Dawn Of The Dead Page #8

- They were great.

- All of them.

This parking garage sequence

came out pretty early on.

The power went out and we walked

four levels down into the parking garage

in the dark and it was freaky -

''We gotta put this in.''

You guys were telling me that

the other night and l was like, ''Really?''

- l was like, ''Wow.''

- Although l don't remember much...

When's the first time we met?

- lt was... l don't know.

- lt must have been 2001 .

- lt was right before 9/1 1 l think.

- Yeah, it was before 9/1 1 . For sure.

Zack was the first director we met with.

Oh, too bad. Here goes Barry, going down.

Sad to lose him.

A Bela Lugosi vibe from that one there,

- did you see that?

- Yeah.

Not sure l'm into that.

- He had a widow's peak going on?

- This is fun.

- This whole sequence was fun.

- lt was.

We shot this scene early too.

This was one of the sequences

we shot out of order.

- The first out-of-order sequence.

- l was not really...

- Couldn't have enough head shots.

- No, impossible.

He's out and here comes my boy.

Boom, boom.

That's what you don't want to have happen.

That was rigged with pulleys to fall.

And that was not real gas,

we shot this later, it was water.

And then l shot this shot.

- That's beautiful.

- l picked up that shot

on a Budweiser commercial l did

up in Telluride, Colorado.

We shot it in a parking garage - the

close-up of the lighter hitting the gasoline

- and that was real gas.

- We needed it.

l was like, ''We're shooting this commercial

but l need this shot,''

so shot it at night in the basement.

- lt's a great shot.

- lt is.

- Meanwhile.

- Back at the ranch.

Things are going south for Andre and Luda.

Look at lnna's eyes, she's great.

You shot this in two and a half, three days?

- Two and a half days.

- Great. l was just like...

So much great stuff and Niven Howie,

who's a fantastic editor...

l love Niven.

..he and Zack played with this

until it was perfect.

Here's the little foot. That's a foot.

Pushing - if you look there's toes.

l haven't looked at the watch carefully,

l'm sure it's wrong.

- His watch?

- You can see it there.

l never even looked at it.

Mekhi just believing it, he's so good.

We had this belly and it was controlled

by little poles and stuff.

- lt had air pressure...

- lt was like a pneumatic...

lf you could hear it, it sounded like...

lt did not sound scary at all.

But Scott put those little...things in there.

That sells it. lt's just horrible.

And here's a great thing you'll notice -

when you become a zombie

your mouth starts bleeding.

l don't know why but it happens.

Your teeth get bloody.

- Maybe you bite your cheek.

- Could be.

You start biting your own tongue and stuff.

l could never figure that out.

l love that, right there. lt's cool.

lnna was so good.

- lt's exhausting to be in those...

- Restraints?

Tied down like that, thrashing around,

but she did an awesome job.

- This stuff was gold.

- He hits the mobile, which was fun.

That was scripted -

he hit the mobile and it started...

This Old Man.

Which is not what we did

but it read great, This Old Man.

Look at her.

And then... The power's out,

they've gotta collect things

and put them in a single freezer.

- Yeah.

- Getting your supplies together.

And then Jane's gonna head off.

- This scene is one of those... Oh.

- Oh, no.

That's what you want.

- That is what you want.

- ln a movie like this you need that.

l did one version

where the blood comes out...

- lt sprays his face.

- ..like a huge gush.

We did that one but also where l had...

l think l had four gallons of brown fluid

with chunks in it.

We did one version

where it went to the end of the bed

and went over like a waterfall

and everyone thought

that was too much except for me.

- Yeah, it was pretty hard-core.

- l was like, ''Why? Why is that?''

- Here comes some Wild West action.

- And then...

We got this sequence cut together

pretty early and we were excited about it.

You'll see that the director's cut

is a little rougher than the theatrical version.

But we couldn't restore it fully

because we had cut the neg

- before l went back to the...

- You couldn't get that version.

l couldn't get it all the way back.

- But that's just the way it is.

- l got it on DVD somewhere.

Be fun to enjoy that.

But it's close, it's kind of rough.

You still get a good sense

of what l was looking for from this.

l always think it's a great moment

when a young man and an older woman

can shoot it out at point-blank range.

lt doesn't happen very often.

lt should happen more.

l find it really pleasing when l can see it.

And that they don't die in the first exchange,

they can really go to blows,

- which l love.

- And they die in pain.

Here's lnna's Ben Cozine moment

where she looks at you.

- That's what you're not into.

- That's what you don't want.

l heard that.

- You embrace the violence.

- That's what you want.

That's why you came, that's why you're here

- and that's why you're applauding.

- Or laughing.

And rewinding and watching again.

And again and again and looping that.

And that's what l'm hoping for.

Here comes Sarah, she's concerned.

Here was an issue.

We wanted to make sure you knew

if you became a zombie...

You'd only become a zombie if you

had been infected, so you could just die.

There was a version of the script where,

eventually, whether you fell off a ladder

or got eaten by zombies

you'd become a zombie.

- There was no... Why fight it?

- Eventually you'd be one.

They're better off, let's become zombies.

The other interesting thing

was the recently dead arising.

That was from the original movie.

The recently dead are coming back to life.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Zombies are just the recently dead.

And l was like, ''Where's the cutoff there?''

Yeah, is Abraham Lincoln

going to dig himself out?

We talked about that too.

- That's a different movie. lt could be cool.

- lt could be great.

But do skeletons have sinews,

how do they move their muscles or limbs?

Skeletons, that's weird.

This is real. This is a documentary.

This is real.

Here comes the zombie baby

and this is my version of it.

There's that. Awesome.

- And then this is how you do it, right there.

- Oh, no.

That's what you want to see

and then - oh, no.

- Where was the mother during that?

- l don't know, she was there,

saying, ''l love show business

and l want my baby to be a part of this.''

That's the daytime mall with the blacks

over the skylights.

This is the funeral.

''l don't know how anyone

could believe in God.''

This is the director's cut,

we put this little sequence back in.

l liked having this moment from Ving.

You want him to come up

and tell you how it is.

- You want some speechifying.

- l want some quotable thing.

So l can walk out of the movie and go,

''ln the back of my mind l was

always thinking, 'Better them than me.'''

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