George Romero Strives for "Survival of the Dead"

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Interviews

Published on Tuesday, 08 June 2010 22:04

Written by Brad Balfour

Q: You seem married to the horror genre. What is it about it that works for you?
 
GR: I love it, man. I grew up on EC Comics -- like Vault of Horror or Crypt of Terror -- and have a chance not only to work in the genre but be able to express my opinion. I’ve got a better gig than Michael Moore I think. I don’t have to be real, I don’t have to lie.
 
Q: What is your favorite horror movie?
 
GR: When you’re a kid, it's like the stuff that impresses you the most or that scares you the most. I was 12 years old and I saw The Thing and it just scared the shit out of me. So that remains my favorite horror movie.
 
Q: Would you ever consider wrapping up the whole zombie thing, like reversing the curse?
 
GR: No. It's too much fun. I won't do it and the zombies won't take over because my stories are about the humans. I like being where we are with it; just leave it alone and let it be.
 
Q: How important is the comedy aspect of your zombies?
 
GR: Oh man, like I said, I grew up on EC Comics; they were all bad jokes and puns. It was a giggle while you barf. So to me it’s almost essential. These last two films that I did I had creative control and I was able to just do what I wanted to do with them, so humor was an important part of both. This one is really, there are some real loony tune moments in this one. It has to be part of it.
 
Q: What’s your favorite zombie kill?
 
GR: I don't know; It's not a kill. Tom Savini did this thing with the guy with a real actor with his head down in a table and the guy's body was a real actor's body from here down, just some tendrils connecting him to her like a pulsing brain. It’s not a kill but it’s I thought a wonderful makeup and a really cool thing. I don't know, kill, I don't know. There's one in this movie with a fire extinguisher that I really love.
 
Q: For someone who hasn’t seen your movies would you prefer them to start with Night of the Living Dead or Diary of the Dead?
 
GR: I'd prefer them to start with Knightriders and Martin  because those are films that were really from the heart. I like to think that these films are thoughtful but they’re not me.

To some extent they’re commercial films but I’m trying to do something with them, but they’re not me. Knightriders is the most me. Martin is my favorite film of mine, so anybody that wants to see something that I did I would prefer they watch those first and then watch these.
 
Q: Which zombie one should start off with though?
 
GR: Day of the Dead. 

Q: Have you ever thought about redoing the original Day of the Dead script the way you wanted to do it?
 
GR: No. It's over. I’ve been able to use some of it; I used a little bit of it in Land of the Dead and a little bit of it in this film, actually. But no; that's over. He’s talking about a script that I did for the original Day of the Dead and the company that was financing the movie didn’t want to finance it because it was too much money.

Actually it was a decision that we made -- my partner at the time and I -- because we wanted to release it without rating it. The [distributor] said "Okay, do it without rating it," but we said, "Forget it, they won’t [really] do that." So I decided to cut it down and do it without rating it. And the old script, I know people have it, it’s on the internet, I know people are digging it up, but I’ve used ideas from it so I don’t think I’ll ever go back to it.

Q: Why do you think zombies are kind of having a renaissance right now?
 
GR: Beats the shit out of me. I don't know, what is it? It's videogames. It's not movies, it's videogames. I think so. There's never been a huge movies hit; it's all videogames, it's videogames. That's what I think.
 
Q: Do you think about going back to making more psychological movies, more like Martin, in between the zombie movies?
 
GR: Yes, all the time. But I’m at an age right now where, Peter and I, we spent six years in Hollywood in development hell making lots of money and not making movies. It's like I’m at a point where I don’t want to go and pitch something for two years and have it not happen. I can't afford that time.

And yeah we have ideas, we have plans, we have things we’d like to do, but as I say, I'm at the point where I need to take the thing that I like the most that’s easiest to do and get it done. And I don’' know how long I’m going to be standing. Listen, I'm never going to quit; I'll be like John Huston, man, I'll be with the breather and the wheelchair still trying to make a film. I can't answer you what's going to be next. There are things I'd love to do. Who knows?

Q: What stories do you want to tell that aren’t zombie related?
 
GR: I might be past that; I told them already. I have a couple of things, my partner and I, we have a couple of scripts that we're working on. I don't know; it's a long story and I'm too tired to tell it right now.

I'd like to do a couple more of these and what I’d like to do is have a little set of these that all the characters would come out of Diary and have a little set and hang it up and go off and do something else.
 
Q: Would you use the internet as a medium to tell them in short story form?
 
GR: Maybe. I don’t know. I’m very puzzled right now; I don’t know what to do. You finish a movie and then all of a sudden you’re still doing it and I’m still traveling with it. I’m just waiting to get off. I’m waiting for some time off and then maybe I can decide what to do.
 
Q: What about returning to comic books?
 
GR: I’d love to. I’m talking to some guys now. I’d love to do it.
 
Q: Would they be zombie related or something else?
 
GR: I'd love to do something else but usually that's what they want from me is zombies.
 
Q: What’s next?
 
GR: I’m hoping a couple of drinks at a bar someplace. I don't know, man. If you're talking about movies, I don't know. We don't know; my partner, Peter [Grunwald] and I, we have a couple of projects that are non-zombie but we don’t know. If it happens that this film does well and we’re asked to do another; my idea is to do two more. I wanted to do three; right from the puff I wanted to do three films with characters from Diary of the Dead, take them on their own adventures and be able to cross-collateralize characters, story points, stuff like that.

I would love it and it would be like a vacation. If this film does well enough and somebody says hey let’s do more I would jump at it. Sort of like I’d have a job for the first time in my life; I know what I’m doing for the next three years.

I’d love to do it but we don’t know what’s going to happen with this. So far this film has performed pretty well with audiences and people seem to be digging it, so maybe it will happen. Otherwise, we have a couple of things that we’re ready to do and really like.

I would love it if I could do a couple more of these because it’s where I’ve lived. I love playing around with new zombies. By the way, thank you. I can’t believe you guys go to this amount of trouble and energy and glue that goop on your face. Anyway, it’s much appreciated by me and thank you; thanks for doing it.

Q: What do you think of the remakes that have been made of your various films? Are you happy with them?
 
GR: Not particularly. No.
 
Q: What do you think that they misunderstood or didn't get?
 
GR: I don’t know. The remake of Dawn was more like a videogame than a movie. The first 20 minutes were really hot and then it lost its reason for being. The Crazies was the same thing. Crazies was a film of a certain time; we were pissed off about Nam. The new film might as well be 28 Days Later. Both directors did good jobs with Dawn and with Crazies, they’re just not films I would have made.

Q: What are your favorite horror movies?
 
GR: When you're a kid it's like the stuff that impresses you the most or the stuff that scares you the most. I was 12 years old and I saw The Thing and it just scared the shit out of me. So that remains my favorite horror movie.
 
Q: Any directors working now that you’re excited about?
 
GR: Well, Guillermo del Toro's my man right now. He’s a great guy. Such a sincere guy; he makes a commercial thing and then goes off and does what we wants to do. He's great.

And John Carpenter's doing a new movies, I have big hopes for Carpenter. I hope he's back in the ring. That's it pretty much.

Q: A lot of people consider you the grandfather of independent film in many ways. What do you think about that?
 
GR: Come on.
 
Q: Come on, you did one of the first real indie films.
 
GR: There are a lot of guys that have just figured out a way to do it without selling out or whatever. John Waters, man. He gets my vote.
 
Q: When you go, what do you want on your headstone? When you rise, what do you expect to see?
 
GR: I don't know man. If I manage to get back when that happens I'll just look for a camera.

For more by Brad Balfour: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-balfour

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