Dawn Of The Dead Page #10

in real tunnels in Toronto,

under the Metro rail station.

And we ended up going,

''That's nuts. Let's do it on stage.''

- ''Let's build it.''

- lt was a hundred times better.

But they still made me shoot it in a day.

Yeah, you really kicked ass on this day.

This was during the blackout.

The second day.

We went up and then down.

- And Tucker got dragged in one day.

- lt was hot, too.

lt was good.

- There's your manhole, where you see...

- That's right.

The date the movie was released.

- You see it...

- When Tucker closes it.

This was fun. l liked doing this sequence.

This was fun.

A lot of, like, running head shots

which, as you know if you're a shooter,

is next to impossible

but our amateur gun guys

seem to be able to do it quite well.

This whole sequence was really

by the seat of our pants.

This whole thing was Zack's idea,

to do the tunnel and get over there

and shoot their way in.

l don't think we knew what we were

gonna do until a couple of weeks out.

lt just got scheduled

into this freak show of, like...

And l had all these head shots.

That's complicated stuff to do.

lt takes forever, this stuff.

But we did it quick and then,

at the end of that night,

there was a huge electrical storm,

and the CN Tower was struck by lightning.

That was wild. That was cool.

Boom. That's what l'm talking about.

Good shot.

This guy, right here...

- This is gold.

- This is what you want.

Ving hits the ground. That was harsh.

But he does escape.

Some people asked me if he got bit

and l'm like, ''He clearly didn't.''

- This was a real gun store in Canada.

- That's right.

- Which sounds crazy cos...

- The only gun store in Canada.

- The one gun store but that's all...

- lt was pretty freaky.

lt was crazy.

lt reminded me of a head shop. lt was like...

- Like a porno.

- Yeah, it was weird.

ln America, gun stores are like a Wal-Mart.

lt's very clean and normal.

This one had a crazy...

lt was great that they let us shoot there.

lt was cool. And you couldn't

go into the gun store

unless you had a firearms license.

You had to show your badge

through the glass.

Here's Andy down there,

trying to get at Nicole.

This was a fun shot to do, too.

This is a combination of two shots -

a shot we did on the day,

a maquette head that we blew up

with primer cord,

so we just put the fake head on top of Andy

and then you get this.

Which is what you want.

We were so tightly...

This stuff was all so tightly scheduled.

And that's the dumbest trick in the world.

You promise to deliver the movie

in a certain amount of days

even though you know you can't.

This is one of those times when Zack

had to crank to get through all this stuff.

We had a pretty unrealistic schedule

by design.

Yeah, totally by design.

And kids, don't do this at home

and l'm serious when l say this.

There's no reason you'd be out

shooting a propane tank with a flare on it.

So just don't.

Dave Lauck invented that spotting system

for the interior of the scope.

Dave Lauck is a gunsmith

who is an amazing gentleman.

This is not in the theatrical

and l know it bothers Zack.

We love it like this. This is what you want.

But in the theatrical version,

no one seemed to care

that they just ran out of the movie.

lt starts right here.

And this gentleman is a film critic

for the Toronto paper,

right there with the tie on.

There were a lot of journalists.

A lot of people wanted to be zombies.

Some didn't come because of SARS

but those who did,

a lot of MTV guys got to be...

All this, shot all this...

in one day.

Just this stuff down the tunnel.

That was me. l was hand-held

for most of this and l got...

Michael Kelly was shooting

a little close to me.

But he's good so l trust the Force.

That's awesome. That gets a huge reaction.

We had a huge problem with that shot.

We had to knock his hat off ten times

and it was difficult to hand him the guns

- and naturally knock the hat off.

- At the same time.

And then Clay got

all these zombie pickups for me.

The close-ups of the zombies coming down

which l needed - what he shot at.

And then there was a great moment

in a story meeting after a preview,

talking about this sequence,

and someone said,

''See how the zombies pause

at the bottom of the stairs?

''That doesn't seem consistent...''

- ''Would they do that?''

- And l said...

l was on the spot and l said,

''You know, in real life, no.''

There was a lot of that kind of sh*t.

''They wouldn't pause

''but in a film where you dramatise, it's OK.''

Like, ''Normally, most zombies don't run.

''That's true, you're right.

Most zombies don't run.''

- ''They wouldn't run.''

- ''ln this, they do.

''This particular strain

of zombies run and pause.''

This is the mall. lt's over.

''Let's go. They're inside. Let's go.''

And this was just improv'd, this little...

''l like this song.'' Which l thought was great.

Since, of course,

there was no music when we shot it.

- What did we shoot last?

- This was early.

There was a whole issue with Ving's do-rag,

it was either on or off.

So we had to have him put it on

and take it off.

lt was a huge deal

but we ended up not caring.

We didn't worry in continuity

but on the day we were

really concerned.

He's about to put it on.

That's what he's looking at.

We shot that shot of them running

really early.

Cos then we were married

to having to kill Tucker

in the tunnel sequence.

And we also had the issue with his do-rag.

But it ended up being great

that we killed Tucker.

l was glad. l loved him

but he died in a great way.

He died heroically.

And now we're out...

This was some Mr. magic coming up.

There you go, big zombie landscape.

And then...

This shot was like a feel-good shot.

l remember going, ''God, that's awesome.''

That's awesome.

And also, a thing you haven't seen

in zombie lore.

l'll say it correctly.

That was Lindy Booth's hood

getting caught there.

What are they doing?

Those guns won't help you.

You gotta bomb or a chainsaw...

- This is awesome.

- That's what you wanna see.

That's why you're here. This is good.

That was Dave.

Dave, who had had his legs amputated

a few months before.

Literally, within six months of this.

He came in and he was awesome.

He worked so hard.

We used him three or four times.

- He did a great job.

- He was great.

He was fantastic.

And then l wanted this big zombie

to hold it up.

Kinda like a Danzig zombie

or like another Danzig zombie...

You going Danzig zombie?

More like a Black Flag zombie.

- No Henry Rollins?

- Yeah, Henry Rollins zombie.

- That's cool.

- l like that.

- Shock wave.

- Yeah.

Zombies go down

if you hit 'em hard enough.

But they don't go down for long.

No, they'll come back.

So when you have an opportunity,

you gotta take it.

This is Clay Staub shot,

which is a great shot. l love this.

The fire.

lt's one of my favourite Clay shots.

Back by Andy's. Makes a little more sense,

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