Tom the throne in Night Riders, or the crown. And I mean the two of us were unable to speak because we were crying. So I don’t know if that would have happened if we had done--if we had done that commentary a week after we made the movie, I don't know if that would have happened because we both would have still been involved in the headache of making the movie. But you know, when you do it years later and can see the movie as a movie and can appreciate at least what you were trying to do--I don't know. All of a sudden you're--you know, it just gets you. So I think that's the difference. You're able to see the movie as a movie instead of just thinking of the headaches and problems and oh, shit, man, that truck didn’t work that night and, you know, all of that. There's just so much on your mind when you're close up to it. And you don't--you can't quite see it as a movie."
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