OC Screenwriters Association

Not surprisingly, George A. Romero spends a lot of time dreaming up new ways to kill zombies.

“It’s a lot of down time between making these films and I’m always thinking about, ‘Oh, what can I do next time?’” the director/writer explained during a roundtable session promoting his latest undead installment, Survival of the Dead. “CG has made it [easy] to do things that I couldn’t think of doing when it was me and (acclaimed special effects artist) Tom Savini trying to pull the strings on puppets. A lot of old ideas that I have I’m able to execute now by using the computer technology.”

Romero’s first feature, 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, redefined not only that specific genre, but also the concept that important American cinema had to have a big budget, big stars and be otherwise overinflated. His little film about flesh-eating ghouls attacking the stranded inhabitants of a deserted farmhouse is not only explicitly violent, but satirical and relevant even today. Thanks to Romero, cheesy creature features and gross-out B movies gave way to a new sophistication in screen horror that reflects the ugly underbelly of our cultures’ sensibilities and flaws, which is frankly more terrifying and unforgettable.

The legendary pioneer of contemporary horror films recognizes and cares for his fans. “I have sort of two kinds of fans: fans that sort of appreciate what I’m trying to say, and then there’s this whole other—and probably larger—group of fans that are just in it for the ride and don’t care about anything that might be beneath the surface,” Romero explained. “But you have to please that ‘fangoria’ crowd while you’re up and doing it.”

Survival of the Dead spins a Hatfields and McCoys-tale inspired by William Wyler’s The Big Country. “One of the things that appealed to me about going with the Western theme is that it makes it a bit more timeless. I speak to today a little bit, just because people are shooting at their senators these days,” Romero theorized. “Of all the films I’ve done, Survival is much less about what is happening right now in the news than any of the other ones I did. But I like the idea of taking this sort of ageless problem, conflicts that don’t die and are just too deeply engrained. I felt that was the way to go. If I needed a broader theme, than that was one that I could use and it was not going to wear-out.”

Survival also has a returning character from Land and Diary of the Dead, Sarge (Alan Van Sprang). Romero hopes that Survival may begin a new Dead legacy. “The first four films I’ve never been able to cross-collateralize to use the same characters, use the storyline, create a mythology that was bigger than an individual film because [the films] were all controlled by different people…and one week before we started this film, I said, ‘Tell you what…I’d love to do a set of three of these films, using minor characters from Diary and wind up with this portrait of the world where I could re-use characters and re-use storylines and have these little threads of mystery and rules and things that go through them,’” he enthused. “It all depends on how this film performs. It’s something I always wanted to do, though: create a more broader mythology. But we’ll see what happens,” he laughed.

In the event that Survival doesn’t warrant subsequent spin-offs, Romero likely won’t be lumbering aimlessly about the countryside; he’s got an arsenal of prospective projects to keep him busy. “One of them is this non-horror thing entirely—a little personal film I’d like to try. Also low budget—always staying low budget, I don’t have the time in my life or the energy anymore to come down here and pitch something for a year and a half and then have it not happen. So I’m keeping myself at the two dollar betting window. That’s just ass-covering so that I’d maybe get a chance to make three or four more films instead of one,” he said. “We [also] have a horror project which is non-zombie and I’m also being talked to by two European companies about projects they want to do over there…[those would be] the most fun, I think—almost like a vacation. There’s a film called Paris le Temp…many little love tales. I want to do the dark side of that. And who are you going to call? So it will probably be me, and [John] Carpenter and [John] Landis and all of the usual suspects. That would be very nice and short term. All that sort of stuff is sort of…bubbling.”

Romero is not a fan of remakes, especially remakes of his previous work. “It pisses me off a little bit. I didn’t particularly like the Dawn [of the Dead] remake; I think Zack’s (Snyder) a good filmmaker and I thought the first 15-20 minutes were really hot…and then it sort of lost its reason for being. When we made that film that was the first time any of us had ever seen one of these indoor shopping malls…I thought that was something fun to snipe at at the time. And then it’s not the same, it was a film of a certain time. I wouldn’t have chosen to remake it. It was quite successful and, you know, mazel tov. I just wouldn’t have chosen to do it. I get a little bit irritated about it, but by the same token my stuff is my stuff.”

The director continued to put his point into perspective. “People always say to Steve King, ‘How do you feel about Hollywood ruining your books?’ and he says, ‘They’re not ruined; here they are, on the shelf.’ I sort of feel the same way about my films. I don’t think The Crazies needed to be remade, that my version of The Crazies was (again) of a certain time. It needed that to have any strength or any anger. So on the one hand I just find it silly, but I guess this whole remake craze, people would rather rely on what they think is a proven title than to try something new.”

Is it true that Romero was asked to direct World War Z, the on-again, off-again screen version of Max Brooks’ zombie epic novel?

“I was never called about that,” answered Romero. “I don’t even know what’s happening with that project now. I think Max actually believes that this may happen someday,” he chuckled. (The project is allegedly in pre-production with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment to be directed by Marc Forster of Quantum of Solace.) Would the King of the Zombie flicks be interested in championing such a big budget, highly anticipated and possible monumental feature?

“I don’t think so, no,” Romero replied. “My zombie stuff is again my zombie stuff. I don’t think I’d take it quite that serious.”

Finally, if George Romero can’t advise us all on how to survive a zombie apocalypse then there is no hope for mankind. How would he best arm himself against the ungrateful dead that he almost single-handedly made infamous? (I'm not kidding, this is a frequent topic of conversation in my home, and hopefully everyone out there in the OC is thinking ahead as well!)

“[Not] a chainsaw, you’ve got to get too close,” Romero stated. “I don’t know, man, I’d get out on a raft somewhere…although they can walk on the bottom of the water…” he remembered.

Not good. Has Romero inadvertently made the walking dead ultimately invincible? He doesn’t think so!

“I’d try to find some protective spot, get a Gatling gun or something,” he concluded. “I wouldn’t think of fancy ways of killing them, I’d just think of killing them. Save up the ammo and get a tank!”